WEBVTT 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:06.540 And today's message is all for the complaining and complaining, right? 00:00:07.420 --> 00:00:14.060 Those who wait for the ambulance while playing a sad, sad song on the world's smallest violin. 00:00:16.730 --> 00:00:21.920 It's about not looking at our obstacles, but looking at our opportunities. 00:00:24.200 --> 00:00:29.900 So I know as a pastor and as we heard Ed share his story. 00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:35.840 So one of the great joys of being a pastor is that you get to walk with people in the best of times. 00:00:37.860 --> 00:00:42.810 And the greatest obstacle as a pastor is that you also walk with people in the worst of times. 00:00:44.760 --> 00:00:52.140 And as a pastor, you sit in the midst of people's trials, and sometimes you're left questioning why God has this happened to them. 00:00:54.620 --> 00:01:01.620 I wish we had the ability to understand everything, terrible or bad, that happens in our lives, but on this side 00:01:01.620 --> 00:01:03.480 of eternity, we don't always. 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:13.400 But for us this morning, it's an opportunity as we face obstacles together to seek how to overcome 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:20.300 rather than change our circumstance, which a lot of times we don't have the ability to do. 00:01:20.300 --> 00:01:23.800 Maybe we should seek to change the way that we're viewing our circumstance. 00:01:26.600 --> 00:01:33.740 Paul talked about this in Second Corinthians chapter one, and I think rather than sign 00:01:33.740 --> 00:01:39.900 up for a life of difficulties, what we would choose if we had the opportunity is to live a life of comfort. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:49.720 But many times it's not the path that God has for us, and viewing our eyes or viewing life through God's 00:01:49.720 --> 00:01:56.740 eyes is incredibly important to the way that we live our life for a purpose, a greater purpose 00:01:56.740 --> 00:01:59.980 than just for ourselves Or day to day circumstances. 00:02:02.300 --> 00:02:09.300 Because, I've noticed the tendency of people as we experience harm and adversity and pain in 00:02:09.300 --> 00:02:16.600 our lives rather than begin to look at it from a new perspective and to share our pain with the world in order to encourage, excuse 00:02:16.600 --> 00:02:22.680 me, encourage other people, we become hurt and isolated and we withdraw. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:29.130 But it's interesting when you read the Bible, what God has called you to is a life of community. 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:38.100 I've oftentimes said, as we've conversed with people in our lives that, if the churches I've been a part of and the people who are experiencing 00:02:38.100 --> 00:02:47.020 pain would just pull back the curtain of their lives and begin to share that pain with each other, we would experience tremendous healing in our lives, in 00:02:47.020 --> 00:02:47.510 our pain. 00:02:47.640 --> 00:02:52.140 A lot of times we feel as if we are the only one going through that experience. 00:02:54.420 --> 00:03:01.580 Come to find out, as I've seen in ministry, it's by far the majority of people, not the minority. 00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:09.380 So I jokingly say to us as a church family, if you are abnormal, welcome because we fit right in 00:03:10.040 --> 00:03:15.300 and if you are normal, we need to stand you on stage because you are the example to us. 00:03:16.880 --> 00:03:24.040 But we know all of us are sinful and therefore make mistakes, and all of us have been marred by sin 00:03:24.040 --> 00:03:28.340 that's been lived in our lives through through other people, been pressed upon us. 00:03:29.940 --> 00:03:34.500 Paul writes in First Corinthians chapter one or second Corinthians, excuse me, chapter one. 00:03:34.500 --> 00:03:41.600 Rather than rather than viewing our obstacles as opposition to carrying out the plan for God, let's let's look at our 00:03:41.600 --> 00:03:43.470 obstacles as opportunity. 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:46.590 Rather than change our circumstance. 00:03:46.780 --> 00:03:49.340 Let's just change how we see our circumstance. 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:51.100 We have the power to do that. 00:03:53.700 --> 00:04:00.880 It says in Second Corinthians chapter one and verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God 00:04:00.880 --> 00:04:07.880 of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with 00:04:07.880 --> 00:04:10.980 the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 00:04:11.720 --> 00:04:15.160 Can I say, as we start talking about affliction, I think about the life of the Apostle Paul. 00:04:15.500 --> 00:04:21.720 If one person had the opportunity to live an isolated life and to complain about everything that's happened to him, it was Paul. 00:04:22.860 --> 00:04:27.860 All he'd ever done is given his life for Jesus, at least from the time of on the on the road that he met the Lord. 00:04:29.320 --> 00:04:30.400 And Paul is persecuted. 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:31.190 Paul is whipped. 00:04:31.320 --> 00:04:32.160 Paul is thrown in prison. 00:04:32.280 --> 00:04:32.700 Paul is beaten. 00:04:32.980 --> 00:04:34.540 Eventually, Paul is beheaded. 00:04:34.540 --> 00:04:38.320 But rather than complain, Paul says, I'm changing the way I look at my life. 00:04:39.860 --> 00:04:46.940 He says in verse five, for just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, theirs are those who choose to follow 00:04:46.940 --> 00:04:48.620 Jesus and suffer for it. 00:04:49.400 --> 00:04:52.300 So also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 00:04:53.840 --> 00:04:56.980 But if we are afflicted It's for your comfort and salvation. 