Sermon – “Holy Ground”

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” 4 So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” 6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. 7 And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are 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.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.

8 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.

And. Anyway welcome this morning. God bless God is good and all the time. Amen. You know if I as I as we sing the praise and worship songs it’s kind of like they are always speaking to something to my heart and something that may even go along with our message. For today and I know that there’s one thing that we can say for sure that we know for sure you know God’s ways are so much higher than our ways. His understanding is so much greater than our understanding. Sometimes in his plans are always. Excellent his plans are you know his timing is always perfect. It’s not always in our time but his time because his time is perfect and and he has our best interests at heart. We may not understand that all the time and you know we’re like why why God why is this taking so long but he knows the beginning from the end. But one thing you know even though there are so many things about God that are mysterious to us. There is one thing that we know. Absolutely. And for certain is that he is holy. We sang in that song he is a holy God We know that without a doubt. And we’re not to try to change that indeed value God’s holiness. He is a holy God a message just morning is holy ground when you come into this house this morning. Do you expect God’s presence to be here. So do you expect this to be holy ground because what makes it holy. And a man his presence and a man. Scripture this morning comes from Exodus Chapter three. So you should have pretty good idea if you are familiar with the Bible what I’m going to be preaching about Exodus three one through twelve hear the word of the Lord. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father in law. The priest of Midian and he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb the Mountain of God And Andrew the Lord appeared to him and a flame of fire. Or from the midst of a bush. So he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire but the bush was not consumed that Moses said I will now turn aside and see this great sight. Why the Bush does not burn. So when he so when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look God called to him from the midst of the bush and said Moses Moses and he said Here I am I want to pause for a moment when the Lord saw that he turned aside when he turned aside to look you know Moses could have one about his business he could just ignore that burning bush over there but that is so key because when Moses turned aside to look then God saw that he looked many times. That’s what God needs to do to us he needs to get us to turn aside to turn aside from the distractions of the world and look to him doesn’t. We need to turn aside from all those things in the world to distract us and TAKE OUR so away from God And when you look towards God amen. Then he said Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. Moreover he said I am the God of your Father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob and Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God and the Lord said I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt and I heard her cry because of their taskmasters taskmasters for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to make good and large land to the land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and Amorites and the parasites and the hip hip bites and Egyptian sights. Now therefore be high. The cry of the children of Israel has come to me and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people. The children of Israel out of Egypt but Moses said to God who M.R.I. that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. So he said I will certainly be with you and this shall be a sign to you that you that I have sent you when you have brought the people out of Egypt you still serve God on this mountain. May god add his blessings to the here in the reading of His Holy Word. Let us pray Father God we thank you and praise you for your words we thank you God that you did you have a relationship with your people. We thank you that you like to communicate to your people and reveal your plans by that we thank you for your strength for your power we thank you Father for your deliverance Father we thank you. That just as you delivered the children of Israel out of bondage you deliver children today all the bondage of sin and slavery Father God we just sank you deliver us through Jesus Christ your Son But I got I just prayed your spirit will be upon us today that you would touch your hearts and our minds to receive all that you have force. While there may we grow in our relationship with you. May we understand your holiness and follow God May we show you the respect that you are due in Jesus’ name amen. This passage of the Bible is probably one that could be considered a favorite passage of the Bible that you know even those that have a little bit of knowledge of the Bible wonder Stan who Moses you know there’s many stories that we hear from childhood you know rather be in Sabbath school Sundays go whichever that you know our teachers taught us we heard about David and Goliath. You know we’ve heard of. DANIEL In the Lion’s Den we hear about Joseph and his Coat of Many Colors so many favorite characters in the Bible. Moses truly is one of my favorite characters. Now. Jesus is the most important of course. But of all the other characters the Bible Moses is one of my favorite characters and you know. Moses is just a mighty man of God He talked with God We know that he went did go back to that mountain to talk with God but we think of Moses and we think of all the things of Moses life. We think of how he was drawn out of the water. Why Pharaoh’s daughter never see found that little baby in that basket that is mom made for him see saw he was a beautiful child. We think of Moses parting the Red Sea. Moses had a lot to do with water didn’t. He part of that Red Sea by the mighty hand of God we noted they struck the rock in the water came out of the rock the quench the thirst of all the Israelites who was well over a million. So I want you to bear with me a little bit as I reflect on Moses and I want to reflect on how he wound up back there in the desert on the back side of the desert as it says tending a flock