God speaks from a Bush

                                                            Exodus 3:1-6

 

August 7, 2024

 

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.  And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”  When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”  Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

 

If you were asked if you were a seeker of Truth, how would you answer that question?  I believe most who go by the title of Christian would say yes with all my heart.  But maybe we should examine what the Scripture tells us about the heart; Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”  Many who go by the title of Christian will quote 2 Chronicles 7:14,  ^“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  How many who do so believe that just the people of the USA would turn to God, but they are not His people, they are not called by His name, nor are a large number who go by the name Christian.

 

But those who are called by His name, the Church, would humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, 

We would seek His presence, not His hand.  We would repent and hunger and thirst for Him.

 

Moses hid his face when God made clear to whom Moses was speaking, in fear, and I believe that is a great need of today’s Church.  A lack of fear for the God of Abraham,  the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

In Psalm 105:4, “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” That is a strong word for the Church.

From The Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Tomorrow I will deal with that

 

 

Tomorrow I will deal with that

 

Have you been guilty of putting things off till tomorrow as if you were guaranteed tomorrow?  We are all guilty of this. In my years between jobs, many call that retirement, but I never cared for the word retirement, in that it just works, without pay.  I’ve found myself telling my bride of 59 years not to worry about getting the house looking nice, as we always have tomorrow.  Who gave me the authority to say something so foolish?

 

Driving to worship last Sunday, I observed one of my neighbors out walking his dog, and my mind wandered if Sunday is just another day for him.  Does he know that God loves him and that it was God who told the Psalmist to record Psalms 139:16, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”  God has determined the number of hours, days, and months in our lives here on earth. Matthew 25:46 and many other passages teach that everyone will live for eternity.  If you do not believe in God or life after death, I’m not going to change your mind, but Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 about a final judgment, when He will return to earth to judge the nations.  Like a good shepherd, he will separate those who have received Him by faith in His work on the Cross to His right, and those who have not to His left, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  Matthew 25:31-46 gives you a clear account of this.  Let me highlight a few verses you need to ponder on, Mathew 25:31-32, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” And in Mathew 25:41-46, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.’  Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’  Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”  

 

Life on planet Earth is a lot like the choice we make each day in our car.  You're behind a big truck, and he is going around a curve, with a double yellow line, but you are in a hurry, and you choose to try to pass, just hoping no one is coming at you.  You did it before, and it worked, but today it did not, and your life has ended. All the plans you had are not important anymore, but your soul or spirit, the real you, is very much alive.  Will you be on the right or left?  God is very clear; hell was not planned for you!  But, like that yellow double line, you cross on the curve, your choices can bring life or death on earth; they will bring spiritual life or eternal punishment.

 

You might be wondering if Hell is a real place. Well, God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, gave a lot of ink to that fact in the Scripture, and I have come to understand that believing Jesus tells the truth is real faith.  Let me be very clear in the darkness we are living in, Jesus is Truth. Jesus talked more about hell than He did about heaven, and described it more vividly. 

Jesus doesn’t only reference hell, he describes it in great detail. He says it is a place of eternal torment (Luke 16:23), of unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43), where the worm does not die (Mark 9:48), where people will gnash their teeth in anguish and regret (Matthew 13:42), and from which there is no return, even to warn loved ones (Luke 16:19-31. He calls hell a place of “outer darkness” (Taken from the site Christian Living). If you have been putting it off till you get your act right, I have got some great news for you: it is not required, Jesus will take you as you are if you are willing to allow Him to be the Master and you take the role of servant.

 

I lived for 27 years as the master of my life. I believed that Jesus was God, that He was born of a virgin, and that He was the only way to the Father.  But I was not sure I wanted Him in Charge of my life.  I would do it later as if I were in control of later!  One night in Victoria, Texas, returning from a bar, I put the key in the hotel room door and heard this voice in my head, this is the last day I will deal with you.  I opened that door and went for the hotel Bible, it opened to Romans 10, and my eyes went to verses 9-10, "because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved.  That night, I acted on those verses with the faith and grace God gave me, and I entered into Christ, and He entered into me. 

 

I’m making better choices, but I have a long way to go. I do know that God’s plan for me is good, and I have an eternal home where Jesus, who is the author of Life, Jesus, will be my Master, and I, His willing servant.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

God Hears Israel's Groaning

                                                             Exodus 2:23-25

 

August 9, 2024

 

God Hears Israel's Groaning

 During those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  God saw the people of Israel, and God knew.

