This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day three together of our look through the book of Exodus, week one. So
we're in Exodus chapter three, one of the most powerful chapters in all of
Scripture, the chapter where Moses meets up with God. Actually, Exodus chapter
three and chapter four talk about this meeting and what happened.

We're talking these weeks about how significant changes can happen in our lives
through the work of God, about how you can break free, break free from unwanted
past, unhealthy patterns, unholy passions. But even as we begin, even in these
first few days, you might already be discovering or you may have discovered a
long time ago that when you talk about being set free, there's a struggle to it,
there's a fight to it. You have to remember that freedom is worth the struggle
and you have to remember that because you don't struggle alone.

In fact, in essence, it's not just your struggle, it's God's struggle,
struggling in you to do something above and beyond what you could do. All right,
it's going to be a struggle. So the question is, how do I endure that struggle?

Because the truth is, most of us break down before we break free. We just get
tired and we want to break free. We want to be different.

We want to have new habits. We want to live in new ways, but we get worn out.
Where do you find the power to really change?

To change even when you're tired, to change even when you don't feel like you
have the strength. Well, Moses gave us an object lesson yesterday in where you
cannot find that power. You can't find it in your emotions.

You can't find it in your human strength. You can't find it in running away from
the problem. You can only find it in your relationship with God.

And that means that we need, not in the same way, but in the same essence, we
need what Moses found in this chapter. We need a meeting with God, a meeting
with God that gives us the power to change. A personal experience with God,
either your first experience with God ever or maybe your first on this
particular issue, this thing you need to be set free from.

Moses has that kind of experience in Exodus 3 and 4. And although we can't copy
another person's experience, no one's going to have just this experience that
Moses did. We can sure learn from it.

So listen to what happened. Exodus chapter 3 verses 1 to 5. Now Moses was
tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.

When he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the
mountain of God, there the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire
from within a bush. Moses saw that although the bush was on fire, it did not
burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over there and see this strange sight, why
this bush does not burn up.

" When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within
that bush, "Moses, Moses. " And Moses said, "Here I am. Do not come any closer,
God said.

Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. "
Here's the third turning point in Moses' life. The first is when he's put into a
basket and reminded that someone has to trust God.

The second is when he trusts himself and reminded that you don't have the power
on your own. You recognize you don't have the power to change on your own. In
this moment, in this burning bush moment in his life, we learn you recognize
what you can't do, but you also recognize what God can do.

Moses comes across this burning bush. What's a burning bush? What does it mean
in your life?

One definition is in the midst of the routine, when you least expect it, you are
surprised by God's invitation. That's what happened to Moses. It was in the
midst of the routine.

This is a common, old bush. Hundreds like it on the mountain. God loves to take
what we would call common and make it useful, and he used this bush.

Major Ian Thomas used to say, "Any old bush will do when it's made available to
God. " In the midst of the routine, unexpectedly, this shows up. Here's Moses.

He'd been in this desert for 40 years. He'd awakened to the same landscape,
14,600 mornings, and now this, a burning bush. He looks at it.

He has curiosity, and he goes over to see. God used that curiosity, and when he
got there, God spoke to him. Routine, unexpected, and then surprised.

What made this bush extraordinary? The fire. God's presence at the center.

His presence is what changes things. It caused a bush to catch fire, and it
causes people to come to life. When Moses is surprised by this bush, this is
what is so meaningful to me.

What's the first thing that he hears? He hears his own name. Moses.

No longer is it just some curiosity. It becomes personal. Moses has a meeting
with God, a meeting with God that gives him the power to take the next step.

In that meeting, he faces a lot of the same emotions, the same kind of questions
that you and I would face when God says, "I want to do something in your life. I
can really change that thing in your life. I want to set you free.

I want to use you to set somebody else free. " I love the honesty of this
exchange between Moses and God. In this exchange, we hear four questions from
Moses.

Same kind of questions you and I face. When you see his questions and filter
them through your heart and life, it helps you to be surprised by the invitation
of God. So today and tomorrow, we're going to see these four questions that
Moses asked.

End of chapter 3, the beginning of chapter 4. When God catches your attention,
you usually end up asking at least one, if not all four, of these questions.
First question was this.

God says, "Moses, I want to do something through your life. " First question is,
"Who am I? Who am I to do this?

