A Yes that Survives the Wilderness • Ps Kina Landy

[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to the Life Melbourne Podcast. We're so glad you're joining us for another Hopefield message. We pray that you're encouraged by this powerful word from our Sunday service. Let's just give Jesus some honor in this place tonight. How good is it to be in God's house? And what a privilege it is to be sharing God's word. Wow, if 18-year-old me could only imagine that he would be using me to bring some heart and truth to his word to people, what a privilege it is that never gets old. And thank you, Pastor Craig and Nadia, for entrusting me with this time. And yeah, for calling a gift out in me that I didn't recognize just quickly when I started coming to life, Pastor Nadia asked me, if I would lead a moment of prayer. And as soon as she asked me, I said, yes, because I thought, of course, I can lead prayer. But as soon as she walked away, I left the building. And so I'm grateful for a house that develops and sees God's call on people and encourages that. So thank you guys. You can take your seats. And team, thank you. Are incredible. They will be back shortly. We are going to have some extra time of worship together tonight. But we have started a series called The Wilderness. And so I'm going to be continuing that, Pastor Craig spoke this morning on and encourage you to jump online and listen to that. It was just amazing. And I'm going to speak tonight about a yes that survives The Wilderness. A yes that survives The Wilderness. Have you ever had a moment where you've said, God, I cannot understand what you are doing in this season in my life. I can't understand what you're wanting to do right now. Has anybody else had a moment like that? Now Pastor Craig clearly said that that's the natural thought of bombers supporters. Essent and supporters. I don't know. I don't really follow the football. But he said that that's what they think a lot of. But if you have thought that you're not alone, God, I stepped out in faith. But it doesn't look like I thought it would look. God, I took that job that you nudged me to take. But it's not turning out the way that I thought. God, I stopped that relationship because I thought it was what you wanted. But my life is not looking how I thought it would look. It's God. I can't understand your purpose in this. And so tonight I want to start us off with from Exodus 522, where Moses asks God, why, Lord, why did you send me? Let's just close our eyes for a quick minute and pray. Holy Spirit, we thank you that your presence is here. Holy Spirit, would you speak to each of us what you want us to hear tonight? Lord, would we lean in? Would we hear, we spell, would we hear, or nudge, of what you're wanting to shape and transform in our lives? Tonight we thank you that your word never returns, Void. Amen. If you're unfamiliar with Moses' story, he was an Israelite who lived in Farrah's palace. And he got himself into a bit of trouble when he was a little bit older when he saw a fellow Egyptian harming an Israelite. He actually murdered him. And then he has to take off into the wilderness for his life. And then while he's in the wilderness, God appears to Moses through a burning bush. Talk about an incredible encounter with God through a burning bush. God appears to Moses and he says to Moses, I want you to go back to Egypt. I want you to go to Farrah. And I want you to tell him to release the people. So there's a bit of a back and forth, but eventually Moses says yes. But when he returned to Farrah and says, God has told me he wants you to release his people, Farrah says no. And so Moses has done what God wants him to do, but instead of things being easier, they are even harder. Exodus 5.22, this is where we see Moses saying, why Lord, why did you set me up for a failure? Why Lord, why did you send me? After Moses had said yes to what God asked, instead of everything getting better, it got a whole lot harder. Anybody in this place tonight that can say, God, I've stepped out and listened. And instead of things getting easier, instead of things working out how I thought they would, they just got a whole lot harder, they got a whole lot worse. And I've found in my own life that the harder kind of wilderness, he's not just when God is silent, when I'm not sure, the harder kind of wilderness that I found in my life is when God speaks, I obey, and then nothing changes, or it gets even worse. So tonight we're going to speak about a yes that survives the wilderness. It's one thing to say yes to Jesus, or yes to God when you're next to a burning bush. It's another thing to say yes to Jesus when you do what he's asked you to do, and it still hasn't turned out. So we're going to talk about how Moses went from a rescuer in a moment, and how God formed him to become a shepherd, who would take people to their promised land. I want to give us a quick wilderness definition. Sometimes the wilderness is a physical place. Sometimes it's the distance between what God has said and what we can presently see. Pastor Craig shared with us, "For this generation, it is not bad wi-fi. The wilderness is not bad wi-fi. It's not getting the kind of milk that you want to get at the cafe. For me, I can be tricked into thinking that the wilderness is cold-friars when I've gone through McDonald's." (audience