Sermon Tone Analysis

I want to start today by taking you back to a familiar old testament story if that’s alright.

The guy we started this series with, Moses.

You remember Moses, the one who led the Israelite to freedom.

Well before that, remember he was a 40 year old shepherd boy, obviously not much in the skills or ambition department.

Before that he was a felon on the run from Pharoah.

But when God called him things began to change.

Now we talked about that things changed because he understood his WHY.

But I want us to understand that understanding our why isn’t always enough.

So here we have Moses.

He’s standing barefoot before the burning bush that doesn’t burn up, that would be reason enough to do something, but God speaks and says:

God answered him, I’ll be with you.

Then Moses protested some more.

God answered him…tell them I AM has sent me to you.

Explain that I am the God of their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

God assures him that when he calls the leaders, they will believe him, they will follow him.

Go with the elders and to Pharoah and tell him to let my people go.

But Moses wasn’t convinced:

But they won’t believe me, how will I convince them Moses asks.

This is when I get frustrated with Moses, Like when you go to a movie and the monster is hiding around the corner and you are the only one who knows and you start talking to the characters…MOSES, didn’t you just see a burning bush, God is going to work this out man! It’s frustrating to watch, probably because Moses’s doubts remind me of my own.

But God doesn’t get frustrated, he delivers.

He asks Moses, what do you have?

Moses says my hands and my staff…that's all I have.

God says that’s all I need.

This is what you do Moses.

Throw it down and it’ll become a snake; pick it up and it will turn back into a staff.

When you do that they will believe you…trust me.

For those who don’t, show them this, put your hand in your pocket, now pull it out.

See the diseased.

Now put it back in your pocket, now pull it out.

See it’s healed.

The rest will believe that.

These aren't’ tricks, these are signs that I am with you.

Moses understood his why.

But in his way of thinking, in order to get Pharaoh to let the people go, he needed more than his hands and a stick.

What he didn’t realize, but we can see as we look back on the story is that all he had was more than enough when combined with the power of God.

Moses accomplished what he did because he gave all he had for God to use, he fought against the temptation to hold back.

All we have is all God needs, especially when we don’t have enough.

And guess what happened.

Well it’s no surprise, you know the end of the story.

God showed up…God showed, and Moses got the privilege of being used by God to change the world as God’s power went to work in all Moses had, even though it wasn’t much.

I believe throughout scripture we see that when people called by God, believe their why enough for them to God to use all they have, God works in mighty ways.

Moses was one of those people.

He wasn’t the only one in the bible God combined his power with limited resources to accomplish great things.

Joseph, the boy prisoner who would save a nation from starvation.

David, the boy who obeyed God and conquered the giant and become king.

Gideon, the leader who said yes to God and defeated the enemies of Israel, 130,000 soldiers with 300.

Mary, the pregnant teen, who said yes to being used by God to deliver the messiah.

Paul, the pharisee with a terrible reputation who said yes to God and went on to plant churches all over the middle east.

There are others.

Not a one of these thought they had enough.

They all trusted that Gods power was more than enough to deliver his promise, so they stepped into big things.

With God’s power, what we don’t believe is enough to get the job done, is often all God wants to use combined with our faith.

The opposite is often true as well.

When we think we have enough, we live into manageable tasks.

I think we have enough saved to try that.

She's been pretty nice lately, I think I’ll try to apologize now.

When we can manage it, are we really depending on God?

We say we can’t because we don’t have enough faith, money, time, resources, patience, forgiveness, compassion, employees, young people in church, children in SS, people tithing, leaders, you get the point.

We tend to limit what God can do because we function out of a position of poverty....we don’t have enough.

If I only had enough _______________

IF I had enough of (you fill in the blank) I could really accomplish some things for God.

Saying we don’t have enough is actually right, we don’t have enough.

But God, what does he really need?

He created the universe and everything in it starting with what?

NOTHING.

What does God really need?

NOTHING.

But in scripture, God seems to be saying, what ever you have, give it to me and watch me do something with it.

God wants to share His power with us.

HE wants us to open our lives to him and let him do things through us.

Instead of not having enough, it makes me wonder if our goals are too small.

WE aren’t going to be Moses or David.

God doesn’t need another one of those.

Maybe God wants to work through a Viv, a Debra, a Mike, a Brad, a Greg, a Nancy.

This is why I love my church: POWER.

I love that as I live into the life God has called us, God promises to work through us with his power.

One of my favorite verses is

When I wonder:

How can I forgive?

How can we grow?

How can I reach new kids in Rock Hall?

How will they ever change?

How can I be patient with her?

How can I work for him another day?

How can I help them?

How can I make a difference?

I realize that I am not the answer to HOW.

It isn’t really me.

It is and it’s not.

It is God working through, empowering my SHAPE we talked about last week that every one of us has.

Have members raise their hands

If you are a guest here then you should hear this.

I believe in the EVERY MEMBER IN MINISTRY concept.

That every one of those folks with their hands up have something to do in and through this church.

I had a spiritual mentor one time who I had to call out one night.

Someone asked him why he didn’t serve on church committees any more.

He said, it’s someone else’s turn.

WHAT?

This moment was like when your teacher would misspeak or say somethign that you KNEW was wrong.

I thought did he just say 2+2=7?