The Prophetic Commission - Exodus 4:1-17

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Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Faith Bible Church. See a new face out there, and welcome, and we're blessed to have you here and to fellowship and worship with us this morning.

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Continued blue skies and sunshine, and it's kind of a warm fall, but I think we'll enjoy it for now.

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We just need some more rain. For announcements, I hope and trust everybody had a blessed

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Thanksgiving. I know we did, and we're grateful to God for all that he is doing and continues to do.

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We need to trust him, because he is trustworthy. For announcements, every week we do have a prayer meeting at 6 o 'clock on Sunday evening, so you're all welcome to come out to that, and it's just a good time to be at the throne of grace, putting our needs before the

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Lord. Another announcement, the ladies' Christmas tea is

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December 11th at 10 o 'clock in the Fellowship Hall. This is an annual gathering that the ladies put on, and it's really a special time for all the ladies.

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I think they'll all attest to that, that it's a blessing, and it's a good time of growing and learning and just being together as ladies.

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So, December 11th at 10 o 'clock, so mark your calendars on that.

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Next week, and we've talked about this once before, but we have some door hangers. We've got hundreds of these that we're going to be handing out next week after the service, and I'll explain it more next week, but we'll have little packets with maps.

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If you can, take a packet or two. I was trying to limit myself. I was putting over 130 doors per packet.

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I'm thinking, that may be a little too aggressive, so I'm going to try to pare it back. If you've got your sneakers on and you're running, it's like...

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So we'll cut it back to something a little more manageable, and then you can take a couple packets instead of just one, but anyway,

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I'm going to put this on the back table. There'll be a pile of those. Take one. Start praying about it, that the

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Lord would open doors, that at least it's got a little encouraging message on here, but it lets them know that Faith Bible Church is here.

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So pick up one of these on your way out the door today, and we'll put the rest in the

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Lord's hands, as we always should. In preparation for worship, I got this book.

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I got it a long time ago. It's How to Worship Jesus Christ, and it's by Joseph Carroll, and it talks about what worship is, how we are to worship our

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Lord Jesus Christ, and it's worth worshiping. It's putting worth in what we worship, and in this case, obviously, it's

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Jesus Christ. And to put that in context, Revelation 4, 10 to 11 says, the four and 20 elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship

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Him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy,

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O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou has created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.

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And it's referring to casting crowns, as in the kings of the day, when they were conquered, they would throw their crowns at the foot of the conquering king.

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And as Christians, we are to, when you have a crown, you kind of draw attention to yourself. If I had a crown on right now,

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I'd kind of stand out. But we're casting our crowns to the foot of the cross, to the king, saying,

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He is king, Lord over all. And that is our act of worship. This was an act of total submission, abdication to the emperor.

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So the first thing is, in this passage, is to fall down, the submission to the one worshipped, and the second is casting of the crown at the feet of the one worshipped.

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And that's what we are to do in our worship. And let's try to remember that as we go before the

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Lord in prayer. Let's pray with me, please. Lord God, we thank You, Father, that You have brought everybody together here this morning.

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We pray for the folks that are home, that are watching this online, that You would bless them, that many of them are ailing and not have health issues,

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Father. That, Lord, You would comfort them, that You would bless them and heal them, Lord, if it's

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Your will, Father. So God be with them. God be with us now, that we might honor You and please You as we worship

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You, as we remember who You are and what You have done for us through our

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Lord Jesus Christ, that we are so blessed to have a church like this, that we are blessed to have

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Pastor Ilgen to be here, to be our shepherd, Father, our earthly shepherd, and we thank

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You for him. God bless each one today that You would be glorified, that we would have attentive ears to hear and eyes to see the truth of the gospel message, because we all need it every day, every moment.

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So God, we rest in You. We trust You to lead and guide us, Father, in the Holy Spirit now.

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We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Oh, taste and see that the

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Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. And let's stand and sing, be exalted,

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O God. Praise to the

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Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation.

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Oh, my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation.

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Holy, holy. Now to His temple draw near.

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Holy, holy. Thank you.

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Thank you all for singing, and please be seated at this time. Thank you. For your scripture reading this morning, if you'd like to take your

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Bibles and follow along, it's Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4.