laughs) Anybody else agree? But that is not the wilderness. The wilderness is the distance between what God has said, and yet we have not yet to step into that and to see it." So years early, Moses had seen the suffering of his people, and he cared, and he wanted to do something about it, but he took it into his own hands. And he did it in his own strength. His burden wasn't wrong, but the way that he carried it out was not right. We can have the right burden, but still need God to form how we carry it. We can have a heart to love people, but have an attitude that messes that up. We can have a heart to be generous, but have spending habits that get seen the way of that coming out. You see, Moses had tried to become a rescuer in one moment, but Israel didn't need a one-moment rescuer. Israel needed a shepherd who would journey with them for a long time, through hard times, through disappointment, and would be able to carry that in a difficult process. They needed someone who could keep walking when the journey was slow. When the journey was disappointing, they needed someone that could say yes through the wilderness. So the wilderness, it was forming Moses. And the wilderness was turning a rescuer into a shepherd. You know, years ago, I saw Joyce Mayer using illustration involving Plato and a cookie cutter. This cookie cutter represents who God is forming us to become, and it's not that God wants us all to be the same. I was reminded of this just in worship where sometimes you can sing with everyone and you don't hear your own voice. But there was this beautiful slow song, you know, "I am an instrument." And I'm like, "No, Keena." So I tried it a different one. "I am an. " "No." "You're still not going to get it right, Keena." He's not wanting to turn us into the same giftings. He's given us different assignments. He's given us different personalities. God is forming us into the character to carry what he's called us to carry with the capacity he's called us to carry it in. This is us, the ball of Plato. Now there's nothing wrong with being a ball of Plato, but it hasn't yet been formed. And it's bigger than what it needs to be to be able to fit into the cookie cutter. Some of us want God to use us, but we don't even realize that before he can use us, there needs to be some forming and some shaping that needs to take place for us to become who God has called us to be. You see, there needs to be some taking away of bad attitudes that are going to get in the way of what God has called us to carry. There's got to be some taking away of our own reliance. I'm only going to do it if I know what's going to work out. There's got to be some taking away of fear of failure. I'm only going to obey if I know that it's going to work out the way that I think it's going to work out and I'm not going to look silly. Our demand for immediate outcomes. God, I'm only going to do it. If it's going to come out the way that I want in the timing that I want, you know, sometimes wilderness can feel like there's a whole bunch of stuff being taken off of us. It can feel like our recognition is being taken away. Our control has been taken away. Our certainty has been taken away. But God was not removing Moses' passion. And he's not removing our passion. He's not removing our call. He's removing the things that are getting in the way for us to carry out the call, to carry out the burden that he's called and purpose for us to carry to outwork the call that he has on our lives. You see, the goal is not-- A smaller life. The goal is not a smaller life, it's a formed life, it's a shaped life, it's a life that God has called us to do. The wilderness forms the capacity in us to carry the calling that God has for us. So tonight I want to look at four questions that Moses asks God before he says yes. And I think it's important for us to recognize that there are going to be questions that we ask while we're in the wilderness. And then there are going to be questions that we ask when we're obeyed in the wilderness and things still don't turn out as planned. So the four questions before the yes in the wilderness, these are not just questions of a man who doesn't have any faith. This is a sneak peek into Moses's life of a man who's being formed, who's being shaped. And I can guarantee that I know that in my life I ask all of these questions and I'm sure that there's some that we have been asking God in our own personal journey as well. They reveal Moses questioning his identity, his influence, his ability and his willingness. And finally his outcome. So question number one, everyone say question number one. Who am I? Moses questions his identity. Exodus 3.11, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? And bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses asks God who am I? And God doesn't respond with his resume. God doesn't respond with you lived in Egypt. You know the Egyptian ways, you know Pharaoh, you're going to have a foot in the door because you knew Pharaoh. You're going to have favor in the place. God doesn't respond with any of the things that we may think that he would respond with all of our strengths. It's surprising God's response is I will be with you. God's answer to Moses' insecurity, it's not a compliment. He answers him with a promise. Moses says who am I? And God says what matters even more than