Sermon Notes: "God Is Calling"

Today's Sermon Notes come from the book of Exodus, chapter 3, verses 1-10

You may recognize this passage best as the story of Moses and The Burning Bush.  But the focus today was on "The Call of God".

Exodus 3:1-10 New King James Version (NKJV)

Moses at the Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

4 So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

5 Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” 6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

7 And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Now for the sermon notes:

• God calls us when we least expect it...Moses was tending his father-in-law's sheep out in the desert.
• Moses was minding his own business when an "Angel of the Lord" appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. (vs. 2)
• Moses said he would turn aside and see the great sight of why the bush was not burning (vs. 3)
• What would have happened if Moses had not turned aside to look...He would have missed the call of God on his life.
• Too many of us are too busy, only interested in the pleasures of this world...and perhaps we are missing the call of God on our own lives.
• In verse 4 God saw that Moses turned aside to look at the burning bush, and when He saw that He had Moses' attention, He called to him.  God is the Messenger.
• God got Moses' attention...Moses responded..."Here I am". (vs. 4)
• Think about this...The Lord has also appeared to us...Jesus is His Name. I wonder if we have stopped and sought the meaning of this...
• Look at Luke 11:9-10

• 9.  "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  10.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

• Have you asked? Sought? Knocked?  Moses stopped and sought to understand the burning bush.
• God's call goes out to the person who wants to know God's plan.
• Are you seeking God?

• Jesus tells us in the book of Revelation 3:20 

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

• Moses was called by name.  "Here I am", he replied.
• God knows us by name. He knows my name. He calls us by name.

Think about some the great ones of old:

• Abraham
• Samuel
• Isaiah
• Paul 
• Moses

They all responded to God's call by saying, "Here I am".

Have you responded to God's call by saying, "Here I am?"

God stopped Moses dead in his tracks and told him to take off his sandals, for the "place where you stand is holy ground"  (verse 5)

("We Are Standing On Holy Ground", with the Gaither Homecoming group)

It was Holy Ground because God was there... God is holy...separate and distinct, pure, righteous, just, eternal.  

When we are standing in God's Presence, we are on Holy Ground.  

• Be prepared
• Be respectful
• Be submissive
• Be ready to accept what we are being asked to do.
• Be ready to serve in whatever way we are asked.

Without God in our lives what would our lives be like?

In Exodus 3:7 God said to Moses:

"I have surely seen the oppression of My people 

who are in Egypt,

and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters,

for I KNOW their sorrows."

• God sees our suffering and pain. 
• God hears our cries
• God KNOWS our sorrows.

In I Peter 5:7 we are told to 

"Cast...all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."

Back to Exodus 3:8...

• God came down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians...to save them..
• God has power to deliver us.  He is more than willing to do so.

Listen to the call of Christ...He can and will deliver us.

John 8:36 

"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

You will be free indeed.  Freedom from no direction and purpose in your life...to having direction and purpose in your life.

• Have you allowed the Lord Jesus to set you free?
• God redeems us from Satan and the world.
• Heaven is so spacious--there's more than enough room for all of us.

When God calls us He expects us to respond and accept that call.

• Go out as messengers to deliver others from the ways of this world...
• I can't imagine more of an urgent call
• God is interested in us...Are we interested in Him?

Can we respond, "Here I am, Lord" ?  Right now is the time to answer that call.

Our closing hymn was "Where He Leads Me"  

MY personal notes on this message... My husband and I both discussed this sermon all the way home from church.  Husband asks me, "What did you think of that message? What does it mean for us?"  I responded, "I don't know. We've answered God's call on our lives over and over again in our lives. " We spent over 30 years in full time ministry.  We have answered the call to serve Him, we even at one time said we would go to the foreign mission field, but God said "Thank you very much, but I want you to stay here "at home" and serve Me."

So, Okay, Lord, what are you asking of us now? We are supposedly retired, but we've been waiting for Your call...actually thought we already heard it, and we have answered by putting our house on the market and making plans to move to this community where we attend church, thinking that is where You want us to be.

We don't know what the future holds...at this point we are beginning to wonder what God's plan is . Our house hasn't sold...we haven't found a home to move to either...so we wait and pray and trust that God will show us His plan in His time.

Another familiar hymn we sang this morning is one that I know I've sung so many times, usually at a point in our lives when God was about to do something, like call us to a new "mission field"...

"Have Thine Own Way, Lord"

And then to finish it off, we also sang, "I Surrender All"

I've seen this all before in my life...many times...God calls us from the "burning bush" of His Word, His Messenger, whether it be a Godly Pastor or friend, or even through a still small voice speaking to our hearts and giving us the inspiration to to stand still and listen, and look and wait for the "call".  

And we open our hearts and cry out, "Here I am, Lord..."

We know that God is faithful...and in Exodus 3:12, just as He promised Moses, He promises us

"I will certainly be with you..."

Sermon Notes: FUMC, Interlachen, FL, Pastor A.C. Myers, 2/10/2019

Please Note : I want to repeat this disclaimer here...the notes, outline, and content included here are based upon my own personal understanding of the message that was being given. I am not attempting to completely quote or reproduce this message or any other message I've shared previously. Just as each person reading these notes may glean insights and thoughts that seem to directly apply to one's own situation and interpretation, my own delivery of these messages is skewed by my hearing and translation of what is being said. Some may read my notes here and wonder if they were hearing the same message as I...and I say, God speaks to each of us as He wills...there are things He is trying to get across to each individual that may be entirely different than what the person sitting next to you in the pew is needing to hear... That is how the Holy Spirit works! He knows what we need to hear and how to apply it to our hearts. So it is with that understanding that I present these sermon notes to you.