of Jethro. How did he get from that little basket in the not to the back side of the desert. So that’s what I want to share a little bit this morning. His story actually begins some four hundred more than four hundred years before his time out there in the desert. It begins with a young boy named Joseph actually his story begins with a young boy named Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers. You’ve heard me I just mentioned Joseph and I go to many callers Joseph was a special son to his father Jacob he was born from his wife Rachel who he loved more than Leah. So he did show a little favoritism. He made him a special. His brothers were very jealous and Joseph was blessed to have dreams and visions from God and God would give him the ability to interpret dreams. So you have a dream and it is just for one example his brothers all bow down to him in Joseph being younger and he goes and tells his brothers istream. So just to put more fuel to the fire of their jealousy. Now he didn’t do it just for that I know that God’s hand was in it that he should also reveal it to him so he tells his brothers this dream and then the other dream about the moon in the sun in the stars but Joseph in every dream was higher than his brothers. So his brothers became very jealous and they actually devised a plan they were going to kill his brother and they threw him into a pit where one brother was going to go back in getting but in the midst they seen these band the band of who was coming down this whites coming down and so he took him out of the pit and sold them sold his their own brother into slavery but everywhere the Joseph went he found favor. Because he was faithful to God. When he wound up in pontiff or house as a slave. He found favor there because God bless pontiffs house because of Joseph’s presence there until pontiff or his wife had eyes for Joseph but he still was faithful to God he would not submit to her wandering eyes. So she accused him of that which he did not do any winds up in prison he finds favor in prison. I’m going to just make a store a little shorter. So after he gets out of prison these brought out of prison because the cup bear remembered because Pharaoh had a dream Pharaoh had a dream that really worried Pharaoh he didn’t know what this dream meant and all the magicians all of those dollars Nobody could interpret this. Stream so found in the cup bearer remember Joseph that he interpreted his dream while I was in prison. So they bring Joseph the Pharaoh unfair wrist reveals the dream to Joseph he said I had this dream. He said there were seven nice strong healthy looking cows that come up out of the river. He said and what followed them was seven weeks scrawny deathly looking cows they come up out of the river and they swallowed up the seven healthy couse but yet they were no fatter and fuller looking he said and then there were seven grains of head. There were full and plump and strong and healthy then there were seven grains that were diseased in blood stricken and they swallowed up the seven healthy again and yet they were still death warmed over look he said What is his dream ain’t so. Joseph reveals to him what the dream meant that there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. So we’ll know what happened. Farah put him second in command only to Pharaoh themself in all of Egypt. So there was seven years of plenty and they were able to store up in Egypt. To be able to survive the seven years of famine that would follow but we know in that seven years of famine that Jacob and all his family had to come to Egypt. So that their lives would be spared. So they come to Egypt. There was only seventy of them seventy and all when they came down to Egypt and for many years. They were able to do well in Egypt peaceably they were able to live among the Egyptians in peace. But then it happened that a new cane arose who did not remember Joseph. As a matter of fact he didn’t even remember that they was able to survive because of Joseph faithfulness to God in interpreting the drains in spare and even. People of Egypt and King It did not remember that it says an exodus one so after this king the rose. He looked upon the Israelites as a threat to the security. He was afraid that if an enemy would come upon them that the Israelites would join forces with their enemy. He therefore devise a plan that he would stop this great population growth of the Israelites because they just kept multiplying to multiply and multiply. So he said we will put taskmasters over them and cast much burden upon them using them as slaves to build our great cities. But however the king’s plans did not work. It happened that the harder they work the more they multiplied when asking failed the king called and called on the Hebrew midwives and told them that every Israelite WOMAN It gives birth. If they bear a son. We want you to kill that son. But if it is a girl let them live. Praise God that the Hebrew would midwives fear God more than they feared to came because they refused to do this thing that the king asked of them. So then the king ordered them to be killed. Moses mother in great fear of Moses life she placed him in that little basket of bull rush covered it with pitch and place it in the river and had Moses sister his older sister go and watch and see what would happen. So it just happened. It’s one day pharaohs daughter comes down to the river to bay with her maidens with her and sees this little basket floating on the now and has one of the her maidens go and get that basket and bring it to er and opens out basket up and there’s that beautiful child that beautiful child Moses so dissin my paraphrase version. I’m going to say that child was. Probably squall when he’s probably Cryan and hungry because what was his sister’s first response. Do you want me to go get a wet nurse for you. So I’m saying he was probably pretty hungry by now and cry and so she says. Do you want me to go get a wet nurse she says yes I’ll go get a wet nurse among the Hebrew women that he can she can nurses child for you because right away. This daughter of Pharaoh she was smitten with this young little baby sea loved him. She seems to want to keep him for self. Does that not reveal how amazing and in control our God is how amazing is our God. He is so amazing that the king can put out a command to kill all the children. The young Hebrew children and he can have the same child that is going to grow up to be that the liver of Israel grow up in the house under the roof of Pharaoh now is our God not amazing. A man. Moses mother’s name was shock of it. It says in Hebrews eleven