Making Peace With Missing Pieces

isn't it. You've been listening to these songs now. I need everybody who hasn't heard the whole album yet to repent and give your life to Jesus, because I'm telling you we worked on this a few years ago. Really, back in twenty fifteen, the Lord began to shift me to say, I don't want you to see your role as preaching only through words. I want you to see

yourself preaching through melodies. And I don't just want you to preach words that the people can listen to when you're up there on Sunday or whenever they listen to it during the week. I want you to give a huge part of your life to developing songs that can go where the sermons never will and that shift in this amazing team that God gave us here. When we release an album, we pray over it and we send it as a church because we birth these songs as

a church. I mean, y'all are the ones who are looking at us cross eyed when we said it might get loud, and then you know, y'all are slow to catch on and you're like, is that a worship song? I don't know, But then you kind of liked it, didn't you? You kind of liked it. I kind of like this. I kind of like this. And what I love about it is as we pray for these songs to go out today no matter what you're going through

in your life. There's fourteen songs on this album and we wrote them over eighteen months and it's been an amazing, amazing process. But there's something for everybody, there really is. This is so if you like straightforward worship music, there's plenty of that, but but so we need songs. We need songs that we can worship too, and that's great, and it's all worship. I mean, worship is not just

one style. You know that, but sometimes you need you need a war fair worship song so if you get in a battle, Look, if you get in if you get in a battle with the devil and I'm not there to preach to you, then we've got let the Lion roar and and and yeah, so you can put that on. So I got you. If you need something to listen to for bench pressing and you know dead lifting, I got you. And then there's song. There's songs on this album you could dance to at your wedding. So

we got warfare worship wedding worship. Abby said, make sure you let them know I was the first person who danced to dancing. Yeah, and then I asked her can I dance? Can I dance with you to that at your wedding in seventy five years when you but that's good, that's good. It's all different styles because it's all different kinds of people. It's not This is not a black church, a white church, a Republican church, a Democrat church. It's a Baptist. It's none of that Godness. He's the lion

and the Lamb, and we Workschappell, We Workshappelle. You cannot look at somebody and say you cannot put God in a box. He's too big for your box. I felt god on that. Tell twenty people he's too big for your box. I need go to litter the chat right now, say he's too big for your box. He's too big. You didn't tell twenty people. You didn't even tell anybody. Man, he's too big for your box. You know he's able to do exceedingly abundantly above while we ask come out Fredick, Hey,

what's up Tampa. I heard y'all were coming passing. So y'all got me today, right? Our e fan from all over the word, let's welcome. Are you fam from all over the world? Help me church now, Chris Brennan, John sof LJ Scot we got to take the Roar on tour. Elevation Nights is coming your way April twenty six. You better get a ticket. Chicago, Brand Rapids, Indianapolis, Columbus, Washington, d c Reading, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Boston, Massachusetts. So

we'll see you there, Elevation Nights dot com. Oh, it's good to focus on some good news today. For me, it is and I owe you. I owe you a part two of last week's message, and I intend to deliver it with the help of the Holy Spirit. Last week we talked about move in what You're made for, and we used creation. Yeah, we used creation as a classroom. We went to the school of the fish and learned that God created for the fish the environment that they

needed to survive, but to thrive in it. And when I move in what I'm made for, not not what people manipulate me to be, but what God made me to be. You know, when when i'm when i'm I talked about last week, a bird in a bowl, right when I'm in the wrong environment, I never discover the equipment that God gave me, specifically as a man, as a dad, as a pastor, all of these things that we find ourselves challenged in life. We went in the

school of creation, a classroom of creation. I like that better, the classroom of creation, and we use that as a model. Now, the Word of God is powerful. How many believe that the Word of God is powerful. But the Bible, as we understand it as the Word of God, becomes more powerful as it becomes more personal to us. So if I approach the Bible, I heard somebody say one time, the Bible is an instruction manual for life. Well, if

it's an instruction manual. It's a really bad one, right, because you weren't made with the same parts that I was made with. So instruction manual it has to be the same exact model of the blender or it's not going to fit that blender. And I probably could have done better than Blender for the analogy that I use. But you know what I'm saying. And so the Bible is not an instruction manual. It's living. It's living. And we say that it's the instruction manual because it came

from the manufacturer, which is true, the maker. But the Word of God is actually less like a manual, and it's more like a model, a model where I see who God is, so I can discover who I am. So what the Lord started doing last week? And you can catch the message online. You can stop this one, go watch that one, come back to this one. We're leaving all there like a buffet for you. We're open twenty four to seven. This is an IHA kind of situation,

but international House of Preaching, Am I right? It's y'all's fault. Y'all got me wound up, So I take no responsibility and we will sit in just a moment. But let's go to a personal example in the Bible. Because last week I used creation. This week the Lord directed me to use Moses as a model. The Bible says that these are examples for us, good and bad, so that we can have our own foundation of faith. And I want to look at Exodus chapter four from the Life

of Moses and read you this. As we continue deeper into this thing, God is trying to rebuild your self image in his image. Okay, that's what God is trying to do. Let us make man in our image. That's God talk. So that's what He's trying to do for you. And I thought it would be good since we looked at how God created man in Genesis one. Now let's look at God creating a nation. Now they've been a nation. The people have been a nation, but they've been enslaved.

