Pastor Bob Carroll talks about Moses' perspective as he chose to identify himself with the people of Israel rather than as the son of Pharoah's daughter. This is the last message in this series.
Pastor Sieg Koslowski, senior pastor for 20 years at Northgate Baptist Church, delivered today's message on Father's Day. How Much More? with the text from Matt 7:9-14.
This message (readings Heb 11:23-28; Ephesians 1,2) speaks to us about being authentic. It is so easy to put on an act/face when God calls us to be real.
Courage In The Face of Fear Part 7: “Courage to be Our True Self” Hebrews 11:23-28 and Ephesians 1,2 Intro – Moses is one of my favorite Bible characters…for many reasons, but most recently, because he is an example of great courage in the face of fear… Moses was a courageous man…there are only three instances recorded in the Bible when Moses was afraid: 1. when he killed the Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave Ex. 2:14 – became afraid that he’d be found out so he fled from Egypt… 2. at the burning bush where God appeared to Moses Ex. 3:6 -he was afraid to look at God…hid his face… 3. on Mt. Sinai after receiving the two stone tablets with the 10 commandments…coming down finding the Israelites worshipping the golden calf…Dt. 9:19 says that Moses feared the anger and wrath of the Lord for He was angry enough with the Israelites to destroy them for their sin… Each of those are pretty healthy instances of fear… …you may think I missed one…what about his reluctance to go and lead the people of God at God’s request…when he repeatedly tried to talk his way out of God’s call to go and confront Pharaoh? …but if you look at the story, it isn’t necessarily fear that caused him to be a reluctant leader, it was more his sense of unworthiness and brokenness and awareness of his own limitations… -he just needed a renewed encounter with God and the assurance of God’s call and equipping…and a supernatural sign…which he got from the Lord and then he obeyed and took on one of the most challenging leadership roles in all of history…and did it with courage, faith and humility… This morning it is my hope and prayer that the life of Moses and his courage will inspire us to be courageous men and women of God… To that end I want us to look at a summary of Moses’ life found in Heb. 11…that I believe gives us some helpful insights into how Moses found courage…how he became courageous…insights that God wants to use to increase our courage and boldness for Him in the living of these days… -turn to Heb. 11:22-28…Prayer…Read… Now the greatest insight we are going to gain today on courage from the life of Moses is this: Biblical courage is profoundly theological and belief-based before it is behavioral. -in other words, courage does not come from doing courageous things…its source is not in doing courageous acts…rather, the source of biblical courage comes from a belief system inside a person which results in courageous actions… Moses’ life makes this abundantly clear. Please keep in mind the oppressive conditions in which Moses found courage…Israelites are slaves in Egypt, brutally mistreated, all their rights taken away…used as objects to serve the Egyptians and then discarded when their usefulness expired…400 years of this brutality…Moses’ courage certainly did not come from his circumstances… The circumstances of that time produced fear…hopelessness and defeat…but it didn’t in Moses…it produced the opposite: God-given courage…why? we’re going to find out why… Remember that God specializes in confounding the world by raising up a bold and courageous people who will not be beaten down by this world’s intimidation and bullying and fear-mongering…who will not let the circumstances of life and this culture control us with fear. Remember the world shouts at us, “Be afraid, be very afraid…” But God says the opposite: “Do not fear; do not be afraid. I am with you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand”. There are Four Secrets to Moses’ Courage …we are going to look at only the first one today: 1. He learned to embrace his true self vs. the false self vv.24-25 -embraced his identity in God instead of his Egyptian royalty… -profoundly theological and biblical… Moses realized that he was not really the son of Pharaoh’s daughter…even though he was told that his whole life… He realized being the Prince of Egypt was not his true identity. Even though it was the only life he’d known since infancy, this favored life in the palace of Egypt… it wasn’t who he really was. At some point in his young adult life, no doubt reminded by the Lord of his identity taught to him by his godly parents during his formative years, God showed Moses who he really was: one of God’s people; part of God’s chosen and called ones; a person who belonged to God… (* speaks to our concern about YA’s these days…households of faith…underscores the importance of children’s and youth ministries…) …and based on this theological reality of Moses’ true identity, he was given the courage to be who he really was… …even though that decision cost him all the privileges and pleasures of the good life in Egypt… When Moses embraced his true self as a child of God, he found courage…the courage to be mistreated along with God’s people in slavery, to be disgraced for the sake of Christ…to renounce his false self and embrace his true self. …Courage comes when we embrace our true self, who we are in Christ…Moses’ belief in his true, God-given self led him to courageous obedience…the same is true for us. Our False and True Self So who are you really? what defines your life? what’s your identity? What is your true self? For many people, many fine Christian people, who we think we are is defined by the many roles and responsibilities and titles and characteristics that we work hard to develop… Our social culture reinforces this identity through marketing, media, and constantly lifting up false images… • the musician, athlete, smart one, top of the class (bottom of the class), the beautiful one (or the un-beautiful one), whatever our career is: the nurse, doctor, teacher, successful business person, the handyman… • the funny person, kind and helpful person, the difficult person, the people person, the task-driven person… • our identity can be less noble: the sick one, the disabled one, the unpopular