twenty three by faith Moses when he was born was hid three months spies parents because they saw that he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king’s command. So their faith was rewarded their son was spared. He was raised in the King’s palace. I looked up to see how long it would take how long they they took to when a child because Moses was with was with his mother until he was weaned in his said it could be up to three to four years old but no more than five so it’s possible he could have been with his mom to his five years old he had that connection with his mother. Probably at least till two or three or even four to have that love to know who he was yes even at that young age he could know so Moses was able to go and live in the king’s palace to. The educated to become learners among the Egyptians who at that time their knowledge exceeded all the nations of the earth at that time so he got the best education growing up in the palace. So after he was educated and became a man the scripture says that he went out among his brother and so he is a grown man. So he’s going out. I don’t know if he’s on horseback or walking but as he’s going out and seeing his brother and the oppression that they are enduring the suffering as they’re building these buildings built in this great city for the Egyptians and he looks upon them. He knows that he is one of them. He only can know that because his mom shared it with him he knows he’s not an Egyptian he could have been out walking or see in all this and he might have seen his own brother in not known it was his brother. It could have been cousins but it was his brother and he seen the reflections he seen the burden that was placed upon them by the Egyptians about I know I found out he went to Ancestry dot com how you’ve seen a commercial that guy thought he was German and all Saudi went and such a dot com and found out he was Scottish. So most is what ancestry dot com and found out he was really Hebrew now kid. But he knew that he was Hebrew. He knew that they were his brothers have you ever wondered how Moses felt as he went out there and seen his brother and suffered. Think about how would you feel. How would you feel if you seeing your children or your brother suffering and being harmed being tortured. How would you react or you might react the same way. Moses did because Moses killed in the Egyptian he’s seen a Gyptian and. GYPTIAN soldier treated one his brother in harshly and he killed him he thought he did it in secret. He goes out the next day and he sees two of his Hebrew brother and fighting. He says Why are you fighting amongst yourselves and they say to him. Are you my brother’s keeper are you going to kill me like you did the Egyptian so that he realizes this thing that he did was not in secret. That is how he wound up out in the desert for forty years forty years. You know most of us here old enough to remember the the movie The Ten Commandments. Yes Yes OK so we can envision our mine as Moses portrayed by Charlton Heston So most of us when we think of Moses we picture him as looking like Charlton Heston right. Yeah. Yeah. So we can envision in our minds because of that movie mosts crawling through the desert. He’s on his hands and knees he’s clinging to life. He’s almost dead from going through that desert and all the sudden he kind of wakes up becomes very self and he sees the daughters of role. I know it said Jethro get in there he sees the daughters trying to water the sheep and there’s a band of other shepherds there that run their sheep up. He raises up and goes in rescues the daughters. That’s the way the movies are right one second dramas dead the next minute you’re so strong you can deliver someone from the bullies. That’s the way the movies work. I don’t know if it was just like that but he did help the daughters of role the daughters needed help because the way the Scriptures explained in Chapter two The daughters over all would go out every day to water the sheep. He had no son well he did have a somebody who. Young very young will get to that. So they would go out every day they would do all the laborous work of coal in the buckets the water out and fill in the troughs they get the troughs full there the bullies would come along. You wouldn’t think you’d have bullies among shepherds but you did they did the bullies would come along and shoo all their sheep away. Let their sheep water and then they’d go on their merry way. So the water the daughters would have to do it a second time. Pull all that water up to fill the troughs so that their sheep could drink so on this particular day. Moses does not allow this to happen. You know I think Moses likes to correct wrongs doesn’t he showed us that in Egypt. So he likes to correct a wrong so he took over and allowed the daughters of our old to water the sheep to run those guys off instead of the other way around. So whenever the daughters get home that day. It’s so much earlier because they only had to do half the work were all says how to just get home so quickly and said all this Egyptian helped us course they know it’s Hebrew. He helped us run the bullies away. Well where is he go getting so they go and get him and bring him back. That’s how he spends forty years out or tending the sheep raising a family. There’s forty years out in the desert or first verse in our scripture today said that Moses tending the flock of his father knowledge through the original word use here does not necessarily mean father in law. It means that it is a term for relative by marriage in all likelihood Jethro was Moses his brother in law because his royal son was young. That’s why his daughters are out there tending the sheep. So now it’s forty years some forty years have passed. Just. Moses says raised his family lived in the land of Midian. Had children tending she thinking about his brother and back in Egypt. So yes moving the sheep from one pasture to another and that’s how it came to the Mountain of God were passing began today. Sometimes this mountain is called Horeb and other times this mountain is called Mount Sinai this mountain has two peaks guess what their names are who are have been son. That’s why it’s referred to as different names sometimes. This is the mountain that God reveals himself to Moses in a miraculous way by fire blazing out of the midst of that burning bush and yet the bush was not burned up. God has so done some amazing things with fire has any he sent down from heaven to consume the sacrifice of the lodge and placed upon the altar in the water. He led the children of Israel through the wilderness at night by blazing