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We're going to read verses 7 through 21. Excuse me.

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Did I just mess that up? I think so. Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3.

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We're only one chapter off there. Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 through 21. Okay.

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Ephesians 3, 14. For this reason I bow my knees to the

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Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

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Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

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Amen. May God bless the hearing of His word. All right. Let's stand together again and sing

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Be Still My Soul and Just As I Am. Be still my soul, the

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Lord is on thy side.

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I'll suffer grief or pain. Give to thy still my soul.

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Thy best I have, only prayer leads to a joyful end.

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Just as I live, behold, life is gone.

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Just as I rescued,

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I go to be pardoned.

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Christ, the Lamb, comes, praise

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God. Just as I live, praise

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God. Just as I live, praise

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God. Thank you for singing and please be seated. The children are now dismissed to Children's Church as Pastor Elgin comes.

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Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 4, verses 1 through 17.

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Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 4, verses 1 through 17.

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Then Moses answered and said, but suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice.

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Suppose they say, the Lord has not appeared to you. So the Lord said to him, what is that in your hand?

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He said, a rod. And he said, cast it on the ground. So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it.

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Then the Lord said to Moses, reach out your hand and take it by the tail. And he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand.

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That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the

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God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has appeared to you. Furthermore, the Lord said to him, now put your hand in your bosom.

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And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.

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And he said, put your hand in your bosom again. So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom.

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And behold, it was restored like his other flesh. Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign.

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And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land.

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And the water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.

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Then Moses said to the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant.

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But I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. So the Lord said to him,

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Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind?

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Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what to say.

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But he said, O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else you may send.

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So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said, Is not

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Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you.

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When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. Now you shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth.

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And I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.

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So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you.

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And you shall be to him as God. And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.

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This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we are so thankful that you use us, broken, sinful people, in your plan for deliverance.

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Father, we thank you just as you used Moses, that you use us. Thank you that you are merciful and gracious to accommodate what we lack.

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In Jesus' name, amen. We live in a culture that considers the new as more advanced and better than the old.

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The new iPhones are better than the iPhone 4. New cars are better than the old cars.

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However, unlike the current culture, where the new things are always better than the old, in the

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Old Testament, the old prophet Moses was the standard for all the prophets who came after.

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He was the central figure that the Old Testament saints looked back to.

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Someone like Moses. The prophets who came after Moses never claimed to be better than Moses.

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But rather, they all looked back to Moses as the original template.

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Today, we look at how God commissions the first prophet,

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Moses, the original prophet. How does God prepare him?

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How does Moses respond? These are all important to take note because it shows us what kind of person

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God raises up to speak for him. Nowadays, there are an overwhelming number of false teachers sprouting up.

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Even the ones you thought were solid, you realize now they're preaching and teaching heresies.

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Thus, when we study this text, which shows us how

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God equips his spokesperson, we can discern whom God sent and whom

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God did not send. The main point of today's text is that when

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God commissions his prophet, he fully equips the prophet despite his weaknesses.

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When God commissions his prophet, he fully equips the prophet despite his weaknesses.

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The first point is verses 1 -9. When God commissions his prophet,

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God validates him with his signs. In the last section,

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God promised Moses that the elders of Israel will cooperate with him. Here, Moses fears that the crowd, the vast majority of God's people, the

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Israelites, will reject him due to their unbelief. But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice.

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Suppose they say, the Lord has not appeared to you. This is a serious threat to Moses' commission.

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After all, Moses was rejected by God's people earlier in chapter 2.

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They doubted him at his first attempt at deliverance. Who made you?

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That frightening accusation. Who made you a prince and a judge over us?

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In Moses' mind, he wonders, why would it be any different now?

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Will they believe me when they rejected me years earlier? When God officially commissions his prophet, his spokesperson, he graciously gives three signs to validate him.

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Verses 2 through 4 describe the first sign that people may believe, in which his rod,

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Moses' rod, turns into a snake, and then it turns back into the rod. Verse 5 tells us the purpose of the sign, that the people may believe the

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Lord God appeared to Moses. Verses 6 through 7 show us the second sign, which is also followed by the purpose of the sign in verse 8.