one, the damaged one, the black sheep… • can even have a religious identity: the faithful church worker, willing volunteer, the generous giver… The false self is what you want people to see…it’s an identity constructed by ourselves…often with the help of other people who will confer an identity upon us… The false self is what defines you, gives you your sense of identity, sense of value and worth…apart from Christ…but is that who you really are? …please understand that most of these roles and responsibilities and titles and characteristics aren’t wrong in themselves, in fact they’re mostly quite good…but even when good and noble things and accomplishments define us, apart from Christ, we are still in danger of embracing a false self… …when the false self is working for us…getting the affirmation and value we crave, it feels life-giving…but it’s a false sense of satisfaction because it’s built on a false foundation…it’s self-made instead of God-given…so it won’t last…God won’t bless it… Brenner’s Chart of False Vs. True Self… -to help you further understand the difference between the false self and the true self take a look at this chart…from David Brenner in his book The Gift of Being Yourself… eg. God has been speaking to me recently about my false self vs. my true self…read selections from journal… Now, the point is: when we try to keep living out of the false self…protect that false self, nurture that false self, we will be susceptible to all kinds of unhealthy emotions, including fear…because we have to work hard to keep up that image…we’ve got a lot to lose if the false self we’ve worked so hard to develop gets exposed or cracks begin to show… Finding the True Self So how do we find our true self? how do we come to accept our true self and live as our true self? I asked this very question of God and here’s what He said… eg journal entry…and here’s where He took me… Eph 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. Eph. 2:1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. That is our true self…who God has created us to be…and when we believe it and live out of it as our foundation…then we find the freedom to overcome all kinds of unhealthy attitudes and behaviors, including fear…and then we can go back to our roles and responsibilities and titles and characteristics, but now without the need to use them, hide behind them to give us our value and worth… …let me give you one more amazing verse of scripture that connects all the dots… Rm 8:15… The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” For me, the most effective way to embrace my true self, is to hear God tell me who I am…to say to me, “you are My child and I am your Father”…”this is My son whom I love…” Conclusion Do you need to embrace your true self and let go of your false self? Just like Moses, you’re on your way to finding courage when you live as your true self…when you embrace who you really are in Christ…With the help of the HS, will you choose to do that today?…Let me pray for you…(stand) Intro – eg. Bruce Wilkinson story about the three slides…
Today God wants to speak to us about going on the big slide…the one we’re afraid of…but the one on which awaits a great step of faith and adventure with God that we have yet to experience… -let’s face it, many Christians spend their lives on the small slide…where it’s safe, easy, predictable, not very challenging…less Christians spend their lives on the middle-sized slide…but very few are on the big slide… What is the big slide? It’s the place where our faith is challenged and stretched…where we do something for God that involves risk, some unknown…something we can’t predict or control…something that could fail…something that is too big for us to do on our own… The big slide is where we choose to make Jesus the King of our hearts and let Him be Lord…where we deeply surrender our lives to the Lord and let Him be in charge of our lives and become the center of our affections… And what’s holding us back from life on the big slide? or even a bigger slide? For many of us, it’s fear…(or lazy, selfish, tired…)…we’re afraid of surrendering ourselves more deeply to Him…we’re afraid of doing something challenging for God…afraid of failing, of being disappointed, of being embarrassed…afraid of all kinds of things… …we’re afraid of letting God be in charge of our lives and having him call the shots instead of us… Peter, the great disciple of Jesus, overcame his fear of the big slide and took a step of faith that changed him forever… Let’s read his story and let God call us today to overcome our fear of serving God in new and challenging ways…our fear of letting Him be the Lord and King of our lives… …turn to Mt. 14:22-33…Prayer…Read… The most important question we can deal with today is: how was Peter able to overcome his fear of the storm and the impossible and step out of the boat and walk on the water? How was he able to go down the big slide? There were 4 things that took place that enabled Peter to overcome his fear and experience something no other human being in all of history has…the thrill of walking on water…those same 4 things can enable us as well to get off the small slide and onto the big one…the one that requires faith and trust and obedience…the one Jesus is on and is inviting us to join Him for the adventure of our lives… 1. saw a supernatural God v.26 -the disciples saw Jesus doing something supernatural…humanly impossible…they saw Him walking on water…and it terrified them… -if we’re ever going to get off the small slide, it will be because we see a God who is already on the big slide…who shows us that He is not bound by human limitations, logic, by fear… -that He is a God of miracles, of the impossible, of all power, strength and authority… And when we see God in this way, we too will begin to realize that we can follow Him out of our safe and small life…and get on the medium slide and even the big slide…because He is there and invites us to follow Him into a life of faith… You want to follow Jesus more courageously? Then you’ve got to spend more time with our supernatural God…that comes from reading the four NT gospels…it comes from hearing stories of Jesus-followers who have stepped out in faith based on their belief in a supernatural God…eg Pastor Nathan…comes from being one of those stories yourself… 2. listened to His “courage-giving” voice v.27 -Jesus’ words to His terrified disciples are so comforting and courage-giving… “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Don’t you see how these simple but powerful words from Jesus awoke something in Peter, stirred his heart…spoke courage to him…”if this supernatural God is calling out to me, speaking to me, then I want to respond and get out to where He is…I want to walk on the water…I want to go on the big slide…” eg. for those of you facing a storm right now…easy to focus on the wind and waves and be afraid…the place to find peace is by looking at Jesus and listening to what He says… Many of us get talked out of a life of faith by all the human voices that clamor for our attention…including our own… “don’t be ridiculous, that’s too risky…where’s your common sense…don’t do something you’ll regret…what will so and so think?