00:04:58.520 --> 00:05:05.490 Or if we are comforted as it is, for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. 00:05:08.380 --> 00:05:15.900 Rather than look at the negative things in which Paul's experiencing, Paul's interest in this passage of Scripture is to see it the way God 00:05:15.900 --> 00:05:22.160 sees it, and to ask God the question in the midst of my adversity, God, how can you use this? 00:05:24.380 --> 00:05:29.320 Paul saw the adversity that he faced as a way in which God could use him. 00:05:30.900 --> 00:05:36.910 His life experience was being able to be reflected in the lives of believers and saying, look at the persecution that I'm going through. 00:05:37.020 --> 00:05:39.780 I'm finding God's comfort in this and in finding God's comfort in this. 00:05:40.100 --> 00:05:44.210 I'm going to show you how to experience God's comfort through the trials that we face. 00:05:46.200 --> 00:05:50.860 And so Paul says, rather than, if I'm in affliction, you find the reason to praise God upon it. 00:05:50.960 --> 00:05:58.190 As I praise God up in it and in my comfort, I find reason to praise God and you find reason to rejoice with me together. 00:05:59.520 --> 00:06:01.650 Whether it's the good times or the bad. 00:06:01.980 --> 00:06:07.620 Blessed be the name of the Lord and we find opportunity to praise God in any situation we have. 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:16.880 Important question we ask this morning is, do you look at adversity as an obstacle or as an opportunity to display the 00:06:16.880 --> 00:06:17.480 glory of God? 00:06:19.760 --> 00:06:22.380 Can't always answer the question why things happen to us. 00:06:22.500 --> 00:06:29.160 We can't always change our circumstances, but what we can change is how we see our circumstances and respond to it. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:34.400 Rather than run away from hurt. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:39.800 Maybe in our pain, God has asked us to help others find the joy of the Lord. 00:06:42.540 --> 00:06:45.000 How do we experience God in our troubles? 00:06:47.080 --> 00:06:54.180 How can we best use our experiences in our lives to encourage others towards God When 00:06:54.180 --> 00:06:54.940 we talk about overcoming. 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:57.140 We've gone through this four week series together. 00:06:57.700 --> 00:07:03.540 We've gone through the first couple of lessons of overcoming, overcoming our past, overcoming broken relationships. 00:07:03.540 --> 00:07:06.020 We focus on the individual, and that's what we tend to do when we're hurt. 00:07:07.200 --> 00:07:10.220 My feelings and how I'm going to overcome and the way that I feel. 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:14.520 But when we talk about overcoming in the light of who God is, God talks about it as a community and family. 00:07:16.460 --> 00:07:19.000 How are we going to do this together in light of who God is? 00:07:19.900 --> 00:07:26.900 How can we take our experience like the Apostle Paul shares here in this passage of Scripture, and be and begin to pour that into the lives of other people, to encourage 00:07:26.900 --> 00:07:28.900 them and their experience with the Lord. 00:07:30.700 --> 00:07:34.820 It's a question I want to answer today, and if you've brought a Bible with you, turn to Exodus chapter three. 00:07:40.490 --> 00:07:47.780 I'm going to use this passage of Scripture in Exodus chapter three concerning the life of Moses, to encourage us to use our experience to 00:07:47.780 --> 00:07:54.820 help the lives of other people How can I use my experience to 00:07:54.900 --> 00:07:56.230 best help others? 00:07:58.200 --> 00:08:01.880 The answer to that is I have to first encounter God. 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:07.160 How can God best use my experiences to help others? 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:10.260 The first answer to that is you have to encounter God. 00:08:12.900 --> 00:08:19.940 Paul was an individual who lived in Egypt during a period of 400 years of slavery, in which the Israelites were 00:08:20.080 --> 00:08:22.380 facing under the persecuted hand of the Egyptians. 00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:31.660 Israel would begin to cry out to God that they would be released from the bondage and experience the joy of knowing the Lord as a nation set apart 00:08:31.660 --> 00:08:32.220 for themselves. 00:08:33.880 --> 00:08:38.820 And Moses was a man who experienced much adversity for the first, especially 40 years of his life. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:41.159 And it continued to go on beyond that. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:49.880 He, as a young child, it tells us in the first three months of his life was thrown into the Nile River because the Egyptian leader, the Pharaoh, wanted to kill all 00:08:49.880 --> 00:08:51.440 young men under the age of two. 00:08:51.520 --> 00:08:54.100 And so his mother protected him until he was three months old. 00:08:54.140 --> 00:08:56.840 And once, once he got to three months old, his mother realized he couldn't. 00:08:57.060 --> 00:08:59.840 She couldn't protect him anymore from the Egyptians. 00:08:59.920 --> 00:09:02.240 So she put him in a basket and threw him down the river. 