" Verses 10 to 12. "So now," God says, "I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my
people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. " But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I
should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?

" And God said, "I will be with you. This will be the sign that it is I who have
sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on
this mountain.

" God says to Moses, "I'm going to use you to set my people free. " Moses says
to God, "Yeah, right. I am too ordinary.

I am not qualified. Who am I? " You will never be qualified.

You'll always be too short, tall, fat, skinny, old, young, lazy, hairy, bald,
smart, dumb. Whatever qualifier you want to use, if the qualifiers are all in
yourself. When you hear God knock, you don't feel qualified to answer the door,
but that's not the point.

So many of us feel like we don't have anything to give to God, and so we're not
answering. When God says, "I want to do something new. I want to set you free.

I want to use you to set someone free," our answer is always, "Who am I? "
Somebody else would be a lot better at this, God. And we think it's humility,
but the truth of the matter is it's lack of faith.

Because God's answer is this, "I will be with you. " Now, God could have built
Moses up in this moment. Moses says, "Who am I?

" God could have said, "You were the prince of Egypt. You were the one who was
saved out of the Nile River. That's who you are.

" But instead, God points not to Moses, but to himself. "I'll be there. I'll be
with you.

It's not who you are, Moses. It's who I am," God says. You might right now be
going through the toughest time in your life.

God will be with you. You might right now be facing the greatest challenge in
your life. God will be with you.

You might be feeling a tap on the shoulder to do something great for God in your
life. God will be with you. You might, as we start the study of these chapters
in Exodus, be feeling, "Maybe God could change me this time.

" But then that's followed quickly by a lack of hope. God will be with you. It's
not your ability that matters.

It's your availability. God is more than able to make up for any lack, any lack
of ability that you might have. He's more than able to maximize the abilities
that he's given you.

But even more than that, he wants to give his ability into your life. So Moses
starts and he says, "Who am I? " God says, "I'll be with you.

" Moses isn't finished. He has a second question. It's an obvious one.

"Who am I? " God says, "I'll be with you. " So Moses says, "Who are you?

" "Okay, God, excuse me for being doubtful here, but who are you? " Verses 13 to
15. Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and I 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? " God said to Moses, 'I am who I am. ' This is
what you are to say to the Israelites, 'I am has sent me to you.

' God also said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, 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 by which I am to be remembered from
generation to generation. '" Moses has a question of God.

Who are you? God has an immediate answer. I am.

I am. Now, that's a clear answer, but many of us look at it and think, "Thank
you very much. I don't understand.

I am. " What is he saying when God says, "I am"? He's saying, "I am the one who
can meet your needs.

" The reason that you know God can meet your needs is because God exists and He
is the one who made everything. And just the fact of His existence, the Creator
of everything who's personally connected to you means He will be there. Now,
what does that mean in a personal way for you?

Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, this name, "I am," is expanded upon.
Each time someone had a need, God's name and person is the answer to that need.
So you hear throughout the Old Testament the names of God being expanded on,
like you hear Jehovah Jireh and Jehovah Nisi and Jehovah Shalom.

Jehovah Jireh means, "I am your provision. I'll provide for your need in the
moment. " Jehovah Nisi means, "I am your victory.

I'll give you the victory in this battle that you need. " Jehovah Shalom means,
"I am your peace. I'll give you the peace of heart that you need.

" Jehovah Shammah, "I am there. I will be present with you in this circumstance.
" "I am" means God can meet the need of your life.

In a world where we say, "I wish," God says, "I am. I'm going to be there. I'm
going to meet that need.

" Maybe not in the way that you want, maybe not in the way that you wish, but in
the way that glorifies Him and in the way that sets you free, breaks you free in
order to set other people free and break other people free. So if we're going to
be set free, one of the things we have to do is thank God for who He is. "I am.

" Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for who you are. You are our
provision.

You are our victory. You are our peace. You are the presence that we need when
we feel alone.

We worship you, our Father, and we thank you that no matter what circumstance I
face, I can know that you, I am, you will be there. Whether I feel it or not,
whether it's obvious to me or not, I put faith in that right now because it's
who you are. You are the Creator and you are my Father.

And so I pray in faith that you will be there. Thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Well you might think that would have settled the issue, but tomorrow we're going
to see two more reasons that Moses has to tell God why this could not possibly
work.