#200 "Moses, Mountains, and Miracles: The Divine Journey"

God's not wasting seasons. He's redeeming them.

And so what you might think is flippant or lost on God is actually preparatory for what God wants to do. Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening. The goal, accelerating the movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports. Welcome to the One Cry Podcast. I'm Bill Eliff, and this is my dear buddy and pastor and friend, Dr. Kyle Reno. He's not really a doctor. He's not. I've been to one.

I'm handing out honorary degrees today, so we just give one to him. But we're so glad. Kyle, great to see you, man. And by the way, we haven't talked about this on the One Cry podcast, but Kyle, you've been involved in an extraordinary movement that's happening among men and the Better Man movement. And I think not too long ago. In your hometown, there were, what, 3,000 men that gathered? Yeah, man, 3,100 men in the presence of God.

Yeah, and it's happening everywhere. I think we could take a whole other episode, Bill, and talk about all the activity of the Lord right now in our mission. But we had a moment, 3,100 men in God's presence, life's changed. 380-something groups have been started since March 1st. That's so crazy. And let's do that. I mean, we love to report. So maybe we can spend a whole day just reporting on what's happening on men.

You know, we remember back to the promise keeper movement and how God moved in such an extraordinary way. And I believe he's on the cusp of that again in this moment of revival that we're seeing.

But today we're going to take a little journey with Moses. You know, back in the Jesus movement, there was a kind of a wild man that used to sing Jesus songs. And I remember Larry Norman was his name. I remember he had one song about Moses. It was called Take Another Lap Around Mount Sinai. It was just great. But today we're going to start, I think, in Exodus chapter three. Is that right? We're going to look at this passage. And I know, Kyle, have you ever been surprised?

Just ever been, God just ever surprised you with anything? Yeah, I found it's like a normal part of God's journey that he takes us on. He just shows up and surprises us. Yeah, I had, you know, one time years ago, I was, my brother and I, when we were both young, We were ministering out in Seattle for a summer, and this youth pastor followed us from one city to another city and came to the services. And somehow he and about three of his kids snuck into the house.

The house was empty, but we were staying in it and hid. And we came in weary at night and he jumped out behind a door and I fainted. I just went dead out. And this was not so bad except earlier in my life, my sister and brother-in-law had come home from their honeymoon and snuck into the house and we came in and I was younger and he jumped out from behind the door and I fainted then. And those two things together never happened. Made my wife feel real secure.

Nobody's ever waiting for us in the home. Yeah. I mean, sometimes a surprise can really mess you up. And sometimes it's God has purposes in that that you just don't know. And we have to learn how to recognize those things, don't we? And deal with them properly. Yeah. Yeah. I think that you look at in many ways in the next couple of weeks, we're going to journey with a man. Named Moses, and see some moments where God has in his heart things Moses doesn't know yet.

And just to give us a little context here, and Bill, you've preached this so many times, but Moses has this very unique journey with God. And in many ways, when we find him here in chapter 3, you've got to think that he believes he's missed his moment. He anticipated God had rescued him from the Nile in amazing ways, brought him into Pharaoh's home.

He becomes aware of his heritage and lineage, and I think that he senses that he has some calling to be a deliverer, but then goes about it in a way that's not best and ends up having to leave, run out of town. And you meet him about 40 years later, you know, and you're in this moment. And three, that he's got a family, that he's passed his prime in his mind, you know, and wouldn't anticipate God showing up, which is so encouraging.

You know, then about the time we think we're done, God's just getting started, you know, and he's bringing about purpose. And what I want to talk about today is a little bit. Is to learn to anticipate God's presence. And so when he does come, you're ready to hear. So I love what it says, verse 1. One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian.

So here's Moses out there doing what he doesn't know is helping prepare him for what he's about to fulfill in purpose, that God often uses where we've been to prepare us for where we're going. Moses would probably think this is wasted time, that he's been 40 plus years shepherding a few sheep on the hillsides out here, but God's actually using it to make him ready to move millions, to move millions into promised places.