00:09:04.020 --> 00:09:11.260 Pharaoh's daughter ends up finding Moses in this basket, tells us that she takes Moses in and she names 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:13.300 him Moses, which means to draw out. 00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:19.400 Moses had a very humble name as an individual because it reminded him of where he came from. 00:09:20.700 --> 00:09:24.680 He was a nobody as a slave, thrown into a river, possibly left to die. 00:09:24.700 --> 00:09:27.760 And in that humble circumstance he was drawn out. 00:09:30.920 --> 00:09:34.840 Moses lived his life in Pharaoh's court. 00:09:36.580 --> 00:09:39.600 Moses eventually ends up killing an Egyptian. 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:43.760 He runs for his life, and he lives isolated in the Sinai Peninsula. 00:09:45.260 --> 00:09:52.540 He went from living the most lavish life in the court of Pharaoh to the most humblest life as a as a shepherd, herding 00:09:52.540 --> 00:09:54.660 animals on the side of a hill by himself. 00:09:57.340 --> 00:10:04.480 And then it tells us in Scripture, on an ordinary day, as Moses sat with the animals, tending to them, a 00:10:04.500 --> 00:10:09.560 common day in which we might find in our own lives, he encountered God. 00:10:10.880 --> 00:10:15.140 How does God begin to use our experience to encourage others to overcome? 00:10:16.340 --> 00:10:20.280 It all starts with an encounter with God. 00:10:20.500 --> 00:10:27.750 And can I just tell you this morning that we're looking at the life of a Moses because it's a prominent story, but in history, as you as you study the Old and New Testament, 00:10:27.820 --> 00:10:34.960 the common theme throughout the Bible is that God uses an individual who was of the most humble circumstances, who was unworthy 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:41.740 of God's mercy and grace in his life, and God turns him into a warrior, or her into a warrior for his kingdom. 00:10:43.040 --> 00:10:45.590 God doesn't use rock stars and superstars. 00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:54.140 God uses the common man to accomplish his purpose in this world and on an ordinary day as a 00:10:54.220 --> 00:10:54.880 common man. 00:10:55.780 --> 00:10:57.920 Bible tells us that Moses encounters God. 00:10:59.800 --> 00:11:01.260 Next is chapter three and verse two. 00:11:01.280 --> 00:11:06.860 It starts off and says, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush. 00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:10.540 I can imagine for a moment normal day feeding sheep. 00:11:10.660 --> 00:11:13.380 You turn to your left, and all of a sudden this bush is on fire. 00:11:14.980 --> 00:11:20.180 A lot of Israel is similar to or around the nation of Israel, similar to the terrain of Utah. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:25.180 And if a bush catches on fire in Utah, we know we run because everything's going to catch on fire. 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:28.420 But Moses notices this bush is on fire. 00:11:28.420 --> 00:11:32.260 And he looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 00:11:33.920 --> 00:11:35.360 And then he said, do not come near here. 00:11:36.100 --> 00:11:36.580 This is God speaking. 00:11:38.140 --> 00:11:42.440 Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. 00:11:44.440 --> 00:11:46.860 Confrontations with God usually happen like this. 00:11:46.940 --> 00:11:51.480 If you encounter the real God in your life by saying you're going to see him in a burning, burning bush. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:58.900 But when his presence is made known in your life, you feel a sense of humbleness and God is telling Moses, Moses, take 00:11:58.900 --> 00:12:04.840 off the shoes of your feet, because I want you to walk on the very dirt that you created, created from. 00:12:05.580 --> 00:12:10.980 There is a distinction between creature and creator and Moses. 00:12:10.980 --> 00:12:13.620 In these moments, you need to be humbled in my presence. 00:12:16.400 --> 00:12:21.500 Verse six, he also said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. 00:12:22.620 --> 00:12:26.840 Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 00:12:28.680 --> 00:12:35.440 How can God use me in the midst of my circumstances and experiences, to encourage others closer to the joy of the Lord? 00:12:36.920 --> 00:12:41.180 First says it always starts with an encounter with God. 00:12:41.560 --> 00:12:45.820 You know, in life you can never lead anyone further than you yourself have been led. 00:12:46.880 --> 00:12:53.960 And we're talking about using our experiences to push people in the right direction, in their relationship with God, and understanding the joy of the Lord that they can have and 00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:56.220 comfort that Paul talks about in this passage of Scripture. 00:12:56.560 --> 00:12:59.280 Well, it happens in the life of a believer who has come to know the Lord. 00:13:00.700 --> 00:13:08.000 And as they've been walked through a relationship with God, and they've allowed the Lord to lead them into a relationship with him then and being led, they know how to lead, 00:13:09.880 --> 00:13:13.840 to use your experience to help others encounter God and the joy in knowing the Lord. 00:13:14.220 --> 00:13:21.240 It starts with a relationship with God, we think, and maybe the most simplest terms 00:13:21.240 --> 00:13:23.800 babies really don't lead anyone anywhere. 00:13:26.500 --> 00:13:29.540 Think of my young son who just now starts starting to walk. 00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:35.020 If Stacey and I chose to let him make the decisions of our lives, we would have just noisy toys all through our home. 00:13:36.400 --> 00:13:36.800 Treats all day. 00:13:38.540 --> 00:13:39.920 But babies can't lead anywhere. 