And now as they come into their identity as free people, God speaks to one man, the man, the myth, the legend, Moses. Y'all know Moses. You think you know Moses. You don't know Moses. Tell somebody you don't know Moses. You're gonna know Moses a little bit better. When we finished today, Exodus four, verse ten, Moses said to the Lord, pardon your servant, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tom and the Lord

said to him, who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them death or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I? The Lord? Now go move in, go move now, go right now, now, get it all figured out. Now go. I will help you speak. I'll teach you what to say. I wish I could tell you that it ended on a happy note, but you know Moses said in verse thirteen, pardon your servant, Lord, please send someone else. Reminds you of and the New

Testament doesn't. When Jesus helped him catch all those fish, and he said, go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. God, you know I'm not cut out for this. God. You know I got secrets. God, you know I got weaknesses. You know I can't speak. That was Moses's response. He said, sind someone else. Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses, and he said, deals off, We're done. That's the God. Some of us were taught about but it's not the true God. It's not the true God. The Lord was angry,

but he didn't turn away. The Lord was angry. Did you know that some of what you call humility is really insecurity and it insults your maker when you don't like what he made. He was angry. He was angry with Moses, and he said, what about your brother Aaron the Levite. I know he can speak well, and he is already on his way to meet you, and he'll be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth. That's awesome. I will help both of you speak, and I'll teach you what

to do. He will speak to the people the Israelites for you, and it will be as if he or your mouth, and as if you were God to him. But this is less script. Shomride, I know your feet are hurting. Take this staff in your hand, somebody say your hand. Take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it. And the Lord directed me to talk to you today about making peace with missing pieces, making peace with missing pieces. Thank you for

your word, Lord, We say yes in advance in Jesus' name. Amen, you may be seated making peace with missing pieces. P E A C E and then P I E eye before you Right. Yeah, spelling on my feet is hard. Oh, by the way, speaking of that, y'all, pray for me. I'm struggling with self esteem like never before because of Holly. She's got me playing this game called wordle. Y'all know it. I didn't know if it was like a little cult thing that Holly had gotten into. She's always texting this

group text on the phone on the bed. I'm like, who you're texting us? Eleven thirty p She's like, I only got thirty minutes to get my wordle in. It's a word puzzle, five letter words. And the reason I asked you to pray for me is because she keeps beating me daily. Because we put a family wordle group chat, and on the group chat, if you were to see it, you would pray for all my kids because it's Graham calling Abby a cheater. It's Abby telling Graham I'm not

a cheater, you know. And then our family is normal. So we're going back and forth and find I know your family, y'all read scripture every morning, take the blood of the communion, and put the cross on the door and send them off the school on the bus singing about you know, proud Mary, keep on burning. But you're talking about the Virgin Mary because you're a Christian. But when I tell you she beats me every day, she beats me every day, and you could look up the game.

I'm not sponsored by the New York Times or anything like that, but it's it's pretty fun. It's frustrating. And what I can't get over is Abby beating me. That's been that's been rough, that's been rough. And Abby beat me the other day. Because you have so many guesses to get it, and she guessed it in two and I guessed it in four. Graham said she cheated, and I just texted back to the group chat kind of sarcastically.

I'm like, well we oh, no, I'm bad with words because I was like overcompensating for the feeling of getting beat by my ten year old. And Holly says back on the group chat, Nope, not words, just puzzles, and she's right, I suck at puzzles. I do. I showed you last week some things that I'm not so good at, and I used the words suck when I said that so I'm trying to say it in a way where you can understand how much I hate puzzles because of how much I lack patience. Holly is a better person

than me. I can tell you this over and over. She has more patience than me to sit with pieces and try to make it look like a picture that I can already see. Why do I need to spend five hours taking something that is intentionally broken and putting it together just so I can see what I already saw? Why this thing was still at the store on the shelf. That's how I feel about puzzles. I'm bad at puzzles.

I'm bad at puzzles. Any puzzle people in the house make some nook such a weird thing to be pumped about. I love puzzles. But now I need you to understand why I'm bringing all of this up. Not random, not random, not random, not random, not random. This is one of the pieces that I want to use to get you to think about what I'm trying to communicate to you about how God made you in his image. But you don't get to see all of God at once, Therefore you don't get to know all of you at once.

