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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Who are you?

"But Moses said to God, 'Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?"--Exodus 3:11.  This is the beginning of what should be a pretty familiar account to all of us. Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush.  At this point, Moses had risen to a position of authority in Egypt but after killing an Egyptian for mistreating a Hebrew man, Moses flees Egypt, marries and becomes a shepherd.  It is while he is out shepherding his father in law's flock that he sees the bush not getting burned up.  It is here that Moses would be commissioned to bring Israel out of Egyptian bondage and bring them back to the Promised Land.  But this is not first without a list of excuses as to why Moses does not think he is the one.  The first of which is "Who am I?" but I also want you to think about who are you?

Who are you?  As we will see in coming days Moses will have a list of excuses before he finally agrees to do what God has told him to do. My first thought is why is he arguing with God? But then I realize how often do we do the same thing?

Who are you? After Moses dishes out this excuse, God simply responds that He will be with Moses and tells him to return to the mountain where this encounter is taking place, Mount Sinai a.k.a Horeb.

So again I ask who are you? Who are we?  When you read through the account of the burning bush, you can realize that Moses was not much different than you and me in that initially there was a part of him that didn't think he could do the task of bringing God's people out of Egypt.

Who are you? Put yourself in Moses' position. What would you do if God asked you to go before the President of the United States or before Congress to maybe stop a legislation from coming through that was against His will.

Who are you? This excuse of "Who am I?" is too often used by the individual Christian as to why they won't do a particular task in the Lord's church whether it's to teach, preach, lead songs, or even go out and evangelize in the local community.

Who are you? Let's find some answers to this question.  First of all, to the world you may be nobody but to God your somebody.  You are somebody to whom He has given the ability to bring others back to Him through Christ.

Who are you? You are God's chosen tool.  We all have our different abilities. Sometimes those abilities need refining but they are still abilities that God can use to accomplish His will through YOU.

Who are you? Who are we? If we are in Christ we all have the responsibility to bring God's people "out of Egypt." Egypt in the scriptures is also used as an image for being in a state of sin.

Who are you? Finally, like Moses you are an individual.  Moses was human just like you and me. Second to Christ, Moses is one of the most supreme examples of how ONE person can make a difference in the lives of hundreds, if not thousands and has the ability to bring God's people "out of Egypt."

Who are you? My encouragement to you is this, find some area of ministry in your congregation that you may not be comfortable being involved in and get involved in that ministry.  Maybe it's as simple as leading songs. Maybe it's volunteering to lead a prayer, or say some words before the Lord's Supper.  Maybe it's preaching a sermon. Or maybe it's even evangelism in your community.  The point is we all have a responsibility to bring people "out of Egypt." The examples I just gave are a handful of ways we can do that.

So as you go about your day and your week, find a ministry with your congregation that you can get involved in or better yet you can even start a new ministry and see how you can make a difference for the Lord. Also realize that whatever you do in His kingdom, as He was with Moses, the Lord is with you. So as you go through this morning and this week, reflect on the question I asked, WHO ARE YOU?

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!  

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