Christmas Outside The Box: Week 3


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Isaiah 61: 1-4 NLT

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released

and prisoners will be freed.
2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.
3 To all who mourn in Israel,
he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
that the Lord has planted for his own glory.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins,
repairing cities destroyed long ago.
They will revive them,
though they have been deserted for many generations.

 

(Moses)

I want us to think back a long time ago, some of you may know this story and many of you may have never heard it. It is about a man by the name of “Mousa” that was his Hebrew name, you may or may not know him by the name Moses. Mousa was born at a time when the children of Israel were in slavery in Egypt.

He was very unlikely to succeed.

#1, he was born into slavery,

#2, Pharaoh had ordered all Hebrew boys under the age of 2 to be killed, he was afraid that the Hebrew people were becoming too many in number and that eventually they would overpower the Egyptians who were holding them in slavery.

So, he is born into slavery and the man in charge has ordered him to be killed. Then his mother came up with the idea of putting him in a basket and sending him down the Nile River, hoping that someone would see the basket, discover a little boy, and let him live.

Sure enough, of all people Pharaohs own daughter was out taking a bath in the Nile River and she sees this basket floating down the river, she says to one of her servants, go get me the basket.

The servant girl who just happened to be Moses sister said, do you want me to find someone of the Hebrews to nurse him, she went and found Moses mother.

Moses for a while was nursed by his own mother but eventually he grew up in the home of the Pharaoh. He no doubt received the best education, ate the best food, hung out with the elite of his day and in general had it made.

One day after he had grown up, Moses was out and he saw one of his own Hebrew people being beaten by one of the Egyptians. He’d had all he could stand and he took things into his own hands and he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Hebrews 11: 24-26

 24 It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ (Christos-the Anointed one) than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward. 

Moses ran away to the other side of the desert where he stayed for the next 40 years.

I have wondered, what did Moses think about for those 40 years?

He killed a man – you know when we read the account of Moses killing the Egyptian we sometimes lose our imagination. I mean if he hit him with something, there was likely lots of blood. Moses is digging around in the sand, not only trying to hide the body but he is trying to cover up all of the blood. Or maybe he choked him, you know he literally squeezed the last breath of life out of this man.

40 years later when God called Moses and Moses said BUT God

But God, I’m slow of speech – God I killed a man – that has haunted me for the past 40 years, no you have the wrong person.

God Anointed Moses and He sent him to lead His people out of slavery.

Luke 4:18-19 (Jesus)

New Living Translation (NLT)

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me (Jesus) to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.

I John 2: 26-27 NIV –

26 I am writing these things to you (Christians) about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

What this means is, when a person is a Christian, you are anointed and you have been sent (set apart)!

You say, But God!

When Moses was there at the burning bush and God say’s Moses I have a job for you to do,

Moses says But God!

God says, Moses, what is that in your hand?

Moses says, this thing? This is my staff, it’s just a stick.

God says, throw it down and it will become a snake.

There comes a time when God says, strike the rock and water will come out, and it did.

There is a time when God says, hold that stick out over the sea and the waters are parted.

You see, when God calls you, He anoints you, He sets you apart and He gives you work to do.

What’s that in your hand?

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