In the Scripture, it's called progressive revelation. That doesn't mean God changes. God didn't grow two inches since last Sunday when I saw you, But it does mean that our understanding of Him changes. We see through a glass dimly. We don't see God as he really is. We see God as we think we are. So then for God to do work in my heart, for God to show me something about myself, I have to start with the source.

Start with the source. I want to encourage somebody to start with the source when you are trying to figure out who am I and I don't know whether I'm a bird or a fish, or whether I'm good at this or whether I'm good at that. I really don't know yet. That's good, But don't start with what you think you are, and don't start with what you think God is. You have got to spend time to really understand. I know, I'm all about self improvement. I'm all about

self help. Somebody's like, well, you know, we don't need self help, we need God's help. But I promise you this, God is not going to do for you what you can do for you. God doesn't reveal himself by osmosis. I spend time in his presence. That's how I get the picture of who he is. And when I get the picture of who he is, I can begin to put together the pieces of what He's making me to be. Now, the big picture of this text is the Hebrew children

coming out of Egypt because God is their deliverer. Remember in Genesis one, God is creating. Now in Exodus chapter three, he's liberating. Same God in a different dimension, same God in a different season, same God meeting a different need. He formed the man from the dust in Genesis chapter one and two, and he formed the nation. Watch this from the dust of their slavery and the cries of their groaning. He spoke. He spoke to Moses, I love that. How we kind of have a war of words going

on in this passage. Let me illustrate. In verse ten, Moses said to the Lord in verse did you see that? Did they put it up? Okay? Now, I want you to see this with your own eyes, because it's this back and forth that's been happening in your life too. Moses said to the Lord, I can't do this. I

never did it before. Wrong, dude, Moses said to the Lord, I wasn't good at what you're asking me to do when you met me, and not much has changed in the last ten minutes, because you know, we think the word of God is just going to change us on the spot. We think that God's gonna speak to us. All the fear is gonna go, all the all the all the bitterness is gonna go. It's just gonna go. Man,

I'm just gonna drink. When I'm supposed to drain every disappointment out of your life in fifty minutes on a Sunday. It doesn't work like that, but it's a starting point. Moses said to the Lord, and then verse eleven, the Lord said to him, it's a war of words. It's a war of words. Now, I'm not gonna talk on this pulpit today about the war that's in the news, because there nothing I can do about that. I can pray, we can give, but beyond that, there's not much I

can do. I want to take this moment to talk about the war in you. You hearing a lot about a world war, but don't we see in the scripture that there's a word war happening as well. Where the Lord said to Moses, I got something for you to do I'm going to use what you have. I'm gonna take you forward into something that is going to set others free. Is not just about me. There is a bigger picture here. For four hundred years, get this, Get this, for four hundred years, there is no record of God

revealing himself. Demand for four hundred years. And then the Lord's word came to Moses, sending you to Pharaoh. And when you get to him, tell him Pharaoh, Pharaoh, old baby. Let my people go, oh yeah, yeah, make sure you put the uh in there and mostly uh uh. And he walks through it. And I'm gonna walk you back

through this. But first, can we acknowledge that there is a war of words happening in your soul too, that there is a war of words happening in your home, that there is a war of words happening in your heart. The enemy waged war against Moses before he was ever born. He had to be floated in a basket on the nile to survive. Some of you, the devil has been after you your whole life. People should have spoken affirmation

over you. People should have smoken direction to you. People should have given encouragement to you, and they didn't so other words take root. I told Holly, I'm bad at words. She said, no, just puzzles. You're just not patient enough. You're just not patient enough. You don't like puzzles because you're not patient. And then I said back, I said, well, if you would get off wordle and get in the wordle of God. Maybe I didn't say that to such staid, but really, now let's go to it. This is not

a game here. What's on the line here is not whether or not God's people will be set free, because God will always accomplish his purpose. God will always accomplish his purpose. God will always accomplish his purpose. I promise you. If Saul gets crazy, David is already in the sheep field. God will always accomplish his purpose. If you get fired while being faithful, God will use the fertilizer of what you call a failure to create something in your life

that you didn't even know to pray for him. The question isn't whether God's calling and purpose will be confirmed. It's not whether God will do it. Will he do it in you and through you? Unless we get too excited about this war of words, because you know, I think the assumption is that since Moses went to Pharaoh and God unleashed frogs and hail and locusts and all this stuff, and the people got to go through the

Red Sea. That Moses won, But he really didn't because it was the words of the tense spies who told him the giants are bigger than us that kept him from going into the promised Land. It was the words of grumbling study it sometime it was words, words, words, words, words, words, words. It was the words of the grumbling Israelites who were thirsty in the desert that made him take his staff that could split seas and strike a rock out of

frustration to bring forth water. And because he listened to their words, grumbling, complaining, murmuring comments, twitter, I mean, uh, grumbling complaining. Now I'm in the wrong decade, y'all. But some things never change. It's still a war of words. It's a war of words. Five letter words. Y'all know about four letter words? Oh, y'all never say four letter words in your head? Okay, okay, okay, okay? And word

will they have five letter words? And I just saw two five letter words here, And I think it's very simple. Faith in doubt, Faith in doubt, and I want to break this down so you can understand the war of words that's happening not out of your mouth, but out of your mind in this moment that you're standing. At this moment, maybe you're not leading a nation out of slave. I think sometimes we dumb the Bible down to kind of make it about whatever we want it to be about.