00:13:39.920 --> 00:13:46.980 And for us in our relationship with God, it also becomes vital to understand our experiences in light of everything and an and understanding who God 00:13:46.980 --> 00:13:50.690 is because babies can't lead. 00:13:52.400 --> 00:13:59.460 It's important for us to grow in our walks with God, to not only see it as vital for our own personal relationship and growth 00:13:59.460 --> 00:14:02.350 with God, but for those around us as well. 00:14:04.280 --> 00:14:11.700 And one of the greatest things I love about living in Utah is that I have yet to wake up in Utah and not recognize 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:18.780 the importance of a believer living in Utah, to know that I know 00:14:18.780 --> 00:14:21.180 Jesus and how important that is each and every day. 00:14:21.460 --> 00:14:23.200 To grow in that relationship with Jesus. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:30.600 Because God can really make me effective in living in this place for Christ to help others encounter 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:31.140 God. 00:14:31.140 --> 00:14:34.820 It starts with my experience with God and then encouraging others through that. 00:14:36.780 --> 00:14:42.780 I love the thought of Moses as just a common man sitting on the side of the road, tending to his sheep. 00:14:44.560 --> 00:14:48.030 It tells me that really, an encounter with God can change anyone. 00:14:49.860 --> 00:14:53.140 I love the way that I look at my own personal life after coming to know Jesus. 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:58.360 It really says an encounter with God can change anyone. 00:15:00.780 --> 00:15:05.260 I don't want to glorify the sin of my past, but God definitely gets the glory in it. 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:11.240 An encounter with God can change anyone. 00:15:12.140 --> 00:15:15.800 He can take the worst of circumstances in our lives and put them into our hearts. 00:15:16.140 --> 00:15:19.110 A new perspective to see things the way God sees it. 00:15:19.380 --> 00:15:21.440 God, I don't understand why this has happened to me. 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:23.620 I don't understand why the challenges are here in front of me. 00:15:23.860 --> 00:15:30.880 But God, let me use this opportunity to praise your name because somewhere there is somebody going through the same heartache that I've experienced in 00:15:30.880 --> 00:15:31.320 my past. 00:15:31.380 --> 00:15:33.070 And Lord, use it for your glory. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:37.880 An encounter with God will change anyone. 00:15:39.400 --> 00:15:44.000 It says in Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 31, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:45.860 That's strength you've never found before. 00:15:46.500 --> 00:15:48.400 They will mount up with wings like eagles. 00:15:48.400 --> 00:15:49.720 They will run and not grow tired. 00:15:50.140 --> 00:15:52.420 They will walk and not become weary. 00:15:53.740 --> 00:15:54.800 Because God is their strength. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:02.100 Before God can use you in this world, God has to move you for his glory. 00:16:04.300 --> 00:16:11.480 As we think about God using our experience this morning for his Kingdom and to help those in need, the starting point 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:16.620 for us is that you just kick off your sandals and stand in the presence of God. 00:16:18.620 --> 00:16:23.700 Number two, God can use my experience to help others if I share a passion with them. 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:30.680 If you go and read, you see that God had a heart for the nation of Israel and you find in Scripture, so did Moses. 00:16:32.380 --> 00:16:39.400 If you read in Exodus chapter two and verse 11 and 12, you see that Moses understood that God was going to use him one day to lead the 00:16:39.400 --> 00:16:41.560 nation of Israel out of bondage. 00:16:42.900 --> 00:16:50.060 In fact, if you if you couple Exodus chapter two and verse 11 and 12 for you Bible readers, you can make a note of this in acts chapter seven and 00:16:50.060 --> 00:16:50.760 verse 24. 00:16:50.860 --> 00:16:51.810 I hope everyone's a Bible reader. 00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:54.660 Acts chapter seven and verse 24 and the rest of the chapter. 00:16:54.820 --> 00:16:56.900 It describes Exodus chapter two and on. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:04.400 And it says to us that Moses comes before an Egyptian that's beating up the Jewish people. 00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:09.319 And Moses saw an opportunity to go in and save the Jewish people. 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:14.760 And it tells us in Exodus chapter two that when Moses runs in, he strikes down the Egyptian and he kills him. 00:17:16.359 --> 00:17:18.300 Moses was passionate for his people. 00:17:19.900 --> 00:17:22.119 God is passionate for the Jewish people. 00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:29.740 We find out as we read the rest of the passage that in Exodus two, Moses used that passion wrongly. 00:17:31.600 --> 00:17:37.590 He wasn't following his passion according to the way that God desired, and then killing that individual. 00:17:37.800 --> 00:17:44.320 Moses's hope, it tells us in acts seven, is that the nation of Israel would Israel realized that Moses was to be the leader that led them out of captivity. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:51.080 But when he killed the individual, all that he found is that the nation of Israel then turned upon him. 00:17:52.260 --> 00:17:55.360 And then Pharaoh found out that he had murdered one of his Egyptian soldiers. 00:17:55.380 --> 00:18:00.160 And so Moses had to flee away and hide what's led to him living in the Sinai Peninsula. 00:18:00.360 --> 00:18:03.520 All of a sudden finding a burning bush as a common man. 00:18:05.520 --> 00:18:12.840 God can use our experiences as we share our passions with him, and what Moses had to learn in those years that he spent in the Sinai Peninsula was that though 00:18:12.840 --> 00:18:19.830 he was passionate for the Jewish people, he wasn't passionate for the Jewish people away the way God was passionate for the Jewish people. 00:18:21.300 --> 00:18:26.800 If we desire for God to use our experiences to help others, we have to share our passion with him. 00:18:29.660 --> 00:18:35.100 Question you asked this morning is what do you love that you know God loves? 00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:41.980 What in your life do you appreciate that you also know God appreciates. 00:18:44.060 --> 00:18:51.360 Moses shared a similar passion with God, but he expressed his passion without waiting for 00:18:51.360 --> 00:18:52.500 the hand of the Lord to move him. 00:18:54.180 --> 00:19:01.220 And so the answer is, when we find a passion that God shares with us as people, that we have to see that perspective as if God sees or as God sees 00:19:01.220 --> 00:19:02.860 it, to move. 00:19:02.860 --> 00:19:09.880 When God moves in our hearts to meet the need God takes our passion, unites it with his passion, and uses it for 00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:11.230 his purpose. 00:19:13.300 --> 00:19:17.810 So we could ask ourselves, how do we know when we are really passionate about something? 00:19:19.840 --> 00:19:25.010 The answer is as you make sacrifice for it above and beyond anything else in your life. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:30.580 We often times call Jesus the week that he that he died on the cross. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:32.460 We call that the Passion Week. 00:19:33.860 --> 00:19:36.740 Passion really carries a word of suffering with it. 00:19:37.900 --> 00:19:39.940 We call it the Passion Week because Jesus suffered. 00:19:40.760 --> 00:19:45.380 He sacrificed for this above and beyond anything else because this was important to him. 00:19:46.760 --> 00:19:49.540 Jesus died for you and for me. 00:19:50.820 --> 00:19:55.020 What are you passionate about in your passion? 00:19:55.420 --> 00:19:57.660 Allow God to change your perspective. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:01.780 A couple of weeks ago we had a friend visit from. 00:20:01.960 --> 00:20:08.160 He lives a little over an hour away, and when I first saw him a few years ago, he was new in his relationship with God. 00:20:09.240 --> 00:20:11.420 But man, he was on fire for God. 00:20:11.500 --> 00:20:15.340 You couldn't stop him from studying his Bible, asking God what he wanted to do in his life. 00:20:15.620 --> 00:20:20.770 And he came and visited just a couple of weeks ago, and we were talking about how his passion for the Lord has continued to grow. 00:20:21.220 --> 00:20:26.200 And he carries a passion for God, and he loves people, but he's also a mechanic and he loves cars. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:31.440 And so he decided in that passion that he would he would take his ability to work on cars. 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:34.860 And once a month he's going to open up his garage and he's already doing this. 00:20:34.860 --> 00:20:41.940 He opens up his garage to single mothers who can't afford to fix their car, and he uses his love for people and love for God and his ability 00:20:41.940 --> 00:20:46.420 and passion as a mechanic to unite all those things to serve the Lord. 00:20:48.180 --> 00:20:50.480 How can we best use our experience to help others? 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:59.780 It starts with coming to grow in our relationship with God, and it's shared in our passion that we have the 00:20:59.840 --> 00:21:01.510 same passion that God has. 00:21:03.100 --> 00:21:05.100 God can best use my experience for him. 00:21:05.180 --> 00:21:09.700 Point number three when I learn God is bigger than my inadequacies. 00:21:11.760 --> 00:21:15.000 Do you read on the passage of scripture you think what it means to be a common man? 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:16.840 Just the average Joe. 00:21:17.700 --> 00:21:20.360 You really don't feel great at anything, right? 00:21:20.840 --> 00:21:24.360 You just do everything pretty good, but nothing incredibly well. 00:21:25.340 --> 00:21:27.260 Just a run of the mill average, average guy. 00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:30.040 And that's the way Moses felt. 00:21:31.900 --> 00:21:36.660 It says in Exodus chapter three and verse ten, therefore come now and I will send you to Pharaoh. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:40.740 This is God talking so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt. 00:21:41.520 --> 00:21:46.360 But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:52.580 And he said, certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. 00:21:53.620 --> 00:21:57.400 When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at his mountain. 00:21:59.040 --> 00:22:03.250 Moses had one simple question about the ministry that God was calling him to. 00:22:03.960 --> 00:22:04.440 Who am I? 00:22:05.700 --> 00:22:08.180 I mean, isn't there somebody better to do the job right? 