I want you to turn to the book
of Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3. I want to talk
to you just a little bit about Moses. What a great leader he
was. God talked to him, you know.
He was a friend of God. That's what each of you who know
Christ are, a friend of God. And all of us in here need to
talk to Him more and hear Him talk to us. The reality of God. Experiencing God. Having God tell you stuff. You know, people you love, you
tell stuff that you don't tell other people. God tells us stuff. And always when God tells us
stuff, it's in accordance with his word, of course, and God
speaks to us directly through his word. In the book of Exodus
chapter 3, beginning with verse 1, now Moses kept the flock of
Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led
the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain
of God, even Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. And
he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush
was not consumed." By the way, just so you know, the angel of
the Lord is Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Where you find
the angel of the Lord appearing, it is those instances where the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself appears. And he appeared to Moses in a
burning bush. And Moses said, I will now turn
aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And
when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called him
out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said, draw not nigh hither,
but put off thy shoes from off thy feet. for the place whereon
thou standest is holy ground. Maury said, I am the God of thy
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. And the Lord said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt, and have
heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrow. And I am come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that
land unto a good and a large and unto a land flowing with
milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hivites
and the Ambrosites, the Perzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites
and all those otherites. Therefore, behold, the cry of
the children of Israel is, Come unto me, and I have also seen
the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come
now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou
mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of
Egypt.' And Moses said unto God, Who am I? Later on, we'll see
that's really not the question, who you are. Who am I that I
should go under payroll and that I should bring forth the children
of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, certainly I will
be with thee. And this shall be a token unto
thee that I have sent thee, when thou hast brought forth the people
out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.' And
Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children
of Israel, they shall say unto me, The God of your fathers hath
sent me unto you. And they shall say to me, What
is his name? What shall I say unto them? And
God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto
you. I'm going to give you a little
musical history today. Did you know that Sebastian Bach
wrote 256 How many of you in here knew
that? Nobody. I didn't know it either until
this week. He is considered one of the greatest of classic musicians. He wrote Jesu, joy of man's desiring. Have any of you heard that? Amen. Did you get that? Jesu, joy of
man's desiring. Jesus. What he wrote is still
one of the most popular soundtracks to one of life's most monumentous
occasions, the bridal entrance at a wedding ceremony. How many
of you knew that? Oh, great. But his cantatas did
not originate as music. They originated as prayers. before
they were songs. They came from his soul. At the top of Bach's score sheet,
before he began to write his music, he would scroll J.J., Jezu Juba, which literally meant,
Jesus, help me. And at the completion, he would
sign, S.D.G., to the glory of God alone, soli de glorias. Somebody ought to do something
here. I think we need to patent and
make our own S.D.G. bracelets. What do you think? The cry of the Reformation, the
cry of the Christian, that one singular motive in our life is
this, sole de gloria, to God be the glory. To keep in the
man is to glorify God. I wrote this in my notes. Let's
put it on every email that we send out. These initials. So people will be asking. Let's
put it on our stationery. Let's inscribe it on this building.
Let's teach it in our Sunday school classes. Let's make bracelets
with SDG on them. Let's fill our songs with it.
Let's tell it in our testimony. Let's pray it in our prayers.
Let's get Christian doctors to write it on our prescriptions.
Let's put it on dog tags, car plates. If you're going to get
a tattoo, put it on your skin. Let's brand it on cattle. Let's
engrave it on our shirt sleeves. Let's put it on auto parts. Holy
crazy, this is good stuff. What is happening in this place
is a wholly crazy thing. I've never seen it before. I've
never experienced it before. And I know that it is for one
reason. This pulpit, our Sunday school
classes and this church gives him all the glory and all the
honor and all the praise. SDG is not about what you do. It's about why you do what you
do. Ultimately, it's about who you
do it for. Your motivation matters. My motivation
matters. For fifty years, ups and downs
and trials and criticisms and being booted out of religious
societies for one reason. I guarded this. This was my motivation. To God be the glory. All of it. You know you can do the right
thing for the wrong reason. You knew that's right. You can
do the right thing with the wrong reason. SDG, to God alone be the glory,
is for an audience of one. The living applause of the nail
scarred Lord Jesus Christ. Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever,
you do, due to the glory of God. I read a chapter a few weeks
ago, and I said, one of these days I'm going to take it to
church and read that chapter. It's entitled, And God Sang,
with regard to Bach. And Mr. Batterson, Mark Batterson, wrote
this chapter. And here's what it says. To Sebastian Bach, the distinction
between sacred and secular with regard to music was false. All things were created by God
and for God, no exceptions. Every note of music, every color
on the planet, every flavor that tingles the taste bud was created
for God and by God. Arnold Sommerfeld, the German
physicist and pianist, observed that a single hydrogen atom,
which emits 100 frequencies, is more musical than a grand
piano, which only emits 88 frequencies. I know that's a little heavy
stuff, but isn't that interesting? Every single atom is a unique
expression of God's genius and creativity. And that means that
every atom is a unique expression of worship. According to composer Leonard
Bernstein, the best translation of Genesis 1-3 and several other
verses in Genesis 1 is not, and God said, He believed the better
translation is, and God sang. The Almighty sang every atom
into existence. Every atom echoes that original
melody sung in three-part harmony by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Did you know that the electron
shell of the carbon atom produces the same harmonic scale as the
Gregorian chant. Did you know that whale songs
can travel thousands of miles underwater? Or the meadowlarks
have a range of 300 notes. You see, creation was an orchestra. of God's singing. Creation cries out glory to God. Research has discovered that
we are surrounded by millions of ultrasonic songs. Supersensitive sound instruments
have discovered that even earthworms make music. Lewis Thomas put it this way,
if we had better hearing, amen to that, and could discern the singing
of seabirds, the rhythmic drumming of schools of molluscs. or even the distant harmonies
of flies hanging over meadows in the sun, the combined sound
might lift us off our feet. Someday the sound will lift us
off our feet. Glorified eardrums will reveal
millions of songs previously inaudible to the human ear. Revelation
says this, and then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth
and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them saying,
to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and
honor and glory and power forever and ever." Isn't that interesting?
Creation. The glory of God. I wish I had
better hearing now. I wish I could hear the metal
art. Give God glory. The chief end of man. I guess
for now we have to listen to Bach. The chief end of man is to glorify
God and to enjoy Him forever. And here's the bottom line on
living. A purpose-driven life. You see,
it's not about you at all. It's all about Him. SDG makes
life make sense. Your life does not make sense
unless you know it's not about you. It's about Him. You were created for His glory
and you are here for a purpose, His purpose. And when you find
out what that is, and it's very simple, it's to glorify God.
And you start doing it, life becomes thrilling, not boring. Life makes sense. Life isn't
really about success or failure. Life isn't really about good
days or bad days. It isn't about wealth or poverty.
It's not about health or sickness. It's not even about life or death.
It's about glorifying God anyway, anywhere, anyhow, whenever, wherever,
whatever. It's a way of life. So you work as a thrift store.
Glory by God. So whether you eat or drink,
you know, whatever is not my favorite word, especially the
way it's used now. Whatever. But God uses it. So whether you
eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of
God, that's in the Corinthian letter. Here's an interesting fact. Do
you know that you take approximately 23,000 breaths every day? When's the last time you said,
Praise God, I'm breathing? We forget, don't we? You breathe
23,000 times a day. Aren't you glad you do? That little mundane miracle. You ought to be excited about
everything. You ought to see God everywhere blessing you. Do you know that the process
of inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide is completely
a respiratory task that requires physiological precision. I didn't
know that till this week. Some of you nurses know that. Thank God for your breath. Even
bad breath is better than no breath. Whatever. In all things give
thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you." When Pam was in the hospital
and I didn't know that the baby was stillborn, I was at a Bible
conference. There was a group of pastors
met for special prayer for her and the baby. There was an old
pastor, as soon as he came into the room, he said, I want to
quote you a passage of Scripture, Kent. In every things give thanks,
for this is the will of God concerning you. Whatever, in all things give
thanks. Pam and I have, I think, learned,
SDG, it's the why. behind every whatever that God
has a purpose. We all have times in our lives
where we would rather have God change our circumstances than
change us. Have you ever thought that bad
things are good things in the grand scheme of things? Because all things work together
for good. Our baby would have been about
46, 47 years old. So it's still on my mind. It's
definitely on hers. But all things work together
for good to them that love the Lord. We may not understand it
quite yet, but one day we will. Have you ever thought about Job?
Well, I know Pete has. I don't know whether Pete's here
today, We talked about Job at dinner the other day. He lost
more than anyone has lost in the shortest amount of time.
