From His Heart

Guest (Male): Do you think God wants you to live a life filled with milk and honey, yet still keep making excuses? Probably not. Here’s Pastor Jeff Schreve.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: You give excuses to the Lord as to why you can't do something, why you can't obey Him, why you can't teach if He's calling you to teach, why you can't sing if He's calling you to sing. Now, some people think they're being called to sing, and they're not.

If you think you can do it, then you don't need God. God's not going to call you to do something big and great that you don't need Him for. But where God calls and where He guides, He provides.

Guest (Male): God calls Moses to go and lead the people out of Egypt, a tremendous assignment from the Lord. And we can understand that Moses would be fearful of that because it's such an immense task. And as we're going to see in today's passage of scripture, Moses argues with the Lord and presents all these excuses as to why he can't go God's way.

You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve with today's message, Milk, Honey, and Excuses. It's from his new six-lesson series, Strong and Courageous. Excuses are something that we as humans are pretty good at. Today, Pastor Jeff shares five excuses that Moses gave and how, despite these excuses, the Lord equipped, guided, and provided him every step of the way.

So pull out your go-to excuses for the way you live and talk and walk your faith, and let's see how they may be similar to those of Moses. Open your Bible to Exodus chapter 3. Here again is Pastor Jeff.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: God calls Moses to go and lead the people out of Egypt. This great plan of God, this great assignment from the Lord. Now, we can understand that Moses would be fearful of that because it's so huge, but we'd also think he would be excited about it. But what we're going to see in today's passage of scripture, Moses argues with the Lord, and he presents to the Lord all these excuses as to why he can't go.

We make all kinds of excuses as to why we can't do what God has called us to do. I've entitled this message Milk, Honey, and Excuses. And we're going to see the five excuses Moses gives to the Lord. Excuse number one, such a common excuse we fall into all these that Moses says, but the common excuse there is the "Who am I?" excuse.

Who am I to do that? You're saying that I'm going to deliver Israel? You've got the wrong guy. Who am I to do that? And that's exactly what Moses says in response in verse 11, "But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?'"

But the Lord likes to use somebody who's learned that he's a nobody. God uses that somebody who's a nobody for great things. You can never be too small for God to use, but you can definitely be too big for God to use. Because God is opposed to the proud, He gives grace to the humble.

Now, the divine response to Moses' excuse question, "Who am I that I should deliver Israel?" God doesn't really answer the question directly. "Well, who are you, Moses? Let's go over who you are." He doesn't do that. He just says to him in verse 12, "Certainly I will be with you," the Lord says, "and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain."

So here's the thing. The "Who am I?" excuse. Who you are doesn't matter. Who He is matters. "I will be with you, Moses." Paul said in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Where God guides, He provides.

Excuse number two, not only the "Who am I?" excuse, but there is the "I don't know enough" excuse. People are going to ask me stuff I don't know. And so Moses comes in with that excuse beginning in verse 13. "Then Moses said to God, 'Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is his name?' What shall I say to them?'"

Well, now this is an excuse. "I can't go because I don't have enough information." Verse 14, "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM' has sent me to you.'" The name I AM is the name Yahweh. It's the four letters YHWH, Yod He Vav He in the Hebrew.

"I don't have enough information, God." Well, here comes the information. "Who are you, God?" God told him, "I AM WHO I AM." And so God is telling Moses, "You don't have information? I'm giving you information. Here it is." And a ton of information, not only who God is, but how things are going to play out. So "I don't know enough, so I can't do this" is an excuse that gets torn down.

Number three, there is the "What if they don't believe me?" excuse. And Moses brings that out in his conversation with the Lord, his back and forth with the Lord. Chapter 4, verse 1, "Then Moses said, 'What if they won't believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.' Yahweh has not appeared to you.' I mean, I can't do this. You know my background. They know my background. I had to flee out of Egypt because I tried to work things out to deliver Israel and it didn't work, and now I have no credibility and now you're sending me. This isn't going to work. They're not going to follow me. They're not going to believe me."

We have that excuse a lot. "I'm the wrong guy. I can't do this. I don't have any credibility there, and people aren't going to follow me. People aren't going to believe me. People aren't going to want to listen to me. People are going to say, 'Well, God hasn't called you.'"

What was the Lord's answer? Verse 2, "The Lord said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' And he said, 'A staff.' Then he said, 'Throw it on the ground.' So he threw it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses fled from it." Moses didn't know he had a snake in his staff, but God did.

But the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail." Now, I'm not a big snake fan. Some of you like to catch snakes. I don't know what's wrong with you. But anyway, I do know enough from watching Steve Irwin and others that when you catch a snake, you don't grab it by its tail.