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If they doubt the first sign, they will believe the second sign. Verse 9 starts with the purpose of the third sign, which is in the case which they reject the first two signs, and it ends with the description of the third sign.

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We can see that God does not leave any room for doubt regarding the prophet

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He is sending. First, God validates Moses' commission as a prophet by changing his staff to a snake and back.

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Look with me to verse 2 through 4. Note that Moses has to follow

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God's instruction in order for the sign to work. Moses casts down the staff according to God's instruction in order for the sign to work, and it turns into a serpent.

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This causes even Moses to flee. He didn't expect that. Now, when

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Moses grabs it by the tail according to God's word, it turns back into a staff.

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This shows that it was not a normal occurrence. Moses' staff did not inherently have the power to transform into a serpent and back.

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That was not its natural property. But it was God's supernatural intervention by His word, according to His word.

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Also, Moses did not have a choice what animal the staff could turn into. It is precisely according to God's word that this sign takes place.

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Now, what is the significance about a snake? In Egypt, snakes represented the divine authority and power.

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Hence, the pharaoh's headpiece, when you look it up, has a cobra in the middle. It shows the divine protection from one of their pagan gods.

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However, the Lord God of Israel validates Moses' commission by turning a normal staff into a frightening snake.

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This would have been a powerful sign authenticating Moses' claim that God showed up to Moses.

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Moses' rod turning into a snake symbolizes divine authority and power, and that would have been clear to the audience who had been paganized in Egypt.

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They knew what snake represented, divine power and protection. And it would show the audience what kind of God is the

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Lord who can turn a staff into a snake. And now, what is the purpose of the miracle?

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Verse 5 tells us the purpose of the sign is not for Moses' reputation.

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The purpose of the sign is not for Moses' wealth to increase. No, the purpose of the sign is faith.

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Verse 5, that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the

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God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has appeared to you. It is so that God's people may believe that Moses is the authenticated deliverer, that they may believe that the

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God of their ancestors has not abandoned them but is validating

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His own spokesperson, His own prophet. The sign was the divine blue checkmark by Moses' name.

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He's a verified prophet. The second sign is described in verses 6 -7, in which

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Moses' hand turns leprous when it goes into his cloak. Leprosy was a skin disease that was pretty irreversible, and it made the skin turn into flaky, like snow.

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Oftentimes, translators think white as snow, but leprosy back then turned it flaky as snow.

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The second sign would cause Moses' hand to turn leprous at a moment's notice.

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A normal hand would become leprous if he just put it into his cloak, and when it's out, it would be leprous.

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Not only that, it would be reversible. He could put it back in, pull it out, and it would be normal, just like his other hand, fully restored.

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This would show the audience God's ability to judge and restore.

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Leprosy, after all, was often considered a sign of judgment back then.

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In the Bible, some who disobeyed God were immediately stricken with leprosy.

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However, the same God who judges is also the same

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God who graciously forgives, graciously restores.

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Hence, the sign includes the restoration of Moses' hand. And what is the purpose of the second sign?

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The purpose, again, is belief. In case they do not believe the first sign, then

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God graciously provides Moses with another sign. Verse 8, then it will be if they do not believe you nor heed the message of the first sign that they may believe the message of the latter sign, the second sign.

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Verse 9 reverses the order and shares the purpose of the third sign first.

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And it shall be if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice.

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Again, God does not leave any room for doubt. He graciously provides these three signs for the skeptics, even to the utmost skeptics.

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Yeah, but maybe the first sign just happened by chance. It's an illusion.

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Yeah, maybe the second sign also is by chance. So God provides a third sign.

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Similar to the last two signs, the third sign involves transformation.

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That you shall take water from the river and pour it out on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry ground.

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However, unlike the last two signs, this sign is irreversible. The blood does not turn back to water.

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The blood does not turn back to what was once harmless, what was once life -giving.

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But it remains what symbolizes death. The significance of the

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Nile water turning to blood is that it points to death. The Nile was considered the source of life in Egypt.

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After all, the Egyptians mainly lived by the river because it provided for them in every way possible.

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The water, the crops, the fish, it was their whole livelihood, and also the source of life.

