Sermon Summaries

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Dwell # 3-- All There

Just before 3 p.m. on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The smoke from the Canadian wild fires seems to have taken a different route today, so Praise God!! At the same time, continued prayers for all they are going through up and over there.

As it turned out, Jasmine and Bryan did not make it down again yesterday. But that's okay, it's been nice seeing her twice in the past 2 months as it is. Continued prayers that they can find a place closer to Rockland, as that hasn't happened yet.

Meanwhile, my oldest, Carissa, goes on her Girls' Trip with a couple of friends early tomorrow morning. They are going to spend the week in the Dominican Republic!! (I wish I could go!!) But, seriously, she deserves this time away to just have fun and relax on the beach. It's her friend's daughter's birthday, and they wanted to do something special. Pray for safe travel and great times.

In other news, my ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, has blocked me. He's obsessed with Eschatology, and keeps sending me videos that he knows I won't watch. I've told him several times that I've become disinterested in it, and don't want to talk about the possibility of having less time to spend with Mike than I would hope for. Wednesday evening, supposedly before he went to church, he sent me something else. It was about this one preacher's opinion of what Bibles to avoid.* It was nearly an hour long video. I asked for a simple list, after unsuccessfully searching online for it, and he starts ranting at me, saying something about how I always think I'm right after I had messaged him to please stop sending me things that I have no interest in seeing. He was saying things about my missing the Rapture because I've been wrong in some way. That was on text. Next thing I know, he's sent me another message on Messenger saying that a relationship with God is what matters, regardless of what we believe about Eschatology. I responded to that, as well as to the texts, but he has me blocked on both, which means I can't even call right now. (To be honest, I had already said that I wasn't up for talking just then bc I had too much else going on here.) But my final message to him mentioned that he was being a complete jerk for absolutely no reason, considering that he had sent the Messenger thing AFTER he had last texted me. I pray that he would come to his senses about all of this, but more for his own sake than for mine.

Mike had 2 more MRI's on Wednesday, but no news until his next regular appointment. Continued prayers for healing.

Oh, and one more thing, Jess Donovan, Children's Team Leader for over 12 years at CenterPoint, is leaving for a new position in Texas this week. IDK if this relates to her day job, or to her experience in Children's Ministry, or both, but pray that God gives her wisdom and guidance in her future down there.*

And so it goes... (great song, btw!!)*

In contemplating this Intro paragraph just now, I'm torn between two options. Serious or funny?? I think I'll do a bit of both...

First of all, when I was in High School, and our Principal would do the Morning Announcements, he would always have something for a "Thought for the Day". He used some of the same ones quite often. The most memorable of all, was, "Wherever you go, there you are.". Seems obvious enough, right?? But as we will see in our message today, that may not always be all there is to it. (Also, for people like me, who have issues with ADD, it's not even as EASY as it sounds.

Now, as to the more humorous side, here in America, we have numerous variations on the theme of teasing people who don't seem to be quite "all there". We might say something like, "He's 3 fries short of a Happy Meal!!", or "The lights are on, but there's nobody home.". Yesterday, on my FB feed, there came a short video of this woman who educates people around the world on the nuances of the German language. On this particular occasion, she was talking about this very same thing!! Two of the sayings they have over there include, "Were you brushed with a hammer as a child??", and "Were you dropped 3 times and only caught twice??". Dark humor can be mean sometimes, but the pure creativity of sayings like this makes them funny... *

How about we get on with our message today, shall we?? LOL Turn with me to Exodus 3 -- (And, as always, don't let your familiarity with this passage stop you from appreciating the deeper contexts held within)

Exodus 3:1-15

New International Version

Moses and the Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

⁵“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶Then he said, “I am the God of your father,^[^a^] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷The 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. ⁸So 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. ⁹And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹²And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you^[^b^] will worship God on this mountain.”

¹³Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

¹⁴God said to Moses, “I am who I am.^[^c^] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

¹⁵God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,^[^d^] the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

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Pastor Matt started right out with the takeaway thought for the week, and it was this -- "Where God is, be all there." As we take a look at our Scripture more deeply this afternoon, we will discover just what this really means.

Beginning in verse one, we find that Moses is grazing the sheep in the area around Mt. Horeb, known as the the Mountain of God. Pastor Matt mentioned that he and Pastor Joe will cover more on the Scriptural significance of mountains in their podcast this Wednesday. You can find, "Dive in with Matt and Joe" wherever you choose to listen.

