No More Excuses

Notes: No More Excuses

Exodus 3–4

SPEAKER: Pastor Steve Wilburn

Sunday, August 23, 2015 — 8:00 a.m.

We all make excuses, some more than others.

Don't make excuses, just make good.

Several excuses are always less convincing than one.

Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.

1 Peter 2:9 NKJV

[9] But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Our purpose is to serve God.

The Harvest Crusade depends on us believers to get people there. Working as a church to spread the word of God.

You are the perfect candidate to invite people and to take them to the Harvest Crusade.

Moses is the perfect example of how God can use those unlikely candidates.

Moses is mentioned in the Bible over 850 times.

God is never late or or early, God is always right on time.

Exodus 3:7-8 NKJV

[7] 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. [8] 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.

Ezekiel 2:7 NKJV

[7] You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious.

Moses was chosen to be Gods spokesman. Yet he did everything thing he could get out of this calling.

Three points to review today:

1. Who am I?

2. What if?

3. I Can't Speak.

1. Who am I?

Exodus 3:9-14 NKJV

[9] 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. [10] Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." [11] But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" [12] So He said, "I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." [13] Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" [14] And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

At this point Moses was a nobody, all of his fame and fortune was gone.

It doesn't matter what we think of ourselves or what others think, God is looking for a heart that will serve Him.

God uses all: the weak, the feeble, the foolish and despised.

A cost of true greatness is humble sacrificial service.

People need to know that there is no problem in life that God can not heal.

Many Christians are not used by God...most people fail to serve for lack of purpose with a deep, subtle resistance, not a lack of talent.

The last will be first, those who gave the most will gain the most.

It was said, "we are born trying, we live complaining, and we die disappointed".

Exodus 3:13-14 NKJV

[13] Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" [14] And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

John 8:58 NKJV

[58] Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."

God has been around since eternity past and will be around for the rest of eternity.

Where else do you see an event like the Harvest Crusade in the world that people can be brought to a stadium to learn about The Gospel?

John 8:24 NKJV

[24] Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."

    Don't just choose to say nothing!

2. What if?

Exodus 4:1-5 NKJV

[1] Then Moses answered and said, "But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.'" [2] So the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod." [3] And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. [4] Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail" (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), [5] "that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

People in life are either a pessimist or an optimist. Who needs the devil to discourage us, we do that all by ourselves.

Don't miss what is on the golden platter in front of you. Always take the opportunity to serve God.

Exodus 4:6-9 NKJV

[6] Furthermore the LORD said to him, "Now put your hand in your bosom." And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. [7] And He said, "Put your hand in your bosom again." So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. [8] "Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. [9] And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land."

3. I can't speak.

Exodus 4:10-17 NKJV

[10] Then Moses said to the LORD, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." [11] So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? [12] Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." [13] But he said, "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send." [14] So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: "Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. [15] Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. [16] So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. [17] And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs."

Moses could speak:

Acts 7:22 NKJV

[22] And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

Not speaking was just an excuse.

Psalm 6:8 NKJV

[8] Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.

2 Corinthians 4:16-17 NKJV

[16] Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. [17] For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,

Don't look at your life just in this life, but look at your life in an eternal light. You may be in a time of affliction now, but it may be a light affliction in eternity.

How many times has God tried to use us and we just walked away?

We lose when we walk away, but we aren't the only losers. The ones we haven't shared the Gospel with lose out even more.

Everyone shares guilt and shame. The reason people feel guilt is because they are guilty.

Exodus 32:32 NKJV

[32] Yet now, if You will forgive their sin-but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written."

We are all going to die. Either today or in the future, but we will die.

We will all stand before God, and everything we have ever done will be brought into the light as we stand there.