…what will your family and friends say?… As I’ve said many times, the challenge for faithful followers of JC is: whose voice are we going to listen to? which one will we be swayed by? it’s hard to filter out all the human voices…or at least turn down their volume so we can hear the voice of God speak louder…takes focus and intentionality… Jn 10:27 “My sheep listen to My voice…and they follow Me.” 3. asked Jesus to give him supernatural faith v.28 “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water…” “Lord, help me to be courageous like you…help me to be set free from my fear and my human limitations…help me get on the big slide with You…” -what a bold prayer!…it expresses both desire, willingness… and an admission of our own inability… “Lord I want to follow You into the unknown, but I can’t on my own…just like the 5 year old in the playground: ”It’s too big for me…I can’t do it without you Dad”… God is just waiting for us to pray a prayer like that to Him…because that’s all the invitation He needs to fill us with the right amount of courage and faith to take that first step out of the boat and onto the big slide… “Lord…tell me to come to You…” -what would it mean for you to pray a prayer like that to Jesus? For some of you: • signing up for that missions trip • volunteering for that ministry • speaking to that neighbor • getting to know that person in our church from a different culture • having the hard conversation you’ve been putting off • making things right with a loved one • sharing the gospel with that person God has put on your heart… • it’s a endless list of possibilities… It means getting on the big slide, where God is waiting…and seeing how He will bless you and use you and do great things through you… -you just have to take that first step of obedience… The Step of Salvation For some of you, that first step of obedience is to come to Christ for salvation…to leave your boat of self-made religion…the self-atonement plan… ”Lord save me!” 4. took the first step of obedience v.29 -Peter put his leg over the side of the boat, and stepped out…and when he put his weight on that leg, the water held! I’ve thot it about this many times: what was it like to step on water and find you could actually stand on it? …especially stormy water, big waves…lots of wind… eg. tried it when we were in Israel…just off the shore in the sea of Galilee…didn’t work!! – would have been better to try it off the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee… But Peter did take that first step and he didn’t sink and he experienced what no other human ever has…the terrifying thrill of walking on water…talk about a gigantic slide… But you know the story…he took a few steps but then took his eyes off of Jesus, saw the storm, realized what a crazy thing he was doing, got afraid and started to sink… -and immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him, rescued him and brought him to safety… God is always there to rescue you no matter what… ** He loves to rescue those who call out to Him, “Lord save me!” So, did Peter succeed in his brief walk of faith, or did he fail? eg. Michael Jordan Nike commercial… Peter profoundly succeeded in following Jesus…because out of all the other disciples on the boat, he alone chose the big slide…and it was part of Jesus’ plan to develop Peter into the leader he needed to be for the early church movement in the book of Acts…God was using all his stumbling efforts and successes and even his failures to make him into a bold man of faith… Step Out of Your Boat Listen, how many of you are willing to step out of your boat? How many of you will refuse to let fear control you and will take a step of courageous faith and obedience to follow Jesus? How many of you will refuse to be boat-bound? to stay only on the small slide? We talk about couch potatoes… – don’t be a “pew potato”…a spectator…a distant observer…get on the big slide…at least a bigger slide…step out of your boat… All you have to do is pray: “Lord, tell me to come to You on the water…” Let me remind you that Jesus is on the water waiting for you to join Him…and He will not let you drown…He will take care of you… eg I learned that first-hand when Audrey and I left here in 2005 to go and plant the Link House Church Movement…stepped out of this safe place into the unknown…and God was there… …the church plant didn’t survive…only lasted 5 years, but God did a number of great things during that time and He taught us so many things during that process…one thing is the faith I have in Him to stand before you and say with confidence…”you can do whatever God is calling you to because He will not let you down…whatever God calls you to do, He is there waiting for you… (invite Audrey up to join me as we sing a song written by our children based on this story…) 5. the result of courageous obedience is God-honoring worship read v.33… “Truly you are the Son of God…” And that’s what I want to invite you to do as we move into communion…to spend time focusing on God and giving Him thanks for who He is and what He has done for us through His death on the cross… and to say along with the disciples, “Truly you are the Son of God…” and just perhaps today as you are worshipping Christ, He will speak to you about a courageous step of faith He is asking you to take… ** For those who need to come to Christ…”Lord save me!” Song : Jesus I Will Come to You…Prayer… |
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