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They would have died without water. In fact, that's why the

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Egyptians heavily worshipped the gods of the Nile. However, when this water is turned into blood, it symbolized death.

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Through this sign, God is declaring who He is. He has power over life and death.

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He is the deity who is sovereign over all the Egyptian gods and nature.

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What represented life to the Egyptians and their pagan deities associated with it will turn to death by the spokesperson whom the

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Lord is sending. And no one can turn back when this

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God acts. No one can reverse what this God wills.

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That's what the sign was telling the audience. This is the kind of God that the people of Israel could fully trust.

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When we consider the three signs, there are common threads. First, they're purely for validating

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God's own spokesperson. After all, anyone can claim that they're from God or that God appeared to them, but God will personally verify through signs that they truly are

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His. The purpose of the signs is for belief in God's redemptive plan, not for personal gain.

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It is not for the spokesperson. Second, each sign grows increasingly deadly.

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There is an escalation of the signs so that His people may believe that Moses is truly sent by the

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Lord. By the time we get to the third sign, it is irreversible.

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It's final. Third, Moses does not dictate how the signs are supposed to be.

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The signs are performed precisely according to God's Word. He does not get to come up with new signs.

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He does not expect a different result after each performance. He does not use different tools other than the tools that God has designated.

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Signs are from God and they're purely His prerogative, not ours.

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This is vastly different from the false teachers of our days. Their ministry is all about signs.

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Unlike the biblical view of the signs, where the signs are the signposts pointing to God and His will and His promises, for them, the signs are the goals.

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They are the end all and be all. They're not the means to an end, but the end itself.

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Biblically, signs validate God's Word, the truthfulness of God's Word and His redemptive work,

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His salvation plan. Biblically, the signs authenticate who

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God is and what He says to His people. Not so for the false prophets.

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Signs point them to their ministry. Signs serve them, not

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God. In fact, they come up with bizarre signs that are not even described in Scripture, such as gold flakes falling from the sky or the ceiling.

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They have perverted what the biblical signs are, the purpose of the signs, the center of the sign, which is

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God. Second, the false teachers change the order of belief in the signs.

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Here we see that God is giving the three signs so that His people may believe.

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Every sign given is so that the people may believe that God showed up to Moses to deliver them out of Egypt.

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The end goal has been belief. However, for the false teachers, because their end goal are the signs, they switch the order.

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For example, if someone is not healed after the false teacher prays for them, the false teacher blames the person's faith.

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Oh, you did not believe hard enough. Or your faith was not genuine.

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This is spiritually abusive and a complete misrepresentation of who

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God is. Signs have always existed to affirm the validity of God's ministry and His prophets.

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If God truly sent His prophets, then they're able to perform the signs.

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The prophet Elijah didn't have a bad day before the prophets of Baal. Moses did not have a second try at parting the

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Red Sea. The true prophets of God do not blame others if they're not able to perform because God will always perform the miracles at the right time for the faith of His people.

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Therefore, we must avoid such false prophets, false teachers who claim to be performing signs from God but cannot.

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We must reject such false teachers who blame others when they fail to perform the signs they intended.

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And we must reject even false teachers who even perform signs but are contrary to what the

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Bible says. The Bible tells us that false prophets can actually do signs.

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The Egyptian magicians could do some signs. But in the end, it was the word that came out of their mouth that invalidated them.

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If any of the false teachers are preaching anything against what the

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Bible says, they're false prophets, despite the signs. Second, what if the prophet is not an eloquent speaker?

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That leads to my second point. When God commissions His prophet, God gives him the words to say.

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After witnessing the three signs Himself, Moses brings up another problem, his verbal inadequacy to deliver

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God's message. Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.

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Now, a lot of ink has been spilled to diagnose what kind of speech impediment

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Moses had. But the text doesn't tell us. We can't say it's stuttering.

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We can't say it's language problem. We can't say that he's been far away from Egypt for so long he forgot the language.

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We don't know. Also, whenever Moses speaks, he sounds fine and clear.

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So we cannot know what Moses meant by slow of tongue and slow of speech.

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But we know from the text that Moses did not feel adequate to be

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God's prophet. His mouthpiece. What's God's response?

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Uh, let me look for a better speaker. No, God is not deterred by Moses' inadequacy.

