What’s Your Excuse?
Summary
Church, what are those things in your past that are holding you back? What are those things that you've said, God, I just don't think you can use me in this. But this is the thing our God can. And when we step into a relationship with Jesus, the Bible tells us we are new. We are transformed into the new. The old is gone. The incredible thing is Jesus has a hope and a future for us. We get to walk out in that. We get to step into the purpose and call of our life in freedom because of what Jesus has done.
Transcript
Well, I'm ready for the Word. Kathleen, how long have you been in this church for? A long, long time. Kathleen grew up, she was in the kids ministry at one point, then she was in the youth ministry. Now she's married and still serving in kids and youth and loves it. And she's one of our absolutely exceptional leaders in our kids. All the kids love her, parents love her, and she's a woman of God who loves the Lord with all her heart. She's going to be bringing the Word, so why don't we give her a great hand as she comes on up to preach.
Thank you, thank you. How are you all going this morning? It is one of my favourite services, not going to lie. I might be a little bit biased, but hey, it's amazing. Well, I'm not usually used to being in big church. Normally I am over in kids hall, so this is a new thing for me too. But it's an absolute honour and privilege to serve your children every single week. God is doing something so phenomenal in the next generation, and it is an absolute privilege to be a part of it. So parents, you are doing an extraordinary job. Grandparents, extraordinary job. It's incredible just to see the anointing that God has over these young people and how they are going to change the world for Him. Hey, but let's get into the Word this morning.
So I don't know about you, but I feel like we, just as people in general, are very good at making excuses. We learn very young that our excuses are a nice little way for us to just avoid some of those things that we don't quite like doing. When I was young, my beautiful brother, he has Down syndrome, so I thought that my standard was his standard and I could get away with things because if Christian wasn't doing it, I wasn't going to do it either. The brilliant mind of a five-year-old, six-year-old going in there. So if Christian could get away with the mess, or cutting up clothes, or leaving his food all over the floor, I was going to do exactly the same thing. Because hey, you know, Christian's not going to do it, I'm not going to do it. I have perfectly amazing parents who could clean it all up. So my excuse at that time was my brother.
Luckily, I grew out of that very fast. However, I did learn that I could use other excuses. Now more it is, oh, I'm just so busy, I'm so sorry. But we are very, very good at excuses. But so are a few people in the Bible, and we're going to look at one of them today. This is the incredible man named Moses. Now, I think when most of us think of Moses, we grow up with that story. He's the man that led the Israelites out of Egypt, out of slavery. He was the man that parted the Red Sea. This guy did incredible, incredible things for God. However, the moment when God called him, he wasn't just like, awesome, yeah, I'm there. In fact, Moses had a little bit more hesitation. Moses had a little bit more like, hey God, maybe not. And we're just going to look at that today.
'Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.” But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” God answered, “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.” But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God replied to Moses, “ I Am Who I Am . Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations. ' Exodus 3:7-15 (NLT)
So I'm not going to read two chapters, because the whole story is Exodus both three and four. So I'm going to paraphrase a little bit, just for time wise today. So let's start in Exodus three. Then the Lord told him, I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I've heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians, and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey, the land of weather. Oh, sorry, I didn't do this well last night. So bear with me here. The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Preziites, Hivites, Jebites, all the Ites, live. Look, the cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians have abused them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh, and you must lead my people out of Israel. But Moses protested to God.
And he goes, who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead them? I don't have this God. And so God is like, oh, you know what Moses, I'm going to be with you. It's okay. I'm going to empower you. But Moses protests again. But what if I go to them and tell them the God of your ancestors has sent me to you? Then they will ask what of his name? What should I tell them? So God gives him another answer. I am who I am. Moses, I've got the answers for you. Now go. But Moses protests again. I love this guy. What if they don't believe me? Or what if they don't listen to me? What if they say the Lord never appeared to you? And the Lord said, I've grabbed your stuff, throw it on the ground. And God does this miraculous work, and it turns into a snake, and he picks it back up. You know, awesome stuff. Moses just kept on trying to hesitate, trying to weave his way out of stepping into the call of God.
What's Your Excuse
And don't we do the same thing, church? I am here today to ask you, what is your excuse? What is the thing that is holding you back from stepping into the call and purpose God has over your life? Because church, he has a purpose for every single one of you. But there are so many times we can hesitate, and we can stop ourselves, because we don't feel like we can overcome certain things in our lives. And I've got three of them to tell you and talk about today.
Your Past
So the first thing that I believe holds us back is your past. We can so easily disqualify ourselves from stepping into the call of God before it has already begun. Because we look back on our history. We look back on our lives. We look back on what's happened, and we go, God, how could you possibly use me? How could you possibly use this? Oh God, I just can't. I'm so sorry.
But here's the thing, Moses also had a past. If we jump back a little bit in his life, he was an Israelite himself. He was put in the Nile as a baby to escape being persecuted by the Egyptians. He was rescued by an Egyptian princess, and grew up in the palace watching the oppression of his people. And then there became a moment in his life when he was 40 years old, where he decided to do something about it.
'“One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t. ' Acts of the Apostles 7:23-25 (NLT)
It tells us in Acts 7 verse 23 to 25, when Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian. So he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. But Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. See, the thing is, God, Moses, sorry, Moses tried to do something in his own strength. He tried to start implementing change in his own strength, and therefore he didn't do it with God. So it didn't work quite the way that Moses had in pictured this moment to go. So out of fear and out of panic, he fled for his life and he ran into the desert. That was Moses' past. God hadn't forgotten that those things had happened to Moses. In fact, he knew exactly where Moses had come from and what Moses had done. And yet he still was like, there is a call that I have for you to do step into it.
Church, what are those things in your past that are holding you back? What are those things that you've said, God, I just don't think you can use me in this. God, this is just a little bit too big, or this is just a little bit too messy. You can't work through that. But this is the thing our God can. And when we step into a relationship with Jesus, the Bible tells us we are new. We are transformed into the new. The old is gone. So we get to step into the new. We don't have to stay in the old. We don't have to stay held back by our past. The incredible thing is Jesus has a hope and a future for us. We get to walk out in that. We get to step into the purpose and call of our life in freedom because of what Jesus has done. So church, what is that thing that's holding you back?
Your Comfort
The second thing that can hold us back is our comfort. We love being comfortable. I love being comfortable. It's a place that I would like to stay at most of the time in my life. If I could live in my trackies in a blanket watching Netflix, I would. That's ideal, but that's not the call.
So I'm going to call Lizzie up. And Zoe, could you help me too, please? Oh, come on. You know me. Come on. So this is what it can be like when we live too comfy. Can you just wrap her up in this? We're going to wrap her up in a blanket. Oh, yep. Nice and wrapped. Pop the face mask on. We'll make this a really luxury moment for you, Miss Lizzie. Here we go. Put the hat on. There we go. Nice and snuggly and cozy. There he is. I know it's very... masks are messy, but that's okay. It's good for your skin. Yeah. Hydration. This is blueberry flavored, so we didn't skimp on the stuff here today. You need a hand? You got it? Now just chuck it on her face. It doesn't need to be perfect. There we go. Chuck it on. Oh, beautiful. Come on. You can't move back. This is part of being comfortable. Don't you feel comfortable, Lizzie? And lastly, can you breathe? You know what? We're going to rub that in. Let's put this on. Beautiful. Oh, you look amazing. Just pop it on her head. Yep. Brilliant. Thank you, Zoe. Let's give Zoe a hand. All right, Lizzie. Can you walk to the other side of the stage, please? Keep walking. Keep walking. Keep walking. There we go. Beautiful. Everyone give Lizzie a beautiful round of applause. You're amazing. You can take that off the stage for me. Maybe. Beautiful. Thank you so much.
But see, here's the thing that happens when we get too comfortable. We're hindered into stepping into the calling because you can't step into your calling when you're all snuggled up in a blanket. It gets a little bit too tight. There's not the freedom to step in and move. If we stay in our comfort zone, we're going to miss the purpose and the calling because we can't move. We can't step out of it because we get comfortable. We get complacent. We get satisfied with where we are. And then we stay there. And God might be giving us opportunity and we're like, oh, but God, I like here. So I'm going to stay here.
I remember having a conversation with Pastor Fua and Pastor Alex. And we were talking just about life and ministry. And they're like, yeah, such a good place in kids ministry. And I feel really comfortable. I used the C word. That was my fault. Because Fua looked at me. I was like, oh, we've got to change that. You're not called to be comfortable. I regret that decision. I can tell you that right now. But that's the call of God.
The call of God is to continually be uncomfortable. It's continually questioning and asking him, all right, God, what's next? If you are sitting in your situations right now, church, and you feel comfortable, ask God, what's next? Because we're never going to be perfect. We're never going to have it all together. So we're never going to stop growing. There's never going to be an opportunity where God wants us to stop. In fact, our whole lives are journeys of us doing the race.
It's no coincidence, I believe, that God calls Moses when he's in the desert. He's been comfortable. He found a place where he was safe. He got married. He was chilling. He was a shepherd for his father-in-law. What a nice life compared to what he came from, what he fled. He was in a really nice spot. And God's like, awesome, now Moses, I've got something for you to do.
Church, we are called to get out of our comfort zones daily. It's not just a one-time thing. It is a every single day, God, what do you have for me to do? Because the thing is, our discomfort might impact someone around us. There are greater things that God has in mind than us just staying in our places, happy in one little spot, because we feel like we've, oh, you know, I know Jesus, so I'm in a good spot right now. No, go deeper. Oh, you know, my family's in a good spot. Well, maybe there's someone at your workplace that needs to know Jesus. There's more for you to do.
So church, let's get uncomfortable. Let's be unafraid to take off the blanket and the eye mask and the beanie and go for what God has for us.
Your Ability
The third thing that I believe holds us back is our ability, your ability. Moses is a really beautiful example of this.
'But Moses pleaded with the Lord , “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord ? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.” Then the Lord became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you. ' Exodus 4:10-14 (NLT)
See in Exodus 4, Moses changes his tone. So he's protested with God three times saying, no, no, no. But then Moses starts pleading with the Lord. So we're going to read that in Exodus 4. But Moses pleaded with the Lord. Oh, Lord, I'm not very good with my words. I have never been, and I'm not now. Even though you have spoken to me, I get tongue-tied and my words get tangled. Then the Lord asked Moses, who makes a person's mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak? Hear or do not hear? See or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you what to say. But Moses pleaded, Lord, please send anybody else.
When it comes to our abilities, that's a real vulnerable place for us. Because God is going to often call us to do things that we don't have the skill sets to do. Because the incredible thing about God is that he wants to use our lives to give himself glory. So when he calls you into a space that is different and uncomfortable, and it requires you to do things that you don't have the skill sets to do, that's actually the point. That's the plan. Because God wants to be like, I'm going to step in and I'm going to fill that space. I'm actually going to empower you to do something that you didn't even believe that you could do. Because then the people around you are going to see how I am working through your life, and you are going to be a testimony to them. Because God's plan is always bigger than just one person. It's always bigger than just what God's trying to do in our lives. See, God had called Moses, yes, to have a transformational moment. Yes, to do something amazing. Yes, to step into the purpose and call. But he was also the answer to prayer for Israelites who had been praying and begging God to deliver them from the oppression of the Egyptians. Moses was actually someone else's answer to prayer, and he needed to step into his call to set the Israelites free, to be the answer to prayer that they had been pleading God for.
See, the thing is, when we step out of our comfort zones, when we get rid of those excuses, and we step into the purpose and call that God has over our lives, there are other people that God has in mind for our lives to impact. Because each and every single one of us are in different places in life. You are in different workplaces, schools, universities, homes, families, people that don't know Jesus. We can't reach them all. Pastors can't get into every single sphere and world that you are in. That's you. God has uniquely positioned you in those places. So when we step out into the call and purpose that God has on our life, God's like, awesome, I've got someone else in mind for you to go see. I have other people in mind that I need you to go reach. There is more in store. Who might you be the answer to prayer for? Who in your life and in your world might be struggling, might need some hope, might need Jesus, and are just waiting for you to step out of that place and go, actually, I'm going to have a conversation with that person. I'm going to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, because there's something going on here. I'm going to step out into my purpose and my call, because I know where God has called me, and I'm not afraid. And I'm not holding on to the things of my past. I'm not holding on to my comfort zone. I'm not holding on to my lack, because God, I'm going to take a step of faith and trust that You're going to fill in the gaps. God had so much in store for Moses, and He filled in the gaps. God was so faithful throughout Moses' journey to ensure that he had what he needed to do what God had called him to do. Church, that is the same for you. God has got something in mind for you.
I remember when God called me into ministry. That was a fun conversation to have with God. It was a bit like Moses. You've got the wrong person. See, I am a deep introvert. I like to be alone. So being around people is a massive challenge for me. It's a stretching kind of moment. So when God starts to call me into places and go, all right, I need you to speak to kids. I need you to speak to youth. We're not going to stop there. Time to go into young adults. Time to go into families. Time to go into different places. I'm sitting there going, God, no, plan B. What's next? There's got to be someone else that you can call, right? I'm looking around trying to give Him some options. But that was the call that God had for me, because there's something that He put in my life to step in and speak into those spaces that God had equipped me for. That is the same for every single one of you. And it was terrifying. This is a moment that I can tell you is only fueled by God, because I couldn't do this on my own. I'm also very bad with my words. As the kids, the amount of times I've said something that really doesn't make sense in kids' church, they've bowed their eyes and closed their heads many times. But that's because God had something that He needed to do through me. And bit by bit, I'm overcoming what has held me back.
But every single time you step into something uncomfortable, it's a step of faith. So, church, what has He called you to do? And what has been your excuse? What has been the thing that you keep saying to God? Oh, God, but you can't use me because of this. Oh, but you can't use me because of that. Oh, God, I can't get over this. I don't want you to look at that. What has been that thing? Give it to God. He's waiting for it. The thing is, it's this beautiful exchange. Jesus died to give us the freedom to step in. Jesus died to give us the ability to walk out our purpose and our call unhindered, brave, and with faith, because we trust in who He is and what He's done. Church, what do you need to do in order to step into that? What do you need to let go of to step in to that? Oh, because it is a choice to surrender. It is a hard thing to surrender, but it is what God asks us to do.
So today, I'm just going to pray over us. But I really encourage each and every single one of you, if there is something that is holding you back, something that is in your heart, I just encourage you to close your eyes and lift your hands across this place. We're just going to surrender something over to God, whatever it is, whatever you've been holding on to. Let's just give God this moment to move in our lives.
Lord God, I just pray over your people this morning. Hi. I thank you, Lord God, for everything that you are doing in our lives and in this church. And I pray, Father, as you continue to work in our lives, but Lord God, we would just see breakthrough in those areas that we have been holding on to, breakthrough in those places that we didn't think could break. Lord God, I pray that your church would be a people that say yes, a people that are surrendered, a people, Lord God, that just are so sold out for you. They stand in unafraid. Father, that we would just let the excuses and those things that we hold for, and Lord God, allow you to be the one that overcomes in our lives and let your testimony be, Father, the thing that just breaks through. Oh Lord, how good is kids church, hey? I love having our kids in here. Thank you, Father, for everything you are doing and the way you are moving across the generations. And in your name we lift it up. Amen.
Wasn't that awesome? Well done. Hey, that's a challenge, isn't it? You know what I love about this church? If you look around this church, you will find people everywhere you look who've had excuses that they've said, I'm not going to let that stop me from serving God. You won't know it sometimes because you see Kat and you go, oh, she's all confident and like outgoing and it's like, oh no, she's had to struggle against her own personality and her own thing saying, oh, what about this? What about that? I shouldn't be, I've watched people that, I look at a Fua for instance and I go, you know, stepping up as a senior leader in our church here at Frankston going, what's his, he could have had an excuse saying, well, I'm just a kid from Samoa. I'm just, you know, what's my place? He said, no excuse, I'm going to serve the call of God. I was thinking of Samika, Samika here, Fireball Samika. If you know some of her story, came over from Japan, didn't speak English properly, but you're awesome. She got saved in Australia and now she's here leading our prayer meetings. You should hear her when she leads our prayer meetings, man. She's on fire, serving in the cafe, her and John running a group, ministering others. The other day she helped water baptise someone and I go, because you said no excuses. You had a million excuses, but no, and I want to encourage you. I don't know what your excuse is, but what Kathleen said, that's the heartbeat of our church. Every one of us has got excuses. Every one of us, I think of Kai, he just had year 12 exams. Oh, sorry, year 11, he's year 12 next year, year 11 exams. But he's there serving on a week to week basis, up here serving, so I'm not going to make that an excuse for not serving God.
I'm going to pray for us right now and I'm going to ask us to just say, God, because here's the thing, we're talking about people serving in church. It's not just about that, it's about what has God called you to do? Who's He called you to reach? What is the dream God's put on your heart? And to say, God, I will not let excuses of this world stop me from stepping in. Moses had to be convinced. We might not have a burning bush moment where God speaks to us audibly, but you know what? The Holy Spirit of God wants to speak into your heart and say, come on, I want to use you. I want to do something mighty through you. Can we bow our heads and close our eyes? I'm going to pray for you and I want you to bring it to the Lord right now.
So Lord, I thank you, God, for the word you brought to us today, God, and I'm praying for your people right now, God, because each and every one of us is called to do something great for you. Each and every one of us, God, is called to step out in faith and be a man or woman of God in our families, in our community, God, in our workplace, God, in this world. And so, Lord, I pray, God, whatever the excuses are that the devil wants to rip us off with, that our minds want to sully us with and have us step backwards, I pray that we would put those things to the sword this morning and say, no more. God, I'm going to dream again. Lord, I'm going to believe. I'm going to step out in faith. And Holy Spirit, I'm going to ask for your help right now for each and every person. Help us, Lord, to be mighty men and women of faith who step out, say no excuses. I'm stepping out in faith and help us to change the world, I pray. Our families, we're believing for breakthrough. Use us, Lord, we pray. In Jesus' precious Name, Lord, I pray for our kids, Lord, our children, Lord, I pray that they wouldn't let the excuses of this world stop them from stepping out and being mighty men and women of God. Let them rise up, God, and do mighty things for You, we pray it in Jesus' Name. All God's people said, Amen. Amen.
Come on, why don't we give Kathleen and all of the Kids Team Norell and everyone an awesome hand. Why don't we stand up? We're going to sing one last song as we finish. Come on, my soul. And then we're going to go have an awesome time out there.
So God bless you, Church.