who you are is who is going to be with you where you carry out what I have called you to do. And we can often think that being in the wilderness is a time that makes us more confident in ourselves. And I'm going to be hard on up and I'm going to become all that God has called me to be. And I'm going to step out of the wilderness and I'm going to be able to tackle anything that God, all the world, throws my way. But sometimes the wilderness actually strips away the titles. The wilderness can strip away that confidence so that we can no longer rely on ourselves. And it becomes a, I can't do this, I can because God is with me. The transformation is not simply I can't, becoming I can, it's I can't, but God will be with me. Question number two, he says what if they don't believe me? Moses questions his influence. Exodus 4 1 says what if they don't believe me or listen to me? The question is about his credibility. What if I step out? And nobody responds. What if they don't see the call of God on my life that God sees on my life? What if I get it wrong? And God says what's in your hand? And Moses's hand was a staff, just an everyday tool of a shepherd man. And actually it's really cool that in Exodus 4 it just says a regular staff, but then it goes on to say when Moses gave it to him it became God's staff. You see Moses used what he had in his hand, surrendered it to God and it became God's staff. And the things that we walk through in the wilderness, we don't walk out empty handed. The pain that we walk through in the wilderness, it brings out in us a compassion that we would never have had if we hadn't been able to walk through that. Nothing is wasted in the wilderness. Question number three, I am not a man of words. Moses questions his ability. He says I've never been eloquent. I am a slow of speech and tongue. I love that God responds in this way. He says who gave you your mouth? Who gave humans their mouths? You see God doesn't respond to his weakness. He says to him what he has given him to be able to carry out the calling. There's a difference between acknowledging a weakness and allowing that weakness to become our identity. Moses says this is what I cannot do, but God says I know that you couldn't do it, but I still called you. Your limitations are not going to take you off the calling card. I also love that God was so gracious and he gave Moses Aaron. He gave Moses someone to journey alongside with him. He gave him someone to encourage him. He gave someone to call something out in him. And I think that's really cool that God gives us Aaron's in our lives, but Moses still had to step out. Aaron couldn't do the work for him. Moses still had to step out. And for this is a great one. Please, Lord, send somebody else. Moses questions his willingness. The earlier questions were more about his inability, but this question exposes his reluctance. Moses moved away from who am I? What if they don't believe me? What if I'm not good enough? And suddenly it becomes, I don't want to go. Can't you just send somebody else? I don't want the responsibility. What if it doesn't all work out? I don't want a risk failing. You see, the wilderness has a way of exposing the conditions that we place on our yes. I will obey if I feel qualified. I will obey if I know that they outcome will be what I want it to be. So after all of this back and forth, Moses finally says yes. And this is where we think we're going to see the incredible breakthrough. He's going to go back to Pharaoh. Pharaoh is going to say, "Okay, Moses, I'm going to let the people go." Everyone's going to know that Moses heard from God, but Moses gets back to Pharaoh and says, "Let the people go and this is where it gets harder and this is where Moses says, 'Why, Lord, why did you ever send me?'" And this is where our yes gets hard. God, I obeyed you and it got harder. God, I thought you were calling me, but something, nothing seems to be working. And maybe that's where some of us are tonight. We've got to a place in our life where we've heard God, we've obeyed God, but things just aren't looking how we thought that they would look. We said, "Yes to being faithful to God." We said, "Yes to starting again." We said, "Yes to seeking help." We said, "Yes to trusting God." But sometimes we believe that things. We believe that things would get clearer, but they only seem to have gotten a little bit more confusing. And I think these are balanced truths in this immediate outcome, can not always be the measure where the God is at work. Sometimes the purpose is clear, but the process can be incredibly confusing. Moses questioned God, but he questioned God in the presence of God. I think one of the most important parts of this entire story and that I love so much is in Exodus 5.22 and it says that Moses returned to the Lord. Moses brought his question to God, but he questioned God in the presence of God. He didn't walk away. He didn't disappear. He didn't pretend that everything was fine. He returned to the Lord. Sometimes in the wilderness, when we go through painful moments, it can feel like if we don't take it to God, it can actually come out as less. We can come out even more immature than when we walked in with, because we're taking it to other people or taking it to circumstance. So I want to ask us tonight, "Where do we take our why?" Do we take it into