April 26, 2026 • 33 mins
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Exploring Miriam's life, this sermon highlights God's gifting to all, emphasizing spiritual maturity, compassion, and unity in using our unique gifts for His purposes.
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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Get some support from home.
Am I right about it?
Amen.
Let's do our vision statement.
If we can do that very quickly,let's put that up on the screen
looking good.
Look at that.
Those are some good pictures.
Amen.
Amen.
I know it was Alpha Phi Alpha.
We're gonna pray for you on thatone.
Amen.
I couldn't let it go.
I couldn't let it go.
(00:21):
Amen.
Come on, let's read.
We exist to help people becomefollowers of Jesus who
experience life change incommunity and make a difference.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Want to be clear on that, andour mission statement and the
(00:41):
series we're preaching is reallyaimed toward that ordinary faith
for an extraordinary God.
And I raise that because, again,I think a lot of times as
Christians, we've been trainedto think that only the super
gifted, only the super educated,only the supernaturally endowed
(01:02):
individuals are the ones thatGod uses.
And prayerfully, we hope to showin this series that God is
looking for availability.
And if we're available, doesanybody know God has a way of
blessing you and enriching yourlife?
And I think all of us want that.
And so I want to invite ourattention to our meditation text
(01:25):
for this morning.
And it's found in Micah chapter6, verse 4.
And uh if we can read thattogether, let's read.
I brought you up out of Egypt.
And I sent Moses to lead you,also Aaron and Marion.
(01:49):
Amen.
Say Miriam.
Amen.
The main text comes from Exoduschapter 2, verses 1 through 10.
And here's how it reads thestory of birth and preservation
of Moses that would be Israel'sdeliverer.
(02:09):
Now, a man of the tribe of Levimarried a Levite woman, and she
became pregnant and gave birthto a son.
And when she saw that he was afine child or a good child, she
hid him for three months.
When she could hide him nolonger, she got a papyrus basket
(02:30):
for him and coated it with tarand pitch.
Then she placed the child in itand put it among the reeds along
the bank of the Nile.
His sister, say Miriam, stood ata distance to see what would
happen to him.
Then Pharaoh's daughter wentdown to the Nile to bathe.
(02:50):
And her attendants were walkingalong the riverbank.
She saw the basket among thereeds and sent her female slave
to get it.
She opened it and saw the baby.
He was crying.
And she felt sorry or compassionfor him.
This is one of the Hebrewbabies, she said.
Then his sister, say Miriam,asked Pharaoh's daughter, Shall
(03:15):
I go and get a Hebrew woman tonurse the baby for you?
Yes, go, she answered.
So the girl, say Miriam, wentand got the baby's mother,
Pharaoh's daughter, said to her,Take this baby, nurse him for
me, and I will pay you.
(03:36):
Won't he do it?
So the woman took the baby andnursed him.
And when the child grew older,she took him to Pharaoh's
daughter, and she became herson.
And she named him Moses, saying,I drew him out of the water.
(03:56):
I want to talk about she gotgift too.
She got gift too.
Amen.
During my final year in ministryin seminary, I was required to
take a preaching class.
I did so well that I wasselected to preach in the
(04:17):
school's chapel for that year.
But you need to understand thatfor a student to preach in
chapel, they first had to havemajored in pastoring.
Secondly, they have had to havebeen graded as one of the best
preachers in the entiregraduating class.
I majored in Christianeducation, which immediately
(04:39):
disqualified me from preachingin chapel.
But how many of y'all know thatain't never stopped God on
anything?
So through a series of events, Iwas selected a first in the
school's history to preach inchapel as a non-castorial major.
Now, at the time, I wasconsidered one of the best
preachers in the school, andsadly, I'm confessing, I thought
(05:03):
I was.
But how many of y'all know Godwill correct your attitude, too?
I'm just testifying today.
And in one of my final classes,a wonderful sister in the faith
preached her first sermon everin that class.
And when she finished, all of uswere ready to turn in our
(05:26):
preaching license.
She did a mic drop from heaven.
And in those, and in thatmoment, God was teaching me two
things.
The first is ministry is notabout competition, but rather
how we complement each otherwith our gifts for the greater
advancement of the kingdom.
(05:51):
It's not about who's the best,but it's about how we all gather
together to give our best tomake God look his best.
Secondly, I also learned that mysisters got gift too.
And I need to say that becausesadly, we must admit there's
still some tension.
(06:12):
I'm not picking on Christ'scommunity, but I'm talking about
Christianity as a whole.
There's still tension betweenmen and women.
As if one is better than theother.
As if one is more gifted thanthe other.
And it needs to be said that Goddoes not love men more than
women, nor does he love womenmore than men.
(06:35):
God does not elevate a womanover the man because she has
some special gift or skill thathe didn't give the man, nor does
he elevate a man over a womanbecause of her gender.
Men have gifts.
Men have gifts because God lovesthem.
But please hear me well.
(06:56):
She got gift too.
Matter of fact, if I can giveyou my thesis statement, it's
really for all of us.
Ordinary faith embraces the giftthat God has given us for his
glory.
In other words, I don't need tobe worried about what God is
doing in somebody else's life.
I need to be worried about whatGod is doing in my life.
I need to learn to trust Godwith the gift he's given me.
(07:19):
And Lord, empower me with the tothe best of my ability to work
out what you've invested in me.
And that's what I love aboutthis text this morning, our
meditation text, especially,that we don't get to tell God
how he ought to distribute hisgifts.
Aren't you glad about that?
(07:40):
Aren't you glad God didn't putsalvation in the hands of your
enemies?
God didn't put gifting as wellin the hands of individuals, but
God decides who receives a gift.
And Micah 6.4 indicates thatalong with Aaron, along with
Moses, God also gifted Miriam asa leader of God's spirit.
(08:03):
During a time when women'ssphere of influence was confined
almost exclusively to the familyor domestic affairs.
Here Miriam served the purposesof God.
She was a confidant of Moses,the great liberator of Israel.
She was one of the few women inthe Old Testament who we come to
(08:25):
know simply by the gifts thatGod had given her.
She is known not as a wife, andthat's not a bad thing.
She is known not as a mother,but that's not a and that's not
a bad thing.
She is known as a leader for theliberation of her people.
She got gift too.
I just want to make a fewobservations to help us all,
(08:47):
especially our sisters, to haveordinary faith that we might do
something extraordinary for ourextraordinary God.
In our text in Exodus 2, this isthe first time Miriam showed up
in the biblical storyline.
And we must remember thatMiriam's story must be situated
in the broader story of howMoses tells this story about
(09:10):
Israel's deliverance.
We may remember from last Sundaywe talked about that meditation
text where Paul says that Godcan take the least likely and do
great things for his purposes.
Well, that's what he does inExodus 1 and 2.
He takes the least likelycandidates to bring about
deliverance for his people.
(09:32):
He chooses the midwives, two bythe name, Shiprah and Pu'ah, who
circumvent the monstrous decreesof Pharaoh to kill every male
child that is born in Israel.
And he uses them as a staple fordeliverance.
He uses Moses' mother, Jacobed,who, after taking one look at
(09:55):
her son and said, This child isvery good.
Matter of fact, if you were tocompare the Hebrew phrasing to
what God said of creation, youdiscover they're almost the
same.
When God stepped back and lookedat his creation, he said, Boy, I
sure did good.
That's what came out of themouth of Jacobed, that this is
God's creation.
(10:15):
I wish I can pause right herebecause it's a word about how
God is not just concerned aboutlife in the womb, but God is
also concerned about lifeoutside the womb.
SPEAKER_00 (10:27):
I'll be the first one to say I'm pro-life in the
womb.
But you better hear me wail, myGod is also pro-life for life
outside the womb.
SPEAKER_01 (10:37):
And here Jacobed said, No, my God cares for life
that is outside and livingtoday.
And so the child looks so goodto her, she takes the child and
puts him in a wicker basket andputs him in the Nile and floats
him down the Nile.
(10:58):
And God supernaturally protectshim from the elements of the
Nile, crocodiles and all kindsof elements in the Nile that
should have taken his life.
And maybe that's a word for someparent today, that when you keep
on praying for your child, Godhas a way of protecting your
child while others may strugglein the same thing.
(11:20):
Maybe that's a word to somemother, maybe that's a word to
some father.
Keep on praying for your child.
SPEAKER_00 (11:25):
Keep on trusting God for your child.
Carry that Jacobed spirit thatwhen you look at that child, you
knew your child, that God hadsomething special for your
child.
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
And that what he did for Moses, God would do the same
for you.
And so here, God reminds us inthis text, uh, Miriam, who is a
part of the great hall of heroesthat were a part of the
liberation of Israel here at thebeginning of their story.
And like her colleagues, shealso serves God's purpose in
(11:58):
that effort.
And so, what I want to do isjust share a few observations of
ordinary faith from this greatexample in Miriam, this
wonderful follower of the Lord.
Number one, the first thing wenotice is that Miriam was a
woman of compassion.
She had compassion.
And the word Miriam cared,because verse 4 says in chapter
(12:20):
2 that this sister stood at adistance to see what would
happen to Moses.
That is, as her oldest, as theolder sister, who never have
children.
The text never records anythingabout Miriam having children.
And yet she has a motheringspirit and she cares for Moses.
She watches over him like thatfather when he was looking for
(12:44):
his son that had gone prodigal,that had left him.
Miriam is also waiting to seewhat happens to Moses.
And in a word, she hascompassion.
And compassion simply means wegot to care for those who can't
care for themselves.
Compassion means we got to fightfor those who can't fight for
themselves.
Compassion means we got to liftup those who cannot lift up
(13:07):
themselves.
And ordinary faith hascompassion.
And I need to say that becausewe live in a world that's
quickly moving to a posture ofanti-emphy and anti-compassion.
That is, if you show any care ofconcern for the least, there
must be something wrong withyou.
And I say it like this (13:26):
if compassion is wrong, then Jesus
was wrong.
Because one day he looked at usand realized we couldn't help
ourselves.
And he came to this earth anddied on a cross and he saved
those who couldn't save them.
I'm thankful that God wascompassion for me, show
compassion to me.
(13:48):
And here Miriam has compassionfor her brother.
But then also, too, she doesn'tjust show some emotion of
compassion, she actually putssome action with it.
And here, Miriam, she tries towork the system and move
Pharaoh's daughter to createthis opportunity by which
(14:08):
Jacobed can nurse her own son.
There's a sense that Miriam isresourceful.
She sees the opportunity and shetakes advantage of it for the
benefit of her brother and hermother.
And it's a word that we have tonever underestimate what
theologians call God's divineironies.
(14:31):
In other words, God has a way oftaking what may be our
destruction and using it for ourdevelopment.
God can take what should besomething that kills us, and
he'll turn around and use it tomake it bless us.
And that's exactly what God doeshere.
Here the Jacob puts her child ina basket, sends him to the Nile,
(14:56):
the place of destruction, theplace where little Hebrew boys
were being drowned on a dailybasis.
And yet now God turns it around,delivers Moses out of the Nile,
and then forces Pharaoh tofinance the nursing of the child
that should be dead.
(15:17):
Does anybody know God of doingit?
Matter of fact, I said it likethis.
Moses was sent to the grave inthe Nile, and God delivered him
from it.
And God years later would turnaround and destroy the entire
Pharaoh's army in the same RedCity, which shows his power to
(15:40):
turn things around.
Don't ever underestimate God'spower of divine irony.
Number one, we see hercompassion.
But then number two, whichalways comes with gifted people,
we see that Miriam alsostruggled with conflict.
She struggled with conflict.
And here we jump to Numberschapter 12, in which her great
(16:04):
compassion does not exempt herfrom family conflict.
I need to read the text to us.
It's one of those texts we don'tlike to read, but we need to
deal with it.
Numbers chapter 12, verse 1 and2.
Miriam and Aaron began to talkagainst Moses because of his
Cushite wife.
For he had married a Cushite.
He had married a Cushite.
(16:27):
He had married a Cushite.
He had married an Ethiopianwoman.
Okay, he had married a blackwoman.
And Aaron and Miriam didn't likeit.
But tell your neighbor, thatwasn't a real issue.
(16:48):
That was a mess.