So God is calling Moses to be a deliverer, right, and we're like, well, that's kind of like me. I'm trying to go on a diet and you know, and boy, I really need God because it's hard. Okay, Well, the principle does apply because I think that Moses is a model for us for our life. But you know, this guy, this would be the equivalent of God tells you to stop putin. That's what it's like for Moses to go before Pharaoh. That's that's that's what that's what he's up against.

So we're judging Moses, Well, Moses, you have the word of the Lord, go fourth mighty warrior in the word of the Lord. You know, we're judging this dude like I can't even find my car keys without saying four letter words. You know, I'm trying to judge Moses about him fighting with God over speaking to the most powerful man in the world who has terrorized his people for centuries. But I like it because I dare you to show me something bigger that God is trying to bring you

into than this. And that's why it's a good model, because it shows me this is this is ridiculous what God is giving him to do. This is not improblem this is impossible. This is not like a lord, I need you to show me whether to move to Atlanta or Cincinnati, And the Lord's like, I really don't care about that. I just want you to find a good church when you get there, get good friends, and make a difference either place. He is deciding whether or not to him embrace his destiny or to be limited by

his history. And that's where you are. A few months ago I preached when Never meets Now. Three of y'all heard it when Never meets Now, and I had this scripture ready, but I didn't get to use it where he said I have verse ten never. I remember, we are different than everything else God created because He made us by hand down in the dust, and he made us ruoc the breadth of life in you. Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord. Let everything that has

breath praise the Lord. HM. But one other way we're different. That I realized when I was preaching last week. It says, over and over again, God spoke, and God saw God spoke. He said, let there be light, and the light said yes, sir, and it's shown. Then he spoke, which is crazy because he hadn't even made the sun yet, but the light still decided to shine even though there was no sun. That's how powerful God's word is. It doesn't have to

make sense if he speaks it. Y'all are ready for that? Hey, Tampa, I thought, y'all have my back today God God will speak something you have no context for. He'll tell Noah, build an arc and there's no such thing as rain yet. And can you do that? Can you believe what God says when you don't see it at all? That is the five letter word faith. And it goes on and on. You know. On the first day, God says light, B.

Light says yes, sir. Light was Day two, God says clouds in sky B C B and the sea said yes, sir. And the cloud said, I'll take the high road. You take the low road, and the sea went deep and the clouds went high, and it was good. God spoke, God saw. On the third day, God told the land land produce living things, make plants, and the land said, yes, sir, And the plants started to grow. On the fourth day kind of different. But God said, hey, Sun, you take

the day shift. The sun said, yes, sir. The moon said, oh, I'm not a night person. No, the moon didn't say that. The moon said, I'll go where you need me to go. I'll do what you need me to do. I'll be what you need me to be. I'll hang where you need me to hang. I'll pull the ocean that you made on the second day, I'll pull it. I'll control the tides. Everybody's doing its job. Everything is working in perfect order, according to the spoken word of God. In

the creation of cow. In the fifth day, he told the birds, I made a place for you called Scott. They're like, this is amazing. I believe I can fly. I'm a flap till I get there. And they start flying around. And then Nemo and Dorry and all of that. On the fifth day, and nobody argued. On the sixth day, he made the living creatures and the cows, and the horses, and the oxen and the donkeys, everything in his place

till you came along. Now, of everything God spoke, only one talked back, Lord, I don't know how to do what you're telling me to do. I'm making fun of Moses, but I already told you he has much greater faith than me to even be in this place. The first thing Moses did when God spoke, he took off his shoes. So now let's step into his shoes so we can step in, because he took them off when he saw

that burning bush. And let's imagine this is me. Let's imagine this is you, and the Lord is talking about world peace, and you are carrying a shepherd's staff, and the Lord is speaking to you about generational blessing, and you are still wrestling with a generational curse. It's a war of words what God has spoken over your life. That is one thing about the Spirit of God who lives within us through the Holy Spirit. Now Moses didn't know about the Holy Spirit inside of you. He didn't

even know who he was talking to yet. But the Spirit of God in Genesis was doing what the Spirit of God is doing today. It says, the spirit of God hovered above everything that God had made. When the word of God speaks, he speaks from above. That's why he can tell you things in your spirit that you can't see with your eyes and that people can't confirm with their words. Because he speaks from above. It can

I show you this on a deeper level? You ready, there are at least at least you could probably find more four missing pieces that Moses had to wrestle with to move forward in the mission God gave him. I think they will apply to everybody in this room. How can that be. There's twelve year olds in this room. There's eighty year olds in this room. There's people who are on unemployment in this room. There's multimillionaires in this room.

But when God speaks his spirit and personal lives the word directly to the way He made you to be. God likes puzzles. Now, He's not gonna give you the picture. That's the worst part about trying to be who God's made you to be. He dumps the pieces out on the table and doesn't show you a picture. Well, he shows you one piece at a time. That's how God works, one piece at a time. Step by step, day by day, Give us this day seventy years worth of bread so

we never have to go to the store again. No, no, no, our daily bread. You get overwhelmed by this. You have no peace. You're overwhelmed. You're thinking about thirteen hypothetical scenarios. You can't fight the devil on a hypothetical. And that's how Moses started. I'm gonna just pull him up real quick. You're ready, I'm I'm gonna give you all four of them so quick. So pay attention. The first thing that Moses said, the missing piece, because God is saying, I

got something for you to do. Now, how many of you feel like God has something for you to do. It's not leading people out of slavery or something like that, big like that, but God's given you something to do. Raise your hand or die. Okay, all right, So this is for everybody that's still here. Ah. The first thing Moses said, give me that Exodus three scripture. He said, no, no, Exodus three, Exodus three? Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?

God said, I'll be with you. So then that follows this next question. You got, who am I. And then look at verse thirteen. Moses said to God, suppose I go to this real liace and said to the God, your father send me to you, And they asked, what is his name? Then why shall I tell them? In other words, my first question is who am I? But who are you? I hadn't heard from this in four

hundred years. It's been four hundred years since a personal epiphany like this, God spoke to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. But you got to understand there has been a long gap. When's the last time you had an encounter with God? When's the last time that you were like? That was God that did that for me. That was God that held me in his arms. That was God that reassured me. That was God that kept me from ending at all.

That was God that kept me from going to prison, because if I would have done what I thought about doing it, I would not be here today. That was God. Yeah, so he's kind of getting honest. He's like, who am I to do this? But then who are you? Give me a second together? My thoughts. If you're knew to church, knew to God, knew to religion, I need to warn

you about us we're the worst. We are the worst about pretending like we have faith figured out, and so we say words, words, words, words, words, words, But we're really good at hiding our war. Not many people quit coming to church because they assume, oh, they all have something that I don't have. They have like this deep relationship with God. They know them. You know, they say words propitiation. I don't know what that means. That's not

a five letter word. I'm telling you the truth about Christians. And we Meanwhile, but a lot of us were taught that we had to have the whole thing figured out or it wasn't faith. So we mastered the art of sounding certain. We mastered the art of magnifying your missing pieces, so I don't have to deal with mine. Okay, it's dying out. Lord, Am I still on the right track. It was a lot more clapping earlier. Now. Now that's good news only if you are willing to get honest.

That is good news about how God works in our life. Unless we think that the only way for us to have peace is to have no missing pieces. And this is where a lot of us who are perfectionists of talking any of Graham one, we think everything has to be us, so for us to be happy, for us to be grateful. And so we get in this thing all the time, a lot of us, do not all of us, but we get in this thing at a lot of the time that we say, when this, then i'le,

When this than i'le. Now. The worst thing you can believe, please hear me, The worst thing that you can believe is that when you get here, then God will love you. That is from the pit of hell, that is alive, That is not in the Bible. It is by grace. You are saying, a kid, you God, grace. You got a lot, You got the greatest gift. His name is Jesus. We all need Jesus. We all need Jesus. Look at somebody say you need Jesus more than me. No, don't say that. Don't say that need him just as much

as you. I need him just as much as you. I need him just as much as you. I was yelling at the ump and a baseball game and somebody said, I thought you were supposed to be a preacher. I said, my name is Stephen today, no pastor on the front. I'm Stephen Ram's dad. Okay, but I'm in the process he's fuckis. It's called sanctification, and it happens in stages. And I just wish that Moses would have asked the

second question first. I just wish that he would have started with the source, not himself, because if you ask who am I, before you ask God who are you? You will misunderstand what you're made of. You're not made of dirt, You're not made of flesh, you are not made of bone, you are not made of I ran out of physical things to say. I'm winging this. You are made of spirit. Is that cool? Then everything else

doesn't define you. So I like to telegram I'm five nine in the natural, but in the spirit, David is bigger than Goliath. You don't understand. You don't understand. When I watch Holly putting a puzzle together, I do two things. One I'm marvel that she can stick with this, and second, I notice that she puts the frame first. I've never done a puzzle, don't intend to, but if I ever do. She taught me that you start with the frame. Five letter word f r am me. You start with the frame.