isolation? Do we take it into disappointment? Into the belief that because we don't understand God, there must be a distance between us. God isn't happy for it with us, so he must be not answering what I wanted him to do. Maybe I've done something wrong, but Moses teaches us that we can be honest with God and he's not threatened by our questions. The wilderness doesn't necessarily form people who never ask why. It forms people who know where to take their why. You know, when I was new to faith, there were times that I would catch public transport to the church, it would take me sometimes up to 90 minutes just to be in the presence of God, because that's where I felt like I was closest to God. I wanted to be with God in that moment. And there was no one waiting for me. There was no role there that I had to do. There was no people that I needed to see. It was just to be with God in His presence in prayer. I just knew that I wanted to be close to Him at the time. I thought that's what it was all about. But after many years of walking with God, I've come to see and come to learn that God was forming something in me. He was forming an instinct to return to His presence. Years later, and ongoing, there would be disappointments that came. There'd be seasons that I just didn't understand that come. And God wanted to teach me. that my response needed to be to return to his presence. What God has been wanting to teach Moses through this time of wilderness, and I think one of the most profound things that we can ever learn, and I know that I've learned in my walk with God, is the returning to the Lord, returning to God, returning to God when things are clear, and returning to God when things aren't clear, returning to God when they're working out, returning to God when they're not working out, returning to the Lord, coming to the presence of the Lord. See, Moses had a burning-bushing counter, but God was forming more than a man who could say yes in a powerful moment. He was forming a man who would continue returning to God through a long, and at times really painful journey. And so this is how God responds to Moses. To Moses is one why God responds with seven I wills. God doesn't give Moses a detailed plan of how to get out of the wilderness. He doesn't give him the entire process. He Moses asks for an explanation, but God begins with I am the Lord. And this is what he says, I will bring you out. I will free you. I will redeem you. I will take you as my own people. I will be your God. I will bring you to the land. I will give it to you. Moses brings one why. And God brings seven I wills. The answer to Moses' question was never found in Moses becoming more impressive. The answer was in God becoming more central. And so tonight perhaps there are some of us in this room that find ourselves between the why, questions, and the I wills of God's promise. God is spoken, but you just cannot see it. You vote bad, but nothing seems to be getting easier. You thought you'd be stronger by now. You thought a door would have opened by now. You thought the relationship would have changed by now. You thought the prayer would have been answered by now. You thought purpose would look more like progress. And the invitation tonight is not to pretend like we know everything and we've got it all sorted out. The invitation tonight is simply to return to the Lord. You see, when Moses returned to the Lord, he did something that we don't really hear a lot about these days. He did something called lament. He brought his lamenting. He brought his why, God. He brought his pain to God. It's actually a spiritual practice that throughout the centuries has been practiced of a returning to God with our why, as a returning to God with our pains. And so the invitation tonight is to return to God with your questions, to bring your questions, to bring your pain, to bring your why. Maybe your question is, who am I? What if I do not have what it takes? Could you please send somebody else? Why did you ever send me? You know, God may not give us an entire road map, but he will do what he will do in the moment, is he will respond by telling you who he is in your life. The God who promised Moses, I will be with you. He's come near to us through Jesus, through his Holy Spirit, his presence is in this place right now tonight. We don't return to God who is far from us. We have a God who is close to us. The invitation is to return to the Lord. So as we step into some worship tonight, I don't invite everybody to stand to your feet. You know, a yes beside a burning bush is a beautiful thing. It's an incredible thing. And if I were to be honest, I would like to have burning bush moments every day. How incredible would that be? But God is forming something deeper than a momentary yes. We're a people where God is forming a yes that can remain in the wilderness, a yes that remains as a shepherd for the long run, a yes that can remain when we're being misunderstood, a yes that remains when the process is confusing. God is forming in a yes that doesn't only come alive beside burning bushes, but a yes that can survive the wilderness. Now, following Jesus is full of so many crazy wonders that don't make sense naturally. Like the fact that when you lay down your life, you actually find life. But if you try to take your life, you end up losing it. And it was amazing when Moses said to God, "Okay, God, I'm saying yes, even though I don't want this, I'm saying yes to you." It was the same man that checked us later, as Moses was leading this reliance into the Promised Land. God said to him, "All right, you can go into the Promised Land, but I won't go with you." That same man Moses said, "Well, I don't want to go into the Promised Land because you, Lord, are now the treasure." You are the one in the middle. It started about being about me and how I was going to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land. Now it's so much about you that even if you don't go with us, I don't want to go because you are the prize. Your presence is the prize. And that's the wonder of our God, the moment we let us go. You discover the treasure that he is, the treasure of knowing him, the treasure of doing life with him, the treasure of not being our own Lord and Master, but he is Lord. There's nothing more freeing than that. And I know that there are some of us here tonight and we haven't yet made that full decision to surrender to Jesus. We can't have maybe entertaining with the fact that you, we know He's God, but we haven't yet fully surrendered to Him. Following Jesus means that we let go of our life. We let go of going our way and we turn and we go Jesus some choosing your way. And if you haven't yet made that decision to allow Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, tonight I would love a prayer prayer for you right where you're standing, that prayer where we surrender our lives to Him and say, "God, my life is not my own anymore. Jesus, I choose to follow you." And the wonderful thing about what Jesus did on the cross as we heard from him tonight, when he made that sacrifice on the cross, when he died on the cross for us and then rose again, it means that we could come to Him exactly as we are. We don't have to come to Him being all perfect, having our stuff all sorted. No, we come to Him exactly as we are. He takes us as we are and He steps us into relationship with Him. So right across this room tonight, to give people a private moment with Him, why don't we close our eyes and bow our heads? But if you know you're here tonight and you're not in right relationship with Jesus, you haven't made the decision to surrender to Him. Maybe you once did, but if you had to be honest, you've started to take your life back up again. It's now become about your way rather than God's way. And God's saying to you tonight, "Would you surrender to me afresh? I want to be your Lord in Savior." Maybe you've never made this decision before. You kind of know that God's real, but you haven't made yet a decision to surrender to Him. Have Him as your personal Lord in Savior. Well, tonight, this purers for you. So right across this room tonight, all I'm going to ask you to do is raise your hand where you are to say that's me. I want to pray that prayer tonight, that prayer that you're talking about. I want to pray that I have Jesus, as my personal Lord in Savior. So right across this room tonight, if you're saying, "Yeah, that's me." Why don't you lift your hands to Heaven right now? To say, "Yeah, that's me." Fantastic, honey. It's awesome back there. But who else say, "Yeah, that's awesome, honey?" Anyone saying, "Yeah, that's me." I know I need Jesus and fantastic, man. It's awesome. Does anybody else that join these about five or so incredible people that are putting up their hands tonight saying, "Yeah, I know that that's me." Is anybody else saying, "Yeah, I know that that's me tonight." I know I need Jesus. It's my Lord in Savior. I don't want to miss you at all. Anybody else saying, "Yeah, that's me." Fantastic, it's awesome, honey. Anybody else? You're saying, "Bangado, I want you as my Lord." My Savior, one last opportunity. I want to miss you. Thank you, mate. It's awesome. God so loves you. Anybody else saying, "Yeah, I know that it's me. I want to pray that through." These six or so people that are put up their hands. I don't want to miss you. God so loves you. On the moment we surrender is the moment we find life. Does anybody else see? I know that that's me. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord. Thank you Jesus. Well why don't we all join with those that have raised their hand and pray this prayer, repeat it after me. Jesus. I give you my life. I'm sorry for my wrongs, for my sins. And I give my life to you. From this point on, I choose to follow you. I make a decision to trust that you are God. I want you as my personal Lord. I choose to trust that Jesus died on the cross and then rose again so that I can be victorious over my sin that I can live a life knowing his love, knowing your peace, knowing your fulfillment and knowing your joy. So I give you my life in Jesus' name. Everybody says, Amen. Come on, why we put our hands together and just give a massive congratulations to all those that made that incredible decision and prayed that prayer. What an amazing prayer to pray. What an incredible decision to make. We trust that you are encouraged by this powerful message. You always have a place to call home here at life and we invite you to join us for our Sunday services at our Melbourne campus. If you're not a Melbourne, then join us for church online wherever you are in the world. Just head to lifeaew.org to stay connected and find out more.