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God will not be changed in His redemptive course. He does not do a U -turn.

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God is not discouraged by our inability. But He fully fulfills

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His plan according to His ability. Hence, God responds to Moses' claim of inadequacy.

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Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind?

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Have not I the Lord? God knows Moses' mouth better than He does,

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Moses does, because God made it Himself. And He intends to use it just as He planned.

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God knows how to use Moses as an instrument for His redemptive plan better than Moses does.

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Who's in charge? This is a great reminder for us because when we focus on our inadequacy, we're forgetting of who

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God is and His capabilities. When we're scared of what others may think of us when we share the gospel with them, we're forgetting who

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God is. He created not only your mouth, but also the ears of the unbelieving friend or family.

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That's who God is. We don't focus on our own inability.

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We focus on God and who He is. Now, how can we be confident?

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How can Moses be confident regarding the right words to say? In verse 12,

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God reassures Moses. Now, therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.

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God reassures Moses by promising His presence with Moses' mouth.

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God Himself will teach what Moses will say. Moses does not have to worry about his speech, his lack of eloquence, because God will provide for what he lacks.

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Moses does not have to come up with new and ingenious speech to move the hearts of God's people.

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No, he just has to rely on who God is and what

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He will give Moses. He has to depend on God's word rather than his speech.

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Moses has to rely on God's message rather than his tongue. This is important for us today, because even though God does not raise up prophets among us anymore,

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God still uses us as His mouthpiece to the world. We may not be prophets, but the church has a prophetic voice in the vile, sinful world.

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To share the gospel of Jesus Christ and to call sin, sin, just as He did with Moses, here

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God gives us the words to say. When we have the opportunity to share the gospel, we do not have to fluff it up.

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When we have the opportunity to share the gospel, we do not have to make it relevant. The good news that Christ was crucified for our sin is already relevant, because everyone who will hear the message is a sinner, and they're in a deep need of a saviour.

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The message is relevant without us meddling with it.

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And when we are afraid to open our mouths, we can always remember that God is present with us, and He will give us the right words to say at the right moment.

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In fact, Jesus promises us that the Holy Spirit will give you the right words to say when you're in trouble.

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Jesus promises when we're commissioned out to make disciples of all nations that He will be with us.

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It's still the same way. God will be present with His spokespeople.

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Second, the fact that God gives us the words means we're not the source of the words that we say.

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We do not mess with what God says in Scripture. We do not change the words or doctrines to make them more palatable for the current culture.

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This is problematic now because the so -called pastors who claim to be designated spokespeople for God, but they go off the script.

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They claim to be shepherds, but blaspheme and misrepresent God. They would say, oh, back then it was different.

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We read it with what the culture says. Back then, homosexuality was different.

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It's okay now. Back then, genders were different.

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We have more genders now. They change what the

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Word of God says to attract the crowd.

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They preach the false gospel of social justice. Back then, the gospel was about soul -saving, but now we've got to change the systems.

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They preach about prosperity gospel. Nowhere to be found is bear your own cross and that you will suffer because the world has hated me, but rather God will bless you with a new car.

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God will bless you with a new house. Just give to the church. They preach anything but Christ crucified.

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That's the problem with the false teachers of our days. Yet the role of God's spokesperson has not changed.

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God is the source of the words that we proclaim. As one of my professors said, our job is to present

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God's Word and get out of the way. Just get out of the way.

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It doesn't need us. God's Word is fully relevant. We do not have to make it relevant.

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Now, what does God do to a hesitant prophet? God accommodates to help a hesitant prophet.

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Despite God providing the signs and him providing the words, Moses is hesitant to accept the call.

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Yet he has no reason to bring it up anymore. So he politely refuses the commission.

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Oh, my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else you may send.

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Translation, please send someone else. I'm not the right man.

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What is God's response? So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.

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Why is God angry at Moses' response? Implicitly, Moses rejecting

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God's call is to say that God made a mistake calling

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Moses. God did not choose the right man. This is a wrong view of who

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God is. He is the self -sufficient, unchangeable, holy, all -knowing

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God who redeems His people according to His way in His time.