fire. He delivered a Hebrew children from the furnace. God has done some amazing things fires light fire cleanses fire purifies. But the main thing this day was the fire got Moses’ attention. He drew close to have a closer look at this amazing thing. You know some like today of some like that happened think it was a trick but Moses knew it was no trick because he knew as many other ancient nations knew that fire was a very significant of deity. The fact that that Bush was not consumed could be looked upon as an emblem of the state of Israel in its various stages of distress and persecution. It was a fire of adverse. City that they had endured for many years but yet they were not consume. Far could be looked as an emblem also in the state of the Church of God in the wilderness in persecution often in the midst of its enemies in the regions of the shadow of death yet not consume it could be looked at today for the followers of Christ that we could be cast down yet not for saken grievously tempted but not destroyed walking through the fire but still unconsumed borrow these preserved in the midst of those things which have a natural tendency to destroy because God is in the midst of them. That is how we can walk through the things we walk through in life because God is in the midst of them. God is with us. Christ dwells with us through the Holy Spirit. Holy ground. Then he said Do not draw near this place take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. Moreover God said I am the God of your Father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob and Moses hid his face for he’s afraid to look upon God. I love that got a den of FISON self got always a den of fights himself who he is the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac the God of Jacob. You know is not that the ground. If Moses would have wandered by one day and Bush would have been burned and he walked up on that mountain. He had just been standing on ground right. It was the presence of the holy God that made that holy ground. I love that the directive to Moses to take the shoes off. Because this was in conformity with what was. Well known to Moses having been brought up in Egypt he would know the Egyptian priest observe the custom in their temples to always take their shoes off. Today’s observed and always during countries the people take off their shoes and sandals sandals before they enter into a mosque or a synagogue as a confession of personal defilement and conscious unworthiness to stand in the presence of unspotted holiness. Moses responded by Noni taking his shoes off but by hiding his face because he understood that he was in the presence of the divine majesty. He was unworthy to even look upon God because of his own sinful nature. He was aware of God’s holiness this building that we gather in it’s just made of blocks of wood siding dry wall carpeting roofing lights is just a building right. Yes. But when we enter in and we’re God’s children we have white his presence here. Does that not make it a holy place. Does that make this holy ground. Yes. Do we look upon it as holy ground. Do we have the same respect and reverence for this holy ground that Moses had for that holy ground will mount Sinai. Do we have that respect. When we come into worship. Do we have that reverence reverence is a is a profound respect and love a reverent attitude towards God in it includes honoring him. It includes expressing gratitude towards him. It includes obeying His commandments. As people we need to show reverence for God We need to show gratitude for his blessings we need to show gratitude towards prophets towards his church towards his ordinance His ordinances towards his priesthood. We need to respect his plan for his children. Whenever we have the proper reverence and respect it will lead to proper and right conduct in worship. Or reverent behave behavior includes prayer scripture study fasting payment of ties and offerings. It includes having wholesome thoughts were in modest clothing. What I mean by that is we don’t come in here dressed like a slews. Modestly it means using clean wholesome language. The depth of a person’s reverence is evident in his or her choice of music and other entertainment. Is revealed in the way that they look at objects is revealed in a way a person dresses. In attend church as I just said we should dress modestly yet we might not all have a five hundred dollar suit to wear to church but you dress modestly you dress with the best you have for God we’ve always said we don’t care how you come to sell your dress but we do want you to be modest. We don’t want you to come in here revealing what we don’t want to see is to put it in simple terms dressed like you would dress if you knew that Jesus Christ was sitting right here on the front pew. For he was here preaching to you today reverence includes making right choices righteous choices even when no one else is watching because he is always watching reverence for the Lord leads to serving other people in treating them with the kindness and the respect that they should be shown reverence leads to a quiet transformed life. The Lord will pour out His Holy Spirit more abundantly upon those who are reverent that upon those who respect him. How could we think that we could be one of these people who uses all kinds of foul language and dresses or and just is just a wicked person and think always spirits come to come and well that Hebrews twelve twenty eight twenty nine says. Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which can be shaken. Let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for God is a consuming fire. Or God is a consuming fire first. Peter. One thirteen through sixteen says therefore So this is a Therefore for they church not just this church for the church gird up the long lines of your mind. Grab a hold of them. Gird them up be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children not conforming yourselves to the former lust as in your ignorance but as he who called you is holy. You also be holy in all your conduct because it is written be holy for I was. I am hold. That’s the word for the church today. God would not tell us to do that if it were not possible. God says be holy for I am holding the reverent to the Lord our God because He is a holy God Church there is too many people today or want to devalue God’s holding us there one to say what’s OK to do this because surely God will not condemn me because God is a Gotta love. But he is also a holy God. He is a consuming fire. So respect him. Show him the reverence that is due and yes be holy for he is holy. Amen.