Do you know the author of Hebrews said that the worlds were framed by the word of God. That everything we see, I'm in it now. I'm in it now, That everything we see visibly is made by something that God spoke invisibly, that the worlds were framed by the word of God that he told the sunshine. Sun said yes, sir. He told the moon, now it's your turn, and the moon said, I'll do it when you need me to do it. He told the fish to flap around, he

told the birds to elevate. Everything in created order understands when God speaks. Stop speaking against what God has spoken over life, because it's a war of words, and you have become your own worst enemy. You know, there's only two characters in Exodus four. It's God and Moses and the bush. I reckon the bush deserves a shout out. Is burning up and not burning down. I mean, that's pretty good special effects. And I guess there's four. There's

the staff. There's the stick, which becomes significant later in his life. But he doesn't know that yet. See, you don't know yet, You don't know yet. When the Lord said, what is that in your hand? Remember, he said, who are you? Lord? Who am I? An amazing turn of events in Exodus chapter four Moses. Next objection was, when I go to my people and tell them that I met with you and they weren't here to see it. What if they say to me, you are on drugs.

You saw bush, This is psychedelics. This is not scripture. You saw bush burning up. And the Lord said, I am, And there's so much to study here. Would y'all be cool if we did a whole series one day on the God of Moses. I want to do it. I did God of Jacob years ago, and then I put that verse in the song. I'm calling on the God of Moses, the one who opened up the ocean. Now, if you hear it like that, it sounds like Moses

opened the ocean. Sounds like Moses opened the ocean. He was so mighty and strong, you had such great faith. We're talking about the same guy, the guy who said I can't even talk straight. It was God that opened the ocean. It's God that's going to do it for you. You hear me. It is God that works in you to will and to do according to his good pleasure. It is God. It is his word that does the work.

So he said, who am I? You've been wondering that hadn't you You really wonder when you have to transition and identity. I'm a shepherd, now I'm supposed to be a spokesman before that, Moses, we don't have time to do it, but will do it. In the series, Moses was known as a murderer because before he learned how to manage what God had called him to, before he knew what to do with that. A lot of the mistakes you make early in your life, you have the

wrong response, but it's for the right reason. He saw one of his fellow Hebrews getting beat by an Egyptian, and he killed a man and hit him in the sand. Now he's been in hiding forty years and the Lord comes. He hasn't to anybody in four hundred years, and the word comes. Are you open to a better word? Or are you so addicted to your excuses? Three categories? Right? Who am I? Let's look at these? That speaks of his preparation. Who am I? I'm not ready for this?

Who am I? And then he wants to know who are you? That's information. I don't know who you are. God, I don't know enough to do this. Nobody gave me a class for pastoring the church through a global pandemic. Nobody if they did that class, I skipped that day. And nobody gave you a class for some of the stuff you're going through. Either, nobody tells you how to survive the loss of somebody who was your life a missing pieces, missing pieces? Who am I? I'm not ready? Preparation,

Who are you information? Lord? I don't even know the Book of Ruth from a baby Ruth. Lord, I'm just new to the That's fine, that's fine, That's fine because God wants to show you how you cannot know and still go. This word is so real for somebody, and I don't know who is for. I don't have to know who is for. I just got to preach it and then the Holy Spirit of God will apply it to that area of your life where you're insecure, because look, Moses is like, I can't talk. That's a very specific thing.

But really what he's dealing with is what if they don't believe me? That's validation. Are you one of those in your life? Today? Let's go through them slowly and you can write these down and ask the Lord to speak to you about them throughout this week. Preparation, Lord, Who am I to do this? I wouldn't. This is not my story. But you may be saying this. I wasn't even raised right, How do I raise kids myself?

I don't have any experience owning a business. Here I am God in I didn't see this comment preparation information? Who are you? God? What do I not know? You know? The ones who are in the worst trouble who are here in this word today, the ones who have made their own picture of what they think their situation is supposed to look like. And they built that picture based

on somebody else's puzzle. And you are going to spend the rest of your life thinking that you're missing pieces because you are trying to build somebody else his picture. And so not who and so now now God has you here, and God wants to teach you the art of going forward when you don't know where, Abraham, when you don't know how, Moses, and God's answer is pathetic if you think about it. What's that in your hand?

