1579. Are You Available? Part 1

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything so he established daily chapel services. Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from the University Chapel platform. Today on The Daily Platform, we're beginning a two-part message from evangelist Aaron Coffey, preached at an evangelistic service at Bob Jones University.

Aaron graduated from BJU and traveled with the Steve Pettit Evangelistic Team in the early 2000s. Today, Aaron leads his own evangelistic team that ministers to Christians all around the United States. We'll take your Bibles tonight and turn to the book of Exodus. We're going to look at a passage tonight, really a little bit of a different type of a sermon really for me. I don't do a whole lot of Old Testament narrative but we're going to look at a story that's well known and I want us to look at it tonight. Before we do, I do want to just mention quickly because I think that I should have had several people want to know about my poor son Joby.

They said, what? I mean, who's Joby? Does he not matter at all? Which Winnie the Pooh character is he?

And so, you know, it's a little hard. We haven't really landed because he doesn't fit perfectly on any of them. He's real sweet so he could be a poo or a piglet. He loves to follow Tigger around so he could be kind of like Roo. Probably the most like poo in that he eats like crazy.

He never stops eating so I really think if we could just jump to a whole nother, a whole nother cartoon, he probably fits a little bit better with these guys to tell you the truth. So anyway, so there's, there's Joby. Anyway, Exodus chapter number three is where we're going to be.

And I want us to look tonight at a, at a message that I have entitled, Are You Available? And you know the story here perhaps of Exodus chapter three and four of Moses at the burning bush. And I would like to just work through this text of Scripture.

And tonight really have you answer this question in your heart before God. And I think this is such an interesting passage and such a great story. We all know Moses. We know the story of Moses. When you think of Moses and when we think of Moses today we think of this great leader, this man who did amazing things. But was Moses always that Moses?

I mean if you just back up and think of his life. So just real quick, he was born a slave, born at a time when the Hebrew people were in bondage. Matter of fact, he was not just born a slave, he was also born a slave with a life sentence on his head from the moment he was born. Pharaoh had decreed all male children of the Hebrew people to be killed. Thankfully the Bible says that his mother looked at him and saw that he was a goodly child. I don't know what the rest of the moms thought about their children but thankfully, thankfully he looked and saw that he was a goodly child. So she hid him. You know the story found by Pharaoh's daughter, really adopted.

You want to talk about a rags to riches story. He's a slave and now here he is being raised in the palace. He would have had the wealth of Egypt at his disposal, the education of Egypt at his disposal. As he gets older he knows that he's not a Egyptian, he's a Hebrew. He hurts for his people, he wants to help his people. At one point he goes to the Hebrew camp, he sees an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew slave. He tries to intervene in the midst of it. He ends up killing the Egyptian.

He tries to cover it up hoping no one will know only to find out that people know. So he runs for his life out into the wilderness. How old was Moses when he kills the Egyptian and then runs for his life? How old?

40 years old. Then our great leader Moses, what does he do? He hangs out, out in the out in the wilderness. He becomes a great leader, all right, of sheep. Nothing special. Can I tell you two things about sheep?

They sting and they're stupid. And here our great leader Moses is. How long was he out there? Four months? Four years?

How long? 40 more years. Our man Moses is 80 years old when we come to this story in Exodus chapter 3. And I want you to know something tonight, something happens to Moses right here. Because he leaves this scene, the Moses we know. He leaves this scene, the Moses who goes and leads the children of Israel out of Egypt across the Red Sea to Mount Sinai, the receiving of the Ten Commandments through the wilderness journeys. The Moses we know of, it starts right here.

Something happens. Moses lives for 40 more years. He dies at 120. It was the last leg of his race is the Moses we know. You know the first 40 years of his life, Moses is on top of the world. The second 40 years of his life, he's low. He's a nobody.

And then the last 40 years of his life, he realized that that through God he can do this. And I want us to look, this is a pretty simple message tonight. There's a conversation. We're going to look at a conversation. And what happens is, and you'll see, and hopefully this will be easy.

I've got a PowerPoint easy if you want to take notes. We're going to look at four different things in this conversation that Moses shows a lack of. And I want you to know that every time Moses shows a lack of what he needs, he feels in order to do what God's called him to do. You know what God does?

He just gives him promise after promise after promise after promise. And you know what I want us to see tonight? I want us to see that every single promise that God makes to Moses at the burning bush, God has made to us through his son Jesus Christ. And I want you to know something folks, we can do this.

We can do what God has called us to do because he has given us everything we need that pertains to life and godliness. So I'm going to pray and we're going to jump into this conversation. Let's ask God to help us.

Father, would you please help us? Lord, we need you tonight. Lord, Moses felt like he was so weak and he was.

Lord, I feel tonight like I'm really weak and it's because I am. Lord, we feel so many times when laid in front of us is obedience to you and laid in front of us is the submission to your will, we feel so weak. Lord, we are weak, but you are strong and we can do this. Lord, we can do what you've called us to do. Help us to submit to you, help us to trust you. And we ask this in Christ's precious name.

Amen. We're just going to jump into this conversation in Exodus chapter number three. We're going to start in verse number 10. I'm going to try hard tonight.

My team, they make fun of me all the time, but they said that I kept going too far and I was going off the screen. So I'm going to try to keep it in the middle tonight. Exodus chapter three, verse 10. It says this, come now therefore. God is talking to Moses and he says, I will send thee into Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. What we have here is God's commission to Moses. Moses, I have a job for you to do. He comes to Moses as Moses is out with his sheep and he, he sees this bush that's on fire, but it's not consumed. And as he goes closer, God speaks to him out of this bush. And we find really here God's commission to Moses of what he wants him to do.

Tonight, what we're going to do and feel free to do this. I do have the verses up on the screen so you don't have to, but we're going to look also at our commission because before Jesus Christ ascended up into heaven, he commissioned us, me and you, the church, his followers. And I want us to see some similarities between God's commissioning Moses and then him commissioning us. And so here is the first thing that we see. God says to Moses, I have a job for you to do. I want you to go to Pharaoh and I want you to lead my people out of Egypt. Here we find Moses' first struggle.

You ready? He first of all shows a lack of adequacy. He shows a lack of adequacy. Listen to what Moses says to God. He says, and Moses said unto God, who am I that I should go into Pharaoh, that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt. Now folks, I've got to be really honest. I understand. Moses, I hear you. I've been in so many situations. I mean, to be totally honest, me standing here in front of this student body.

I mean, who am I? How many times have I found myself in a situation and in a place where I'm just like, I mean, the inadequacy that you feel as you go through this life and what God wants you to do is sit in front of you. I understand you, Moses. But I want you to see what God does. God comes straight to Moses and He starts just laying out the promises.

Listen to what happens. OK, so Moses shows a lack of adequacy. He says, who am I to do this? And look as we begin verse number 12. We find in verse number 12 that God gives Moses His presence, the promise of His presence. And then He gives to Moses another promise, really a promise that His purposes are going to be fulfilled.

Listen to what it says. And He, God said, certainly I will be with thee. Moses, you're not going alone. And He said, and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee. When thou has brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain.

Now let's just look at this. He gives two promises here in verse number 12. First of all, He says, Moses, I'm going with you. Moses, you're not going to Egypt. You're not going to Pharaoh alone.

I'm going with you. And I have this question. Do you believe that God is with you? Has He ever made such a promise to us? I want us to go to the Great Commission, Matthew chapter number 28. We find Jesus Christ has been crucified. He's risen again.

He's on this earth for 40 days. He ascends up into heaven and He sits down at the right hand of the throne of God. But before He ascends to heaven, He is gathered with His followers and He says to them what we have and call the Great Commission. Listen to what He says in Matthew chapter number 28, verse 18 to 20. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And what does He say next?

And lo, I am with you sometimes. No, He said, no, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. And folks, this is just where He says it in the Great Commission. We find God telling us this all the time. God didn't just promise Moses His presence, but God has promised us His presence. We find it right within the commissioning of His followers to go and to spread the good news of the Gospel and to make disciples of all nations, which is what we've been called to do. He's promised us His presence.

Do you believe that God is with you? Every moment of your life, no matter where you go, no matter what you do, God goes with His people. I want you to see the promise also that God gives to Moses, though, back in verse number 12 of Exodus 3. He said, and certainly I will be with thee.

