Pastor Dave Martin ~ Cross Creek Community Church ~ June 17, 2007

“Pressure Relief”

Life of Moses part 5 (Father’s Day)

Exodus 4:18-7:7

·         Welcome all you dads this morning! Comparing dads with moms, there is no comparison. Consumers are expected to spend $98.34 this year on dad; they spent $139.14 on mom!

·         Roughly 70 percent of dads will get a greeting card… do you like the pin I’m wearing? It says “I’m the Boss”.  My son in Montana sent me a Father’s Day card that read: Dad, on Father’s Day, wear this button to show your position of authority in the family! You open the card and inside it reads: But don’t forget to give it back to mom tomorrow! Happy Father’s Day!

* In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.
* In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens.
* In the third year, they both speak and the neighbors listen.

·         What makes Father's Day so "priceless" is the number of dads in our great country.

·         There are approximately 64.3 million fathers in our nation with an estimated 26.5 million of those dads are married with children under the age of 18 — millions who have the "priceless" opportunity to influence their children and direct their lives properly.

·         The challenge comes, however, when each dad must decide how involved he will be in his child's life. That decision is "priceless."

·         Fathering must be intentional, patient, loving and spiritual.

·         Yet we see our families under attack… the struggles we undergo are real… pressures are real…

·         Things begin to spiral out of our control… we’re left in the dust broken & bewildered, lose for words

·         "Dad" — you're priceless in your position of authority in the home!  Be God’s Man!

·         We’re in a series of the life of Moses… allow God to use this message to speak to dads & all of us.

·         Bow your hearts and pray – “Lord I give you permission to speak to my heart”

Key Principles from earlier weeks… (Review briefly the life of Moses)

Three principles we need to robe ourselves with…

1.    Live in Authentic Truth before God and Man.

Exodus 4:18-20 ¹⁸ Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, "Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive." Jethro said, "Go, and I wish you well." ¹⁹ Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead." ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

·         Moses just came from the burning bush experience… God Almighty reveal Himself & spoke to him

·         He makes a bee-line to his employer/father-in-law Jethro… But we don’t see him telling about God

·         Instead we see Moses asking Jethro to go back to Egypt for a homecoming gathering… a reunion

·         Moses was not being 100% truthful… he didn’t lie for he did want to see old friends… omitted truth

·         Not being completely honest… shading truth, the real reason… be authentic and real as God’s man

·         No mention of the burning bush God encounter or the great deliverance of God’s people.

·         Live in authentic truth before God & man!  God sees it all… our families see & read our lives also.

·         Moses packed up his family, took his staff and headed back to Egypt… but something strange happened as they were camping out that night…

2.    Learn Hard Lessons from the Consequences of “Neglect”.

Exodus 4:24-26 ²⁴ At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met [Moses] and was about to kill him. ²⁵ But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched [Moses'] feet with it. "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. ²⁶ So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)

·         This is a very strange story God gave us, yet a powerful lesson to every dad here this morning.

·         There are consequences in neglecting things we should be doing but aren’t.

·         Because Moses (God’s man) neglected to obey Gen 17:10 of every male to be circumcised…

·         God struck Moses with a deadly illness of some kind… Moses wife Zipporah a midianite seems upset with this (apparently she objected to circumcision and Moses gave in to her wishes to maintain peace in the home – if momma ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy)

·         We see the Lord was about to slay Moses… heavy chastising & correction… severe unto death

·         Failure to circumcise your son was to remove yourself & family from God’s blessings/covenant.

·         For Moses, this was deliberate disobedience in a particular area of his life… Moses learned a hard lesson – disobeying God was even more dangerous than tangling with the Great Pharaoh.

We often fail to consider the gradual, cumulative effect of sin in our lives.

In Saint Louis in 1984, an unemployed cleaning woman noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer the bees continued to fly in and out the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned, unaware of the growing city of bees.

The whole attic became a hive, and the ceiling of the second-floor bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. While the woman escaped serious injury, she was unable to repair the damage of her accumulated neglect.

Robert T. Wenz

·         How about us?  It’s so easy to neglect important things in our families… there will be consequences

·         Hard lessons for us to learn when our children grow up in rebellion & rejection of you & God things

·         Pause right now in your thoughts… what are some things you’re neglecting today?  BEWARE

·         Moses sent his family back to Jethro and connected up with his brother Aaron & made it to Egypt

·         According to Ex 4:29-31 they preformed the three miracles to the Israelites (staff,hand,water)

3.    Be God’s Man with God’s Message in God’s Time.

Exodus 4:31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

·         God’s man with God’s message in God’s time… They believed, humbled themselves & worshiped

Exodus 5:1-2 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.'" ² Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go."

·         Moses & Aaron now went to the Pharaoh… a defiant arrogant attitude… Who is the Lord?