He also brought out the point that we don't always expect God to show up in the wilderness of our lives. That's when we feel the most alone and "messy". But as we've seen in numerous other messages, God doesn't wait for us to be all "buttoned up" and "presentable". He meets us EXACTLY WHERE WE ARE AT.*

The truth is, whenever God shows up, we may have various reactions, as did Moses. First of all, however, Pastor Matt paused to share how his daughter, Liberty, reacted when he told her that they had FINALLY found a dog breed her brother Jacob would NOT be allergic to!! She became excited for the family to have a dog to love and care for; but then immediately began crying with the knowledge that it would have to die one day. Complete 180 degree turn in a matter of seconds!! Which, in turn, made Matt realize the same thing, and made HIM start tearing up... LOL

In looking at verses 3-6, we observe the variety of thoughts and emotions Moses displayed when encountering God for the first time, at least in such an obvious way. (More on that later)

The first reaction Moses shows here is curiosity. After all, it's not exactly "normal behavior" for a bush to be on fire without burning!! He needed a closer look!! Following on the heels of this, as God spoke, Moses felt a mixture of awe, reverence, and fear. One of the most important things we can take from this encounter is that God cannot be contained in boxes.*

At the same time, these verses show us a few other things about how God is revealing Himself to Moses in this moment.

Fire -- by showing up in a blaze that doesn't consume the bush He's chosen for this message to Moses, God is proving that He is real. Moses can see the flames with his own, physical eyes, he can feel the heat of it, and he can take notice that the bush is not being consumed. This also shows that He is present with Moses in the desert. The other thing about this is that it proves His presence is distinct from the Natural World. God doesn't have to follow the rules of Science, as He is the One Who Created it all. He can make a bush APPEAR to be on fire, if He so chooses!!
Holy Space -- God is not corrupted by the "messiness" of this world. Rather, it's exactly His presence that purifies it.*
Promises Kept -- By identifying Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He is working toward fulfilling the Covenant that started the Hebrew Nation.

Next, in verse 7, Pastor Matt noted that the mention of milk and honey echoes The Garden of Eden, when things were lush and plentiful. At the same time, the fact that God speaks of His concern for Israel shows that He hears even the faintest cries of our hearts, He sees us, and He loves us. Even if all we can manage is a whisper saying, "Lord, have mercy", He will listen and respond.

Skipping down to verse 15, we have God answering Moses' question of, "Who should I say sent me??" He's struggling a bit here, because he had already tried to be the hero once before, and we all know how that turned out... and now, here he is, grazing his father-in-law's sheep in the desert, and talking to God in a bush!! Crazy, right!!?? Or IS it??

Anyway, God's answer is absolutely the KEY to everything!! He says, "Tell them 'I AM' sent you.* What He actually said was, "I AM that I AM", which in the Ancient Hebrew, translates to the tetragram, "YHWH", which is, of course, Yahweh when we put vowels in it. Another point of interest Pastor Matt brought out here is that, when you see the word "LORD" in the Old Testament, as they spell it with a capital 'L' and then smaller capital letters for the rest, this means YHWH. But as we know, Jewish tradition doesn't allow for the Name of God to even be written, never mind spoken, so this is how they work around it.

The phrase "I AM that I AM" reveals what is the single most mysterious, and therefore most debated question in history. "Where did God COME FROM!!??". The truth is here, right in this passage. The answer is HE DIDN'T. He has simply ALWAYS EXISTED. He is the Creator of all that we have ever known and will ever see. This means that NOBODY created Him!! He is self-sufficient.

While many people suggest that God is conceited because He "wants us to worship Him", they actually have it backwards. As Pastor Matt mentioned, it's not about GOD needing any validation. It's about the truth that WE NEED to worship Him because He is our Creator, and He loved us enough to include us in His work, both as Creator and in the world around us.* As we worship Him, God simply acknowledges His power and glory. He doesn't deny it, or try to downplay His role in any of it. He just appreciates us reciprocating the love He has for us.

While some may struggle with belief because they have not seen a display as unique or thrilling as the Burning Bush, we have seen Jesus at work, either by reading the Bible or, more effectively, in the lives of others around us. This is supported, at least in part, by what we read in John 8...

John 8:54-59

New International Version

⁵⁴Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. ⁵⁵Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. ⁵⁶Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

⁵⁷“You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”

⁵⁸“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” ⁵⁹At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

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In this brief passage, we find Jesus calling out the Pharisees for not TRULY knowing God since He was literally standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM.

Jesus uses the same wording here, saying "I AM", as we have read in our Exodus Scripture above. The Pharisees' reaction in preparing to stone Him proves that they knew exactly what He was saying. (One almost has to wonder if they were more upset at Jesus for what they saw as blasphemy, or at themselves for being too blind to recognize Him??)* As Pastor Matt said here, they wouldn't even write His Name; but didn't recognize that Jesus was God in the flesh.*

In closing, Pastor Matt brought our attention back to the Exodus 3 passage. This is where we discover the deeper indications of being "all there", as suggested by my title above.

