December 25th, 2016
ICA Sunday Pulpit Message
The Family that Restored the Covenant of Sacrifice Offering (Ex 3:15-22)
(Intro)
It’s good to see you. Greet those around you. Have you had a good week? Today’s title is, “The family that restored the covenant of sacrifice offering”. Today isn’t the exact day when Jesus Christ was born. However, it is the selected day when we commemorate it. He met a lot of people. He met with more people who weren’t well off. On this day, as we are celebrating Christ’s day, if it isn’t going well for you, you will receive comfort. Why? Christ came for those who are weak in their hearts. As we live, there are so many times when we ask ourselves why things don’t go our way. If you are a child of God, it’s okay if things aren’t going well for you. Find comfort in Christ because God will guide you to the seat of victory. We see Moses in today’s scripture. He had so many problems. He had a life in the palace. He was living as an adopted son. He wasn’t part of the bloodline. He later realized that he was a Hebrew. He saw that within the Egyptians, there were Hebrews, but they were slaves. He was living so well in Egypt, he had no choice but to feel pity on the Hebrews who were suffering. He saw that they were victimized and living in unfortunate circumstances. He attempted to help them, but accidentally murdered someone. That is when he threw away his identity as a prince and runs away from the palace. He runs away to the Midian desert. He comes across Jethro, who is his future father-in-law. He becomes 80. Up until that age, nothing went well for him. During this old age, God shows Himself. Gold told him that He would free His people. This baffled Moses. God is telling him to return to Egypt and persuade the king. He didn’t have any means to fulfill this. He was old and didn’t have strength. He didn’t have any money. He was in charge of shepherding the land. He had nothing that belonged to him. Someone worthy of going before the Pharaoh should go before him. We may face these kinds of situations. If you are indeed a child of God, then you have reason to be discouraged. If you look at the times when God fulfilled His plans, He had a time of silence. Nothing happened to Moses. It was a time of silence for him. It was within that God had His tremendous plan. When you look at the uneventful life of Moses, what kind of plans did God have? It was to restore the Gospel movement that disappeared.
1. We must have a reason to continue to do the Gospel movement
(1) Egypt – the king that doesn’t show Joseph (Ex 1:8)
(2) The Israelites – Slavery and suffering (Ex 1:9-14)
(3) The descendants of Israel – Crisis of destruction (Ex 1:15-16)
Why do we need to continue the Gospel movement? It started with Abraham. 4 generations passed. The climax of the movement was with Joseph. As time passed on, it was forgotten. As a result of that, we have today’s scene. A king who didn’t know Joseph took over Egypt. There was a time when everyone in Egypt knew Joseph, who gave glory back to God and served Him. Everyone knew that he was a foreigner and served the Lord. With the Wisdom and knowledge that came from the Lord, He was able to save the country from famine. He worshipped the Lord. A king who didn’t know Joseph, took over. The news of Joseph serving the Lord was cut off. What happened next? This new king realized that the population was growing and the Hebrews were outnumbering the Egyptians. He shouldn’t let things go. So, he enslaved and oppressed them. As time passed, the Israelites suffered. They died off. What happened later on? The king ordered infanticide on all newborn males. When the Gospel movement is cut off, the following generations will crumble. If the Gospel movement dries up, then the current generation has no choice but to fall apart and perish. That is how the descendants perished. This is the flow that you will see in history. Crisis follows a period of perishing. On this day of Christmas, you might expect a feel-good message, but we need to talk about this. We need to continue this Gospel movement. Come to this resolution. That is the reason why Christ came to this Earth. These are Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 2. “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” He is talking about the 3 generations. Timothy needs to find the next able man. Through that, he will find other able men. This isn’t some bible study. Will the Gospel be continued? This is a question of life and death. This is the case for the land of America. I am Asian, but I have an American citizenship. This land was established for the sake of the Gospel. Starting from some point, that was eliminated from schools. People are declaring that all religions are the same. After that, all these things were eliminated. There was a year in which all these things were eliminated and juvenile crimes escalated. We need to know why we are here. A lot of the Asian population here, we decided to emigrate here. We might be here for the American dream. That is the channel that God used for you. His reason for calling you here is to restore the Gospel movement. The moment that you realize the Gospel and Christ, you will know why you were born and living here. Things will start. The reason why God has called us is to restore the Gospel movement. He wants to rekindle the fire of the Gospel movement. You might think that Pastor Kim’s message today is a bit heavy. However, realize that God has called you. You might think that you’re too old and retired. If you think like that, then nothing will take place. Your physical traits aren’t important. There is only 1 reason why God has brought you here. Christ has come to you to restore His Gospel. Do you even feel that calling in your life? Behind that, God has called you here. What do you feel inside? You might feel the same doubts as Moses. He was very reluctant. He lived a long time in the desert. He was full of discouragement. He was hesitant when God appeared before him. It’s not just that God is speaking to him. He gave His word directly to Moses. In front of all this, Moses is trying to deny it. This is evidence of the fact that he was full of discouragement. He was basically in slumber. He continuously shows his response of being frightened. God has called us because He wants to use us. However, we often try to avoid God. We need to correctly see this. What must we see? How must we see it? How must we act? We are Christians who are saved. However, we live like Moses did in the desert. We need to realize and come out of the depth of discouragement. That is not by God’s mistake. God, with His plans, place Moses in the desert as a time of training. Moses had no one to help him. He felt as if he was thrown away. What did God want from this? He wanted Moses to look to Him only. This world is filled with secular entertainment. Let all that go. We need to listen to the voice of God. You need to practice that. I pray that you will not fall into discouragement.
2. There are things you must boldly throw away for the restoration of the Gospel movement
(1) Do not be discouraged by the training of the wilderness (Ex 2:15)
(2) Do not be afraid to call upon the name of God (Ex 3:4)
(3) Do not avoid the missions given by God (Ex 3:11,13, 4:1,10,13)
Maybe you aren’t capable. However, God will entrust things to you. That is commission. Do not try to hide yourself from it. You need to understand what that means. When God entrusts His calling on you, trust in it. In other words, God will give you power. Calling and power go together. Only when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, will you receive His power and you will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. God didn’t give up on Moses. Until the very end, He convinces Moses to fulfill His will. There is no one who can overcome God. His will be done. There is a reason why those who live for God’s will have prosperity. This is the reason why when we seek His kingdom, all things will come to fulfillment. Moses obeyed His calling. He started to take on God’s calling.
3. Everything is prepared for those who made a resolution to do the Gospel movement
(1) Miracles – Disaster of Egypt, Crossing the Red Sea, the Pillars of fire and cloud (Ex 4:17, 14:29, Num 14:14)
(2) People – Aaron, Joshua, Jethro (Ex 4:14, 17:9-13, 18:17-23)
(3) Victory – Exodus, Guidance in the wilderness, Tabernacle (Ex 12:51, 13:21, 40:33)
Moses said that we need to leave Egypt to restore the sacrificial worship. When Moses tells this to the king, of course he doesn’t like it. God brought about the 10 disasters to chance the heart of the king. We call it the 10 disasters, but it’s actually the 10 miracles. Through these 10 disasters, God changes the heart of the king. They had Exodus, but they faced the Red Sea. They were blocked by the Egyptian soldiers. In the beginning, because of all that, the king let them go. After that, he feels great wrath. He wants to kill them. This is a great crisis for the Israelites. All of them fell into disbelief. When they all fell into fear, Moses held onto his faith. So, God splits the Red Sea. The Egyptians don’t stop and try to cross it. Then, the waters come back and all the Egyptians are wiped out. This was the ultimate miracle. God has prepared these kinds of miracles for you. The road that they must travel is through a desert. The temperature difference between the day and night is extreme. However, God guides them with the pillars of fire and clouds. If there is an obstacle, God will allow you to overcome it. He also has prepared people for you. As you’re trying to take on God’s word, He will prepare those to accompany you. When Moses complained that he wasn’t go with his words, God provided Aaron. When Moses complained that he was too old to fight, God brought Joshua. Moses had nothing in the desert, but God provided Jethro. God provides miracles and people. Wherever he went, Moses was victorious. These are amazing and tremendous answers. They had exodus and were victorious. They safely passed through the wilderness. They completed the construction of the Tabernacle. All things were fulfilled by God. It was an amazing work. On this day of Christ, if you come to resolution to restore the Gospel movement, the impossible miracles will take place in your life. God will bring about all things. He will fulfill what is good. Do you believe? This is the day when we need to hold onto the message. Moses was facing all these victorious, but was put away. The reason why Christ came was for these exact people. It is so that He can show God’s miracles. He wants to restore the Gospel movement.
(Conc)
There is an even greater blessing. To those who restore the Gospel movement, God will be with you. That is how you can realistically experience the blessing of Immanuel. Like I said, God called Moses for the sake of the restoration of the Gospel movement. God was with Moses so delicately. Is there evidence of this? There is. When you look at Moses’ life, it is extremely close to the life of Christ. Who was born on this earth first? Of course, Christ existed before all time, but it was Moses who came to this earth first. If Jesus was born prior to Moses, then He would’ve been an example to follow. However, that’s not what happened. It means that the Lord was with Moses and followed Him. Moses fulfilled the works of the Lord. From Moses’ POV, He was with him. Moses, as well as Christ, were born into a foreign land. Both were saved from infanticide. Both kings during their times had ordered infanticide. Moses had ordered the blood on the doors and freed his people. Jesus shed His blood to save us. Moses, as he crossed the Red Sea, went apart from the Israelites. Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible. That is the foundation of the Old Testament. When you look at the New Testament, we have the Gospels. Moses received the 10 commandments on Mount Horeb. It was the same with Christ. Jesus went up on a mountainside and talked about “The Beatitudes” Just as Moses established the 12 tribes and 70 elders, Christ also had 12 disciples and 70 workers. They both had fasting prayer for 40 days. Moses brought about God’s laws and Christ finished it. In Deut. 18:15, he says that in the future there will be a brother who will be just like me and you have to follow Him. He foretells that there will be a prophet that you have to follow. He abided with God so closely, he was able to see all this. This is the week of Christmas. Of course, we need to do a lot of shopping to help out our economy and eat out a lot. As you do that, we have to realize that the real truth is something else. Tonight, when you go home, confess to your spouse that the reason why you and I married, it was for the restoration of the Gospel movement. All of our students here should throw away the thinking of studying and going back to Korea to earn money. It is about studying for the sake of the Gospel restoration. When you do that, God will perform miracles to be with you. You might not intend it, but God will be with you. People will see that you are a resemblance of Christ. That is the original form of the believer. During the times of the Early Church, people can be like Christ, so the word, “Christian” came about. He called you for the Gospel restoration. He has miracles prepared for you.
(Prayer)
Dear God, we give you our praise. We give you thanks as we are trying to listen to your voice on Christmas this year. May you have mercy on us. Guide us so that we can restore the Gospel movement on this earth. We believe you will be with us. We believe you will prepare miracles for our saints. May the miracles be upon all the schools and church members. We believe that you will raise up our descendants. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen.