Order, Words, & Voices 09.11.22

Order, Words, & Voices
09.11.22

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Songs:     We Cry Out                        Lynn

Call to Worship/Lord’s Prayer                        Rick

Song:         Open My Eyes That I Might See        Lynn
            Great Things

Reading        Exodus 4:10-26                    In Person – Nikki
                                        On Line – Randy

Song            Oceans                        Lynn

 
Message        I Got You                        Rick

Song:         Open Our Eyes Lord                Lynn    

Howdy                                    

Closing Peace                                Rick

Benediction                                    Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voices

Music  [12 slides]

We Cry Out    

Verse 1
Oh Lord we cry out we’ve been lost
We need Your mercies oh God
We repent for our ways and we turn to You again

Chorus
Oh God we cry out for Your mercy
Oh God we cry out for Your grace
Oh God we cry out set us free
Oh God we cry out once again (once again)

Verse 2
Oh Lord we cry out we’ve been lost
Change our hearts to Yours oh God
We repent for our sin and we turn to You again

Chorus
Oh God we cry out for Your mercy
Oh God we cry out for Your grace
Oh God we cry out set us free
Oh God we cry out once again (once again)

Call To Worship/Lord’s Prayer [10 Slides]

Call To Worship
Worshiping the God we see at work in Jesus is the most politically charged act we can ever perform. Christian worship declares that Jesus is Lord and that therefore, by strong implication, nobody else is. 

Our acts of worship, whether corporately or silently alone, commit us to alliance, to following Jesus, to being shaped and directed by him. Worshiping God reorients our whole being, our imagination, our will, our hopes and our fears away from this world. 

Worship orients us to a world in which love is stronger than death, where the poor are promised the kingdom, to a world reflecting the holiness and faithfulness of God. 

Worship plants a flag that supersedes all the flags of nations including our own. Worship challenges tyrants who think they are, if not divine, at least holy. 

Worship creates – or should create, if it is allowed to be truly itself – a community that marches to a different beat, that keeps in step with the Lord. We are the Body of the Messiah. (NT Wright, Simply Jesus 217-218)

Prayer [Please stand and share in the voicing of the Lord’s Prayer and then remain standing following the prayer] 
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses, 
While we forgive those who trespass against us.
And, God, lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
Amen.

Music (32 slides)

Open My Eyes That I May See (Open My Eyes)

Verse 1
Open my eyes that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free

Chorus
Silently now I wait for Thee
Ready my God Thy will to see
Open my eyes illumine me
Spirit divine

Verse 3
Open my mouth and let me bear
Gladly the warm truth everywhere
Open my heart and let me prepare
Love with Thy children thus to share

Chorus
Silently now I wait for Thee
Ready my God Thy will to see
Open my eyes illumine me
Spirit divine

Great Things

Verse 1
Come let us worship our King
Come let us bow at His feet
He has done great things
See what our Savior has done
See how His love overcomes
He has done great things
He has done great things

Chorus
O Hero of Heaven You conquered the grave
You free every captive and break every chain
O God You have done great things
We dance in Your freedom awake and alive
O Jesus our Savior Your name lifted high
O God You have done great things

Verse 2
You’ve been faithful through every storm
You’ll be faithful forevermore
You have done great things
And I know You will do it again
For Your promise is yes and amen
You will do great things
God You do great things

Chorus
O Hero of Heaven You conquered the grave
You free every captive and break every chain
O God You have done great things
We dance in Your freedom awake and alive
O Jesus our Savior Your name lifted high
O God You have done great things

Bridge
Hallelujah God above it all
Hallelujah God unshakable
Hallelujah You have done great things

Chorus
O Hero of Heaven You conquered the grave
You free every captive and break every chain
O God You have done great things
We dance in Your freedom awake and alive
O Jesus our Savior Your name lifted high
O God You have done great things

(REPEAT)
You’ve done great things

Ending
You have done great things
O God You do great things

Reading [No Slides]

[Nikki] Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who makes humans mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it me, the Lord. Now go, and I will be with you, I will tell you what to say.” But Moses begged, “Please send someone else.” 

[Randy] God’s anger was kindled against Moses, and God said, “What about your brother Aaron, the Levite? You know that he can speak well. I will tell you what you are to tell him to say. He will speak for you to the people; he will be your voice, and you shall guide him behind the scenes as to what to say. Take this staff in your hands, with which you shall perform the signs.”

[Nikki] Moses went back and said to his father-in-law Jethro, “Please let me return to my own people in Egypt and see if they are still living.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” God then said to Moses, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who were seeking your life are dead.” So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt carrying the staff of God in his hand.

[Randy] The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then you will say to Pharaoh, ‘God says to you: Israel is my firstborn son, yet, when I said to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” You refused to let him go; now I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”

[Nikki] As Moses and his family and workers were on their return to Egypt, at a place where they spent the night, God met Moses and tried to kill him. But,  Zipporah, Moses’ wife, took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, touched his feet with it, and said, “Truly you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So God let Moses alone.

[Randy] God then said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So Aaron went, and met Moses at the mountain of God. There, Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord, and all the signs God had given. Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites. Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and performed the signs in the sight of their people. The people believed, and when they heard that God had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.
Exodus 4:10-26
Music 17 Slides]
Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)

Verse 1
You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep my faith will stand

Chorus 1
And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Verse 2
Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sov’reign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed and You won’t start now

Chorus 1
And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Bridge
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Saviour

Chorus 2
I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine

Message – I Got You [19 Slides]
Exodus 4:10-26

[Slide 1- leave slide up for these three paragraphs] As we stood on an extremely crammed subway, attempting to keep our bags from rolling into others at every ‘stop and go’ of the train our train made an unexpected jolt forward, I was thrown backwards. In the midst of my fall I heard the words, “I got you.’ Almost immediately, I realized that the large scary looking man standing behind me was now holding me, keeping me from hitting the ground.

‘I got you’, I don’t think I will ever forget the voice. ‘I got you’ It would be a perfect Hallmark movie moment except that he already seemed tired of me by the time I thanked him later.

Chapter 4 of the book of Exodus may be one of the most stuffed full chapters in the bible. 

• As a whole, it is the story of Moses going from hiding to avoid everyone, the Egyptians as well as the Isrealites – to his journey with his brother Aaron and his wife Zipporah to return to Egypt. 
• It is a story of Moses, a story of Aaron, and a story of Zipporah. 
• It is a story of the anger, patience, and grace of God. 
• It is the story of the determination of God in his calling of us. 
• It is a story of a mark of blood to identify an entire people. 
• It is a story of doubt, of unfaithfulness, of the fear of God, and mostly, the mighty power of God’s calling. 
• It is a story of God and a story of man and God.

It is also possibly among the 10 weirdest Bible chapters in the entire Bible.

It is a layered collection of stories – each layer dependent on the other layers.

• The layer of the story of Moses, who, after 40 years on the run, had an unexpected run in with God. 

• A story of God calling Moses back to Egypt to deliver the Isrealites and a story of Moses pleading with God to choose someone else. 
• A story that reveals the anger of God towards Moses’ resistance to God’s call, and, at the same time, a story that depicts God’s patient grace in wooing Moses to accept this journey. 
• The most important thing to recognize about Moses, however, is his struggle with faith – it may be more accurate at this point to say religion rather than faith. 
• Moses was born Israelite, raised with the worship practices of the Egyptians and their gods but also had a sprinkling of the Jewish practice of worship of their monotheistic God. 
• After Moses’ marriage, he probably accepted the religious practices of his father in law Jethro, who was a Midanite priest. 
• Midianites were the descendants of Abraham and his second wife Keturah (or third depending if you count Hagar a wife). The specifics of the Midianite worship are fuzzy but may be more reflective of the worship of Egyptian gods than the God of the Israelites. 
• The household practices (including faith) of Moses, his wife Zipporah, and their children was most likely Midianite. 
• There is no record of Moses’ circumcision, although many Jewish Midrash writers believe Moses, along with Adam, Seth, Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Job  were born circumcised. (Midrash of Ki-Tetze, & Rabbi Nathan)
• Moses was probably a bit of a mess in regard to spirituality, person devotion, and the God or gods he claimed to worship. Moses definitely held a majority of the blame for not circumcising of his son, he probably had not shared the elements of his own faith(s) with his son or family. 
• Hesitancy may be the biggest factor in Moses’ apathy towards his own faith and that of his family, a hesitancy to commit, an apathy towards trusting any of the God, or gods, of his religions.

• The layer of Moses’ brother Aaron 

• Aaron was called to be a mouthpiece for God’s message through Moses. 
• Aaron’s calling is not voiced in the pages of the Torah, or our bibles, but nevertheless he appears to have accepted with an open heart.

• The layer of Moses’ wife Zipporah

• Originally impressed by Moses’ kindness, however, she appears to have had no voice in her own marriage to Moses. 
• It is possible she was determined to stick with the religion of her father rather than accept the practices of the worship of the God of Jacob. 
• The fact that her son was not circumcised may have been as much her determination and disbelief in the God of Jacob as it was Moses apathy to commit to any faith.

The layer of Zipporah’s father Jethro

• A descendant of Abraham and his wife Keturah. 
• A Midianite priest, not a Jew.
• Probably aligned more with the Egyptians than the Hebrews, 
• Jethro took in Moses for 40 years and gave his daughter Zipporah as a wife to Moses. 

The thread that brings these layers together is, of course, the mission of deliverance for the Israelites.  A thread that requires personal faith, acceptance, surrender, encouragement, and sacrifice.

As we approach the layers of Exodus 4, Moses was still trying to figure out who he was. 

• Was he Egyptian or was he Hebrew, or, was he Midianite.  
• Was his God the God of the Isrealites or the gods of the Egyptians and possibly the gods of the Midianites? 
• Could hold on to all the faiths that have touched his life? 
• Did he have to sacrifice all but one of these faiths? 
• Was he truly ready to take on the label of just one of these faiths? 
• Was he really ready to even be identified as a person of any faith? 
• Was he ready to lead his family to accept one faith over the others? 
• Was it his place to lead his family to turn their back on the gods of their grandfather Jethro? 
• Was Moses ready to make this the sacrifice, was he ready to lead them to the same sacrifice? 

As God met Moses, Moses’ faith was a frayed thread. His hesitancy to take a stance held him back from full surrender to God – full trust in only one God.

This was not a unique hesitancy in humankind during Moses’ time, it is not a unique hesitancy in our time. It is the same thread that holds us back from the fullness of God’s calling, or, as Jesus called it, a full and abundant life. 

Seldom is our core problem that we are sinners, nor is it because of forces and influences outside of our control. Those are actually just byproducts of our true foundational hesitancy – we fail, or refuse, to trust God. Without that trust, the issues of sin and blame are a waste of time.

Moses’ calling was to proclaim to Pharoah, the Egyptians, and to the Isrealites that “Israel is God’s firstborn son” yet he, Moses himself, was resistant to fully believe that. No wonder he couldn’t speak well, he didn’t believe fully. His issue was not sin, it was not outside forces, it was his heart and his mind. His life made it obvious that he did not trust God with those persons and things most precious to him.

Let’s look at the basics of the story

• [Slide 2] Moses meets God (God in the form of a burning bush). God tells Moses that he, Moses, is to be God’s avenue of deliverance for the Isrealites.
• [Slide 3] Moses deflects God’s call with a series of questions for God such as  ‘What is your name?’ and statements of insecurity such as ‘I don’t talk good.’
• [Slide 4] God answers, confronts, and even provides visual illustrations countering Moses’ questions, statements, and doubts.
• [Slide 5] Moses still attempts to avoid God’s call – kindling God’s ‘anger against Moses’ climaxing with God gifting Moses his brother Aaron to speak for Moses. Aaron was Moses’ ‘I Got You’ person for Moses on this journey.
• [Slide 6] Moses asks his non-Hebrew father in law for permission to leave and do as God had instructed. Possibly another attempt to resist God thinking that Jethro will surely say ‘no’ to the exit of Moses, his daughter, and his grandsons – Jethro’s answer of ‘yes’ and “go”.
• [Slide 7] God, with his anger still kindled, determined to kill Moses. Much like God’s wrestling match with Jacob this takes place after dark. A bizarre moment that is, quite frankly, a moment too deep for us to even consider.
• [Slide 8] Zipporah influences the outcome of God’s plan to kill Moses by circumcising their son. She took a stance on the God she now believed in, a stance that came out of the fear of God. Zipporah was the next ‘I Got You’ person gifted by God to Moses.
• [Slide 9] A less hesitant and more confident Moses meets with Isrealite leaders in Egypt telling them all that God said to which, ‘The [leaders] believed, and when they heard that the Lord had given heed to the Israelites and that God had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.’ Moses is fully in thanks to Zipporah’s ‘I Got You’ moment.

God called Moses to a mission. The call itself holds a promise for Moses, not a promise of comfort, safety, or even success, but  a promise that God would be present with Moses. A promise that God was his true ‘I Got You’. Through the events of chapter 4  Moses recognizes that the only way he can follow God and lead others is if he trusts God fully, a belief sufficient enough to sacrifice his spiritual options and trust only God. 

[Slide 10 – I Got You – leave up through slide 11] Later on, the Isrealites were turned back from their initial entry into the promised land because they failed to trust God. For their own good they were denied entry because their trust was not ready. This entire population, who were all to be the ‘I Got You’ persons for each other, to be the reminders to each other of the faithfulness of their God – reminding each other that God, indeed, was their ‘I Got You’ – failed to be there for each other.

[Slide 11 – leave up through Slide 12] NT Wright says, “God calls us to active participation, to a new life that is both God’s gift and a deeply humanizing power, a new breath within us.” (NT Wright, Broken Signposts 65)

[Slide 12 – leave up through Slide 13] Moses’ calling was to be a light to the Israelites as well as to Pharaoh and the Egyptians. The calling was simple – show them God, speak truth, live out a dependence on God, and God’s truth, daily in front of the eyes of all God placed in Moses’ path. This is our calling as well.

[Slide 13 – leave up through slide 14] The problem was that Moses was going to Egypt to rescue the circumcised people of God. For Moses to have an uncircumcised son would be blatantly hypocritical. Moses could not do this, he would be carrying the false gods of the Egyptians to the people who knew the one true God. Moses’ personal life had to be in order. This is our problem as well.

[Slide 14 – leave up through slide 15] Moses’ biggest hurdle to trusting God was his own reflection in the mirror. He only saw and heard what he thought and believed about himself. ‘I can’t speak. I don’t know who I am or what I believe. I am a fraud and they all know it. I’m not ready for this. I’m not good enough. No one will support me on this journey, I will be all alone.’ This is our hurdle as well.

Moses had an eyesight problem, he did not see what God saw in him. He did not see what God had been preparing him for his entire life. This is where our eyesight fails as well.

Following the resurrection, Jesus stood on a beach, feet in the sand, visiting with his disciple Peter. Three times Jesus asked Peter the question, “Do you love me” Peter’s defensiveness rises with each time the question is asked. 

[Slide 16] “Peter, do you love me?”
”Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
“Feed my lambs.”

[Slide 17] “Peter, do you love me?”
”Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
“Tend my sheep.”

[Slide 18] “Peter, do you love me?”
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
“Feed my sheep. When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go. Follow me.”

[Slide 19] Offended and exhausted, Peter nodded toward the disciple John, “What about him?”
Jesus answered, “How is John your business Peter? Follow Me!”

In this brief uncomfortable conversation with Jesus, Peter’s pride, arrogance, position, and entitlement was chipped away, sacrificed – all these unholy things that had to be wiped away before Peter would be ready to be the apostle during the beginning of the church. For Moses it was the need to let go of the old in order to be able to fully be able to grab ahold of the true, to trust God. 

For us, the call requires the same – What keeps us, what keeps you from fully trusting, and following, God?

Let’s Pray.

Music  4 slides]

Open Our Eyes

Verse
Open our eyes Lord
We want to see Jesus
To reach out and touch Him
And say that we love Him
Open our ears Lord
And help us to listen
Open our eyes Lord
We want to see Jesus (X 2)

Community [3 Slides]

• [Slide] Next Sunday,  Exodus 15:1-21, ‘a witness’
• [Slide]  Fall Bible Study – Beg September 28 at noon (5 weeks) – seeking interest for evening study
• [Slide] Lunch & learn with Dr. Samuel L. Perry; Topic: Christian Nationalism and the Local Church, This Wednesday, September 14 11:30am – 1:00pm. Free Lunch and copy of Book, RSVP required and space limited. Registration link at gfnorman.com 

Closing Peace [1Slide]
May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Benediction [1 Slide]
“Depart now in the fellowship of God the Father and as you go, remember: By the goodness of God you were born into this world. And by the grace of God you have been kept you even until this very hour. And by the love of God, fully revealed in the face of Jesus, you have been redeemed and you are being redeemed. So go in peace.”