Unimaginable loss. You see, but when your world
is falling apart, do what Job did. He fell to the ground. I remember when I heard that
the baby was stillborn by phone. I was in Lexington, Kentucky
trying to get my way to Charleston. I heard by phone that the baby
was dead. I dropped the phone and fell
on the floor. And here is one of my passages
in life. Naked I came from my mother's
womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has
taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised.
That's what Job said. That's really learning to live
life. You're going to have some downtime. You might as well get
ready for it. The great thing to know, though,
that this world is not my home. I'm just a passing through and
that God's got it. My fallback position is this. Nothing I possess except God gave it to me. And
it's His sovereign prerogative to give or take it away. Someone
has said everything minus Jesus is nothing. Jesus plus nothing is everything. You ought to write that down.
I didn't say that, but I've written that down. Now, I want to talk
to you about Moses. Moses, he felt he had failed
to accomplish his God-ordained dream of delivering the Israelites
out of slavery. You know, Moses was the prince
of Egypt at 40. But by the time he was 80, he
was a felon and a fugitive. I know we don't have any of those
in here. He lost his temper and killed a man, killed an Egyptian,
trying to help God. He was going to help God deliver
the Israelites. Always remember this, God doesn't
need your help. And when you put your fingers
in the pie, it could cost you 40 more years. Just butt out
and trust God. I wonder if there's anybody in
here that feels like life has passed them by. That dream that
you had is really a lost cause. I think Moses probably felt that.
I think I have felt that up until the last few years. Revival,
awakening, miracles, wonders, the presence of God. Do you know that it's never too
late to be who you might have been? I'll let you think about that
a little bit. No matter how many wrong turns you have made, no
matter how many detours you have gone down, it's God's grace that
gets you back onto the parade route. Moses was on parole. Puerola with a purpose. I call it the PP blessing. Some of you in here may be on
the PP blessing. Puerola with a purpose. I mean,
you have totally got sidetracked. Maybe you've used drugs for years.
I don't know what your situation is. But, you know, you may be
a PP person. Parole with a purpose. God is
teaching you things you would have never known. God is getting
somebody ready to pastor this church when I'm gone. I thought
this weekend may be a PP person. And then we'd add another P. Did you get that? Parole. You know, it's not a life sentence. You're
not hopeless sitting in here because God is God. He's the
great I am. So I don't care how much dung you
stirred up, how much mess you've been in. God is a God that goes
to the dunghill and finds tumble bugs and uses them to his glory
and honor and praise. You have tremendous potential
when God's in it. Not a life sentence. You just
needed 101 palace and 101 wilderness. Think about it. By the time he
is 80, he's just getting started. Oh, thank God for that. God was preparing Moses, preparing for his date with destiny. You may be sitting way back there
somewhere and you're saying things like, Pastor doesn't even know
me. I've been here for six months.
Not too many people know me. I've got a sordid past, a messed
up past. I've just been a mess up all
my life. You've been taking 101, parole
course. God's getting you ready. You
think you're the only one that smoke crack? You think you're the only one
that needs help? Oh, my goodness. Think about
what God is getting you ready for. All the devil's ploys and
all the sins of your life are a teaching school. You know, I have not always lived
in the atmosphere of success like I'm living now. I am amazed
at what's happening. I have failed so many times.
Right now, I'm having fun trying to keep up with what God's doing.
It's the first time anybody has ever called me on the phone and
said, we want to give you a million thirty thousand dollars. I've
never had that happen before. You know, I think I know that
failure is a foundation that God builds on. He's got to get you out of you
before He really fills you. And many of you have told me
this, it wasn't really until I came to the end of my own way.
It wasn't until I got where enough was enough. I can't live like
this. You see, actually failure supports
that massive structure of dependence on God. It gets you to the place
where you trust God. Think about Moses killed that
guy and then ran to the backside of the desert staring at the
backside of sheep for 40 years. 21 million minutes, 14,600 days
of staring at sheep. And then a surprise! On the backside
of the desert, after he'd been there for four years, a burning
bush! You know, I've learned this,
I have known this, and I've gone back over my life, my ministry,
the ministry, pastoring a few churches, and I've gone back
over this and, you know, I've really always thought this. God's
going to surprise me one day. I've been looking for God for
50 years. For a burning bush. For God to speak out of the bush
to me and call my name. You know, I cried out hallelujah in my
study yesterday when I said to myself, God can make a rooster
crow, a jackass talk and a burning bush talk. Isn't that something?
I wonder what God's surprise is
for you. I guarantee you if he saved you, he's got surprises
for you. The Christian life is not boring. How much is William worth? How much is his mother worth?
Look what God has done. Did you ever think, Wanda, never
in a million years, but God. God is so unpredictable, you
can almost predict it. Amen, brothers and sisters. Holy pranks, I guess, with a
providential purpose. I love his surprises. Our God
is everywhere. On the backside of the desert,
in the burning thorn bush, God is everywhere to be found. Before
you get there, He's where you want to be and where you are
at. I was reading a quote by A. W. Tozer this week. Here's what
Tozer said, an old, old preacher years ago. God is above, but
he's not pushed up. He's beneath, but he's not pressed
down. He's outside, but he's not excluded. He's inside, but he's not confined. God is above all things presiding,
beneath all things sustaining, outside of all things embracing,
and inside of all things filling. Know this and live in holy anticipation. God can invade the reality of
your life at any moment and change everything for eternity. Isn't that something? Now, here's what I do and here's
what I would encourage you to do. Mark the ground where you've
had these holy crazy experiences. Perhaps you're occupying them
presently. I am. I mark this place. Holy crazy. The bar has turned
into a vital church that's turning this city upside down. I also, after the mission had
been raided and I walked out there and claimed this place,
this is a holy crazy place. I can remember other holy crazy
places. I can remember on the Lincoln
High School football field at Nine Mile and Federal, in a four-point
stance, God saying, I'm still here and you're still called
to preach. It was a Friday night at a football
game playing Fraser High School. Holy crazy! You're on the football
field too? And I'm only 17, 18 years old. Give me a break. And in my mind, I can see that
football field just like it was yesterday. I can see myself. I know which way I was facing.
Holy crazy. See, some of you in here, you
know about God, but you've never met him face to face. You've
never had a burning bush experience. That's what will excite you.
That's what will excite you. You know what Moses said? Here's
a bush on fire and it won't go out. God has just revealed himself. And Moses goes, who am I? Manic
depressive, no doubt. Who am I? That's the wrong question. It's not about who you are. It's
whose you are that really matters. I'm God's. Is there anything
too hard for God? And that was the Lord's answer
to Moses. It's not about you. I am who I am. That's what he
said. And then he said this, and I
will be with you. When I got the phone call about
that money, and that's all it was, it was money, but it translates
into houses and helping people and so forth and so on. I said to the person that was
telling me, I want you to say that real slow. Repeat that. It was like the
guy who was in Florida and he walked into a McDonald's And
he said, can you tell me where I am? He wanted to know the name
of the city, pronounce the name of the city. And the little girl
behind the McDonald's counter goes, Kissimmee, Kissimmee. There's a Kissimmee, Florida.
Only she didn't say Kissimmee, she said, you are at McDonald's. Holy crazy places. That's all you need to know,
isn't it? That God goes with you. That's all you need to know.
The I am is with you. I just can't quit this and I
can't quit that. Shut up. You can do all things
through Christ that strengthens you. And you know, I think we've made
a booger bear around here out of drugs. Christ is bigger than
crack. No problem. If you can get it here and up
here, that you can do all things through Christ. If God be for
us, who can be against us? That is effectively, who can
defeat me if God's for me? His name is the answer to every
question. His name calms every fear, seals
every prayer, and wins every battle. At His name, angels bow
and demons quake. At His name, our sin is vindicated
and our authority is validated. Who you are is absolutely irrelevant. It's who He is. And somehow we've
got to begin to think that way. And I'll tell you, when we begin
to think the way I'm talking about today, is this place will
be full of praise. It'll be full of praise. You remember a few Sundays ago,
we talked about Moses and what he had in his hand. What do you
got in your hand? Boy, God has really talked to me about this. God said to Moses, Throw down
your staff. Are there any control freaks
in here? Not bigger than me. I try to
control everything. And God says to Kent, throw down
your staff. You know, God doesn't use us
because of us. It's not like heaven is going
to go to bankrupt if you don't tithe. You're not going to make God
bankrupt because you don't put money on the plate. But know
this. You can have faith or you can
have control, but you can't have both. Now, which do you choose? to try to control it. How's that
working for you? Controlling everything. How about
this? Have faith in God. That's what Jesus said. Now, I'm not a golfer. I promise you, I'm not. I wish
I had played golf when I was younger, but I have learned some
things because I've gone with some people who really know golf.
And you know, when I get up to hit the ball with the driver,
I always somehow think softball or baseball. So I grip that driver
like this. Yeah, yeah. Do you know that I was told just
a couple of weeks ago, now, when you get up there, hold that driver
so loosely that it almost slips out of your hand, the ball will
go further. Well, I've been gripping the daylights out of that thing.
I'm going to hit it. 300 yards. The tighter you grip,
the shorter it goes. Do you know the more you and
I try to control circumstances, the less successful we are? Hold
it loosely. God's in control of my life,
right? I'm trusting Him. Find out things
work a lot better that way. At least I have. What are you
holding on to? that you're not willing to let
go of? What's in your hand? You don't control it anyway.
Maybe it's your past. I don't know. Maybe something
you've done. I don't know what you're trying to keep it from
getting out. We already know. We've read the
Bible. You're a mess. The pastor's a mess. We're all
a mess. We already know. Let it go and
trust God. And I know some of you are here
this morning thinking, I can't make a difference. Anyway,
you know what God is going to do? And already in the past few
weeks, I've seen you pop out of your seat in this way. I think
God is calling me. That's the way it works. It's not your diplomas that really
matter. It's the call of God. In this ministry, God is going
to call from us. One of my sayings is homegrown. I found out over the years that
right under my nose are the people that we need for staff, employment
and working here right under my nose. Yeah. You're never going to make a
difference as long as you hang on to what you have. What do
you have in your hand? Let it go. Do you know that with
God, 2 plus 5 equals 5,000? I read that in the Bible. Two fishes and five loaves fed
5,000 people. Isn't that something? And then
they had what? Twelve basketfuls left over.
More than they started with. I read this week about a very
wealthy philanthropist when asked, what is the sum of your net worth? He said a figure that was far
under the reporter's expectation. The reporter said, surely the
sum total of your wealth is much more than that. And the wealthy
man answered with a smile, Oh, you didn't ask me how much I
own. You asked me how much I'm worth. So I calculated how much I have
given to charity this year. The truth is we're only worth
what we're willing to share with others. That's true. Jesus has saved you for a purpose,
called you for a purpose, and is going to use you in this ministry.
So don't come into my office talking about all the awful things
you've done and where you've been and there's no hope for
you, your past hope, your way out there. I want you to have
a burning bush experience. You hear the song about God in
the city? Greater things are yet to come.
I know it now. I've been writing this book for
20 years, Poverty Pimp. That's what the city councilman
called me years ago from the city council, from a city council
meeting. It's on tape. And I often say
to Pam, how come I can't finish this thing? And she says, because
you're not finished. And you know, I didn't believe
that. I thought it was my lack of time and excuses. But you
know, there's more things to go in that book. Think about
if I'd finished the book already, I couldn't tell about a million
thirty thousand dollars this week. Right? So. So it's not finished. And I want
you to look at life that way. And remember this, say, well,
Pastor, you know, I've wasted so many years. So have I. And the neatest person, cleanliest
person, most religious person in this building, you've wasted
so much time and you know it. So much time. Get over that. Moses was 80. God appeared. I want you to go
deliver those boys." And then he had 40 years of wandering
around what could have happened in 12 days if he'd taken the
right route. It's not too late for you. For
those of you who are here without Christ, today's the day of salvation.
You're a mess. Is there a way out? Yes, smack
dab through Jesus Christ. As you lay the shotgun down,
you surrender and trust Him and Him alone. And you begin to live
by faith and not by sight. And you trust this God who is
able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think.
I know some of you are here thinking, my sin is so high. Yes, but His
grace piles up higher. He is a greater Savior than you
are a sinner. Trust Him. Believe on Him. And then what, pastor? Upchuck
it. Come up this aisle and say to
everybody here, I've trusted Christ. I'm wild and crazy. I'm bashful. But something happened
to me. Something on the inside. I've
seen the bush burning. I've seen the one in the bush.
It's Jesus Christ. who came into this world to save
sinners. Oh, I wish you'd trust him today.
The day is coming when, on Sunday mornings, we will see multiplied
people confessing faith in Christ. And it's going to be, one of
the reasons it's going to be, is God is going to take you,
crackhead, save you by His grace, and make you a miracle. And give
you miracles. and restore your lives so you
are used of God to restore others. That's what's going to happen.
Let's stand together and praise our God.