·         We see two different responses to God’s message… submissive or a haughty attitude (Choices)

·         Everyone in this room responds in similar manners… accept or reject God’s words

·         Each of us are God’s spokesmen for this generation… with God’s message… time is NOW

·         Now is the time to reach your families, now is the time to reach your neighbors, now is the time to reach your friends, now is the time to reach our world for Christ… God’s has been blessing us to the point of running out of room, that’s why we’re building a 16,000sf addition to this building… to reach our generation for Christ… buildings are tools to reach people!

·         Following the Lord requires being a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1-2)… don’t crawl off the altar!

Pressure Relief…

4.    Realize Obedience is Costly to You & Others.

è Unexpected Consequences

Exodus 5:6-8 ⁶ That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and foremen in charge of the people: ⁷ "You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. ⁸ But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'

Consequences: A pig ate his fill of acorns under an oak tree and then started to root around the tree. A crow remarked, “You should not do this. If you lay bare the roots, the tree will wither and die.”

“Let it die,” said the pig. “Who cares as long as there are acorns?”                            Bits and Pieces, February, 1990, p. 24

·         The same day Moses spoke with Pharaoh, he issued a new order to his slave drivers & foremen

·         He ordered the same quota of bricks but force the Israelites to get their own straw.

·         Straw in the bricks provided reinforcement… like rebar in concrete… strengthened the bricks

·         Moses was following God’s orders precisely yet was confronted with unexpected consequences

è Unintended Hardship

Exodus 5:14 The Israelite foremen appointed by Pharaoh's slave drivers were beaten and were asked, "Why didn't you meet your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?"

·         The cost of obedience produced unintended hardship… finding straw, meeting quota’s.

·         We see the Israelite foremen (turncoats) now were beaten… they could not keep up production

·         Moses was right on with the Lord… now we see beatings, struggles, unintended hardship

·         The pressures were rising, Moses getting ready to explode…

è Unresolved Conflict

Exodus 5:19-21 ¹⁹ The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, "You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day." ²⁰ When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, ²¹ and they said, "May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."

·         The Israelite foremen found Moses after the meeting with Pharaoh and had a few choice words…

·         We’re beginning to see disappointment turning to disillusionment… Ex 6:9 says they wouldn’t listen to Moses because of their discouragement and cruel bondage… relations strained

·         From believing God & Moses to destroyed relationships… Pressures were building in Moses’ world.

è Unforeseen Pressures

Moses… His wife & family in Midian, essentially alone in Egypt, rebuffed by his own people, royally rejected by Pharaoh, stress mounting, faith wavering, low self-image, discouragement building.

·         All the unforeseen pressures kept mounting… doubt, fear, ridicule, rejection, disappointment

·         The more I get involved the bigger the mess I make… Moses the deliverer, right – what a mess

·         I’m an old man of 80 years; I should be in a retirement village somewhere…

·         Moses finally came to the end of himself…

·         Who would have thought… God spoke clearly, I obeyed you God, the people got onboard with the plan, I would do a few miracles and we’re out of here!... No way – everything turned upside down!

·         Some of you sitting here this morning feel this way right now… pressures and now ready to explode

·         You dad’s may be overloaded with work, stressed out, living out “Family Feud” in your household

·         Wife is nagging about this or that, kids screaming & rebelling… rocked to the core, seems like no solutions, pressures becoming greater & greater – what do you do?

·         You can handle it two ways… try running away, maybe an affair, maybe get drunk or high, get busy with activities/projects, attempt to hide, brush everything under the rug – responding like Pharaoh.

·         Or you can do what Moses did – he sincerely sought the Lord with Questions…

5.    Sincerely Seek the Lord.

Exodus 5:22-23 Moses returned to the LORD and said, "O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? ²³ Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all."

·         I love those first few words in 5:22 “Moses returned to the Lord”… he poured out his heart to God

·         God I don’t understand what’s happening… look at the cost these people are paying… our world is being turned upside down and Lord you didn’t rescue them at all… situation is worst now!

·         God I can’t do it… I stutter & speak with faltering lips (6:12,30)  I told you, you have the wrong man

·         Pharaoh turned sour & angry, your people are discouraged, depressed & filled with doubt… HELP

·         Whenever we come to the end of “ourselves” and sincerely seek - the Lord show up (perfect timing)

6.    Trust God to Show Himself Strong…

Have faith in me Moses… “I Am” is mentioned 4 times and “I will” 8 times! (Read Ex 6:1-8)

ü  His Plan – Deliverer

ü  His Power – Almighty

ü  His Promise – Promised Land

ü  His Presence – Great I Am , ever present One

ü  His Protection – Be with you, watch over you

·         Moses again whined about not being capable (6:30)… God addressed it with I’ll make you like a god to Pharaoh & Aaron is your prophet and  I will harden his heart and miraculous deliver my people, my glory will be demonstrated(7:1-5).

·         Then we see Moses finally “getting it” in Exodus 7:6-7

Exodus 7:6-7 ⁶ Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Circumstances that…

·         Turn against us force dependence.