Rejuvenation
Moses and the Burning Bush

From Pharaoh's Palace to the Desert and the Mountain (Burning Bush)

Sunday March 26, 2023 - Pastor Wungreiso Valui

Exodus 2-4

THE MESSAGE

In this message, you will learn that you can encounter God while at home or at work while fulfilling your daily tasks. God showed up while Moses was at work. At the end of the sermon, I will share with you that God hears the cry of His people, and He will do something about their situation. God can use ordinary people to accomplish His purposes.

THE BIBLE TEXT

And the Lord said: "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." -Exodus 3:7-10

THE CONTEXT

And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank. -Exodus 2:1-3

God had a plan for Moses to bring His people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

1. "She took an ark of bulrushes..."
2. The word used for "ark" is the same as in Noah's ark.
3. The ark of Moses and the ark of Noah have one thing in common: to save people.
4. God's purpose for Moses is to save His people.

What Was The Process Used To Accomplish The Task?

The Three Phases of Moses' Life: God Prepared Moses In Three Phases

• 1. The First Set of 40 years
• 2. The Second Set of 40 years
• 3. The Third Set of 40 Years

And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." So the maiden went and called the child's mother. Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, "Because I drew him out of the water." -Exodus 2:8-10

PREPARATION (Training): Moses 1.0, The First Set of 40 years: The Prince: Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in word and deed. (Exodus 2:1-8, Acts 7:22-24)

1. Pharaoh's daughter had compassion for baby Moses.
2. Miriam convinced Pharaoh's daughter to find a nurse for Moses.
3. Moses grew up in Pharaoh's court.
4. Moses has a fire and passion for his people.

By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. -Hebrew 11:24-25

Note:

1. To Rejuvenate, one must reveal the fire burning within the human heart.
2. God always sufficiently prepares the people He calls to accomplish His purposes.

Some General Facts:

1. Not everyone is born a prince.
2. Not everyone is going to the palace.
3. God can use ordinary people to accomplish His purposes.
4. Some will experience rejuvenation in the wilderness, alone in the mountain, away from comfort and convenience.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn." -Exodus 3:1-3

PROPOSAL (Calling): Moses 2.0, The Second Set of 40 years: The Shepherd: Moses, the Prince, fled from Pharaoh's palace. God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt.

1. Moses killed an Egyptian and fled to the land of Midian.
2. While Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, and priest of Midian, God called him from the midst of the burning bush.
3. God called Moses to get His people out of Egypt.
4. God's presence would go with Moses as a sign that God sent him.

The Rod and The Snake: Shedding Your Own Skin

1. In order to rejuvenate, you need to shed your ambition (skin). God told Moses to lay down the staff (rod), a symbol of position and authority. Snakes shed their skins to rejuvenate.
2. To rejuvenate is to heal. For example, the bronze snake on a pole in Numbers 21:4-9 is for healing. So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole, and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. -Numbers 21:9
3. We can put off our flesh (things of the world) and elevate the world we live in to become sacred soil.: "Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground." -Exodus 3:5b

Note:

1. To Rejuvenate, you must recognize the God-given fire and passion and differentiate it from the worldly fire. In the miracle of the burning bush, God revealed himself to Moses in an unpredictable yet unmistakable manner.
2. When God calls, people feel a burning passion in their hearts. Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name." But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not." -Jeremiah 20:9
3. God's presence goes with the people whom He calls. "I will certainly be with you." -Exodus 3:12a

Some Shepherd Facts

The Shepherd:

1. Points to the direction where the sheep should go
2. Protects the sheep
3. Provides for the sheep
4. Present with his sheep

PERFORMANCE (By Faith): Moses 3.0, The third set of 40 years: The Prophet, The Priest, and the Leader

Moses had several encounters with God.

1. The Burning Bush: Exodus 3:1-6
2. The Plagues of Egypt: Exodus 7-11
3. The Parting of the Red Sea: Exodus 14:10-31
4. The Ten Commandments: Exodus 20
5. The Golden Calf: Exodus 32
6. The Tabernacle: Exodus 25-31

The encounters with God transformed Moses from a prince, fugitive, and shepherd into a prophet, priest, and leader.

The Prophet

1. God appointed Moses to speak for Him. But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. -Deuteronomy 34:10

The Priest

1. Moses sprinkled the blood of the covenant at Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:6-8), setting in order the tabernacle (Exodus 40:18-33). Moses served in the sanctuary (Exodus 40:22-27), consecrated Aaron and his sons (Leviticus 8:6-30), and interceded for the people (Exodus 32:30-32, Numbers 14:13-19) just as a priest would.

The Leader

1. Moses served as Israel's first political leader, the one to whom the nation looked for governance, as human governor and judge.
2. Moses was a military leader, and he selected able leaders. (Exodus 17:9).
3. Moses' example of greatness under God is humility, one of his greatest characteristics that is often overlooked.

Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?" And the LORD heard it. (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) -Numbers 12:1-3

God hears the cry of His people, and He will do something about it. God can use ordinary people to accomplish His purposes.

1. God used a mysterious burning bush to get Moses' attention. He chose a man who felt unworthy and inadequate, an unlikely shepherd, to lead Israel out of bondage. (Exodus 3)
2. Moses was about 80 when God appeared in a burning bush and called him to return to Egypt. (Exodus 7:7; Acts 7:23, 30)
3. After Moses completed his assignment to lead the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, he returned to this holy mountain, where God gave him the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 20)

Question for Reflection

1. Throughout His Word, God always promises to be with us. If we take hold of the truth that God is with us every moment, how might that change our lives?