Author: missionspaul

40 + 80

Acts 7:30

“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.”

Moses spent 40 years in the palace and then 40 years in the desert. That’s a balanced life!
Actually I would rather listen to someone who has spent 40 years in a desert than 40 years in a palace.
Just because you have spent 40 years in a palace doesn’t automatically qualify you to be a speaker and leader neither does 40 years in a desert automatically disqualify you from those roles either.
I would rather spend time with someone who doesn’t have anything but has had an experience of God than someone who is highly privileged but has had no revelation of Him.
After his first 40 years Moses decided to go and have a look at his fellow Israelites. After his second 40 years he decided to go and have a look at the strange bush.
His decision to go and look proved to be the catalyst for change. However there is a difference between looking at 80 years than when you are only 40 years. At 80 you have had the wind knocked out of your sails, you are not as arrogant perhaps, you have had more of the dust of life on you and the way you look at things is different to how you used to. At 80 you are ready to look at things that perhaps God would never have shared with you at 40.
I guess I really want to be 80 in a 40 year old body. I am 50 so not too sure where that puts me!

Midian

Acts 7:29

“When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.”

Moses realising that he couldn’t nor want to go back to Pharaoh and hearing that he would not be accepted by his own people runs away into the desert.
There are many in Midian today. There because of wrong decisions or perhaps they were rejected by people they loved.

We have all been in a desert experience. Recently I was skyping with one National leader who was telling me how one of his leaders had withdrawn. He was arriving late to the services, disengaged with decisions, he was there but he wasn’t. We have all had those times.

It may seem simple to get out of a desert. Just walk out the way you walked in. But of course it isn’t that simple when you fear what is the on the outside of that desert.

Moses did two interesting things:
a) he built a life for himself and started a family. He made a go of it.
b) he kept before himself that this wasn’t the place he was going to be, he settled as a foreigner, “this is not my place.”

Here’s some more help if you are in the desert:

How can you survive the desert?
1. Expect God to guide you through it, Jeremiah 2:6
2. Know you are not unknown. God does care, Hosea 13:5
3. Use the time to prepare for your future in God, Matthew 3:3
4. Resist the temptations that will be there, Matthew 4:1
5. Use this time to grow, Luke 1:80

Pushed aside
Acts 7:27

“But the man who was ill-treating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?”

Do you think he ever regretted pushing Moses?
Do you think he ever wished he had never asked that question?
One day God would appoint Moses as ruler and judge over them.
One day Moses would be their redeemer.
But on this day Moses isn’t anyone significant, in fact, he is not wanted at all.

Whatever Moses was hoping for it surely wasn’t rejection.
Now Moses has nowhere to go. He has made his position in Pharaohs house untenable by killing an Egyptian and the Israelite slaves don’t want him either.

Maybe you were only trying to help. Maybe you were standing up for justice. Maybe you are completely misunderstood. Today you are alone and perhaps those around you don’t recognise you and don’t want you.
Sometimes the words of those against us can be more comforting than we first think, if only we were to slow everything down enough to listen. Let me explain by repeating part of the question:
Who made you ….?
Answer that question and you will be comforted even when situations look bleak.
The one who made you is in control of your life. He has you.

Fighting in the family

Acts 7:26

“The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?'”

Moses could not understand why they would want to fight each other.. They were equally oppressed, struggling under the heavy burden of Egyptian rule with a shared hope. They were in the same family.

My brother and I loved to fight each other especially if we were bored. I wore glasses from an early age so he was always at a disadvantage because if he broke my glasses he would be in trouble with the parents, whereas I didn’t care much. I used to have a pair of glasses on my face, one ready to go to the opticians for repair and the other at the opticians ready to be picked up having been repaired. All because of fighting.
I know what you are thinking how can this godly, gentle, quiet man with many other adorable qualities have started life in such a way?! It is an enigma I agree.

I have witnessed people who are on life’s same path. They are respectable people. They are brothers, sisters, leaders in the family of God. I have been with these people. I have witnessed these same people try and destroy one another. Why?

I think the reason is that our hearts are deceitful above all things and so often we enter into fighting thinking we are right, we are incensed, we need to speak up for injustice but it is none of those things. It boils down to this one thing: we love ourselves. Some teach that we must love ourselves but It’s not a problem, we already do, that is the problem. We don’t necessarily want to hurt or injure anyone but we will not be hurt either. We will not be spoken to like that. We will defend ourselves at all costs.

Inherently we are not like sheep sent to the slaughter in silence and pain. But we should be.

Presumed.
Acts 7:25

“Moses thought that his own people would realise that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.”

They didn’t for Jesus and they didn’t for Moses.
There’s no pleasing some people!
You take the risks, you step out of your boat, go the extra mile, step up to the challenge to help and then realise that actually no one appreciates it!
Oh it’s wonderful when everyone benefits but if it puts people out or if it makes their life a bit precarious then they don’t want to know.
Good intentions are not enough for some people. Your actions may have overstepped the mark but your motive was right. Can no one see your motives? NO, often thy don’t. People see the results, they see the surface and nothing underneath.
Moses was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. He is in danger of becoming an enemy of the Egyptians and also the people of God certainly didn’t want to know him. He was in limbo.
Ever done something wrong but your motive was right?
Don’t expect too many friends!
There’s no awards for motives.
He came to his own but his own did not recognise him.
Sometimes the closest are the furthest.
Not everyone wants rescuing even if they need to be.
So if this applies to you in any way then it’s okay, it’s life. It happened to Moses and it may have happened to you. But the story hasn’t ended on you yet. Hang in there!

Missions is dangerous
Acts 7:24

“He saw one of them being ill-treated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defence and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.”

It’s dangerous being involved in missions.
You see and hear things that you cannot ignore.
The day can start with you making a decision to go and have a look.
The day can end in a way that can change your destiny forever.
Missions people cannot walk away from injustice. They cannot turn a blind eye, pretending they never saw the wickedness.
It’s dangerous being involved in missions.
You have to get involved. You have to go. It’s like a force from within. You cannot stay you have to be there. You have to be in the pain. You see the enemy attacking and you leap to the defence of the victim and the innocent.
It’s dangerous being involved in missions.
You can become so involved that you lose all perspective. You can even end up doing what you never would do. Sin can be committed in mission. Injustice, corruption, misappropriation of funds, malpractice can all be found in mission. It is incredible to think that the very things that call you into mission are the things that can be committed in mission. I see it often.
Missions is dangerous. So tred carefully but tred you must.

Decisions
Acts 7:23

“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites.”

Stephen is presuming Moses age, even though it doesn’t actually say in the Bible. What it does say is that Moses was 120yrs of age when he died. We see in verses 23,30,36 that his life was thought to have been divided up into 40 year periods, fitting his age at death nicely. But again Luke writing this must be going according to what was the traditional thought.

When he was 40yrs of age, he made a decision.

There are times in our lives, landmark moments whether that be our age, or an anniversary of some event, or a success or completion of something, or the children have come onto the scene or they have left the scene that a decision may be waiting to be made.
I remember a friend on the completion of her divorce wrote a few “things to do” and then set about doing those things, she has never looked back.

Is there a decision waiting for you?
Can you plot your decisive age moments.?
What do you want to have achieved by the next decade?
When your circumstance changes what decision will you then make?

Above all keep making decisions because they open doors for you that may otherwise have remain closed.

Education
Acts 7: 22

“Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.”

Mind, voice and behaviour, Moses grew powerfully.
Yesterday I spoke with a fiend who told me her 74 year old father was studying history with Open University and had achieved 84% for his latest essay. How amazing that! You are never too old to learn!
The education of Moses was part of God’s plan.
The growing intelligence of Moses was what God wanted.
Though we know he had a stammer, Moses could use words. He was also the person for making things happen. He learnt and grew in all these things. Someone taught him and he studied.
We don’t often think of these years as being part of his destiny. We often overlook it as being a boring section of his life.
But it is definitely as important for God and Moses as at any other period of his life.
And so for us.
Today you have an opportunity to learn, to grow with wisdom in words and ability. Embrace your life. Read, listen, discuss, draw from every conversation and learn. Never stop learning.
You will not know what is ahead of you but prepare yourself in mind speech and ability. You will end up drawing on these moments that’s for sure.

Outside
Acts 7: 21

“When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.”

Are you outside?
Left to one side?
Maybe you are not in employment, you feel left out. You have done all the applications, done the round of interviews but still you cannot secure a job.
Maybe you have been dumped. A horrible word. But that’s how you feel. He/she walked out on you. Or maybe they didn’t, maybe they still live with you, but a long time ago you started to feel on the outside.
Maybe the church put you outside. You did not fit their accepted practices. Their rule book meant you had to leave.
Maybe you escaped. Maybe like Moses there was no alternative. You had to go out and you have yet to come back in.
Maybe you simply do not feel you belong anywhere.
I am trying to think of all the scenarios, there are so many, but you have been placed outside.
What happens next?
I have found that the most unusual and shocking things can take place. The people you least expect. The people that some may say should not be 10 feet near you come to your aid.
Never reject those who help you on the outside for you may be rejecting angels.
Pharaohs daughter!
The daughter of the killer has now taken Moses inside. He is now living and growing up in the killers house!
Sometimes you have to be thrown out to get into the place where God destined you to be.
So be thankful for those who are your friends now. For those who love you now. No, it’s not perfect. It is not what you may have thought would happen. The story is crazy. But it is not over and one day you will look back and be thankful that the Author of your life knew what to do when you were placed outside.

Moses was born

Acts 7: 20
“At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father’s house.”

Pharaoh can never cull everything. There is always a broken reed that is not removed. There is always a smouldering wick not snuffed out. There is always a Moses. A survivor will always be found. You may be beaten up on the side of the road of life half-dead but definitely half alive too. You may think this is the worst time of your life but you do not realise that at this same time something new is emerging. In the death there is life. It looks perhaps like an end but there is a beginning.
And this is something very different to what was previously known. This is no ordinary moment. This has the potential to be one of the most inspirational moments of your life. This could even be the redeeming of what has been lost before. This will bring a time of knowing the voice of God more, perhaps of experiencing His presence in an unquestionable way and maybe this will take you on a whole new journey, a new chapter has begun.
Moses was born.
What you can do now is to take care of this moment. Don’t throw this moment away. Don’t ignore it and don’t boast of it either. Let it be hidden for awhile for the moment will come and the world will see.
Moses was born.
For us a child was born, Jesus. He is with you. It is never over. It may be hell and death may be all around but He is the resurrection. He is crafting a new chapter. Take care of your faith. Look after it. For from this faith impossibilities can come.