Author: missionspaul

What is Missions?
Acts 7:34

“I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.'”

I have seen.
I have heard.
I have come.
I will send you.

There isn’t a better Missionary model than this.

Take those shoes off!
Acts 7:33

“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

When I travel to the many countries of the world there is one thing that I find people have in common. They don’t like shoes in the house. If they come into the house the shoes remain at the door. It is the case for mosques and synagogues as well as for the many churches, in the eastern part anyway. It’s a good job my mum taught me this childhood discipline for taking ones shoes off as I fit in very well in these situations.

In the west we think it is because we are being polite towards the home owner, we don’t want to dirty their carpet etc.
In the east it is different, it is not so much about the carpet or floor but about respect for the home owner. It is their presence not what they have that commands our respect which we show by taking off our shoes.

“Moses the ground isn’t holy because it is special, the ground is holy because I am here”. “Take off your shoes. Respect my presence.”

At that time Moses was shielding his face in respect of God. But that wasn’t enough. Now he has to turn his attention to his sandals. Why?
God was about to call Moses to GO. His sandals were the means to GO. Moses had to submit his rights and his means to GO. God was to be the authority, the leader, the provider of his life. Nothing Moses had would be enough, he had to let go and submit everything he had in order to follow God’s call to GO.
Nothing has changed, so go ahead take off your shoes.

The story of God
Acts 7:32

“I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.”

What an amazing way of introducing yourself?!
I am talking about God.
Can you imagine your next generation encountering God and He meets them and says “I am the God of (insert your name)”?
The encouraging thing is that all 3 men were not perfect:
Abraham gave his wife away saying she was his sister.
Isaac did the same thing as his father with his wife Rebekah.
Jacob followed suit in being known as a deceiver and cheat.
But God became their God.
Let us not forget the commitment that God has towards us.
“I will be your God.”
It is not based on our ability but His love.
Such grace! He wants to be known as the God of you!

Now why did Moses respond like this?
Simply because he knew the story of God in all 3 of these men.
If the next generation are going to fear God then we are going to have to demonstrate to them the story of God in us. It won’t make us perfect and sometimes the story of God will have to reveal our weaknesses so that people can see His grace. But let us keep on living out the story of God that others may also respond to His calling after we have gone. That story is simple: “He knows He is my God. “

Attention!

Acts 7:31

“When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord’s voice:”

Many have written about the burning bush. You can get messages that God was speaking about His holiness calling Moses into a sanctified life. I’m not so sure, though I agree with the sentiment.

I think God was just trying to get Moses attention. A bush on fire wasn’t unique for the desert. There were many bush fires. So Moses would have seen it in the distance perhaps earlier and not thought anything of it perhaps. But unusually the bush was not reducing in size, it was not deteriorating, it was remaining though on fire. Now that caught his attention.

God knows how to get your attention even though you may not recognise it is God. He knows what will draw you closer. It could be a good thing, an unusual thing or a negative thing. But He knows which buttons to press in your life to get you to the place where you can hear His voice.

I wouldn’t worry about missing one of these moments. Just remain nosy, remain inquisitive, everything is worth a look, consider everything, don’t reject quickly, sometimes you might have to make the effort and you cannot be bothered but if you see something go and have a look. Who knows what might happen next?!

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.