00:22:08.180 --> 00:22:11.240 God, don't we in America we just leave those things up to the professionals. 00:22:12.900 --> 00:22:16.680 And God reminds Moses that it doesn't matter what you're capable of. 00:22:17.020 --> 00:22:17.720 I am with you. 00:22:18.980 --> 00:22:22.400 If I've called you, then I will fulfill the calling that I've placed upon you. 00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:25.160 God doesn't use superstars. 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:29.440 He uses the average person to fulfill his needs in this world. 00:22:30.660 --> 00:22:33.020 Moses was struggling with trust. 00:22:35.620 --> 00:22:40.980 Question that Moses was asking is God, how big is this obstacle? 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:47.250 The question Moses should have been asking is how big is my God? 00:22:49.600 --> 00:22:52.300 Yeah, think of one of my favorite verses as a pastor. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:57.660 And all of Scripture comes in second Corinthians chapter, chapter 12 and verse nine. 00:22:59.880 --> 00:23:07.100 When you make a decision to step out and serve the Lord with your life, and to use your experiencing and relationship with 00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:14.860 God to encourage other people to relationship with God, it's not always an easy step at first, especially 00:23:14.900 --> 00:23:17.480 when it's a new step, right? 00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:22.460 Sharing with your extended family that you're going to move across the entire country to come to Utah to start a church. 00:23:23.600 --> 00:23:24.880 It's crazy. 00:23:26.980 --> 00:23:29.780 Unless God is really moving in your heart and in your life. 00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:39.540 I love this verse in Scripture because it reminds me that this verse is here for coward Christians about 00:23:39.540 --> 00:23:46.080 to do big, big things for God because they've come to a place like this in the Bible and they've answered the question. 00:23:46.600 --> 00:23:51.040 It's God, it's not how big my obstacle is, it's how big you are. 00:23:51.140 --> 00:23:58.160 If you've called me to this task, whatever the ministry is, and Paul and his own ministry, you think of everything that 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:05.400 the Apostle Paul has accomplished in all of Christianity, getting the gospel from Jerusalem all the way to Rome 00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:12.510 in just a few decades, proclaiming the name of Christ and going to jail and seeing churches planted all over the known world at the time. 00:24:13.480 --> 00:24:14.440 What did this guy say? 00:24:14.600 --> 00:24:16.660 I mean, he was a professional at this stuff. 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:19.160 He knew how to share his faith with people. 00:24:19.160 --> 00:24:20.760 He knew how to use his experience with people. 00:24:20.760 --> 00:24:22.200 He was super Christian, right? 00:24:23.540 --> 00:24:25.310 And Paul makes remarks like this. 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:33.910 He said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. 00:24:34.620 --> 00:24:35.460 Most gladly. 00:24:35.460 --> 00:24:40.740 Therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 00:24:43.020 --> 00:24:50.240 So when God is calling you to use your experience to serve him, God doesn't expect you to feel super powerful. 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:55.590 God expects you to just trust in him because he's powerful. 00:24:57.900 --> 00:25:04.780 Paul says, in all the ministry that I've done as a believer following Jesus, I found the best place to be when I'm serving Christ is when I'm weak. 00:25:06.260 --> 00:25:12.260 The reason Paul felt best when he was weak is because in those moments, he really knew how much he needed to trust in God to meet the need. 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:18.280 The question isn't how much do you have to meet the needs of people? 00:25:18.280 --> 00:25:19.640 But how big is your God? 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:26.240 Remember Moses and these circumstances, how it all began? 00:25:28.360 --> 00:25:30.190 It wasn't because he was anything special. 00:25:30.520 --> 00:25:33.700 He was just a sheepherder on the side of a hill. 00:25:35.500 --> 00:25:42.860 But God decided he wanted to move in the life of Moses to use him, and his grace would be sufficient to meet the needs. 00:25:44.660 --> 00:25:49.050 How can God best use my experience for him and for his glory? 00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:53.040 Or why does God want to best use your experience for Him and His glory? 00:25:53.100 --> 00:25:53.820 Let me just give you the last point. 00:25:55.320 --> 00:25:56.430 It's because it makes sense. 00:25:58.440 --> 00:26:05.630 It makes sense that God would choose to work miracles through people, to meet the lives and the needs and the lives of other people. 00:26:07.040 --> 00:26:09.820 God uses anyone that's willing. 00:26:11.300 --> 00:26:13.120 You remember the King David? 00:26:13.120 --> 00:26:15.780 He was just a shepherd as well. 00:26:16.940 --> 00:26:24.280 King David became the king of all of Israel, one of the most powerful kings to ever rule the nation under his son 00:26:24.280 --> 00:26:28.840 Solomon, being the first, most powerful and glorious out of all the kings that Israel had. 00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:32.680 And it says in first Samuel chapter 13 and verse 14. 00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:37.700 The reason that God was able to use him as that David was a man after God's own heart. 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:41.320 David was an incredible warrior for Jesus. 00:26:41.340 --> 00:26:48.340 In fact, when Samuel went to find King David because he knew that David was going to be King of Israel, and he was as a prophet was supposed to 00:26:48.340 --> 00:26:49.960 anoint David for that position. 00:26:50.360 --> 00:26:57.480 He went through all the sons of Jesse, all the sons of Jesse, looking for the future leader of Israel, and the last one that he came to because he thought he was 00:26:57.760 --> 00:26:59.980 least capable of the job was King David. 00:27:01.540 --> 00:27:05.960 And yet God had chose to work through David because David was a man after God's own heart. 00:27:07.660 --> 00:27:09.220 Isaiah and his great call as a prophet. 00:27:09.360 --> 00:27:14.740 It tells us in Isaiah chapter six and verse eight he says, here am I, Lord, send me. 00:27:15.720 --> 00:27:21.260 If you just see just a few verses in the comments that Isaiah had made before God, before he said, God use me. 00:27:21.260 --> 00:27:28.460 He says, I am a sinful man, and I deserve death before God and in his sin, and in knowing that he deserves death before 00:27:28.460 --> 00:27:34.160 before a vengeful God, because of his sin, he says to God, God, just send me, just use me. 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:44.620 Peter, Andrew, James and John tells us in Matthew chapter four, When Jesus walked by 00:27:44.620 --> 00:27:48.580 them, he said, come after me, I will make you fishers of men. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:57.100 Peter, Andrew, James and John were all fishing that day because that was their job, and they dropped everything and just followed after Jesus. 00:27:59.520 --> 00:28:06.470 The point is that God uses us because it makes sense, and God uses us as we are willing to follow. 00:28:08.600 --> 00:28:11.880 It makes sense that God relates to people through people. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:13.760 You think about the way we can relate to Jesus. 00:28:13.800 --> 00:28:16.740 We only relate to Jesus because Jesus has related to us. 00:28:17.580 --> 00:28:24.620 The reason God calls the Christians to share the gospel, the church to go out into this world, to proclaim the name of Christ, is because you understand how God has 00:28:24.620 --> 00:28:26.180 saved your life better than anyone else. 00:28:26.840 --> 00:28:28.060 Who better for that task? 00:28:28.740 --> 00:28:31.750 The reason that God has called us to go into this world as a church and make disciples. 00:28:32.040 --> 00:28:37.740 Because you follow after Jesus, it only makes sense that God would call you to minister in this world for his kingdom. 00:28:38.620 --> 00:28:40.300 God is a God that makes sense. 00:28:42.220 --> 00:28:46.870 And picking Moses for this job, though he was a humble man, it made sense. 00:28:48.540 --> 00:28:51.100 Moses was born a Jew and so he could relate to the Jews. 00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:56.560 Moses grew up in Pharaoh's court, and so he understood the Egyptians and the political culture. 00:28:57.880 --> 00:29:01.660 Moses ran away into a desert after killing an Egyptian who attacked the Jews. 00:29:01.960 --> 00:29:06.830 And so we understood that though his passion was wrong, Moses loved what Jesus loved, which was the Jewish people. 00:29:07.820 --> 00:29:11.040 Not only that, but Moses knew how to live outside of Egypt. 00:29:12.260 --> 00:29:15.440 He had wandered in the wilderness, the place that the nation of Israel would be called. 00:29:17.600 --> 00:29:19.830 He knew what it was like to be an outcast from society. 00:29:20.440 --> 00:29:22.480 He had been humbled through his circumstances. 00:29:23.660 --> 00:29:30.840 It made sense that God would use the life of Moses and his experience to lead the nation of Israel to the Promised 00:29:30.840 --> 00:29:30.940 Land. 00:29:33.040 --> 00:29:34.800 What made Moses good for this job? 00:29:36.900 --> 00:29:37.980 He had a heart for the Lord. 00:29:39.500 --> 00:29:40.820 He loved people and he loved God. 00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:44.600 He had an intimate knowledge of the Lord. 00:29:44.700 --> 00:29:46.380 He had encountered him and experienced him. 00:29:46.600 --> 00:29:51.220 He had kicked off his sandal sandals and just sat at the presence of God. 00:29:52.700 --> 00:29:57.360 He had experienced that he was willing to use, and in his weakness, though, he felt inadequate. 00:29:58.160 --> 00:30:00.080 He knew God was strong. 00:30:01.940 --> 00:30:04.540 Moses didn't think his situation made sense. 00:30:04.580 --> 00:30:05.980 He said to the Lord in verse ten. 00:30:05.980 --> 00:30:07.810 God, why in the world are you sending me? 00:30:07.900 --> 00:30:08.520 But to God? 00:30:08.520 --> 00:30:11.920 It made perfect sense that he would use people to reach people. 00:30:14.740 --> 00:30:21.920 Moses had to change his perspective rather than look at his circumstance through his own eyes, and rather 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:24.220 than complain about the situation he was placed in. 00:30:25.600 --> 00:30:28.630 Moses had to look at his experience through God's eyes. 00:30:30.380 --> 00:30:37.520 I love the way that Peter refers to it in acts chapter three tells us, after Peter preached this incredible sermon and thousands 00:30:37.520 --> 00:30:39.120 of people come to know the Lord. 00:30:39.120 --> 00:30:40.510 It tells us that he goes to the temple. 