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Lansing SDA Church

David Shin

Lesson of Surrender

Moses' life can be divided into 3 sets of 40.

And the first set, he was in Egypt as a prince.

The second set, he was a shepherd for 40 years.

And the third set, he's most notably known for, he was Moses, the deliverer of the Exodus.

And when you look at Exodus chapter 4, This is at a low point in Moses' life.

He's approximately 80 years of age, which was not a young man even in those days.

He had just killed, not just, but a few years before, he had killed an Egyptian and that's why he was there in Egypt or exiled from Egypt in Midian.

And if you are at a place in your life when you're wondering what your future holds, what calling or purpose God could possibly have for your life, this message in Exodus 4, verses 1-5 is for you, amen?

By the way, it was during this second set of 40 that scholars believed that Moses wrote the book of Job as well as the book of Genesis.

And Moses answered, Exodus 4, verses 1-5, and said, but suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice.

Suppose they say the Lord has not appeared to you.

So the Lord said to Moses, what is that in your hand?

So he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent.

Not the most attractive thing for a stick to become.

And Moses fled from it, and the Lord said to Moses, reach out your hand and take it by the tail.

And he reached out his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand.

On the screen I have a picture of a snake.

And when I was in academy in Arkansas, I was going in my chest of drawers to pick up an article of clothing and I opened my third drawer and there was a four-foot black rat snake that was curled up there that was waiting for me.

I was quite startled and I had the same response that Moses had here in Exodus chapter 4.

This is an interesting story because Moses is called by God to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land.

And between God and Moses, there's this interesting interchange that involves something that Moses is holding in his hand, and it's a common shepherd's staff, a stick, a rod that he's holding in his hand and God says, what's that in your hand?

And I want to begin by just dwelling upon this staff and what it meant to Moses.

You may think that it didn't mean a lot, but for a shepherd, the rod, the staff that they carried was an indication of Moses' or a shepherd's identity.

His occupation was what defined him for the last 40 years, and It was a means of how he provided for his family.

We live in an age today where people, when you ask them their name, shortly thereafter they say, I am a, In my case, I am a pastor.

It's an age of existentialism where what we do defines us.

I say I am a pastor, I'm a lawyer, I'm a doctor or a teacher, I'm a professional.

What we do defines us for better or for worse.

And here God was saying, what is that in your hand?

For the last 40 years he had been tending sheep.

It gave him meaning and purpose for his life.

The other thing that that staff represented to Moses was as a shepherd he provided for his family, it was a source of his income.

And when you have a steady job, a stable occupation and income, and someone asks you to walk away from it, It's not easy.

This was the way that he provided for his family.

And for Moses up to that point, you may think, oh, it's just a stick.

But for Moses, it represented his occupation, his identity, his income, and his security.

Everything that Moses had been and done for the last 40 years was bound up in that staff.

The other thing that that stick represented was his influence.

Because for a shepherd, that staff was a way that he guided the sheep.

He also would protect the sheep with the staff when animals would come to take the sheep away.

I heard 1 leadership guru say, leadership is influence.

And for a man like Moses, that staff represented everything that he was for over 4 decades.

His identity, His income, and His influence.

He said, it's my staff, it's my identity, my influence, my purpose, everything that I am.

And this is a lesson in surrender that many times when God calls us to a mighty work, a higher purpose, a higher calling, that before we can accept the call of God, He asks us to let something go.

Isn't it hard when God says, I want all of you, not just 99.99%, but 100% of your life?

I remember when I first got into pastoral ministry, the brethren at the conference were quite concerned because I was single.

They thought that it's not good that man should be alone, Daniel.

And Lauren Nelson, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, thought that this man needs to be sent down to Berrien Springs as a youth pastor in close proximity to Andrews University.

Because they say that more than anything else, proximity determines your future spouse.

And I was there for 3 years as a single youth pastor, and things were just not working out.

I was single, And the brethren were getting more and more worried.

And I have a confession to make that this was 1 area of my life that I was not willing to surrender.

I said, Lord, you can have every other area of my life, but marriage and who I marry, I want my fingers in this area.

Because I thought that if I surrendered this area that the Lord perhaps did not have my best interest in mind.

And after a period of time, I got to a place where I recognized that things were not working out.

I was at ministerial up at Camp Asobol and Paul Razzaro was there and he had just given a convicting presentation about surrender, about how giving every area of your life over to God.

And I was so convicted, so on the 3 and a half hour ride back to Berrien Springs from Grayling, I had a conversation with God, and it went something like this.

But I tell you what, if you want me to be single for the rest of my life, Like the Apostle Paul, I won't like it, but I accept it.

And this was 1 area of my life that I was just hanging on to.

And Lord, if you want me to be single, I'll be single.

But whatever it is that you want me to do, I will do.

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Lesson of Surrender

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