You mean my stick? Then I'm only holding because I fled to Egypt and had to work for Jethrow, because I made the mistake of murdering someone because I didn't know how to do it. And I read that over and over again this week, thinking about your stick, thinking about your mistake, and the Lord said clearly to me to tell you He's going to turn the mistake into a miracle. No, no, no, no no, I'm not saying God's gonna work around it. I'm saying he's actually gonna

use it. Because you're like, okay, well, I'll praise God anyway. I hate life, I hate myself, but God is good. That's attractive. That will win a world to Jesus. Yeah, that's exactly what he bled on the cross for. He's already been through all of them. Look, you might have to move forward in this season of your life without preparation, and you might have to figure it out as you go. You might have to read books at night. You might have to read you might you might have to you

might have to read books period. All right. You might have to ask people. You might have to get honest and say to somebody like, hey, man, I gotta be honest with you know anything about managing money. I'm driving this because I'm so stupid that I signed up for seventy five thousand percent interest. By the way, I'm gonna bring Dave Ramsey in a couple of weeks to help y'all with all that. All right, all right, so that'll be good, but you might have to get honest and say,

you know what, I'm not prepared for this. I don't have this right now. But don't think that just because you don't know it right now doesn't mean you can't grow in it. You can. You can't. You can't, you can't. The devil is a liar. And and and don't think you need to know everything when God said, when God, when Moses said, huh, tell me who you are? You know what God told him? I am I love the Lord. Can you be more specific? No? Nope, Because every situation I put you in that is too big for you.

You are gonna see another dimension of who I am. I am gone, I'm too big for your box. I am, I am Resurrection, I am Water, I am the great I am, and the great I am. It's bigger than all your little I'm not. That's why I came in his presence today, and that's why when some people are standing there looking at the song, I'm letting it wash over me because I need those words from God. I need a spoken and sun over me. I need it in my heart because y'all, honestly, I'm bad at words,

not the ones I say. I'm good at those most of the time, bad at the ones that I say to myself, I'm stepping in moses shoes today. I'm asking you to do the same INChO what are you not and what what you're not have to do with who God is. I got to meet somebody so inspirational the other day who was blind shortly after birth and it's been blind all their life, and they were saying how how their mom, meaning well went around to all these

different churches to get him healed. And he said, up until about age nine, he went along with it, and they would put oil on his eyes and he said it would just burn. I didn't get any better. And I'm not saying God can't heal, and I'm not saying

any of this is bad. But this was his story and I was listening to it, and I thought this is crazy because he finally said to his mom, and I think he was about Abbey's age nine or ten, if I remember correctly, he said, Mom, one night, his mom was crying and praying God, please heal my boy. Heal my boy, heal my boy, here my boy, And that's a good thing for mom to pray. And who wouldn't pray that? And you know, I'm not saying that

God causes this or God causes that. The Lord said, you always identify me by what I give you, and sometimes I want you to know me in what I didn't give you. Is it not I? And he said I heard my mom crying and I finally went in and said, Mom, you are giving me a headache. You're crying so much. Did you ever think maybe God made me this way for a reason and he has something

for me to do? And then a few minutes later, he was telling me about songs he wrote like Love's in need of love today And I just called to say I love you, and superstition, it was Stevie Wonder, y'all, it was Stevie Wonder. Stevie said that. Stevie Wonder said that, he said, Mom, you ever think maybe God has something for me to do just like I am? And I'm thinking Stevie was right. Huh. I'm thinking he was right. And I think how horrible it would be if those

songs didn't exist because he didn't have his sight. You probably won't ever write a song as good as Stevie. In fact, I can say this, you will never write a song as good as Steevee, and neither will I. But something in you will go unsung if what is in your hand goes unstretched. Because when Moses said, I have never I've never been good at this, that was the fourth That was the fourth one. It was a limitation, and God got angry. God got angry. You think I

don't know that about you? You think I put you in a sky without wings. I gave you what I wanted you to have. And since you're so insistent on being insecure, since you don't believe me about all this. Now, Moses has already seen a lot. He turned his staff into a snake. He still isn't convinced. He put his hand in his cloak, it came out lepros Ah, put it back in. It came out here. That's crazy. But he still doesn't want to go. And it comes out

in this moment. Send someone else, not me, God not me, not me. It's a war of words. See, the Lord keeps speaking over you, not only that you're gonna make it. He keeps telling you you're doing better than you think you are, and you won't believe him. He keeps telling you put it in my hands, I'll deal with it, and you won't believe him. It's a war of words. It's a war of words, and which one will win,

which one will win. So we're standing in this in this scene with Moses and his shoes, and the Lord told me to ask you, are you ready to make peace with the way things are, believing that God can use it somehow for his glory, or are you gonna let one missing peace to find the rest of your life. One thing we learn about from a puzzle is that something can be in pieces on purpose. If God is only giving you one thing at a time, do one thing at a time. We just released an album on Friday,

another Shameless Plug I Loved album. We wrote it one song at a time, one verse at a one word, one syllable, one note at a don That's how it works. You are not supposed to know where God is gonna have you in twenty years. It's a five letter word. It's called faith. And if you will go, God said, I'm gonna send Aaron to help you. I'm gonna send somebody to help you. I love it because I read Moses saying send somebody else, send God. It's like, okay,