But God said, "Grab it by its tail." And so he grabbed it by its tail, and he stretched out his hand and caught it and became a staff in his hand. "That they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has appeared to you."

That's what is going to show them. And the Lord furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand into your bosom." So he put his hand into his bosom. And when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then he said, "Put your hand back into your bosom again." So he put his hand back into his bosom, and when he took it out, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

"If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign. But if they will not believe even when these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground."

"What if they don't believe me?" God will authenticate the message. When God impresses you to do something and you say, "I have no credibility with this, nobody's going to believe, Lord, this is from You," God says, "I'm calling you. Where I guide, I provide, and I will authenticate the message. You don't need to worry about that, Moses."

I remember when I was very young in the ministry, the Lord called me. Debbie and I moved from Houston where we went to Champion Forest Baptist Church. We moved in 1996 in the summer of 1996, packed everything up, sold the house, and moved to Wake Forest, North Carolina, to go to seminary.

And I started in the summer of seminary. I had no job because I'd resigned my job, and we had $8,000 in the bank and three kids. $8,000 with five people doesn't go very long. And so we were just trusting the Lord, and the Lord provided every step of the way.

I was in seminary at Southeastern Seminary for a year, right out of a year, when Damon Shook, the pastor at Champion Forest, called me and said, "Jeff, why don't you come and be my assistant? You can finish up seminary here. Southwestern had an extension school. You can finish up seminary here and I can teach you and mentor you."

And my first thought was, "Well, yeah, but I'm not done with school yet, and I have this all planned out in my head." And so at first I told him no, and then I slept on it and said, "You're an idiot. Why would you say no? I mean, this is such a great opportunity."

And so I called him back and I said, "Hey, I've rethought this, and the Lord showed me I need to do this." And so I went to Champion Forest. Debbie and I moved there. Champion Forest is a huge church, 12,000 members when I was there.

I was pastoring Browns Baptist Church in Norlina, North Carolina, and on a good Sunday we'd have like 25. When I would come with Debbie and the girls, attendance would spike percentage-wise. We had Mother's Day and we gave a flower to the youngest mother. She was in her 50s. It's just one of those things that the church was small.

And so going to a church like Champion Forest with thousands of people, I was nervous. And I was like, "How am I going to do this? I don't know if I can do this." And I still remember something that the associate pastor, Wally Cobb, said. At the time, it didn't register with me what he was saying, but now it does.

And he was talking to another person, and he said about me, "I've never seen a man more called to the ministry than Jeff." And I didn't know really what that meant, but then I started to realize he knew that God had authenticated, "I've called this guy, and I've gifted this guy to preach the Word."

And so God will authenticate the mission. I love what David said in Psalm 86:17, "Show me a sign for good, that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, because you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me." Show me a sign for good, Lord, so that other people would see that it's You who is doing this.

So there's the "What if they don't believe me?" excuse. Number four, there is the "I'm not able to do it" excuse. So Moses is getting all his excuses just shot down. And this is what he says in verse 10, "Then Moses said to the Lord, 'Please, Lord, I've never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.'"

But this is what it says in the ERV version. I like this. "Then Moses said to the Lord, 'But Lord, I'm telling you, I'm not a good speaker. This sounds like a speaking gig. I'm not good at that. And that hasn't changed since you started talking to me. I'm still not a good speaker. You know that I speak slowly and don't use the best words.'"

And so that's what Moses is saying. Some say that he stuttered and he said, "I can't do it." So there's the "I'm not able to do it" excuse. And we have that excuse so often. "Lord, I'm just not the guy for this." Remember, God will enable you to do what He calls you to do.

He will enable you to do what He calls you to do. God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called. And so as we just say, "Okay, Lord," and this was His answer to Moses, the Lord said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to say."

End of excuse. Okay, Lord. You're going to be with me. You promised to be with me. You're going to teach me what to say. I have everything that I need. All my excuses, all my arguments have crumbled. Yes, Lord, I'm ready to go.

That's not what he does. He has the last excuse, number five, and he says, "Send someone else." Send someone else. Verse 13 in the Good News Bible, "But Moses answered, 'No, Lord, please send someone else.'" Such a strange thing to say, "No, Lord."

Jesus said, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things that I say?" If I'm really your Lord, you would only have two words: "Yes, Lord." You can't say, "No, Lord." You can say, "No, sir," but you can't say, "No, Lord," because if He's your Lord, you don't tell your Lord, your master, your boss, "No."

You just tell him "Yes," whatever you call me to do. I'm yours. I'm your doulos. I'm your slave. I do whatever you tell me to do. But he said, "No, Lord, please send someone else."