And I would just say even to our listener, God's not wasting seasons. He's redeeming them. And so what you might think is flippant or lost on God is actually preparatory for what God wants to do, that God's getting him away long enough to get him ready for what he's about to burst. But then this first one, it just blows me away. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God.

Now, there's many reasons why it's called the mountain of God, that this seems to be a place. And now you've got to remember, Moses is writing this looking back and knowing that this is a place where God has made up his mind to make his presence known. That there was something, I would say to us, there was something special about Sinai. That there was something special about this place that God would mark with his

presence. Bill, we've talked about this often, that there seemed to be something about Sinai where there just wasn't much distance between heaven and right there. That there was something that God has set apart in that place to move in the heart of this one man. But he'll often, I can go through a whole history lesson of how many times God decides to make his presence there known at what Moses declares as the mountain of God.

And I love Nathan Lino, our buddy, has said when he was talking about this passage, he said, Moses found himself at God's house, didn't know it, and God was home. He found himself at God's house and God was home.

And so what I would love to say to our listeners is to believe for distinguished places here on planet Earth where God makes his presence known. And I don't think that that's contrary to what God's done in his plan across human history.

Matter of fact, we're going to move to a moment here where they're going to establish places like tents of meeting, a place where they can meet with God, that they're going to establish places like tabernacles, that they're going to establish places like temples in the Old Testament. We're going to see if you fast forward, and I'd love to talk to you about this, Bill, that you see this in places fast forward. There's going to be upper rooms.

There's going to be synagogues and so forth. And I would even say to us, to the listeners, that there's been no such places in revival history. There's been Moriah chapels. Come on, right? Where God in the Welsh revival makes a holy visitation that sparks a national revival, that they are metropolitan tabernacles, you know, where men of God have prayed and fasted and sought God's face and are preaching the gospel, where God distinguishes that place as a place where he makes himself at home.

A place where He makes His presence known. Man, we've been all moved by the Jesus movement, you know, and we were looking back and even the movie Jesus Revolution spoke to us. But I believe that Calvary Chapel became one of those places. And even on the West Coast in that season just seemed to be a place where God was very near, very known.

And you're going to see, we'll look at this even in the weeks ahead, moments where God's presence is so prevalent and so real that it unlocks purpose, that it unlocks desire in a nation and in a generation and what God wants to unleash. I mean, one of those, and Bill, you've been there several times.

One of those places I think in more recent times has been Brooklyn Tabernacle, a place where God has made His presence known. Well, Moses wasn't necessarily anticipating it. God had decided that he was going to make his presence known to Moses in this moment, but he had drawn him. Moses has found himself a little bit further away than normal and found himself in the presence of God. And so when you find yourself on a journey and find yourself in the presence of God, stop.

I recognize the other side of it is I'm praying. I'm praying for places that God would find us longing for him to make himself known. So verse two, it goes there. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of the bush. Moses stared in amazement, though the bush was engulfed in flames.

It didn't burn up. The angel of the Lord is best translated, the angel is Yahweh, meaning this is a theopony moment where I believe that Jesus is making himself known that the bush wasn't on fire, per se, like burning, but the fire was in the midst of the bush. You say, Kyle, explain that. I just sort of did. That's all I got. That God is making His presence known in the midst of one of the most common things in the region.

A scruffy, common bush that God is making Himself known, which beckons a few questions. Why is God doing it this way? Well, one, because God wants to meet with Moses. And I would just say to our listeners, I hope you'll come to believe this. God wants to meet with you. God in this moment is wanting to meet with Moses in a personal way. And he's deciding to make himself known in this very supernatural, very specific way.

Also, I believe that God's wanting Moses to see what's true in this common bush, like one of the most easily recognizable thing in that region, that God can make his glory known in something very common, that God's wanting Moses to see what's true about this bush is going to be true about you. That I'm going to make myself known through you, Moses. If I can make myself known in such a profound, beautiful way through this common, scruffy little bush, just imagine.