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However, instead of going with another man, God graciously accommodates by recruiting

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Moses' older brother Aaron. Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well.

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And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

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The all -knowing God already had Aaron in mind. Even before Moses rejected the call,

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God knew that He will recruit Aaron to support Moses so that he may be confident in His commission.

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God is never caught off guard by our hesitancy.

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Moreover, what God promised for Moses previously, He promises for Aaron as well, the new ministry partner.

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And I will be with your mouth and with His mouth. And I will teach you what you shall do.

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This is a tremendously gracious and merciful act of God that He would accommodate, that He would help, that He would support us despite our inadequacy and hesitancy.

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I mean, who are we to reject what God has called us to do? But we get scared.

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There's too much. But God graciously steps in to help.

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God could have easily zapped Moses for His denial and have chosen a better person.

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However, God was not willing to give up despite Moses' hesitancy, despite his fear, despite his initial unwillingness.

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That's the unchangeable God. He knows what He will do, and nothing can stop

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Him. And we can trust Him in that. He doesn't go for plan

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B. He doesn't have a plan B. He doesn't need it.

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Then God gives further instruction for Moses. First, Aaron will serve as a spokesperson for God's people.

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In a sense, Aaron will act as a prophet for Moses because Aaron will speak for Moses, what

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Moses has to say. Second, God reminds

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Moses to take the rod with Him to do the signs. The rod will play an important role later as God uses it to do marvelous miracles.

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Again, it shows that the miracles are not performed by Moses, but is performed through Moses.

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The rod represents God's supportive presence in Moses' ministry.

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Moses depends utterly on God for all the signs that will occur.

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Now, what does this tell us about God? First, God is merciful as He provides accommodations for His people.

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This is great because God does not expect you to be perfect because He knows that you are not

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God. You may protest, oh, but I'm not spiritually mature.

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God can still use you. You may say, I don't know the whole

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Bible well enough. God can still use you. But my past is too sinful and filthy.

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God can still use you. But I'm so broken. I don't have my life altogether.

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I have no experience. God can still use you. God is willing to use us despite our imperfections.

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The perfect God wants to use us despite our weaknesses.

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You're never too broken for God to use. You're never too useless for God to use.

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Just as a virtuoso violinist can play a wonderful symphony or concerto from a toy violin that's maybe worth $50, but he's been used to playing

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Stradivarius, which could cost millions. It can still sound like a virtuoso because it's the player, not the instrument.

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Therefore, God will find a way to use you regardless of who you are, regardless of what you've been through, regardless of what you're going through now.

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And you're never too broken for His use. You're never too worthless for His use.

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He will find a way, and our job is to surrender to Him in obedience.

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And you'd be surprised what God can do with the weak and the brokenhearted.

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Second, He will not change His redemptive plan. God's plan of salvation is never jeopardized by our weaknesses.

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Just because you're too scared to share the gospel doesn't mean the world would never hear the gospel.

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God will bring it out. Just because you're not eloquent, just because you don't have experience, doesn't mean

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God has given up on you. Doesn't mean God has abandoned you.

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He's still there. He's ready to use you. And God will save whom

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He will save through you and others. God does not depend on us to save the world.

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We depend on Him to participate in His mission to save the world.

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This is why we obey God and surrender the outcome to God. God used you to share the gospel, but the person rejected it.

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You were still faithful, and God used you. Surrender the outcome to God. You never know how

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God will use that later on because the outcome is not our prerogative.

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That is not up to us. Let God handle it. And we can trust

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Him fully with His ministries because God uses us despite our inadequacies.

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Let us pray. Father, we thank You that we worship a

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God who is fully capable, yet desires to use broken vessels like us for His great redemptive plan of the world.

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We pray that the words that we speak and the thoughts of our minds would be appropriate and pleasing to You.

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Father, we pray that we would always be ready to be used by You in any circumstances because it's not up to us, but it's up to You, the perfect God.

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In Jesus' name, amen. All right, let's stand for our closing song.

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♪ ♪

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Be still and know that I am

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God. ♪ Be still and know. ♪

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Be still and know. Show me

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Your ways, O Lord. Teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me. For You are God my

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Savior, and my hope is in You all the day long. It has been a joy to be in fellowship together today.