And listen to this, and this shall be a token or a sure sign to you that I have sent you. He said, when thou has brought forth the people out of Egypt, he shall serve God upon this mountain. He says, right here, Moses, right here, Moses, where you stand before me, you are going to lead those people out, and you are going to stand here right on this mountain, and you're going to worship me with all those people. What a promise.

You want to talk about a tangible, I mean, practical promise. Moses, right here where you're standing, you're going to stand here with all of those people. It's estimated that there was some 2,000 people, I mean, I'm sorry, 2 million, sorry, 2 million people of the Hebrew people. And he says, Moses, they're going to come right here. And you want to know what God is promising, Moses? He said, Moses, I have purposes. And Moses, my purposes are going to be fulfilled. Moses, you are going to lead those people out.

This plan, my purposes, they're going to work. And Moses, right here where you're standing in front of me, Moses, you are going to lead those people out. They are going to come, and you're going to stand right here, and you're going to worship me with all of those people. What a promise.

Now I have a question. Has God ever promised us that His purposes are going to be fulfilled? And that what He has called us the church to is going to happen?

I got a question, do you believe that we are on the winning side? Do you believe that what God says He's going to do, He's going to do? I think right within the Great Commission, just think back, I don't have it up there again, but He says, He says right within the Great Commission, He says, I want you to go and I want you to baptize.

Can I just tell you something? We don't baptize them until they get saved. So apparently, people are going to be saved. The church is going to be built. And what does Jesus say? He says, I will build my church.

The gates of hell can't prevail against it. Do you believe? Do you believe that God has purposes and that it's going to be fulfilled and He calls us to be a part of it? In the Great Commission, He calls us to something that He is going to do.

He's going to build His church. So He shows a lack of adequacy, but then God comes with this promise of His presence and this promise of His purposes being fulfilled. But then I want you to see next, Moses is still struggling. He's not satisfied. You know, Moses' problem is, Moses is just like us. He makes excuses. He comes up with all of these problems.

I'm the same way. Listen to what we find next as we find Moses showing a lack of authority. And this really continues on for several verses, all the way into chapter four. But let's look at what it says in verse number 13. And Moses said unto God, behold, when I come to the children of Israel and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they shall say to me, what is His name?

What shall I say unto them? Now it's almost like you can sort of see Moses' wheels turning. He said, so OK God, so, so let's say I go down to the people, all right? I go busting up in the middle of two million people in the Hebrew camp.

No amplification, no nothing. Listen up. Pack your bags.

We're busting out of this joint. He said, God, they're going to look at me and they're going to say, now who came and talked to you out of a burning what now? He said, God, they're not going to listen to me. He said, God, I don't have any authority.

They're going to say, who sent you? Then what am I going to say? And folks, I wish, number one, I had time, really more than anything, I wish I knew how to tell you the depths of the next verse. I just don't know how. But folks, there is nothing God could have said more than what He says next.

And I don't even know how to totally explain it. But in the next verse, you know this verse, verse number 14, God gives Moses his personal authority. Folks, what He really does is He gives him His person. When God says to Moses, I am that I am. And He said, thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. Look at the end of the next verse, verse number 15. He says, this is my name forever.

And this is my memorial unto all generations. Folks, what does God say? He says, I am that I am.

You tell them that I am sent you. Folks, what kind of a name is that? I've met a lot of people in the last couple days, all across campus, I've met lots and lots of folks. But I haven't had anybody who I walked up and said, hey, my name is Aaron, what's your name? And he looked at me and said, I am that I am.

I'd be like, whoa. I mean, what kind of a name is this? Folks, it is the Hebrew root, really, where we get the name Yahweh, transliterated Jehovah. In your Bible, it's capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Folks, God could have said, you tell them that Adonai sent you. You tell them that Elohim sent you. Folks, that is not what he says. God gives his personal name to Moses.

You tell them that the one who is sent you. And folks, I've studied this name, and I just want you to know, no matter how hard I try, I can't do justice to this name. But there's nothing more God could have said.

It's the all-sufficient, in need of nothing, but at the same time, everything you need, name of God. Folks, he gives Moses all of his authority. He said, Moses, I, in all of who I am, I'm sending you.

I've got your back. Folks, has God ever said any such a thing to me in you? Look back at the Great Commission. Listen, as Matthew chapter 28 records the Great Commission, listen to what Jesus said. And Jesus came and spoke of them, saying, listen to this, all power, that's the Greek word exousia. Many of you, probably your Bibles say, all authority is given to me.

Where? In heaven and in earth. Now, go. Folks, I want you to know something, that Jesus Christ gives us his full authority. All authority has been given to him in heaven and in earth, and he tells us to go in his authority. We go and do what he has called us to do, to go be a part of what he's doing, building his church of every tribe, of every tongue, of every people, every nation.

And it's going to work, and me and you get to be a part of it. And he gives us his authority. And who is this Jesus?

Does he have a right to do such a thing? I love when Jesus is being tested, and they're talking to him, and he is making a comment about Abraham. And they're saying, how does he say he knows who Abraham is? Abraham was, was years, centuries before this man Jesus. And what does Jesus say? Jesus said, before Abraham was. What did he say?

I am. And folks, those Jewish people knew exactly what Jesus was saying. They were ticked off. They wanted to kill him. They knew that he was claiming to be the I am. You know why? Because he is. Folks, the same God who sent Moses sends me and you with his authority.

We can do this. I want you to see Moses is still struggling with this whole idea of, of, of, of his lack of authority. If you look just a few verses later, look at, look at verse number 18 of Exodus chapter three.

And this is just in the midst of this conversation. We'll, we'll jump into chapter four in just a minute, but look at the first phrase of verse 18. Listen, listen to what God says. Here's God speaking to Moses. He says, and they shall hearken to your voice. They will listen to you, Moses.

Here's chapter four, verse one, just a few minutes, just a few moments later. And Moses answered and says, but behold, they will not believe me nor hearken to my voice. For they will say the Lord has not appeared unto thee. He says, God, they won't listen to me.

I don't care what you say, God, they won't believe me. Now, now, now folks, I mean, I really am understanding of Moses feeling inadequate. I'm understanding of Moses feeling like you have no authority. I understand, but God is giving him his presence, giving him this promise of his purpose as being fulfilled.

He's giving him the promise of his person, his authority. And, and he says, Moses, they will listen. And, and if I could just kind of say it like this, it's like, if there is such a thing as a line and you can kind of dance close to it, but, but, but once you step over it, then you have sinned. Folks, I'm telling you for sure, if he hadn't already stepped across it, Moses is sinning here because he basically says, God, I don't believe you. God, you're not telling me the truth. Now I have a question. Do we ever tell God we don't believe him and he's not telling the truth?

Now we would never exactly just come out out and say that. That is not exactly something that we say in the midst of our prayer life in the morning as we spend some time with the Lord. Hey God, thanks for the day.

Thanks for all that you, that you are and, and, and all that you do and help me with this and this. Oh, by the way, though, just want you to know, I really just don't believe you. But folks, I want you to know something. We don't say it with our mouth, but we say it with our life all the time. We doubt him. We don't believe what he tells us in his word. And I just want you to know, I'm so thankful that God is patient with me. I'm so thankful that God is long suffering like he was with Moses. I mean, I mean, God had every right to say, you know what, Moses, I've been, I've been, I've been wrestling here with you for a few minutes. And you know what?

I've had enough, you know, I'll find somebody else. Folks, that's not what God does. You know what God does? Listen to this.

It's so awesome. Moses is still struggling with this lack of authority. You know what God does over the next eight verses? You know this story.

It's awesome. What does God do? He says, Moses, would you take your hand and stick it inside your cloak? When he pulls it out, what was all over his hand? Leprosy all over his hand.

Horrible disease. Would have killed him eventually. He said, Moses, take it, put it back inside your cloak. When he pulled it out, it was made whole. He says, Moses, take your rod, throw it on the ground. And what happens? It becomes a serpent. He takes it up again. He says, pick it up. And it becomes a rod once again. Folks, what does God do over the next eight verses in his kindness and his love? You know what he does?

He gives to Moses his power. Unfortunately, that's where we're going to have to end this sermon for today. You've been listening to part one of a sermon from Aaron Coffey, an American evangelist preached at Bob Jones University. You can learn more about Aaron and his team at his website, coffeministries.org. That's coffeministries.org. Thanks again for listening and join us again tomorrow for the conclusion of this sermon here on The Daily Platform.