Which is going to be true. Fast forward, I'm getting ahead of myself. What are people going to say about Moses? They're going to be like, Moses, put a veil on. There's too much of God in your face. He's radiating out of you. So God has already given a little foreshadowing of what's going to be true about him, which just reminds me that God wants to meet with his people, that God wants us to experience his presence, that James 4, 8 is true. Draw near to God and he'll draw near to you.

Moses didn't even make the step this time that God had always, which is always true, always makes the first step toward us. But we do have a decision to draw near. So you've got this very specific place, man. and where God is making His presence known to a specific person in this moment. And this is Moses' response. This is amazing, Moses said to himself. Why isn't this bush burning up? I must go and see it. Well, I laugh, boo. You've heard me talk about this several times.

I love that the Lord knew how to get a guy's attention to you. I'm going to set something on fire that doesn't burn up, and he's going to do what every dude would do. Man, I've got to go see that. He had his Gomer Pile golly moment. Like, I got to draw near. And what I think Moses doesn't know yet, that he's about to know even more fully, is every one of us is longing to experience the presence of God. And he's seeing something that's awakening something deep within him, a longing.

I know this guy named Bill Eliff that's got one of my favorite quotes about the presence of God that when he said, his presence is our greatest need and our presence is his greatest desire. Fantastic statement. Like God's presence is Moses's greatest need. And listen, in Moses' presence, is God's greatest desire. Like, and when those things come together, watch out. Watch out. So we're seeing that in this moment.

And then I sort of end here, and Bill, let's banter back and forth some, man, because there's so much that we've already covered that I don't think we've quite captured yet. And then this moment of endearment really blew me away in a fresh way. When the Lord saw Moses take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, Moses, Moses. And here's the thing that I learned studying history here a little bit more, that in the Semitic culture, that that's a repetition of endearment.

What it meant saying his name twice was expressing affection. Like that he didn't just say Moses and that Moses fell flat, but that he said it was beckoning, Moses, Moses. Like he would have known from his upbringing, his Hebrew culture, that that was God saying, come here. Like, I want you near me. and that he would have heard a father's tone to how he had said his name.

And I think that what I would hope that our listeners would believe about God wanting us to be near him is that God calls us by name, that the Lord is lovingly calling us to himself. And then the last thing I would say, really, and then I want to talk a little more about this. But Moses has to respond. And Moses' response to God calling his name in an endearing way is, here I am.

That at some point when God is making himself known to us in everyday ways, but also in special ways and seasons, like his invitation has to become our surrender. Like at some point, God's invitation to come close has to become our surrender to whatever he says, whatever he wants. I'm coming. Here I am laying it on. And you're going to have to stay surrendered, which Moses is going to struggle with. We're going to see in a moment.

But it starts with surrender and then it has to be a sustained surrender. I remember old Blake Hudsbeth, our buddy said in a season personally with him, he was wrestling with the Lord. He had to come to realize this about surrender, that surrender to God isn't an acknowledgment of defeat, like some dictators come and it's taken over. It isn't an acknowledgment of defeat, but it's an act of trust. By coming to the point, surrender, going like, I am fully surrendered because I can trust you.

I can say, here I am, no matter what's coming next, because you're trustworthy.

So, Bill, I know, man, your life has been marked by moments in God's presence and revival. Just looking through this story, I know I just covered a bunch of ground in a long time, but what things just awaken in your heart when we're thinking about it? Well, that passage, Kyle, which was a real moment, right? I mean, it's not a passage in the Bible. Right. It was a real moment in a guy's life that just, it was a guy just like us.

Yeah. And it is just so full of so much for us because, you know, Moses was on the ash heap at this point. I mean, he just got to think, like you said, that he thought, man, it's, you know, it's a nice ride. And he had he had so much more, I'm sure, growing up in Pharaoh's court and thinking, OK, now, why is this so? And, you know, there's always something in in in most of us that we think there should be more. There just should be more.

