MOSES--ANY OLD BUSH WILL DO

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Please give credit to Major Ian Thomas for this lesson. I highly recommend his book, The Saving Life of Christ.




Any Old Bush Will Do (Ian Thomas)

God is a God of second chances. God loves every single one of you!
You may think it’s too late for God to use you—you may be telling yourself “it’s over for me”—but God is here to meet you today at your point of need! If you have failed God, He wants to give you another chance.

Acts 7:20-22
God miraculously preserved Moses when he was an infant. He didn’t have any say in that. 400 years earlier God had told Abraham that He was going to raise up a deliverer for His people and save them from a wicked Pharaoh.

This is the hour God was speaking of. Moses was raised in the house of Pharaoh. He had the best education. He was trained as a statesman, a soldier, and an administrator. He was groomed to rule. He was in the prime of life.

However, he was only hours from the greatest mistake of his life—a mistake that would make him useless to God or man for 40 years.

Acts 7:23-25
Moses had a plan. He “assumed” that they would understand, but they did not. Have you ever “assumed?” He was ready to roll. He had a strong sense of mission, but was baffled at his failure to rally the troops.
Have you ever felt “the call?” Your heart burned with a holy vision? But nothing happened?

Let’s look at exactly how Moses lost the way.
Exodus 2:11
Try to imagine the natural emotions when you see your own people being horribly mistreated. I’m sure he felt grief, anger, resentment—but it is just at that stage that he allowed his feelings to rob him of his true calling.

Exodus 2:12
The enormous need he saw that needed to be fixed made him make a wrong decision. In a false sense of dedication Moses committed himself to the task instead of to God.

“Glancing this way and that…” Which way did he forget to look?
The one direction he did not look was up!
“seeing no one…”
In his sensitivity to what people would think, he became strangely insensitive what God thought!

How easy it is for us to do exactly that.
We base our actions on the approval or disapproval of others.

Am I “man-conscious” or “God-conscious?”

If Moses had been confident that he had God’s approval, he would not have cared what men thought. He wouldn’t have glanced this way and that; he would have just done it.

You can afford to be lonely in the center of God’s will. You don’t need man’s approval.

How about:
Nehemiah building the wall—a lonely job.
Peter taking the gospel to the house of a gentile—you can’t get any lonelier than that!
David Wilkerson taking the gospel to the streets of New York (The Cross and the Switchblade)

Moses lost his sense of God. Have you ever lost your sense of God?
We are not called to commit to a task. We are called to commit to Christ.
He is Lord of the Harvest!
He is Head of the Body!

Sometimes in our church culture we emphasize the need; the task. There are a thousand needs, but you are not committed to these. You are committed to Christ. It is his business to commit you to the need he chooses.
He is the head.

First Corinthians 12:18 “But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”

The moment I commit the life of one of you to some field of service, I am taking God’s place as Lord of the Harvest.

God can take care of his own affairs. So many times we spend money on man’s promotional activity. God doesn’t ask us to…but we take it upon ourselves to do it for him.

This doesn’t mean we are not sincere, but too often we confuse
--bustle for business
--plant for power
--perspiration for inspiration

Think how embarrassing it would be if your hands determined to show you how busy they were. You would wake up in the morning; they would be wiggling. Could you be successful playing the piano? I would hate to get a haircut from someone with those fingers!

God demands restful availability and instant obedience.

We often hear “…Do more, Be more, Give more!” What does God say?
“Be still, and know that I am God.”

In other words, don’t panic. Let God be God.

Moses had not learned that lesson. He rolled up his sleeves, and said to himself…”If there ever was a time to fulfill my calling, this is it.”

With the best intentions in the world, he became a murderer instead of a missionary.

Exodus 2:13-14

Yes, it was known. Moses could not even bury one Egyptian successfully. When God did it, he buried the whole army in the Red Sea!

When Pharaoh heard about it, he tried to kill Moses. Moses ended up spending the next 40 years in the desert.

God had raised Moses up for a specific task, but Moses, on the basis of his own sincerity, on the basis of his own enthusiasm, committed himself to the task instead of to God.
Moses tried to do God’s work man’s way.
He was prepared by the best that Egypt could offer, but…with God--
It’s not scholarship but relationship…
It’s not ability, but availability…

I cannot imagine the awful sense of failure that overwhelmed Moses for the next 40 years.
He was useless, he was unrecognized, he was unknown. He probably thought he would die there. He even forgot his public speaking ability!

Perhaps you have felt that way about your Christian life…perhaps you blew it—you have a deep sense of being unfulfilled—you have focused on the task instead of on Jesus. You may have lost the abilities and strengths you once had. It’s not too late! God is a God of second chances!

A commitment to the task will always result in frustration. A commitment to Jesus will result in fulfillment.

Back to Moses—
Exodus 3:1-3

Here’s something that gets his attention—a bush that burns and burns and burns. As far as he can see, it will burn on forever.