 

Have you given thought to the fact that God’s Word was designed for you and me to apply to our time on planet Earth?  While Joseph and Pharaoh were alive, Egypt was a place of growth and blessing, but it was not the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  

But what happens when things are​ not going great? They begin to groan.  Do you recall COVID-19 and how evil men saw the opportunity to control nations?  They made little children wear masks, which did very little, but put fear into their parents, and gave them drugs that have caused many to die and others to have serious health issues.  Fear was the tool that had worked; it is what many in the world use to sell a product.

 

My family, Jan and I, my daughter and son-in-law, and my grandson ask the Lord what we should do, and got a strong no on taking the vaccine. We obey the law and wear a mask when required, but we were not going to be prisoners of fear.  During that time, I did test positive for Covid, but when I went to the hospital, it was my sodium level was way below a hundred.

So, remember that often God uses issues in our lives to get us to look to Him, and get back into His word and apply it to the issues at hand.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Moses Flees to Midian

 

Exodus 2:11-22

 

August 7, 2024

 

Moses Flees to Midian

One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.  He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.  When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”  When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.  

 

Where did Moses get the idea that God had asked him to kill a man? It was an act of Moses' flesh, trying to do good, in doing a bad act of murder.  And we understand he hid the man that he killed, he knew that his action would not go well.

 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.  The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them and watered their flock.  When they came home to their father, Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.”  He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”  And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.  She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”

We see Moses as the man who stands for the one too weak to stand for themselves.  This time, he not only helped the ladies trying to water their flock of sheep, but he also drew the water for them.  And you can read the account, but what can we apply to our lives?

 

First, never do bad. It is one thing to intervene, to stop a fight; it is another thing to do as Moses did.  God did not make Moses kill anyone; that was an act of will driven by emotions.  But God, being all-knowing, uses it to get Moses out of Egypt to teach him how to shepherd his chosen people.

 

Often, our flesh and emotions will tell us it is ok to act in a way that is contrary to turning the other cheek.  Always remember our Lord's words, and follow them: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Birth of Moses

 

 

Exodus 2:1-10

 

August 5, 2024

 

The Birth of Moses

Now, a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman.  The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.  When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the riverbank.  And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.  Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it.  When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews' children.”  Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”  And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Go.” So, the girl went and called the child's mother.  And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So, the woman took the child and nursed him.  When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

But God, those are my two favorite words in the English language.  You recall Pharaoh had given orders that all Hebrew male children were to be drowned in the Nile.  Do you recall the Scripture in Jeremiah 1:5? “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”  Not only did He know Moses before he was, but God also had a plan for his life.  Raised in the house of Pharaoh as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses is on target to be the one to lead God’s chosen to the promised land.

 

As I think of Moses, my thoughts turn to what the application is for you and me.  God, who saw Moses and Jeremiah before they were, also saw you and me and has a plan for our lives.  Now, let me be clear, we all think we know the best plan, and so we go to school, we prepare with our plan, only to find it is not something that brings fulfillment, and now you are wondering, is this what I was designed for?  Well, hang on, you and I are in for a lesson on seeing Moses try it his way, and what God did to get him on the right course.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

The Fear of God

 

 

 

Exodus 1:15-22

 

August 5, 2024

 

The Fear of God

 

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,  “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. So, the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?”  The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”  So, God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.  And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.  Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

 

I love my dad, but I also had a healthy fear of him. You may wonder how I can say that; let me share with you the reason.  Dad had rules that we were to live by; one was that if you wanted to die, talk back to your mother. Another was never hit a girl, not even your sister, when she pinched us in the hall before we entered the living room, where Dad was.  I only broke that once; it was not fun.  Dad believed that obedience brought blessing and disobedience punishment. 

I believe my Father in heaven loves me, as I believe my dad loved me, but I also love and fear my Father in heaven, for that same reason, He disciplines those He loves.  God loves you too much if you are His child, to let you chase after the little gods of this world.

 

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Pharaoh Oppresses Israel

 

 

 

Exodus 1:8-14

 

August 4, 2024

 

Pharaoh Oppresses Israel

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.  And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.  Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”  Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.  But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.  So, they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work, they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

They fear the people of Israel, in that they had gone from 70 who came to Egypt, to a vast number.  But it was not that they wanted them to leave, in that slaves were a low cost of labor.  Note: In the USA, we have the same things, not slaves, but people who are illegal, and the business people use them for cheap labor.

One would be ignorant of Scripture to not see the hand of God in this fear and the treatment of His chosen people.  He had made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob about a promised land for His Chosen people.

The Lord was getting them ready for Moses's leadership.

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice