Revisiting God's Call on Your Life - Charles R. Swindoll

you you're listening to dallas theological seminaries chapel podcast a chapel speaker today is dr. charles swindle he served as the fourth president of dallas seminary from 1994 to 2001 since then he has served as Chancellor and he is the senior pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco which is north of Dallas dr. swindle is the featured Bible teacher on the popular radio program insight for living which is aired many times daily around the world he's also the author of many books on Bible characters and topics for Christian living plus a new Bible study series entitled swindles New Testament insights his warmth his insight humor and personal transparency have made him a well-loved pastor teacher during more than 50 years of ministry Chuck and his wife Cynthia reside here in the Metroplex and in addition to their many ministry responsibilities they enjoy spending time with their four adult children and ten grandchildren and I would like you to join with me in welcoming dr. Chuck Swindoll as our chaplain well let me add my word of welcome to you who are on the campus and looking things over I understand how you feel we have all been there at one time in our lives and you are seeking the mind of God that's a big decision for you and I want to encourage you to take your time and make that selection very carefully I it's it's a long journey and it's a rugged journey it's difficult on purpose because ministry has it's difficult times as well this is great training for that with all of that in mind I want to begin by saying that all of us have shadows from our past those shadows have a way of haunting us and if we're not careful immobilizing us even paralyzing us for whatever it is God may have in mind for us in his service that's true of everyone sitting out here in this gathering of students and potential students it's certainly true of me and it is true of every person sitting on his platform we are imperfect human beings having been born of imperfect parents and all the way back to ancient days all the way back to Adam because that is true if you're not careful you will miss God's best for you so that's sort of the theme of what I have in mind and with that in mind I want to mention on the front end three of the very common perils that accompany us in life and I have in mind those of us who are ever aware of the failures of our past here's the first one and they all grow out of the stress created by knowing how imperfect we are first is the problem of intensity and intensity could be described as rushing ahead before we are sent we've all done that rushing ahead before we have been sent that's a problem related to intensity and second I would think would be insecurity the battles with insecurity brought on by retreating after we have failed and we've done that as well some of you quite likely are in a retreat mode you have blown it you have made a serious mistake or maybe a series of mistakes like that and you have chosen to retreat and you wonder if you'll ever really be used in any significant way I understand those feelings the third and perhaps the most plaguing of the three is inadequacy inadequacy and that would be described as resisting when we are called resisting when we are called rushing ahead before we are sent and then retreating after we have failed only to discover that God's plan for us is is a magnificent plan filled with hope but we resist it out of inadequacy even when we since he's calling us it was it was a FB mire the pastures of yesteryear in Great Britain written a number of biographical works as well as devotional literature who wrote this is the bitterest of all to know that suffering need not have been that it is the result of one's own inadequacy and inconsistencies that is the harvest of one's own sowing that the vulture which feeds on the vitals is a nestling of one's own rearing aren't those great words and then adds ami this is pain this is pain quite likely in a gathering of this size there are some of you who can identify with that statement and as a result you will have little difficulty understanding the struggle Moses head when he stood before the burning bush so I invite your attention to this section of Scripture in the Old Testament rather than going right to the the day of that call I'd like to look at the days that preceded it and if you hold your place at the end of Exodus chapter 2 and locate Acts chapter 7 you'll have a good parallel in the scriptures to correlate the story the thing I like about Stephens testimony in acts 7 is that he gives us a chronological a milestone along the way in Moses life for example hold your place in Exodus would sort of go back and forth to begin with and look at acts 7 verse 20 we'll read along here and get the chronology and it was at this time that Moses was born he was lovely in the sight of God and he was nurtured three months in his father's home and after he had been exposed that would include that journey and the little art across a part of the Nile where the daughter of Pharaoh found him Pharaoh's daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son look at this next verse you who are interested in higher learning and are pursuing that as a possibility in your graduate school studies look at verse 20 22 Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians he was a man of power in words and deeds and when he was approaching the age of 40 so from verse 20 down through the early part of 23 he is he is from birth to 40 okay in fact as you read that same account over in Exodus you read when when he was grown or having grown up so Stephen gets even more specific he's approaching the age of 40 it entered his mind to visit his brethren that would be the Hebrews the sons of Israel and when he saw one of them being treated unjustly he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian the fact is he murdered him he killed the Egyptian and then he thought that that would be understood by the fellow Hebrews in fact it says so here uh when he saw one of them being mistreated he he struck him down and he supposed his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him but they did not understand interesting thought here that you may not have pondered before I think Moses in some sense had the understanding at some time before age 40 that he would be involved in the delivering of the people from Egyptian bondage that's certainly what that is saying he thought they would understand that he was engaged in the deliverance and of course they didn't understand Moses hides this man he is murdered in the sand and soon is found out so he makes a a dreadful mistake to go back to earlier words he rushes ahead before he is sent and in in in the energy of the flesh he takes the life of this Egyptian and there begins a series of troubles for him now notice in verse 23 when he was approaching the age of 40 this happened and then you get down to a verse verse 27 our verse 26 on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together and he tried to reconcile them in peace so there's a fight that breaks out among the Hebrews he said men your brethren why do you injure one another the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away saying who made you a ruler adjuster or and judge over us you do not mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday do you and the remark at that remark Moses fled and became an alien in the land of Midian so he's now 40 before he is 40 these things have transpired he's gotten this great education in Egypt he has been reared by Pharaoh's daughter he is wearing the garments he knows the language he is fluent of course in in Egyptian he is he is on his way quite likely to becoming a pharaoh as he is being reared by pharaoh's daughter and then out of the blue in a rash moment he murders a Hebrew and as a result of fear he flees and becomes an alien look at verse 30 and after 40 years had passed so now he's age 80 80 I want you to keep all of that in mind when you go back to Exodus chapter 2 because it plays off of those details Stephen gives the age and I like that that helps us set the set our minds on those on those eras in his life so we we go back to a similar scene verse 14 this is when it originally occurred who made you a prince or judge over us are you intended to kill me as you killed the Egyptian Moses was afraid uh and he is saying surely the matter has become known and when Pharaoh heard of the matter he tried to kill Moses but Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian and set down by a will this is the Moses we meet in in chapter three forty years later so he comes to the median desert he meets up with the Jethro becomes his father his son-in-law marries Jethro's daughter and then he keeps his father-in-law's sheep in the desert for forty years all of this education all of this preparation and now he has become a better one if you will a sort of a wandering nomads in the in the desert of Midian forgotten obscure a set aside and convinced I'm sure by now having played the scene over many times in his as all of us do in low moments realizing his days are past so much for deliverance so much for a ministry and I want to pause here and urge you to guard against that kind of thinking because you will you will mark your life out of while God does not do that there's an old saying from the 19th century the bird with a broken pinion will never fly high again that may be true of birds but that is not true of people the Bible is filled with people who failed miserably and then were used greatly in fact I think it was a Tozer who said it's doubtful God can use anyone greatly until he has hurt him deeply if you have been hurt if you have been wounded if you have caused wounds to others you were right there in that category and who hasn't who hasn't we learned to cover that up we don't look like it we don't talk about it faculty members don't come out and tell you all of their flaws you're around them a while you see some and and you get to know them better you realize they're just human beings like the rest of us and and they qualify as those god amusing even though they have in their past times of failure bad mistakes wrong decisions they too we too have rushed ahead when we weren't sent we too have felt feelings of insecurity and we retreated like Moses at the well some kind of a sad scene in the end of verse 15 here in Exodus 2 he sat down by a well don't you wish you had his thoughts recorded for us in the next few verses he has much to learn in the in the place of obscurity and there he is verse 23 conclude includes the words in the course of those many days those are 40 years in fact a past so now we're ready for Chapter three Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law the priests of Midian and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and he came to Horeb the Mount mountain of God as a Sinai he came to this this mountain eight thousand feet in elevation he's at the base of this mountain leading these uh bullies as he has done one day afternoon it's just another day in fact a simple outline for what we're going to be dealing with would be a day verse one a bush versus one to ten a calling which would be God's words to Moses to become his instrument for deliverance and of course excuses and there are four of them I want to point out but now we are out the day days like this come and and they're never announced they're never announced sometimes they come as you're driving into the driveway at your home occasionally they come as you're walking up the steps of the school you're either thinking of attending or you're now attending some time to come as you're sitting in the library