And Moses would have particular reason to think that, particularly with his mom whispering in his ear, you know, You know, as his nursemaid over those years, just saying, don't forget who you are. That's right. And where our people are. And so for God to call his name. Yeah. Yeah. And you're right about that term of endearment. You know, same thing in the New Testament in Luke 10 with Mary and Martha, when God and Jesus says to Martha, Martha, Martha. Right.

That wasn't an angry thing. That was an endearing term. That was the way you said that. And for him to say, Martha, Martha, you're worried and bothered about so much. And there's one thing necessary, and it's my presence. Yeah. It's my presence. And you've walked, you let other things pull you away from that. And here God is saying that to Moses, you know, Moses, Moses.

And I, this little verse in my Bible, it said when, when Moses went over the bush, it said when the Lord saw that he had gone over to look. I know there's something that triggers things in God about his presence that, you know, when we show up and God is in a service or God is in a place or God is in a moment and we just kind of glance over there and we don't have enough desire or spiritual. We've been so distant from the Lord for so long that we don't see it and recognize

it. We can just go right on. And God is not going to just give himself to us if we don't want him, right? But when he saw Moses turn aside and go over to where he was, you've got to think of that verse. It's repeated three times in the Bible and then many other times in different forms. It said, God says, draw near to me and I'll draw near to you. What a promise, Kyle, that God wants to do this. And we know that his presence is everything. I mean, we have his presence.

We've got everything we need and we don't have it. We've got nothing. Yeah. And so here he enters into the presence. Yeah. Well, it just blows me away. You know, my, for my faith for our people and for what God's doing in our area and in our state, nation, all those things. Like you look at it and say, I love this as the mountain of God. You look at a place, say the house of God, you know, it's even to us.

The people of God, you know, like that, but what distinguishes us, which you'll talk about, you know, in a future time, what is his presence? You know, what does distinguish this mountain in this moment where God has shown up? Like what's distinguishing? Well, I would hope for us, like what distinguishes your church gathering? Well, I would hope God, I would hope that it's, it's that first Corinthians moment that God is truly among them.

Like, and so Moses is traveled a little further out than normal. And he finds himself. So I said, I love Lino's quote. He found himself at God's house and God was home. And in that moment, now we've got some decisions to make. Like, what are we going to do when God makes his presence known to us? Like he said, we've got to make a decision to look more deeply into this. We've got to lean into that. We've got to surrender fully.

We're going to get, you know, in this moment right here, the Lord's going to say, Moses, Moses. And then he's going to say, now hold up. Take off your shoes. Right. You're on holy ground. We've got some business to do right here, and it's going to take a pathway of dealing with some things. But he had come to the place where that was about to happen.

And, you know, you've got to think about when you were talking just a moment ago about these places, because you and I both, we've talked about this. We both have places. I mean, I wrote a little book about this in my own life, just about these high water moments and the places where each of those things occurred. And they're sacred to me. I mean, they're precious to me. There's some places. A few weeks ago, I was at a meeting down at my alma mater, Washtenaw University here in Arkansas.

And I was meeting there and I intentionally walked by Berry Chapel because it was there in that room in a 15 minute service in 1970 that God just stepped in and a 15 minute service lasted three and a half hours and shut down all the campus classes and everything. And it's the first time I saw the manifest presence of God. I mean, I love that place. I love that place. And it's sacred. And then I just think, you know, if my home is not a place like that.

If my church is not a place like that, why not? Why is it? I mean, I know God chooses to do what he wants to. But I mean, if I'm not preparing the way, building a highway for my God to come in, then maybe that's on me a little bit and pursuing the Lord. So I just also was thinking about what's happening across our country right now. And just a few weeks ago at Baylor University, hundreds and thousands of students set up a massive tent.

And for 72 hours around the Fountain Mall, they just met with God. That's all they did. They just met with God. They prayed. They sang. They worshiped. This has been going on for several years, FM Fountain Mall 72, they call it. And it's growing, and I don't have time to tell all that happened. But this is happening on college campuses. This is happening in churches, and that's the sign of real revival.

