"Are you Listening?"
Exod 3:1-14

Pastor Jack Anderson

Introduction. Moses was forty years old when he made his decision to leave the palace and become the deliver of Israel.
As he looked at his brethren and their burdens, what a sorrowful sight met his eyes.

They were digging out clay to mould into bricks for building. If the were not working fast enough, they felt the lash of the Egyptian whip. Israel was under the control of their cruel taskmasters

One day Moses saw this. He decided to take action when he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew. Exod 2:12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

While we can admire Moses for his love for his people and for his courage, we must take note that he ran a head of the Lord. He acted in haste for he was walking by sight and not by faith. "He looked this way and that" before he killed the Egyptian"

Moses depended on the sword in his hand on the energy of the flesh. Later he would change his sword for a rod and the power would be from God's hand and not his own. Moses was too hasty in his actions and God had to set him aside for further training. He must learn that the weapons of God's servants are not fleshly, but spiritual.

1> How often we can be guilty of acting in haste, by running ahead of the Lord. As someone has said, God made time, but man-made haste.

Slow me down, Lord; I am going too fast.
I can't see my brother when he's walking past.
I miss a lot of good things day by day;
I don't know a blessing when it comes my way.

2> How often we can be guilty of using fleshly weapons and not spiritual.

2Cor 10: 3,4 for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

At this point in his life Moses was using carnal weapons, because he was a carnal man. Then had to flee from the presence of the Pharaoh to dwell in the land of Midian.
The life of Moses divides into three equal parts. He was forty years as a Prince in Egypt; Forty years as Shepherd in Midian; Forty years as the leader of Israel.

It is interesting to note at the beginning of the second period, when he assisted the women as they tried to water their flocks, that these women identified Moses as an Egyptian and not as a Hebrew, one who belonged to Jehovah the God of Israel. Ch 2:19 ---

God had a lot of work to do on Moses. He had to transform him into one who would face difficult tasks ahead as the deliverer of the Hebrews.
Friends the Lord has still a lot of work to do on us, if we are to be the kind of people He would have us to be.

For many see more of the Egyptian in us, (world) that they do of those, who are the chosen and the Redeemed of the Lord.

Be like Jesus this I Long
In the home and in the throng
Be like Jesus all day long
I want to be like Jesus.

While Moses was in Midian, he knew that his real place was with his people Israel back in Egypt. He had heard the groans of Israel in their slavery, and it seemed that God was doing nothing. This can be the thinking of the Church today.

Men and women are slaves to Satan; wickedness is ever on the increase the powers of darkness are on the ascendancy and the light of the Gospel is flickering dimly. It seems that God is doing nothing. But God never slumbers or sleeps; He is ever active working to His schedule
Whenever God works, He chooses the right worker, uses the right plan, and acts at the right time. God was working in the life of Moses. For forty years Moses had been taking care of a few sheep, now he would lead and take care of a whole nation.
I believe Moses knew that there was a wonderful plan for his life, but he did not know how to bring it to pass. He had made a mess of it in his own attempts.
But a new day dawned and everything changed for Moses. His shepherd's crook changed into a rod of power and he was be used of God to deliver His people.
When he went to attend to his sheep one morning, he had no idea that he was going to meet with God, who had a message for him. A message, that he could have so easily missed, if he had not turned aside and drew near.
Friends, we live in the information age, when messages are constantly being sent back and forth by fax, by email, mobile text, or telephone message, which are left on the answering machine. People often say did you get my message?" did you hear what I said?
A missed message could mean a loss of business or a loss of time, or information. But the worst "missed messages" are the ones, which we get from God and fail to grasp or heed.
I believe that God places in the path of His people certain messages, instructions, or encouragement to equip us to do His will; yet sometime we miss the message.
It pays to be prepared, to be ready, for we never know when God is going to come and reveal to us what He has planned for our lives. God reveals himself unfailingly to the thoughtful seeker
A. W. Tozer-"God is never found accidentally".
Moses was now eighty years old, but he was not too old for God. In fact he was better equipped for the work of the Lord after his forty years of training in the wilderness.
A Startling Manifestation v 1, 2
This thorny bush just kept on burning and burning. How long? We don't know. But when it stopped burning it was not consumed. The burning bush had three fold significance.
1.> It Signified Power
It was a picture of God, for it revealed His glory and power that was not consumed. Moses was about to undertake an impossible task to deliver Israel from their Egyptian bondage.
Therefore, he needed to be reminded of the Glory and the Power of his God. How we need a fresh manifestation of the Glory and the Power of God, as we seek to serve the Lord in what often may seem and impossible task. "The Bush burned with fire"
When the Holy Spirit came down to empower the disciples at Pentecost, He came in the likeness of tongues of fire. The Church needs a fresh glimpse of the glory of God and a fresh anointed filling of the Holy Spirit
Let the power of the highest be on us today. For a worldwide revival, blessed Master we pray. For this world dearly purchased By the Blood of God's Son Back from Satan's dominion and from sin must be won
Moses, with the help of God, would become a fire that could not be put out. So it is when the power of God rests on the Church, the witness and the plan of God will prosper and the Devil will never put out the flame.
1>It Signified Power
2>It Signified Purity
We must never forget that our God is a consuming fire.
Isa 33:4 who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Only the pure in heart. For it is the presence of God in the soul that devours the unclean desire of the heart.
George Macdonald-- Lord, in thy Spirit's hurricane, I Pray, Strip my soul naked-- then dress it in thy way.
3> It Signified Preservation.
The bush symbolised Israel going through the fires of affliction, but not being consumed. How often nations have tried to exterminate the Jews but have failed? . Israel like her God Jehovah will never be consumed.
And the Church, like her Lord, shall never be consumed; the fire of the Gospel shall never be extinguished till all the Ransomed Church of God is saved and brought safely home to glory. I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
A Startling Manifestation v 1, 2
The Bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed
What a mystery. The consuming presence of God was there yet the bush survived.
What a picture of the eternal security of the Believer! For we have this truth and this treasure in earthen vessels. God dwells in us and we will never be consumed, we have life eternal.
God in us, the hope of Glory.

John 10:27-28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

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Rom 8:38,39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.