He thinks to himself…”I have never seen such a thing. I’m not like that bush. 40 years ago I burned out in 24 hours. I went from prince to fugitive. I’ve been ashes ever since. That must be a wonderful bush. I think I’ll go look at it up close.”

Moses had a holy curiosity, and so did a very wise thing—he did an intelligent investigation; He turned aside, and made a very wonderful discovery!

So often, we have a holy curiosity, but we don’t follow it up with investigation; consequently we don’t make the same discovery that Moses did.

For example,
We have heroes in Christianity—men and women of God that flow in the Spirit. They walk in the anointing. Lives are changed. We look at them and say…”Now there is a bush that burns. I would like to be a bush like that.”

So we discuss it with others—we go to their meetings—but we have resigned ourselves to remain a pile of ashes. It has never dawned on us that we could be anything different.

This is the attitude Paul was fighting in Philippians 2:12-13. “Work out your own salvation…”

They were trying to lean on Paul, but Paul was saying, “All that God has given to me, He has given to you.”
It is not Paul who works in you, but God.

This is the message of the Bible, that God has chosen the weak to confound the strong.

All God demands is availability.
--To be what you were created to be: Inhabited by God, for God.

What you are is not a factor—your nationality, your money, your education, your personality.
It is God that works in you, to will and to do His good pleasure.

We have a tendency to want to be like the great heroes of the past, but we won’t turn aside and see the reason why. We will not make intelligent investigation like Moses did. God gave us a brain, and He expects us to use it. He expects us to investigate—to pursue.

Who were these great saints? What made Hudson Taylor tick? Were they God’s favorites? No, they were simply men and women who had qualified in the school of failure and despair. They came to the end of themselves and discovered that apart from God, they were nothing.

Moses started out as a failure. Abraham started out the same way. Jacob started as a failure. Isaiah was a man of “unclean lips.”

You will graduate into usefulness when you discover that apart from God you are totally bankrupt. (repeat) These men made this discovery, and were blessed.

Moses said, “I will turn aside and see…”
(I suspect his training in the sciences was kicking in) It turned out to be the best decision he ever made.

Exodus 3:4
When did God call him? When he admired from a distance? No, when he turned aside to see, God called him by name. Would you like for God to call you by name?

Maybe you have never had an urgent call—
Maybe you have never had a real sense of purpose—

Maybe you have never taken the time to turn aside and see—time to make intelligent investigation. It could be the best decision you ever make.

No matter what our gifts, God cannot use us until we turn aside and see. When I am busy, God cannot call me by name.

Read Exodus 3:5-6
God had something to say to Moses—
Something like…”Moses, you have done a wise thing in making intelligent investigation—you thought this bush was very remarkable. Something unique, that would make it burn and burn and burn. But you are wrong, Moses. Do you see that bush over there? The scraggly one. That bush would have been fine. Do you see that beautiful bush in the distance? That would have done fine as well. The fact is, Moses,

Any old bush will do, if only God is in the bush.

The trouble with you Moses, is that 40 years ago you admired your own foliage. You thought you were some bush! You were ready to roll! But in 24 hours you burned up. You have been a heap of ashes for 40 years. If this bush in front of you, Moses, were depending on its own strength, then it too would burn up quickly. It would be a heap of ashes just like you! But listen Moses. It is not the bush that sustains the flame; it is God in the bush.”

Have you ever made this discovery? Have you ever come to the place where you realize that all you can ever produce in your own strength is ashes? It’s at that point we become useful to God.

We come to God for what we are, which is nothing—to be filled with what He is—everything.

The eternal I AM is all you need for all His will.
God is the God of NOW. Present tense.

Too often we live in the past tense or future tense. We thank him for what He has done—or we praise him for what He is going to do. We forget that He is the eternal present tense—adequate right now for every need. God is the God of Today. God can meet you today at your point of need. God is a God of second chances!

Did you have a burn-out experience like Moses? Do you feel hopeless—helpless—angry—defeated?

God is asking you right now to turn aside so He can call you by name.

But wait!! Perhaps you didn’t make any big mistakes. But maybe you’ve been put on the shelf! You’re not fulfilling your calling, and you’re fighting anger and resentment. Maybe you’re just waiting—for a spouse—a career—your health to return? That happened to the Apostle Paul—one of the greatest evangelists was put on the shelf. He could have gotten bitter and angry. Instead, we have most of the New Testament, written while he was in jail. David Wilkerson says “God dares to put his greatest saints behind bars.” Have you been put behind bars?

If you are a Christian, then

All you need is what you have, and what you have is what He is!
If you are not a Christian, you can ask, and He will freely give.

He does not give you strength, He is your strength. He does not give victory, He is your victory. Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Every day can be a fulfillment of God’s perfect will for your life, as we present our bodies a living sacrifice to Him.

I want to be like that bush that was consumed by the fire of God and just kept on burning and burning. Not burning in my own strength, but totally in His strength.

We’re starting a new chapter in this church body with a new pastor. Let’s start it by pursuing God with all our heart.

Let’s turn aside, so God can call us by name.