Hallelujah. Amen. Hallelujah. I heard David Jett, our buddy, said this one time about Crossgates, the church we're at, and we're praying. And he said, I pray for Crossgates to be a place where God's presence is so strong that we would take our shoes off because of his holiness. And he would take off his shoes because he's home. Wow. That's good. Yeah. But here's the thing. But God's looking to the heart. Do we really want that?

We want you more than anything else, Lord. And we're coming on your terms, coming through your blood. And I think, and like you said, and even looking at revival and awakening and a real move of God, You know, it's not like we pull the mechanisms and all this, and then we force God to make himself known. But man, but boy, the Lord seems to show up where he's wanted. Yeah, he's not playing games, is he? I mean, he's not like he's capricious and say, well, I'm really hidden from them now.

I can't, you know, they can't find me now. This is great. No, God wants us in his presence. Yeah. He longs for that more than we do. And if we just give him half a chance, he will make himself known in extraordinary ways.

Well, Kyle, we're going to walk through these next three or four sessions on our One Cry podcast. And we're just going to journey. We're going to stay on the heels of Moses for a few miles here. And because he was a man of God's presence. He knew how to follow the Lord. He knew what it was like to see the presence of God and how to capture that. And I think we need to learn some things from that, don't you? I agree.

Let's pray that in a little bit. And so we always like to spend the last part of our time just praying together, Not you listening to one of us pray or something like that, but you joining in with us wherever you are, sitting in your car or at home or wherever you are. And we have people literally around the world who will listen to these podcasts and who will join us. So in your language, in your spot where you are, join with us in crying out to the Lord for his presence.

And Kyle, why don't you begin that? And then I'll close us here in a moment. Everybody will join. Yeah. Let's pray together. So, Father, just this in my spirit, I pray, Lord, would you surprise us like you did Moses with a season of our life that's going to shape the rest of it? So, Lord, would you surprise us that we just entered into a moment in our lives, but also a moment in our nation and among the nations where you have decided to make your presence known?

Where you have decided to manifest your glory in, To let us be overwhelmed by your awesomeness, God, your holiness, Lord. And so we're just saying out loud to you, if you're looking for a people that want you, Lord, we want you. If you're looking for people that are saying we're desperate for you, we are embracing our desperation and our need right now.

Right now, Lord God. So would you please, would you please choose to show up in this season and mark specific people and places all over, Lord, just places where the presence of God is made known in ways that only you are glorified, only ways that you, Jesus, are exalted, we pray. And, Lord, Moses turned aside. And when you saw that he turned aside, you called him my name and you took him where you needed to go. And so, Father, may we be today, today, Lord, the people who turn aside.

Lord, I pray that today we just turn aside looking for you. We turn aside when we see the slightest. We're in a grocery store and we overhear somebody saying something. And we sense that you want us like Philip in the Ethiopian to step into that moment and see your glory come. I pray that we would just boldly turn aside. Yes. And Father, then you would speak to us. You always will, if we seek for you, we'll find you if we search for you with all our hearts.

So, Lord, as we draw near, Lord, you draw near, you've promised it. And we thank you for that and make yourself known. And we thank you for what you're doing around the nation. But we don't want to settle for just this, Lord. We want more. And we just ask for more so the world can get a right opinion of you, how glorious you are, how beautiful, what a great God you are, how wonderfully you lead your children along. Lord, what a provider you are.

And, Lord, we look at the Israelites and we see you giving them bread every day and protection from their enemies and all of that. And we see that now, Lord, what you are like. And we pray in our day, Father, we would see that just more and more and more. And Lord, would you just send a mighty spiritual awakening and not even just across our city or across our nation. Lord, we pray around our world. You would just send a mighty movement of God.

And thank you for the privilege of being a part of it. And we pray your precious name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Well, thanks so much for joining us today on One Cry. And I hope you'll tell your friends that could get in on the beginning of this podcast and catch up on this one today. And then the next two or four weeks, we'll be sharing kind of walking with Moses. And you didn't know you were going to go on a walk with Moses this next month, but I think it'll be really helpful for all of us. So we look forward to seeing you next time. Thanks again.