I'll send your brother. I will send a partner into your life for the pieces that you don't have. I will send people into your life who have the pieces that you don't have. But you've got to receive this word. God. Make me more like the moon. Let me hang where you told me to hang. God, Make me more like the birds who sore where I'm supposed to soar. Make me more God. Make if this isn't too much that, make me like a bean sprout who knows how to

come forth when you call it. God. Make me more like Jesus, who is the image of God, who knew that even in his life, even in his human existence, when he laid aside his privilege as God and took on flesh the word incarnate to be with you to fulfill the great I am, God said, whatever you're not, I am whatever you're You don't I do? You keep saying I don't, God says, I do. This is a weird wedding ceremony. I don't I do. I don't I do, I don't I do. I don't think I can make it.

I do think you can make it. I don't know what to do. I do know what to do. I don't know how it's gonna happen. I do know how it's gonna happen. All I'm trying to say is who made your mouth? Why you keep saying stuff that goes against what the one who made you spoke over you. Why would you line up against yourself. It's a war of words, and I'm on the winning's side because the final word over my life was spoken before my first breath was breathed. I said the final word over my life.

God's got the big picture, and the final word over my life is spoken, and all of his promises are yes and Amen. Now just stand up and lift your hands right where you are. This is a God moment. This is a God word. This is a God word, This is a God thing. This is a God intersection. This is a burning bush, this is holy ground. This is time for you decide to decide. Are you gonna Are you gonna make peace with the missing pieces who didn't love you? I'm sorry they didn't love you, but

that doesn't get to stop you. I'm sorry they left you, but God didn't I'm sorry that it hurts, but he's a healer. I'm sorry you're broken, but there is a ball in Gilead. When all we see is broken pieces, God sees the big picture. And what is that in your hand? I'll see I got this stick, I got this situation, I made this mistake, I got these doubts. And the Lord says, if you want to see what my hand can do, I want you to stop speaking against what I put in your hand. We're gonna work

on this. We're gonna work this word deeper and deeper into our hearts. We're gonna work on this because it's a war. You have no peace in your heart. You keep saying, ah, when this happens, that happens, if this didn't happen, if they come, when they acknowledge, when they see, when I get this, But the Lord says, I want you to be at peace right now. And I know there's some things you don't know, and I know there's

some questions. Have you know how we get there? And say, Oh, when I get to God, I'm gonna ask him a bunch of stuff. You're not going to ask God anything except why did I let the devil beat me? Up so bad when you're this big? Who are you? Who are you? Now? Lift your hands again. I know you didn't keep them up that whole time. Show me who

you are, God, Show me who I am. I'm not waiting on something else, because that that'd be crazy for me to wait to have peace until there's peace in the Middle East, peace and other parts of the world. Know God, let it begin in my wort, and I thank you for how you made me. Would you say that out loud? Thank you for how you made me missing pieces? And all you ever thought those missing pieces were a space for God to fill? Maybe it is.

If you have heard this word today and you have never taken the moment to put your faith in Jesus Christ, I want to give you the opportunity right now to give him your life. He is what you've been missing. Jesus is what you have been missing. And no matter what you achieve, what you chase, what you earn, what you do, you are never going to have peace in your heart until you receive Jesus as your Lord and savior. Never. I believe God brought us together for this moment so

I could lead you in this prayer. Now. The Bible doesn't say if you do seven things you'll be right with God. The Bible doesn't say that if you'll change your life that you'll be right with God. The Bible says that it is by grace we are saved through faith. It is the gift of God, not of work, so

that no one can boast. We all need Jesus and today, if you're ready to place your faith in Him and turn from your sin and trust him with your life, the Bible says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Heads bowed, eyes close. All around the world, this is an encounter. This is a burning bush moment. This is you and God. He brought you here. You've been missing peace. This is

the missing peace. This is what you've been looking for. This is what you've been searching for. And while you were looking for God, God was looking for you. There. He is in this moment to meet with you and call you. So, if that's your heart I'm speaking to, I want you to pray after me. I'm gonna pray and I want you to repeat after me. We're praying out loud as a church family. For those who are coming to God, are coming back to God. Repeat after me,

Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in need of a savior, and I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe you die that I could be forgiven and rose again to give me life. This is my new beginning. On three, shoot your hand up if you pray that with me. One two, three, Shoot him up, Shoot him up in the room, shoot him up in the chat. Let's give God praise. That's awesome, that's amazing. Come on,

Let's give him a better praise than that. Let's give him a better pray. Give him your best phrase all day. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.