23-04-2017
Ecclesiastes 3:1
To everything there is a Season, and a time to very Purpose under heaven.
We need to understand the season that we are living in so that we can respond.
Acts 13:36
"For David... served the purpose of God in his generation"
David grew up in a season where it wanted a king. So there was King Saul but he did not do according to God's purpose. God through Samuel saw David.
What did God see in David's life?
In 1 Samuel 17, we see this young shepherd boy scolded by his brothers. He said, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who defied..." to Goliath.
We are living in a season of religious intolerance and terror attacks.
Things have changed in this season that we are in.
How are we responding as Christians in this season?
Give up? Pack our bags and leave the country?
Remain uncommitted and waiting for the right conditions?
We have become numb.
Surely as children as God, we deserve better, right?
We cry to God: "God, why?"
John 16:33
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Genesis 47:11
11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land,the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed.
Exodus 1:14
14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
The situation that we are facing in this season demands that we cry out to God.
Exodus 2:23-25New King James Version (NKJV)
23 Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
Exodus 3:7-10New King James Version (NKJV)
7 And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people whoare 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. 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.”
Moses came out with a burden. For 40 years, God remembered this man. God called Moses to fulfill His plans and purposes.
God gives to each of us a burden and a passion.
1) God hears the cries of His people.
Exodus 3:7-9
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
When there is passion, there is burden.
This is a season for us to rise up.
"Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point--a great crossroads in our life."
"From that point we will either go towards a more and more slow, lazy and useless Christian life... or..."
"We become more and more on fire, giving our upmost for His highest - our best for His glory."
- Oswald Chambers
2) God chooses the right season and the right person to carry out His purposes.
Example of Moses. God saw in him a heart that was not ready. Perhaps for 40 years he was an arrogant and self-righteous young man.
The character must match the burden and the passion.
Character is important to a leader, to a father, to a member of a church.
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
We need to turn from our wicked ways. It is not okay to live in sin. It is not okay to compromise.
Christians in Malaysia are God's people--spiritual Israel.
Statement of the American Church:
"When the church become the church, we will see things change in our nation. I believe we have no one to blame except ourselves when it comes to our current state as a nation."
"We have failed to live out God's Word in our world. We have become a nation of whimpy "Sunday" Christians who look no different than those who are lost in their sin."
3) Burden and Passion placed in our hearts by God often give birth to Purpose.
Example of the prophet Elijah. (1 Kings 17-19) Elijah heard that Jezebel was after his life so he ran from Mount Carmel to Mount Horeb. He wanted to hear from God again. The Lord didn't speak to him in the powerful or earthquake or fire. Then came a gentle whisper. Elijah heard God speaking to him in a gentle, quiet voice. "Elijah, I have a purpose for you. Find Elisha for double anointing."
"Without silence and solitude, our lives are in danger."
- Henri Nouwen
In the example of Elijah, it was a gentle whisper.
For Moses, he had to have a personal encounter with God before he could lead the people out of Egypt. He had to grapple with God. God dealt with him. "Look at the staff. Throw it down and it becomes a snake. Pick it up and it becomes a staff." After he surrendered his staff to God in Exodus 4:28, he took his wife and sons on a donkey and took the staff of God in his hands. He gave up his career and God used him to fulfill God's purpose.
From Exodus 6-14 each chapter starts with "Then the Lord said to Moses..."
Moses had an obedient heart.
A gentle whisper
A personal encounter
An obedient heart
The first 39 chapters of Isaiah were all about bad news.
In Isaiah 40:1:
Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
God is soverign. He does not make mistake. He does not grow weary.
Isaiah 40:27-31
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
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