00:30:40.840 --> 00:30:46.200 And outside of the temple there is an individual who's a beggar, and he's lame and he's and he's asking Peter for money. 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:50.470 And Peter says to him, silver and gold, have I not? 00:30:50.520 --> 00:30:52.340 But that which I do have, I give to you. 00:30:52.700 --> 00:30:54.480 Stand up and walk in the name of the Lord. 00:30:56.720 --> 00:30:59.010 You know that's all God calls us to do. 00:31:00.560 --> 00:31:07.580 We go into this world, and we may not be able to meet every need, but the needs that we can meet. 00:31:07.900 --> 00:31:12.600 God calls us to fulfill rather than complain. 00:31:13.620 --> 00:31:14.500 Why me to God? 00:31:16.560 --> 00:31:23.000 We should look at a place in our lives where we can say, Lord, how can you use this obstacle as an opportunity? 00:31:24.980 --> 00:31:29.340 God, rather than play that sad sad song on the smallest violin in the world. 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:34.600 How can you receive glory through the situation in which I'm facing? 00:31:36.840 --> 00:31:44.920 If we could pull back the curtain of our lives and even reveal maybe just some of the pain that we've experienced in our lives, it 00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:50.260 can be a tremendous encouragement to the lives of other people as we continue to seek the face of God through it. 00:31:52.340 --> 00:31:56.430 How can we look at our situation and see it the way that God sees it? 00:31:57.660 --> 00:32:02.160 Do you know for the life of Moses from this point forward, it wasn't going to be easy. 00:32:03.560 --> 00:32:08.620 God led the nation of Israel out of the land of Egypt for the purpose of going into the Promised Land. 00:32:08.660 --> 00:32:13.310 But you know, Moses never got to lead the nation of Israel into the Promised Land. 00:32:14.560 --> 00:32:19.000 For the next 40 years, Moses walked in the desert with these people while they just simply complained. 00:32:21.280 --> 00:32:23.890 But Moses was faithful to what God had called him to do. 00:32:25.700 --> 00:32:30.880 How can God best use my experience to help others overcome the fear starts with knowing God. 00:32:32.360 --> 00:32:39.560 To know him and to kick off your sandals and just sit at his presence and enjoy the way that God wants to comfort you in your life. 00:32:39.660 --> 00:32:41.480 That way you may begin to comfort other people. 00:32:42.220 --> 00:32:44.420 As Paul even wrote in first Corinthians. 00:32:44.420 --> 00:32:46.060 Second Corinthians. 00:32:46.260 --> 00:32:48.240 Second is to share your passion with God. 00:32:48.680 --> 00:32:54.420 I'm not saying share a passion with God, but share your passion with a passion in which you know God has. 00:32:55.400 --> 00:32:56.540 What do you enjoy doing? 00:32:56.540 --> 00:32:56.820 It could be. 00:32:57.080 --> 00:32:58.560 It could be a love for a person. 00:32:58.560 --> 00:32:59.350 It could be a love for people. 00:32:59.420 --> 00:33:00.330 It could be a love for cars. 00:33:00.660 --> 00:33:05.500 Whatever it is, share that passion with God that God may use it for his glory. 00:33:08.080 --> 00:33:14.330 Know that you're inadequate without God, but trust him to meet your needs. 00:33:16.220 --> 00:33:24.880 And finally, remember, it makes sense that God would use people to reach people Editor 00:33:25.360 --> 00:33:32.440 was a man who we saw in the very beginning, faced tremendous challenges in 00:33:32.440 --> 00:33:32.780 his life. 00:33:35.580 --> 00:33:42.620 But he was a man in the midst of those challenges who found a way to praise the name of the Lord and to help people 00:33:43.540 --> 00:33:44.280 draw near to God. 00:33:45.580 --> 00:33:46.140 And he didn't give up. 00:33:49.360 --> 00:33:53.530 As a pastor this morning, I got to tell you, these last two messages that we've looked at and overcoming. 00:33:54.840 --> 00:34:02.120 I've never had this happen to me in my life, but in writing and just thinking about experiences of people that I've been with as a pastor, I 00:34:02.120 --> 00:34:05.560 would be thinking about this message and just start bawling and have to walk away. 00:34:07.520 --> 00:34:15.400 I couldn't even see my page anymore because I know pain in this world is real, and I know our people here 00:34:15.400 --> 00:34:16.620 and anywhere of ministry. 00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:20.020 I've just seen people walk through a lot of pain in their lives. 00:34:22.179 --> 00:34:27.100 And what I'm saying to you this morning is rather than take all that pain and just focus on me. 00:34:28.500 --> 00:34:33.239 Open your eyes a little bit and see that there is a world that has needs just like you. 00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:35.100 And you know Jesus. 00:34:36.900 --> 00:34:39.080 And Jesus has overcome this world. 00:34:40.540 --> 00:34:45.760 And no matter how bad today may seem, you have a hope of eternity waiting in front of you. 00:34:46.900 --> 00:34:54.360 And that is not a message that makes us as people have to withdraw or become isolated, but just run into this world in the midst of our pain and just say whether 00:34:54.360 --> 00:35:01.520 I am going through pain or whether I am going through joy, I'm going to praise the name of the Lord and show you a way to find God in the midst of 00:35:01.520 --> 00:35:02.160 all this. 00:35:04.340 --> 00:35:11.540 God has called us to so much more than just focusing on ourselves and our own personal need, and our own personal hurts, but to get with a body of Christ 00:35:11.540 --> 00:35:19.260 and encourage to God, and to get with people who are broken and encouraged them to God, because 00:35:19.460 --> 00:35:22.020 God's joy can satisfy.