It's kind of Isaiah 6 in reverse. You know, when in Isaiah 6 we read about Isaiah seeing the Lord high and lifted up, and then the voice comes out from the Lord that says, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" And Isaiah said, "Here I am, send me."

Moses is saying, "Here I am, send someone else. I don't want to go. I don't want to do this. God, I was just minding my own business as a nobody in the desert feeding my father-in-law's sheep, tending my father-in-law's sheep. Send someone else."

And the anger of the Lord burned against Moses. God is patient. He is marvelously patient. But His patience has a limit, and He ran out of patience with Moses with all these excuses and with all these arguments.

"Then the anger of the Lord," verse 14, "burned against Moses and he said, 'Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently, and moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people, and he will be as a mouth for you, and you will be as God to him. You shall take in your hand this staff with which you shall perform the signs.'"

God is going to use Moses, but now Moses, because of all his excuses, he's saddled with Aaron, his older brother. Aaron's three years older than Moses. Aaron is the one that gets him in trouble with the golden calf. Aaron is the one in Numbers 12 who teams up with Miriam, Moses' sister, to get on Moses for marrying a Cushite woman.

And because of that, because they spoke against God's man, Miriam ends up with leprosy. And the Lord, it wasn't permanent, the Lord uses that to show her, "Hey, quit doing that. You guys quit grumbling, griping, and complaining about Moses." But Moses hurt himself when he did that because now he's saddled with Aaron. And Aaron's a godly man, but he's not Moses. "Please, Lord, send someone else."

Have you said that to the Lord? Has the Lord put something on your heart and you say, "Oh, I can't do it. No, who am I? I'm not able. No way. I'm too afraid. I don't know enough." God does enable people to do what they can't do.

My family, my brothers and sisters, my mom and dad—my dad's gone now—but my mom, they marvel that I can get up and preach. Because I'm not like that. I was shy. I was reticent in school. If I had to do an oral book report, I'd rather take a zero. I didn't want to get up in front of people and speak. I'm too afraid to do that.

When I had to do that in college, because the college director Everett Sheffey said, "You're going to share your testimony," and I was so scared. "I don't want to do that." I was so scared. When I wore a tie in those days and I'd be there ready to go, and my tie is bouncing up and down because my heart's beating out of my chest.

And then to see that I can get up and preach, my mom says to me even now—she's 96—and she says, "Jeff, I've never heard somebody talk so long like you do." But here's the point. They look at that and they say, "This must be God, because he can't do this on his own."

And I can't do this on his own. I don't have the gift of gab. I have the gift of silence and running away from the stage, from the platform. And so God calls me, God enables me to do it.

And He is the God who took Moses, who didn't want to go, and He says, "You're going to go." And Moses starts out so poorly in chapter 3 and 4, and he ends up at the end of his life in Deuteronomy chapter 34. And the scripture says of Moses, for 80 to 120, he died when he was 120. Those 40 years as he walked with God, there has never been a prophet that was like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face and did so many miracles.

And in Acts chapter 7, Stephen talked about Moses, and he said he was a man mighty in word and deed. This guy that couldn't speak, now all of a sudden he's able to speak because God enabled him.

You give excuses to the Lord as to why you can't do something, why you can't obey Him, why you can't teach if He's calling you to teach, why you can't sing if He's calling you to sing. Now some people think they're being called to sing, and they're not. You know, we learned that with Simon Cowell when he would have them on American Idol. "Whoever told you you're a singer has lied to you. They've done you a disservice."

And sometimes guys can be like that with preaching. "I know God's called me to preach." Timeout, let's talk. "He hasn't. You don't make any sense." So you've got to discern what God's called you to do. But where God calls and where He guides, He provides.

He's waiting for us. We're talking about being strong and courageous. You can't be strong and courageous if you're holding on to excuses. You've got to let them go and you've got to say, "Okay." And if the assignment is too big for you, guess what? That's a God-sized assignment. If you think you can do it, then you don't need God. God's not going to call you to do something big and great that you don't need Him for.

So he says, "Lord, here I am. I'm afraid, but I'm willing." My daughter Jill sent me a song years ago, so I listened to it and there was a little piece of the song I just loved. And I listened to it over and over and over and over again. It was just a very simple little chorus. And it said this, "Here I am, Lord. All I am, Lord. Here I am, Lord. I am Yours."

Did you say that to the Lord? I wonder if as we close out today if you would make that your prayer. "Here I am, Lord. All I am, Lord. Here I am, Lord. I am Yours."

Guest (Male): Are you willing to quit making excuses and yield all of yourself to the Lord today? We hope these have been thoughtful insights for you today and that God will use this message.