If God Calls You, God Equips You

This is my sermon text from last Wednesday (March 6) as part of our "Faith Examples" part of Hebrews 11, specifically Hebrews 11.1; 23-28, the story of Moses.

Have you ever heard someone describe you, or some of your attributes, and think, “Are they talking about ME?”

I think that would be the reaction of Moses if he heard the passage I just read. Not that I do not think that Moses is an example of a faith-filled person. I believe Moses is a great example of someone who lived by faith. But he had to work at it.

Moses was raised in the court of the Pharaoh, having been pulled from a basket in the River Nile by the Pharaoh’s daughter, and raised by her. He fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian who has beating on of the Israelite slaves.

He fled to the land of Midian, across the Sinai Peninsula, and lived there for forty years. One day while he was leading his sheep to feed, he came upon a bush that was on fire, but it was not consumed.

We’ve heard burning bush and how God used it to call Moses to go to Egypt and bring God’s people, the ancestors of Abraham, back to the land that Abraham was promised.

But during that encounter with God, Moses’ faith was split. He had trust and confidence that he was speaking with the LORD, his God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What he didn’t have faith in was himself.

First, Moses asked “Who am I to go to Pharaoh to bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” When God promised to be with him the whole time, Moses then asked, “Who should I tell the Israelites sent me?” After God told him what to say to the people of Israel, and the promises he was keeping, Moses had another worry. He wondered what to do if they didn’t believe Moses was sent by God.

So God showed Moses some signs, preludes of the plagues that God would send against Egypt. Moses believed in their ability to convince the Israelites, but he still was not convinced himself that he could do it. Moses told God he has never been eloquent, couldn’t God send someone else? God said your brother Aaron will help you.

Moses believed that this was God speaking to him, and that God could do what God said would happen. Moses just was sure that God chose the wrong person. Moses was looking for excuse after excuse, searching for a way out.

But God doesn’t call those who are equipped to do God’s work. God equips those who are called. In Moses’ case, God provides information and gifts that would allow Moses to convince both Pharaoh and the Israelites that Moses had been sent by God to bring God’s people to the land promised to their ancestor, Abraham.

When God calls someone, God removes obstacles in their way, even if those obstacles are their own.

When God calls someone, they may not realize the end to which they are being called. They don’t know where this is all going to end up. They may only see the first step.

The writer of Hebrews ends the examples of Moses faith with crossing the Red Sea. I think Moses faith was proven more AFTER that. Moses had to put up with forty years of doubting, questioning and whining, because he was God’s representative for Israel, so they complained to him.

Let me give you an example of God equipping someone who was called, even if they didn’t realize they were being called.

Twenty-eight years ago, an Irish rock star watched a documentary on TV about a famine in Ethiopia caused by a drought, and he decided he wanted to do something about it. He called some of his friends in the music industry and asked them to sing on a charity record. He wrote a song, got a friend to produce it, and most of his other friends showed up to sing and play on it. At the time, he said that he hoped it would sell enough copies to pay for one cargo ship full of medical supplies and food, which would cost about $150,000.

His name is Bob Geldolf. The record was “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” The record is one of the top 20 selling singles ever. It lead to American artists creating a record called, “We are the World.” It lead to the Live Aid concerts being performed in London and Philadelphia that summer.

The efforts that Bob Geldolf was directly responsible for lead to $300 million dollars being raised. He exceeded his goal by 2,000 times.

He went from being a rock star to a global advocate for the poor and hungry. Because he watched a program on TV and decided to try to do something about it.

Hunger isn’t a problem that is in other countries. It is a problem here in America. It is a problem here in our community.

There is a new movie that you can watch through the in-demand feature on almost every TV system or downloadable from iTunes. It is called “A Place at the Table.”

One in four children don’t know where their next meal will come from. One in two, every other child, will be on food assistance sometime during their life time. The average food stamp benefit is $3 per day. Fifty million Americans, one in six, will take advantage of charitable food assistance programs – this year. It is cheaper for families to buy junk food than good nutritious food.

I hope you take some time to find and watch this movie. I hope you are moved by it to want to do something. I hope you overcome your self doubt to believe that you can’t do anything about this.

I am talking about you.

I have faith that you, we, can address this and help to solve it.

I have faith in you, in us, and in our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, who calls and equips people to do God’s work and God’s will.

P    Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,

C   and the conviction of things not seen.