But let me pause right there.
If racism was wrong, then howmany of y'all know racism is
wrong today?
And God did deal with it.
God did deal with it.
He did deal with it.
Racism is wrong no matter whatform it comes into.
But understand, this is justsubterfuge.
This is uh unnecessary stuffthat Aaron and uh Miriam erased.
(17:14):
The issue is in that second partwhere it says, has the Lord
spoken only through Moses?
Hasn't he also spoken throughus?
There's the real issue.
And this is a word about whathappens with gifting.
Gift does not exempt us fromconflict.
(17:36):
Marian raised it.
Aaron raised it.
You ain't the only one Godspeaks through.
Can I say it like Marion saidit?
Matter of fact, I was the onethat wiped your little behind
when you couldn't even take careof yourself.
Who you think was watching overyou when you was in the, and now
you're gonna forget where youcame from, like you think you
(17:58):
better than all of us.
Can't say amen, just say out.
Gift does not exonerate us fromconflict.
Let me say this, because a lotof times a whole lot of us are
very gifted, but we think thatwhatever God calls us to do, and
this can be in anything, notjust ministry or church, it can
(18:20):
be a venture, it can be in work,it can be in some volunteer
capacity.
We think that somehow it must beGod if it's conflict free.
And yet, time and time again,from Genesis to Revelation and
even through human history,God's greatest leaders have
always had some conflict.
(18:42):
The writer here says, and I thewriter here of Proverbs 27, 17
captures the best.
He says, as iron sharpens iron,so also one person sharpens
another.
And that's how it ought to work.
When two gifted individuals cometogether, they ought to sharpen
one another.
But you know what happens moreoften than not?
Instead of sharpening oneanother, we create sparks with
(19:06):
one another.
And and what it what God does ishere's what he's doing: God
allows the conflict to teach usto work with gifted people, to
teach us all to work together.
I gotta read verses three andfour.
I'm still blown away every timeI read this.
So in verse one and two, Miriamand Aaron front Moses on Sunday
(19:29):
morning.
It's a Sunday morning churchservice.
Everybody can see.
And Miriam and Arian come up toMoses probably after he finished
preaching.
Don't try this in Christ'scommunity.
Probably after he preaching andsays to him, Who ordained you?
What makes you think you theonly one God has spoken through?
(19:54):
And I'm just I'm just beingarchy right now.
I I wish I could say it like Iwant to, but I would have said
no to the no, no, you ain'tdoing that up in here.
But look at how Moses responds.
Watch this.
Blows my time now, every time Isee it.
Verse 3.
Now Moses was very humble, avery humble man.
(20:14):
More humble than anyone else onthe face of the earth.
At once the Lord said to Moses,Aaron, and Mary, come out to the
tent of meeting, all three ofyou.
So it's one of those mama daddymeetings.
Come, come to Jesus meeting theyhad.
Let me read again.
I don't think you caught it.
Now, Moses was a very humbleman, more humble than anyone
(20:34):
else on the face of the earth.
And at once the Lord said toMoses, Aaron and Miriam.
Did y'all catch it?
Miriam and Aaron fronted Moseson Sunday morning.
Then the Bible, the narratorsaid, Now Moses was more humble
than any man on the earth.
Then the Lord spoke up.
(20:56):
Did y'all get it?
Do I need to say it one moretime?
Mirian and Aaron fronted Moseson a Sunday morning on YouTube
for everybody to see.
And Moses didn't say a mumblingword.
Watch this.
(21:18):
Humility is not weakness.
Humility is knowing when tospeak up and when to shut up, so
God can speak up on your behalf.
SPEAKER_00 (21:35):
Moses was humble, not in the sense he became a
doorman, but he walked so closeto God, he knew the situation
was bigger than him.
SPEAKER_01 (21:46):
I need to let God handle this thing.
How many of y'all know the Lordhandled this thing?
And he told him, he said, okay,I'm gonna clear this up right
now.
He said, Now I do speak toprophets, I speak in visions.
And I speak in dreams.
But now my servant Moses, Idon't talk to y'all the same way
(22:07):
I talk to him.
SPEAKER_00 (22:08):
I talk to him face to face.
Matter of fact, I don't evenreveal my form to him.
He sees me as I am.
When God speaks up for you, youain't ever gotta fight your own
battle.
SPEAKER_01 (22:25):
Well, Pastor, what are you trying to say?
Here it is.
Your spiritual maturity is moreimportant than your spiritual
gifting.
The problem is we want to growin our gifting while we diminish
(22:47):
in our maturity.
And the reason why God allowssome things to happen in our
lives, He wants us to grow atthe same rate with our gifting
and our maturity.
And God was trying to use thissituation to show Miriam and
(23:08):
Aaron what it means to bespiritually mature.
Pastor, how do you know that?
Because God judged thissituation.
And we may not like it.
But when God speaks, he's notlooking for a committee, he's
not checking the approvalratings, he just does it because
(23:28):
he's God.
And like I tell folk all thetime, if you don't like the way
God did it, then go get go gocreate your own universe, go
create your own earth, and youcan do it any kind of way you
want.
But in the meantime, as long asGod is God, He's gonna do it His
way.
So He judges Miriam, and I knowsome people have an issue with
(23:49):
that.
The reason being in the Hebrew,Miriam is always the one first.
Implication, she's the one thatled the group.
So God always deals with theleader.
But then also, watch this.
When he judged Miriam, who wasthe first one to pray for her?
Moses.
She fronted him publicly, prettymuch demeaned him in front of
(24:14):
the congregation.
God spoke up.
Because for some of us, if Godspoke up on our behalf, we'd
have been like, she got what shedeserves.
You know, I ain't.
Hey.
Everybody knows I'm the manaround here.
Don't even try to.
You know who in charge of thisthing.
That's not what he did.
(24:34):
He prayed for her.
Matter of fact, he said, we'renot gonna move this camp until
she's completely made well.
Because she is also gifted.
Hear me well.
Sometimes the gift ain't aboutyou rising up.
Sometimes the gift is about howGod is shaping me into a true
(24:57):
follower of Christ.
And the conflict doesn't meananyone has done anything wrong.
It doesn't mean anything bad.
But God is in it to shape andmake us.
More importantly, God is in itto teach us how to work
together.
(25:19):
To teach us how to appreciateone another.
How to lift up one and celebrateone and encourage one another.
Teaches us that we all comeunder somebody's authority.
And so I'll give it to you likethis.
And so, uh, y'all know I'm ahuge Laker fan, right?
(25:40):
Laker fan, sorry ladies, I gottause a Laker illustration, amen.
But a huge Lakers fan, and so uhAmazon Prime has a documentary
that they did on the man, JerryWest.
The logo.
He's called the logo becauseit's his image that's the
silhouette for the NDA logo.
And while David Stern wascommissioner of the NDA, they
(26:03):
wouldn't admit that the logo wasJerry West.
It was only after Adam Silverbecame the commissioner that he
came out and admitted, yeah,Jerry West is the logo.
So they did a full documentaryon him.
And while he was the generalmanager for the Los Angeles
Lakers, he was general managerat the time that Shaq and Kobe
(26:25):
were on the team.
And Shaq is in the documentaryand he testifies.
He said, Yeah, me and Kobe, wedidn't get along.
We were really gifted.
I thought I should have been thealpha dog.
He thought he should have beenthe alpha dog.
He said, but from time to time,he said, Jerry West would hear
about all the conflict and howwe weren't talking, and he'd
(26:46):
call us to the office.
And he said, I remember going upto his office, felt like I was
going to the principal's office.
Like he was getting ready tostraighten us out.
And he did.
And he said, I wish I can sharesome of the words he shared, but
then this recording wouldn'tmake it in public if I did that.
He said, But here's what me andKobe learned in those sessions
(27:08):
with Wes.
Because we had so much respectfor someone who was so much
greater than us, we were able tolearn to work with each other.
You see, a lot of times wedidn't like each other.
And many times we still wouldn'thave some sparks.
But when Jerry West called usin, and because he was such a
(27:31):
great legend, because he wassuch large, he was so much
larger than us, we humbledourselves and we learned to work
together.
What am I trying to say?
I'm saying, listen, when itcomes to ministry, when it comes
to our gifting, because the onewho has called us and gifted us
is so much greater than us, itought to cause us to try to work
(27:55):
together.
It ought to cause us to be alittle bit gracious with one
another because of the one whohas set the example before us.
She had to learn to work throughsome conflict.
Let me give you the last one.
But then finally, she was also aperson who can inspire
confidence.
Because Shay, she was a worshipleader.
(28:16):
And we find that in Exoduschapter 15, verses 19 through
21.
After God brought Israel throughthe Red Sea and drowned
Pharaoh's army, the Bible saidthey had a worship service.
And I mean they had a testimonytime.
And they testified to how Godhad brought them through and
(28:36):
defeated Pharaoh's army anddrowned them in the Red Sea.
And Miriam was at the head thatwas leading the praise.
Look what it says in verse 19,Exodus 15.
When Pharaoh's horses andchariots and horsemen went into
the sea, the Lord brought thewaters of the sea back over
them.
But the Israelites walkedthrough the sea on dry ground.
(28:59):
Then Miriam, the prophet Aaron'ssister, took a timbrel in her
hand, and all the women followedher with timbrels and dancing.
SPEAKER_00 (29:07):
And Miriam sang the song, Sing to the Lord, for he
is highly exalted, both horseand driver, he has hurled in the
sea.
SPEAKER_01 (29:17):
In other words, Miriam understood that listen,
you can have faith, but you needsome inspiration for your faith.
That when you have anopportunity, when you know what
God has done, that's the momentfor testimony, y'all.
SPEAKER_00 (29:30):
That's the time to truly worship God.
It's one thing to talk aboutwhat he's done in the past.
But when you know God didsomething in your present, does
anybody know that's when yougotta stop and say, wait a
minute?
I came to the house of the Lordto give thanks.
If it had not been for the Lordon my side, where would I be?
(29:51):
Is there anybody in here thatcan testify you weren't at the
Red Sea?
But you big in your own Red Sea,isn't you?
And God brought you to Mm-hmm.
But God bless you and ha.
Fabi was at the Red Sea, but Godbrought you to Mimha.
(30:12):
It's a little bummer here to getthe test of.
And because he's gonna memory, Icome to bless his memory.
I'll come to see his brazen.
I'll give him love.
He is good.
(30:33):
His mercy and good for all time.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01 (30:45):
Miriam was a leader in worship, led the people to
build their faith with atestimony for what God did on
their behalf.
Let me close with this.
And this is for all of us.
One commentator said it so well.
The whole story rests on thisone issue.
(31:08):
For every parent with family andkids, you understand this.
My wife's family, they they takeChristmas very, very seriously.
Her and her two sisters, and Ican see it with growing up as
kids.
Also in my family and many otherfamilies take Christmas very
seriously, particularly thebigger families.
(31:28):
Two, three, four children in thefamily.
And what happens in thosefamilies is that those parents,
when Christmas comes, they spendpart of Christmas, maybe even a
year, buying their kids gifts.
And when Christmas comes, theydistribute the gifts.
(31:48):
Now, when they distribute thegifts, they don't give each
child the exact same gift.
Rarely is that the case.
Maybe sometimes, depending onthe gift.
But for the most part, theydon't give gifts that are
exactly the same.
No, they give gifts based onwhat they know that child would
love.
They give gifts based on whatthey know that child needs.
(32:12):
They give gifts because theyuniquely understand the gift.
And nine times out of ten, atleast it used to be that way.
I don't know how it is now.
Nine times out of ten, most kidsare content with what they get
from their parents.
Because they just appreciatethat their mama and their
(32:32):
daddies gave them something atChristmas.
Well, you know, that's the samething when it comes to gifting
in God's kingdom.
Our God knows us better than weknow ourselves.
Don't trip because he doesn'tgive you the same gift as he
gives me.
But oh, he gives all of hischildren gifts.
(32:54):
And the fact that he gives usgifts, we ought to give thanks,
y'all.
That he loves us enough and weought to appreciate him for the
gift that he's given.
Tell two people she got gift to.
Tell somebody else he got giftto.
(33:16):
All of God's children got gift.
Give the Lord a hand clap ofpraise.
Here we go.
Let's prepare our hearts for theLord's.
Get some support from home.
Am I right about it?
Amen.
Let's do our vision statement.
If we can do that very quickly,let's put that up on the screen
looking good.
Look at that.
Those are some good pictures.
Amen.
Amen.
I know it was Alpha Phi Alpha.
We're gonna pray for you on thatone.
Amen.
I couldn't let it go.
I couldn't let it go.
(00:21):
Amen.
Come on, let's read.
We exist to help people becomefollowers of Jesus who
experience life change incommunity and make a difference.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Want to be clear on that, andour mission statement and the
(00:41):
series we're preaching is reallyaimed toward that ordinary faith
for an extraordinary God.
And I raise that because, again,I think a lot of times as
Christians, we've been trainedto think that only the super
gifted, only the super educated,only the supernaturally endowed
(01:02):
individuals are the ones thatGod uses.
And prayerfully, we hope to showin this series that God is
looking for availability.
And if we're available, doesanybody know God has a way of
blessing you and enriching yourlife?
And I think all of us want that.
And so I want to invite ourattention to our meditation text
(01:25):
for this morning.
And it's found in Micah chapter6, verse 4.
And uh if we can read thattogether, let's read.
I brought you up out of Egypt.
And I sent Moses to lead you,also Aaron and Marion.
(01:49):
Amen.
Say Miriam.
Amen.
The main text comes from Exoduschapter 2, verses 1 through 10.
And here's how it reads thestory of birth and preservation
of Moses that would be Israel'sdeliverer.
(02:09):
Now, a man of the tribe of Levimarried a Levite woman, and she
became pregnant and gave birthto a son.
And when she saw that he was afine child or a good child, she
hid him for three months.
When she could hide him nolonger, she got a papyrus basket
(02:30):
for him and coated it with tarand pitch.
Then she placed the child in itand put it among the reeds along
the bank of the Nile.
His sister, say Miriam, stood ata distance to see what would
happen to him.
Then Pharaoh's daughter wentdown to the Nile to bathe.
(02:50):
And her attendants were walkingalong the riverbank.
She saw the basket among thereeds and sent her female slave
to get it.
She opened it and saw the baby.
He was crying.
And she felt sorry or compassionfor him.
This is one of the Hebrewbabies, she said.
Then his sister, say Miriam,asked Pharaoh's daughter, Shall
(03:15):
I go and get a Hebrew woman tonurse the baby for you?
Yes, go, she answered.
So the girl, say Miriam, wentand got the baby's mother,
Pharaoh's daughter, said to her,Take this baby, nurse him for
me, and I will pay you.
(03:36):
Won't he do it?
So the woman took the baby andnursed him.
And when the child grew older,she took him to Pharaoh's
daughter, and she became herson.
And she named him Moses, saying,I drew him out of the water.
(03:56):
I want to talk about she gotgift too.
She got gift too.
Amen.
During my final year in ministryin seminary, I was required to
take a preaching class.
I did so well that I wasselected to preach in the
(04:17):
school's chapel for that year.
But you need to understand thatfor a student to preach in
chapel, they first had to havemajored in pastoring.
Secondly, they have had to havebeen graded as one of the best
preachers in the entiregraduating class.
I majored in Christianeducation, which immediately
(04:39):
disqualified me from preachingin chapel.
But how many of y'all know thatain't never stopped God on
anything?
So through a series of events, Iwas selected a first in the
school's history to preach inchapel as a non-castorial major.
Now, at the time, I wasconsidered one of the best
preachers in the school, andsadly, I'm confessing, I thought
(05:03):
I was.
But how many of y'all know Godwill correct your attitude, too?
I'm just testifying today.
And in one of my final classes,a wonderful sister in the faith
preached her first sermon everin that class.
And when she finished, all of uswere ready to turn in our
(05:26):
preaching license.
She did a mic drop from heaven.
And in those, and in thatmoment, God was teaching me two
things.
The first is ministry is notabout competition, but rather
how we complement each otherwith our gifts for the greater
advancement of the kingdom.
(05:51):
It's not about who's the best,but it's about how we all gather
together to give our best tomake God look his best.
Secondly, I also learned that mysisters got gift too.
And I need to say that becausesadly, we must admit there's
still some tension.
(06:12):
I'm not picking on Christ'scommunity, but I'm talking about
Christianity as a whole.
There's still tension betweenmen and women.
As if one is better than theother.
As if one is more gifted thanthe other.
And it needs to be said that Goddoes not love men more than
women, nor does he love womenmore than men.
(06:35):
God does not elevate a womanover the man because she has
some special gift or skill thathe didn't give the man, nor does
he elevate a man over a womanbecause of her gender.
Men have gifts.
Men have gifts because God lovesthem.
But please hear me well.
(06:56):
She got gift too.
Matter of fact, if I can giveyou my thesis statement, it's
really for all of us.
Ordinary faith embraces the giftthat God has given us for his
glory.
In other words, I don't need tobe worried about what God is
doing in somebody else's life.
I need to be worried about whatGod is doing in my life.
I need to learn to trust Godwith the gift he's given me.
(07:19):
And Lord, empower me with the tothe best of my ability to work
out what you've invested in me.
And that's what I love aboutthis text this morning, our
meditation text, especially,that we don't get to tell God
how he ought to distribute hisgifts.
Aren't you glad about that?
(07:40):
Aren't you glad God didn't putsalvation in the hands of your
enemies?
God didn't put gifting as wellin the hands of individuals, but
God decides who receives a gift.
And Micah 6.4 indicates thatalong with Aaron, along with
Moses, God also gifted Miriam asa leader of God's spirit.
(08:03):
During a time when women'ssphere of influence was confined
almost exclusively to the familyor domestic affairs.
Here Miriam served the purposesof God.
She was a confidant of Moses,the great liberator of Israel.
She was one of the few women inthe Old Testament who we come to
(08:25):
know simply by the gifts thatGod had given her.
She is known not as a wife, andthat's not a bad thing.
She is known not as a mother,but that's not a and that's not
a bad thing.
She is known as a leader for theliberation of her people.
She got gift too.
I just want to make a fewobservations to help us all,
(08:47):
especially our sisters, to haveordinary faith that we might do
something extraordinary for ourextraordinary God.
In our text in Exodus 2, this isthe first time Miriam showed up
in the biblical storyline.
And we must remember thatMiriam's story must be situated
in the broader story of howMoses tells this story about
(09:10):
Israel's deliverance.
We may remember from last Sundaywe talked about that meditation
text where Paul says that Godcan take the least likely and do
great things for his purposes.
Well, that's what he does inExodus 1 and 2.
He takes the least likelycandidates to bring about
deliverance for his people.
(09:32):
He chooses the midwives, two bythe name, Shiprah and Pu'ah, who
circumvent the monstrous decreesof Pharaoh to kill every male
child that is born in Israel.
And he uses them as a staple fordeliverance.
He uses Moses' mother, Jacobed,who, after taking one look at
(09:55):
her son and said, This child isvery good.
Matter of fact, if you were tocompare the Hebrew phrasing to
what God said of creation, youdiscover they're almost the
same.
When God stepped back and lookedat his creation, he said, Boy, I
sure did good.
That's what came out of themouth of Jacobed, that this is
God's creation.
(10:15):
I wish I can pause right herebecause it's a word about how
God is not just concerned aboutlife in the womb, but God is
also concerned about lifeoutside the womb.
SPEAKER_00 (10:27):
I'll be the first one to say I'm pro-life in the
womb.
But you better hear me wail, myGod is also pro-life for life
outside the womb.
SPEAKER_01 (10:37):
And here Jacobed said, No, my God cares for life
that is outside and livingtoday.
And so the child looks so goodto her, she takes the child and
puts him in a wicker basket andputs him in the Nile and floats
him down the Nile.
(10:58):
And God supernaturally protectshim from the elements of the
Nile, crocodiles and all kindsof elements in the Nile that
should have taken his life.
And maybe that's a word for someparent today, that when you keep
on praying for your child, Godhas a way of protecting your
child while others may strugglein the same thing.
(11:20):
Maybe that's a word to somemother, maybe that's a word to
some father.
Keep on praying for your child.
SPEAKER_00 (11:25):
Keep on trusting God for your child.
Carry that Jacobed spirit thatwhen you look at that child, you
knew your child, that God hadsomething special for your
child.
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
And that what he did for Moses, God would do the same
for you.
And so here, God reminds us inthis text, uh, Miriam, who is a
part of the great hall of heroesthat were a part of the
liberation of Israel here at thebeginning of their story.
And like her colleagues, shealso serves God's purpose in
(11:58):
that effort.
And so, what I want to do isjust share a few observations of
ordinary faith from this greatexample in Miriam, this
wonderful follower of the Lord.
Number one, the first thing wenotice is that Miriam was a
woman of compassion.
She had compassion.
And the word Miriam cared,because verse 4 says in chapter
(12:20):
2 that this sister stood at adistance to see what would
happen to Moses.
That is, as her oldest, as theolder sister, who never have
children.
The text never records anythingabout Miriam having children.
And yet she has a motheringspirit and she cares for Moses.
She watches over him like thatfather when he was looking for
(12:44):
his son that had gone prodigal,that had left him.
Miriam is also waiting to seewhat happens to Moses.
And in a word, she hascompassion.
And compassion simply means wegot to care for those who can't
care for themselves.
Compassion means we got to fightfor those who can't fight for
themselves.
Compassion means we got to liftup those who cannot lift up
(13:07):
themselves.
And ordinary faith hascompassion.
And I need to say that becausewe live in a world that's
quickly moving to a posture ofanti-emphy and anti-compassion.
That is, if you show any care ofconcern for the least, there
must be something wrong withyou.
And I say it like this (13:26):
if compassion is wrong, then Jesus
was wrong.
Because one day he looked at usand realized we couldn't help
ourselves.
And he came to this earth anddied on a cross and he saved
those who couldn't save them.
I'm thankful that God wascompassion for me, show
compassion to me.
(13:48):
And here Miriam has compassionfor her brother.
But then also, too, she doesn'tjust show some emotion of
compassion, she actually putssome action with it.
And here, Miriam, she tries towork the system and move
Pharaoh's daughter to createthis opportunity by which
(14:08):
Jacobed can nurse her own son.
There's a sense that Miriam isresourceful.
She sees the opportunity and shetakes advantage of it for the
benefit of her brother and hermother.
And it's a word that we have tonever underestimate what
theologians call God's divineironies.
(14:31):
In other words, God has a way oftaking what may be our
destruction and using it for ourdevelopment.
God can take what should besomething that kills us, and
he'll turn around and use it tomake it bless us.
And that's exactly what God doeshere.
Here the Jacob puts her child ina basket, sends him to the Nile,
(14:56):
the place of destruction, theplace where little Hebrew boys
were being drowned on a dailybasis.
And yet now God turns it around,delivers Moses out of the Nile,
and then forces Pharaoh tofinance the nursing of the child
that should be dead.
(15:17):
Does anybody know God of doingit?
Matter of fact, I said it likethis.
Moses was sent to the grave inthe Nile, and God delivered him
from it.
And God years later would turnaround and destroy the entire
Pharaoh's army in the same RedCity, which shows his power to
(15:40):
turn things around.
Don't ever underestimate God'spower of divine irony.
Number one, we see hercompassion.
But then number two, whichalways comes with gifted people,
we see that Miriam alsostruggled with conflict.
She struggled with conflict.
And here we jump to Numberschapter 12, in which her great
(16:04):
compassion does not exempt herfrom family conflict.
I need to read the text to us.
It's one of those texts we don'tlike to read, but we need to
deal with it.
Numbers chapter 12, verse 1 and2.
Miriam and Aaron began to talkagainst Moses because of his
Cushite wife.
For he had married a Cushite.
He had married a Cushite.
(16:27):
He had married a Cushite.
He had married an Ethiopianwoman.
Okay, he had married a blackwoman.
And Aaron and Miriam didn't likeit.
But tell your neighbor, thatwasn't a real issue.
(16:48):
That was a mess.
But let me pause right there.
If racism was wrong, then howmany of y'all know racism is
wrong today?