some time they come in the middle of the night you can't sleep a day arrives that will be a turning point in your life but it arrives unannounced and I urge you to be sensitive for these kind of days we all again we all have them and there will be more Moses thinks this is just another one of those another one of those days and all of a sudden something occurs you know the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush and he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire that was not unusual by the way in the hot Midian desert bushes sometime spontaneously burst into flame there dry these little dry thorny bushes that grow in that region but what is remarkable is that the bush is not consumed it keeps burning it keeps burning it continues to burn and it catches his attention it arouses his curiosity and Moses says this is speaks to himself I need to turn aside now and see this marvelous sight why the bush is not burned up now Moses has never read Exodus - okay so he doesn't know what's coming and I you don't know what's coming and in them in the midst of an unusual moment if you're not careful you'll rush right on by it because you've rushed by it before you've already pretty much marked your own life out as not that useful for the Lord in light of your past the stuff you've done things you've said mistakes you've made sins you've committed the guilt the shame and all of that stuff the enemy would keep stacking up in your mind Moses has no idea and suddenly there's a voice that comes out of a bush that doesn't burn up and as his name Moses Moses God did that with Abraham Abraham it was Sam Samuel Samuel Moses Moses now all of a sudden in the middle of the desert nobody around but sheep he hears his voice and his response I love this if you read in the Hebrew is one little tiny word inane II didn't have to put his lips together in a knee I mean when you bid with the Woolies for 40 years you got a limited vocabulary so you know you don't say a whole lot here am I send me it's me some suggested means at your service or simply behold I I'm here it's like you answer in class when you're going through school elementary school here it's me and to his absolute amazement the plan is laid out that just blew him away remember his background remember he's 80 older than everybody here except to st. and Pentecost nobody else is that old okay I'm close but I'm not there yet 80 years old in this culture over-the-hill retire get out of the way there's no place for that in God's plan and get that out of your mind some of your most effective years will be beyond the age of 70 beyond the age of 80 should God's grace give you length of days I mean Moses is just now beginning to live he's blown it up till now and a knee when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look but you loved that when the Lord saw that he took notice then he gave him his attention God called to him from the midst of the bush and said Moses Moses Here I am and he said do not come near here remove your sandals from your feet the place on which you're standing is holy ground without a word moses reaches down and unties the thongs of his sandals and steps barefoot onto the sand as he hears i'm the god of your father the God of Abraham Isaac Jacob then Moses hid his face he was afraid of look at God another reason he hid his face is that he had been so faith less before he was 40 and he remembered he didn't know what to expect this God has come back perhaps they weren't on much speaking terms we know nothing of Moses from age 40 to 80 except that he kept the flock marason has a couple of kids life sort of runs its course and now the Lord says I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters I'm aware of their sufferings I don't know how much Moses knew about it there's no internet back then there's no newspaper in the median desert I don't know how much the word had traveled he was certainly in a safe place away from the authority of the Pharaoh so news of Egypt may not have come to him maybe all of this is brand-new news the next line blows him away so I've come down to deliver them remember that Moses is never commanded to deliver the people that's God's job Moses will be the instrument of deliverance he will be the human voice of deliverance he has no power he won't act on his own it all must come from the Living God remember that you who are students and and all involved in a culture that's all about you all about us in God's work it isn't he does the delivering I've come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians to bring them up from the land to a good to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaan idea tight the Amur way and the perizzite nearby jb site termites all of them all those people are out there now behold the cry of the sons of israel has come to me furthermore I've seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them ok so far history lesson so far that's what's happening so far that's current events but now he says therefore come now I will send you to Pharaoh just like you would do or I would do certainly at this age in my life and at this stage for I have done little more than rehearse my failures that would shock me I'll send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people the sons of Israel out of Egypt with this resistance begins we are we resist when we are called because we struggle with such feelings of inadequacy the very first time I walked into chafer Chapel the summer of 1959 even though it was empty no students were here there were no summer classes back then I walked in and instantly felt intimidated I didn't come from a background of academia I didn't have all the all the stuff that regular students had they were coming in I was hoping to be accepted on probation and I was so grateful for that but I remember walking in this Chapel I remember the