Looking at verse 4, specifically the last part, we read that Moses is responding to God by saying, "Here I am.". This phrase in the Ancient Hebrew, is encapsulated by the single word, "hineni", pronounced, "hee nay nee", means more than a geographical location. The full context of this tells the listener, "You have my attention and I offer myself to you.".* Pastor Matt shared the fact that we can see this evidenced in other places throughout the OT, such as when Eli tells Samuel that God is calling him, and he should answer, "hineni".

While many of us may wonder why we don't hear more from God in our lives, we go through our days distracted. We have our families, our jobs, our phones or laptops, all vying for our attention. We don't take the time away to quiet ourselves enough to listen. The thing is, even Moses was a mixed bag of responses even when he DID hear from God. He was both open, yet struggling at the same time. He presented himself before the Creator of the Universe when called; but still tried to make sense of it by saying that he wasn't good enough a speaker, despite having grown up in Pharaoh's household. But, as we see here, God doesn't judge him for his fear or doubting. If we read on, we find that God is willing to work with him on it. As we've said before, God meets us where we are at.*

The truth is that God shows up hundreds of times every day, but we are too busy paying attention to other things or other people. Conversely, God sometimes uses other people in order to bring out attention BACK to Him.

Our penchant for distraction usually relates to the fact that we are hiding from God in our fear and shame. Like Moses, we can probably come up with our own excuses of why God can't, or shouldn't, use us in His Plans. The challenge is to grow an awareness for God in our lives. Remember, He sees us, hears even our faintest cries, and loves us enough to answer. Amen??

-- God Bless!!

Footnotes:

While I did find a 20 minute video of the same thing, I haven't watched it yet. Regardless of what this guy says, my feeling is that, as long as the Divinity of Jesus remains intact, nothing else matters. Therefore, I would agree on rejecting the New World Translation of the JWs, be wary of the Mormons, and accepting of all Bibles. In my search, I saw just enough to know that this person thinks that some of the modern versions like the Message Bible somehow weaken the Gospel Message, and therefore your soul. I have to disagree with that idea. The point of these newer translations and versions is not to "weaken" anything. Rather, it is to make the Bible easier to read for those with different abilities and learning styles. How can anyone seriously find fault with that!!??
In the nearly 9 yrs that I've been going to CenterPoint, I've hardly ever spoken to Jess, as I don't have young kids that would be under her care. That being said, I have no idea what she does for work during the rest of the week.
In case you're not familiar, Billy Joel has a song called, "And So it Goes". I'll include it below...
The bit about how dark humor can be funny reminded me of a story from HS. As it was a Private Baptist School, every class period opened with prayer requests and prayer. One day, in my Geometry Class, one guy requested prayer for an upcoming surgery. Another chimed in and said, "What are they going to do, castrate you??". Everyone laughed, INCLUDING THE TEACHER. Afterward, she explained that she wasn't laughing because she thought it was funny; but just at the fact that he had actually SAID it. And that's part of the whole thing, too, it's not necessarily that the comment is funny; but it can be the shock of hearing someone saying it that makes the SITUATION funny.
The idea of God not waiting until we're "perfectly presentable" just reminded me of another song as I was going back through my text here. It's a Christian Rap about judgmental people. I'll include that below, as well.
Speaking to the point that God cannot be contained in boxes, I walked into Church this morning to find new platform decor. Pastor Matt explained that the clear plastic cubes full of plastic toys, and with bows on top, indicated that they had just "wrapped up" the week of Kids Kamp that had gone on last Monday-Friday. I was going to post the picture I took this morning, but it's not letting me do it on my phone, which is currently the only way I have to get on Facebook, I'll just have to leave it to your imagination.
The idea that God's presence purifies whatever environment it shows up in makes me think about Salvation. As we can read throughout the New Testament, it's the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts now that gives us the purity needed to enter into Eternity with God later. (See Col. 1:22)
Just airing a Pet Peeve here, I notice that, in our passage above, the word "am" is not capitalized. Now, I don't know if the rules of capitalization have changed since I was in school; but we always learned that ANY REFERENCE to God is meant to be capitalized. I see this throughout my Bibles, as well, where they don't even capitalize the word "God" when it's not referring to any other. Ggggrrr.... and "stuff"!!
The bit about how God loves us enough to create us and include us in His work, is mine.
As always, parentheticals are mine.
For more on the Trinity, see my article on the blog side of this site.
The definition of "hineni" makes me think about Lord of the Rings, as each member of the Fellowship offers their services, how about you??
The bit about how God doesn't judge Moses, but offers a solution in the following verses, is mine.