And God did deal with it.
God did deal with it.
He did deal with it.
Racism is wrong no matter whatform it comes into.
But understand, this is justsubterfuge.
This is uh unnecessary stuffthat Aaron and uh Miriam erased.
(17:14):
The issue is in that second partwhere it says, has the Lord
spoken only through Moses?
Hasn't he also spoken throughus?
There's the real issue.
And this is a word about whathappens with gifting.
Gift does not exempt us fromconflict.
(17:36):
Marian raised it.
Aaron raised it.
You ain't the only one Godspeaks through.
Can I say it like Marion saidit?
Matter of fact, I was the onethat wiped your little behind
when you couldn't even take careof yourself.
Who you think was watching overyou when you was in the, and now
you're gonna forget where youcame from, like you think you
(17:58):
better than all of us.
Can't say amen, just say out.
Gift does not exonerate us fromconflict.
Let me say this, because a lotof times a whole lot of us are
very gifted, but we think thatwhatever God calls us to do, and
this can be in anything, notjust ministry or church, it can
(18:20):
be a venture, it can be in work,it can be in some volunteer
capacity.
We think that somehow it must beGod if it's conflict free.
And yet, time and time again,from Genesis to Revelation and
even through human history,God's greatest leaders have
always had some conflict.
(18:42):
The writer here says, and I thewriter here of Proverbs 27, 17
captures the best.
He says, as iron sharpens iron,so also one person sharpens
another.
And that's how it ought to work.
When two gifted individuals cometogether, they ought to sharpen
one another.
But you know what happens moreoften than not?
Instead of sharpening oneanother, we create sparks with
(19:06):
one another.
And and what it what God does ishere's what he's doing: God
allows the conflict to teach usto work with gifted people, to
teach us all to work together.
I gotta read verses three andfour.
I'm still blown away every timeI read this.
So in verse one and two, Miriamand Aaron front Moses on Sunday
(19:29):
morning.
It's a Sunday morning churchservice.
Everybody can see.
And Miriam and Arian come up toMoses probably after he finished
preaching.
Don't try this in Christ'scommunity.
Probably after he preaching andsays to him, Who ordained you?
What makes you think you theonly one God has spoken through?
(19:54):
And I'm just I'm just beingarchy right now.
I I wish I could say it like Iwant to, but I would have said
no to the no, no, you ain'tdoing that up in here.
But look at how Moses responds.
Watch this.
Blows my time now, every time Isee it.
Verse 3.
Now Moses was very humble, avery humble man.
(20:14):
More humble than anyone else onthe face of the earth.
At once the Lord said to Moses,Aaron, and Mary, come out to the
tent of meeting, all three ofyou.
So it's one of those mama daddymeetings.
Come, come to Jesus meeting theyhad.
Let me read again.
I don't think you caught it.
Now, Moses was a very humbleman, more humble than anyone
(20:34):
else on the face of the earth.
And at once the Lord said toMoses, Aaron and Miriam.
Did y'all catch it?
Miriam and Aaron fronted Moseson Sunday morning.
Then the Bible, the narratorsaid, Now Moses was more humble
than any man on the earth.
Then the Lord spoke up.
(20:56):
Did y'all get it?
Do I need to say it one moretime?
Mirian and Aaron fronted Moseson a Sunday morning on YouTube
for everybody to see.
And Moses didn't say a mumblingword.
Watch this.
(21:18):
Humility is not weakness.
Humility is knowing when tospeak up and when to shut up, so
God can speak up on your behalf.
SPEAKER_00 (21:35):
Moses was humble, not in the sense he became a
doorman, but he walked so closeto God, he knew the situation
was bigger than him.
SPEAKER_01 (21:46):
I need to let God handle this thing.
How many of y'all know the Lordhandled this thing?
And he told him, he said, okay,I'm gonna clear this up right
now.
He said, Now I do speak toprophets, I speak in visions.
And I speak in dreams.
But now my servant Moses, Idon't talk to y'all the same way
(22:07):
I talk to him.
SPEAKER_00 (22:08):
I talk to him face to face.
Matter of fact, I don't evenreveal my form to him.
He sees me as I am.
When God speaks up for you, youain't ever gotta fight your own
battle.
SPEAKER_01 (22:25):
Well, Pastor, what are you trying to say?
Here it is.
Your spiritual maturity is moreimportant than your spiritual
gifting.
The problem is we want to growin our gifting while we diminish
(22:47):
in our maturity.
And the reason why God allowssome things to happen in our
lives, He wants us to grow atthe same rate with our gifting
and our maturity.
And God was trying to use thissituation to show Miriam and
(23:08):
Aaron what it means to bespiritually mature.
Pastor, how do you know that?
Because God judged thissituation.
And we may not like it.
But when God speaks, he's notlooking for a committee, he's
not checking the approvalratings, he just does it because
(23:28):
he's God.
And like I tell folk all thetime, if you don't like the way
God did it, then go get go gocreate your own universe, go
create your own earth, and youcan do it any kind of way you
want.
But in the meantime, as long asGod is God, He's gonna do it His
way.
So He judges Miriam, and I knowsome people have an issue with
(23:49):
that.
The reason being in the Hebrew,Miriam is always the one first.
Implication, she's the one thatled the group.
So God always deals with theleader.
But then also, watch this.
When he judged Miriam, who wasthe first one to pray for her?
Moses.
She fronted him publicly, prettymuch demeaned him in front of
(24:14):
the congregation.
God spoke up.
Because for some of us, if Godspoke up on our behalf, we'd
have been like, she got what shedeserves.
You know, I ain't.
Hey.
Everybody knows I'm the manaround here.
Don't even try to.
You know who in charge of thisthing.
That's not what he did.
(24:34):
He prayed for her.
Matter of fact, he said, we'renot gonna move this camp until
she's completely made well.
Because she is also gifted.
Hear me well.
Sometimes the gift ain't aboutyou rising up.
Sometimes the gift is about howGod is shaping me into a true
(24:57):
follower of Christ.
And the conflict doesn't meananyone has done anything wrong.
It doesn't mean anything bad.
But God is in it to shape andmake us.
More importantly, God is in itto teach us how to work
together.
(25:19):
To teach us how to appreciateone another.
How to lift up one and celebrateone and encourage one another.
Teaches us that we all comeunder somebody's authority.
And so I'll give it to you likethis.
And so, uh, y'all know I'm ahuge Laker fan, right?
(25:40):
Laker fan, sorry ladies, I gottause a Laker illustration, amen.
But a huge Lakers fan, and so uhAmazon Prime has a documentary
that they did on the man, JerryWest.
The logo.
He's called the logo becauseit's his image that's the
silhouette for the NDA logo.
And while David Stern wascommissioner of the NDA, they
(26:03):
wouldn't admit that the logo wasJerry West.
It was only after Adam Silverbecame the commissioner that he
came out and admitted, yeah,Jerry West is the logo.
So they did a full documentaryon him.
And while he was the generalmanager for the Los Angeles
Lakers, he was general managerat the time that Shaq and Kobe
(26:25):
were on the team.
And Shaq is in the documentaryand he testifies.
He said, Yeah, me and Kobe, wedidn't get along.
We were really gifted.
I thought I should have been thealpha dog.
He thought he should have beenthe alpha dog.
He said, but from time to time,he said, Jerry West would hear
about all the conflict and howwe weren't talking, and he'd
(26:46):
call us to the office.
And he said, I remember going upto his office, felt like I was
going to the principal's office.
Like he was getting ready tostraighten us out.
And he did.
And he said, I wish I can sharesome of the words he shared, but
then this recording wouldn'tmake it in public if I did that.
He said, But here's what me andKobe learned in those sessions
(27:08):
with Wes.
Because we had so much respectfor someone who was so much
greater than us, we were able tolearn to work with each other.
You see, a lot of times wedidn't like each other.
And many times we still wouldn'thave some sparks.
But when Jerry West called usin, and because he was such a
(27:31):
great legend, because he wassuch large, he was so much
larger than us, we humbledourselves and we learned to work
together.
What am I trying to say?
I'm saying, listen, when itcomes to ministry, when it comes
to our gifting, because the onewho has called us and gifted us
is so much greater than us, itought to cause us to try to work
(27:55):
together.
It ought to cause us to be alittle bit gracious with one
another because of the one whohas set the example before us.
She had to learn to work throughsome conflict.
Let me give you the last one.
But then finally, she was also aperson who can inspire
confidence.
Because Shay, she was a worshipleader.
(28:16):
And we find that in Exoduschapter 15, verses 19 through
21.
After God brought Israel throughthe Red Sea and drowned
Pharaoh's army, the Bible saidthey had a worship service.
And I mean they had a testimonytime.
And they testified to how Godhad brought them through and
(28:36):
defeated Pharaoh's army anddrowned them in the Red Sea.
And Miriam was at the head thatwas leading the praise.
Look what it says in verse 19,Exodus 15.
When Pharaoh's horses andchariots and horsemen went into
the sea, the Lord brought thewaters of the sea back over
them.
But the Israelites walkedthrough the sea on dry ground.
(28:59):
Then Miriam, the prophet Aaron'ssister, took a timbrel in her
hand, and all the women followedher with timbrels and dancing.
SPEAKER_00 (29:07):
And Miriam sang the song, Sing to the Lord, for he
is highly exalted, both horseand driver, he has hurled in the
sea.
SPEAKER_01 (29:17):
In other words, Miriam understood that listen,
you can have faith, but you needsome inspiration for your faith.
That when you have anopportunity, when you know what
God has done, that's the momentfor testimony, y'all.
SPEAKER_00 (29:30):
That's the time to truly worship God.
It's one thing to talk aboutwhat he's done in the past.
But when you know God didsomething in your present, does
anybody know that's when yougotta stop and say, wait a
minute?
I came to the house of the Lordto give thanks.
If it had not been for the Lordon my side, where would I be?
(29:51):
Is there anybody in here thatcan testify you weren't at the
Red Sea?
But you big in your own Red Sea,isn't you?
And God brought you to Mm-hmm.
But God bless you and ha.
Fabi was at the Red Sea, but Godbrought you to Mimha.
(30:12):
It's a little bummer here to getthe test of.
And because he's gonna memory, Icome to bless his memory.
I'll come to see his brazen.
I'll give him love.
He is good.
(30:33):
His mercy and good for all time.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01 (30:45):
Miriam was a leader in worship, led the people to
build their faith with atestimony for what God did on
their behalf.
Let me close with this.
And this is for all of us.
One commentator said it so well.
The whole story rests on thisone issue.
(31:08):
For every parent with family andkids, you understand this.
My wife's family, they they takeChristmas very, very seriously.
Her and her two sisters, and Ican see it with growing up as
kids.
Also in my family and many otherfamilies take Christmas very
seriously, particularly thebigger families.
(31:28):
Two, three, four children in thefamily.
And what happens in thosefamilies is that those parents,
when Christmas comes, they spendpart of Christmas, maybe even a
year, buying their kids gifts.
And when Christmas comes, theydistribute the gifts.
(31:48):
Now, when they distribute thegifts, they don't give each
child the exact same gift.
Rarely is that the case.
Maybe sometimes, depending onthe gift.
But for the most part, theydon't give gifts that are
exactly the same.
No, they give gifts based onwhat they know that child would
love.
They give gifts based on whatthey know that child needs.
(32:12):
They give gifts because theyuniquely understand the gift.
And nine times out of ten, atleast it used to be that way.
I don't know how it is now.
Nine times out of ten, most kidsare content with what they get
from their parents.
Because they just appreciatethat their mama and their
(32:32):
daddies gave them something atChristmas.
Well, you know, that's the samething when it comes to gifting
in God's kingdom.
Our God knows us better than weknow ourselves.
Don't trip because he doesn'tgive you the same gift as he
gives me.
But oh, he gives all of hischildren gifts.
(32:54):
And the fact that he gives usgifts, we ought to give thanks,
y'all.
That he loves us enough and weought to appreciate him for the
gift that he's given.
Tell two people she got gift to.
Tell somebody else he got giftto.
(33:16):
All of God's children got gift.
Give the Lord a hand clap ofpraise.
Here we go.
Let's prepare our hearts for theLord's.
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