first time we were in this Chapel and we sang in fact I think we sang all hail the power of Jesus name which is our school song and I remember a sitting here as a first-year student with tears there's kind of a mixture of intimidation and awesome respect and fear fear I thought how on earth did all of this happen to somebody like me how on earth could I have been accepted to be a part of this student body and so I understand Moses you understand Moses let's don't cluck our tongue at Moses at verse 11 Moses said to God Who am I Moses still doesn't get it ministry isn't about you it isn't about me it's all about our God so one of your major tasks as a minister the gospel is to introduce the people God brings with you and before you and around you introduce them to God help them know the Living God the better they know the Living God the closer they will walk with him and the better will be their harmony and their intimacy with the Almighty but Moses first responder who am I remember me I mean 40 years ago remember Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt notice where his eyes are me Who am I that I should go that I should bring him you didn't hear me God could have said I've come down to deliver them I just need a voice box I need I need a warm body I need somebody who will take the staff and and do the work that I will carry on through him I just need you to walk with me and Moses said Who am I look at God's response so gracious certainly I will be with you this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you when you have brought the people don't you love when not we're going to hope against hope we really are going to work on this and maybe we're going to bring him he says when when you brought the people out of Egypt you shall worship God at this mountain you'll be right back here I will give you my word in written form it will be right here in fact he says you will worship God at this mountain I want you to be a worshipper Moses walk with me through this well then Moses starts his excuses and I've listed four of them okay they're going to sound awfully familiar Moses said to God behold I'm going to the sons of Israel and I shall say to them the god of your father's has sent me to you now they may say to me you put a lot of maize in your sentence when you're worried these is all hypothetical he hasn't gone yet he's already got a list whipped up on why he shouldn't be the one going so his first excuse is I will not have all the answers I will not have all the answers they may say to me what is his name what shall I say to them God said to Moses I am Who I am introduce them to me then get out of the way thus you shall say to the sons of Israel I am has sent me to you furthermore God said to Moses thus you shall say to the sons of Israel the Lord the God of your father's God of Abraham Isaac Jacob has sent me this is my name forever this is my memorial name to all generations go in my name you may not have all the answers but you'll have all of me and you can count on that men and women there be so many times in ministry you will not have the answers you will face situations that were not covered during your studies at this school you will not find help in some book you'll be hard-pressed to find verses that you could use to claim you'll be at the mercy of your God and He will come through it's wonderful when he does Moses has yet to learn that so as soon as God finishes saying you will have all of me Moses is ready with the second excuse chapter 4 look at this Moses answered and said what if there's a lot of what-ifs in our sentences when we're worried now what if they will not believe me or listen to what I say for they may say the Lord has not appeared to you this excuse runs like this I may not have all their respect I'm going to stand before these people and I'm going to tell them the Lord's delivering and they might say who are you aren't you the one that killed that Egyptian aren't you the one Pharaoh ran out of town if there are any of them believe who remember that and so the Lord very graciously reveals to him that he will have all of his power and the Lord shows him that by asking what is in your hand says a staff throw it on the ground threw it on the ground became a serpent moves his fled from it he said stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail he stretched out his hand caught it became a staff all of this happens right in front of his eyes right there with his own hands in touch verse 5 that they may believe that the Lord the god of their fathers the God of Abraham the god of Isaac the God of Jacob has appeared to you he gives them another sign Moses as a third excuse verse 10 oh this is so familiar Moses said to the Lord please Lord I've never been eloquent neither recently nor in time past you know what that's not true Stephen said he was mighty in word and deed Moses has forgotten or maybe by now he has cultivated of his fear has made it given him an impediment of speech you know like the King's Speech a bit and and he says I'm not eloquent I I wish you would please remove from your mind any thought of needing to be eloquent those who have ministered me to me most effectively in my life have not been eloquent preachers they've been faithful ministers of the word they have been spokesman for God who did their homework and presented the message of God in light of the needs in my life and others around me but Moses has this thing on eloquence not before nor now he says I am slow of speech and I am slow of tongue you get that way he's you know I am I've lost a step I've stacked up 40 years in the past in the desert I I'm not able to stand and speak as you need someone to speak I'm not your man now sometime you aren't a good preacher sometime your gift is not preaching and if it isn't don't force it you know do us all a favor if that isn't your gift there are a lot of other areas of ministry away from an apart from the pulpit so it's okay when I was here one of my props and preaching said he had a young man just before our class that was convinced he was a preacher and he wasn't and second year worked with him and he couldn't preach third year was almost worse and he said no my mom sent me here and she's convinced ought to be a preacher and I'm on my wife would be a breach says no you say you don't have the gift you just taught by the fourth year he's still convinced and finally the prof worked up the courage to say you may think you have the gift of preaching nobody around here has the gift of listening to you okay so you if you don't have a gift that is a part of a pulpit ministry and all that don't force it but Moses did Moses was able to do it he's just trying to talk God out of it which is an impossibility in fact he says I I do not have all the ability that's his excuse and the Lord's answer is you'll have all that's needed in fact look at verse 11 in case you have someone born into your home with congenital defects or difficulties of a physical or emotional nature look at what this says the Lord said who has made man's mouth or who makes him dumb or deaf or seeing or blind is it not I the Lord we have a autistic grandson it was a great day in my daughter's life when she found Exodus chapter 4 verse 11 and while we have a lot of mystery in fact right now they are at a doctor's office hoping to get some insight in how to how to help our little 13 year old Jonathan with his struggle with autism which by the way is a growing issue in our day but it helps to remember that this was not an accident she's no longer blaming herself for something or we for something this is a hole all part of God's plan I make man's mouth meaning note Moses look at verse 12 now go I even I will be with you I'll be with your mouth I will teach you what you are to say isn't that great you you prepare your life for what God has for you and the Lord will be with your mouth and so finally he finishes with please Lord now send the message by whom ever you wish in fact I think that's a not a great translation I checked that and I noticed that various ones render it in various ways the RSV says send I pray some other person the Living Bible says Lord please send someone else the Berkeley version says oh lord please send anyone else I think that might be the idea just send anybody you know what the Lord said I you're my choice but I'll i'm going to use aaron oh no aaron became an albatross in his life if only he had said use my mouth use my lips take me I'm yours and with the staff in his hand and the power of God verse 17 as his assistants verse 18 Moses departed returned to Jethro and said let me go that I may turn returned to my brothers who are in Egypt and mode and he said go in peace you don't know it but you are on the verge of of a magnificent future you don't have any idea what that is nor do i if I knew I would stop and tell each one of you so you would be filled with hope the Lord's plan for you is beyond what you can even imagine the same 25 26 year-old guy that sat in this seat back in 59 would never have guessed with the next 50 55 years would hold for him I would have been the last to declare that this would be true I live my life surprised I had people ask me just part of the plan I go what plan you kidding I plan about this far ahead launches in about 30 minutes i sometime look at the church God has raised up out there the low frisco where we used to go hunt dove when i was here as a student a dump i don't tell them it's a dump but back then it was a it was like a dump and look at what it is today and look at that church look at this ministry look at this stuff going out on the air I mean God's plan is magnificent Dale Galloway at a great little book called dream a new dream tells a true story of a couple that owned a little mom-and-pop store in this small town well for some reason the population grew the city and next the town and before long there was herb and renewal and nobody who offered to buy their little parcel of land but to their left there was this magnificent huge discount store that was built huge store almost a block around it to the right was a huge grocery store and hardware store combined all of them selling for prices less than their little mom-and-pop store and here they sat wondering what in the world they should do the dad had a great idea he got busy and painted a sign put three words on it stuck it on the front of their store main entrance here pretty creative huh you think those gigantic things going on around you and that have gone on behind you have disqualified you no it's all part of God's plan you're not in charge of your life you're bought with a price you serve the majestic God of heaven he will use you in ways you right now could never guess when he does tell me about it I'll rejoice with you if I'm not alive Pentecost and to Saint will still be alive write them Father thank you for your faithfulness in spite of our lack of it thank you for your grace for chasing us down when we weren't wanting you or seeking you for loving us when we were terribly unloving and unlovely for using us when we were so without worth in ourselves thank you for your favor your surprises for taking us from the pit and putting us on a rock and establishing our going putting a song in our mouth even praise to our God how we love you Father the God of Abraham Joseph Jakob Isaac Moses and all of those great lives on whose shoulders we stand how we love you in the majestic name of Jesus we reaffirm our commitment to you today everybody said

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 124,844

Rating: 4.7873135 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: sIclC4LJZt4

Length: 46min 10sec (2770 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 31 2012