Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
God said to Moses there with the burning bush, I
want you to go to Pharaoh and tell him to
let my people go.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Now you can imagine what he must have felt.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Me, Shepherd, go to Pharaoh's court, tell him that you said,
let my people go. Then think about organizing two and
a half million people. Imagine what he must have thought of,
what must have gone through his mind when God said
to him, Moses, I have chosen you.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Do you know God's plan for your life? If so,
are you resisting his efforts to prepare you? Welcome to
in touch the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley. Today
we'll look at the life of Moses to see how
God trains us for service. Listen carefully as a familiar
Bible story offers insight into the purpose for brokenness. Let's
(00:58):
listen in to doctor Stanley.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
The two primary reasons, two primary purposes for which God
breaks us. The first purpose is spiritual maturity.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
So I want you to jot that down.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
In fact, I'm going to give you a number of
things to jot down the two primary purposes. So there
are two primary points to this message, one of them
spiritual maturity. God breaks us in order to mature us
and to make us christ light. There's the second reason
that God has in mind, a second purpose for brokenness.
First of all, we said, spiritual maturity bringing us to
(01:38):
the end of ourselves. So it is us and God alone,
our dependence upon Him, his life flowing through us, that
intimate loving relationship of other dependence upon Him. And the
second purpose for that brokenness is remember first, spiritual maturity.
Secondly supernatural ministry. He said, well, that leaves me out because.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I'm a homemaker.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Let me ask you something, Mom, Can you tell me
any more responsibility in all of life that is more
demanding than raising a godly family. You think of the
wisdom and the faith, and the patience and the love.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
You can think of all.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
The attributes that are so absolutely necessary for a mother
to raise godly children. Think of all the sacrifice and
all the time it takes, and all the skill and
the wisdom and the knowledge and the understanding that a
woman must have to raise godly children. Don't ever belittle
your responsibility is a mother. Don't ever belittle and say, well,
(02:37):
I don't have a ministry. Suppose moses mother said I
don't have a ministry. Moses' mother had a great ministry
bringing her son into the world, saving him, and then
in the feutttle compact years she had, she ingrained within
him something he never lost. Now, if I should ask you,
(03:03):
how many of you know the name of Moses' mother,
you could look in the Bible and find out, but.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
You know Moses's name.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
But Moses' mother had a godly ministry.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
She raised her son.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
And you see, the truth is that all of us
are to have a ministry. That doesn't mean behind the
pulpit we have different roles. It doesn't mean one is
more important than the other in God's eyes. In your life,
but what God wants is this. He wants your maturity
to be such that whatever His purpose is in your life,
he would be able to accomplish.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
That and achieve that.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That He chose Moses for the purpose of liberating this
family of people that now has grown to almost three million. Now,
I want you to see the ministry to which he
called him and how God has worked this purpose in
his life. First of all, it was absolutely spectacular in
(03:59):
its objective.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Now think about this for a moment.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
God said to Moses, there with the burning bush, I
want you to go to Pharaoh and tell him to
let my people go. Now you can imagine what he
must have felt. Me, shepherd, go to Pharaoh's court, tell
him that I said, or you said, and he won't
even know who you are. Tell him that you said,
(04:25):
let my people go. Then think about organizing two and
a half million Hebrews. Imagine getting them together. Imagine what
he must have thought. What must have gone through his
mind when God said to him, Moses, I had chosen
you after forty years on the backside of the desert.
(04:48):
Now Moses fled up before God, before the burning bush.
Take off the shoes on your feet. The ground upon
which you stand is holy ground. I've got a job
for you, He said, the same thing. You and I
would have said, you got the wrong fellow.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
There's no way.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
He told them he couldn't speak in public. He said,
I can't do it. Send somebody else. He tell them
all of these things, and remember what he asked him
to do. Bring the nation of Israel, or bring the
family of Hebrews out of Egyptian bondage, across the Red
Sea down to sign the Eid, to be de Egyptianized,
to receive the law. Teach them the law, then carry
them up to the Promised Land into the Promised Land
(05:26):
having learned the law, so that they would be a
peculiar people, different from everyone else. God intended to separate
the Hebrews from all the pagan, heathen, idolatrous people around them,
so that the way they dressed, their customs, their sacrifices,
everything made them absolutely a totally different people. He said,
(05:47):
you not to marry them, You not to fellowship with them.
You're not to fight with them, you're not to worship
with them.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Nothing.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
You to be absolutely separated from all the other peoples
of the world.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
So God gave them their own economy.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
God gave them their their own lifestyle, their own way
of living.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
That would totally separate them. That's why he said to them,
under no condition are you to.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Marry with a heathen. You are not to worship their gods.
He gave in the Ten Commandments and all the other
laws in order to keep them a separated, peculiar people.
A spectacular objective he gave to Moses. He says, this
is the responsibility you have. Secondly, it was strategic in
(06:28):
its purpose for God. God's purpose was that through this nation,
all the other nations of the earth would learn the
identity of the One True God, who is Jehovah, Yahweh,
Adam and I all the other names the Old Testament
gives us for God. Now, what a tremendous task. And
(06:48):
through this family and through this nation would come the Messiah.
What a tremendous goal God had set for these people.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
This task that God.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Had given to him was supernatural in its method.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Now, I want you to think about this for a moment.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
How in the world would God ever pull this off?
Moses could never have done it. The only way he
could possibly have fulfilled the ministry God calling to was
first of all, to absolutely strip him of all self confidence,
all goals, all ideas, all plans, all strategy, and leave
him with nothing.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Took him forty years to do it.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
So, now, when God comes to Moses, what does he
tell him? He says, I want you to go to
Pharaoh and tell him let my people go. He says, well, now,
when I tell the Hebrews who sent me, what shall
I say?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
You tell him? I am hath sent you.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I am in the past, I am in the present,
I am in the future. I am serving the past,
I am serving the present. I am sarvrom the future.
I'm all power from the past. I'm all power from
the president. I'm all power from the future. The Great
I Am has sent you.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Now.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
He told him what to do, But there's some things
God didn't tell him. So I want to tell you,
my friend, when God calls you to a task, he's
not going to give you the full story. Can you
imagine what Moses must have thought if God had said
to him of the burning Bush, Moses, I want you
to go to Pharaoh and tell him let my people go.
(08:21):
I'm going to send ten plagues. I'm going to open
the red sea. I'm going to cover you with a
cloud by day and fire by night. But God gave
him just enough. He said, Moses, all you need to
know is that you to go, and the only thing
you need to remember is I will.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Be with thee.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Why did God strip Moses and break him because he
wanted Moses to go to see Pharaoh with only one thing,
a shepherd's staff in his hand, which was a symbol
of the presence of God. That's only had he said,
I will go with thee.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
What did God do?
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Not only did he free those Hebrews, the Bible says
God sent them plegues, plague after plague after plague, ten plagues.
He sent them until finally even the Pharaoh was broken
and let them go. Then when they got, of course,
to the Red Sea. You remember what happened there. Supernatural
(09:26):
the way God did it. He gave them a cloud
by day to keep the heat of the desert sun
off of them, to keep them cool at night. The
desert is cold, and so he let there be a
fire in the heavens, a cloud of fire to keep
them warm at night.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Their shoes didn't even wear.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Out, and God rained down food from heaven, and water
was there when they needed it. Every single thing they needed.
I want you to remember, Moses didn't provide any of it.
Moses didn't open the Red Sea. Moses didn't con vince Pharaoh.
The only thing Moses did was to follow the commands
of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
His God.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
God assumed full responsibility for all the consequences and all
the needs of two and a half millions of people
through the leadership of one obedient servant who had been
stripped of all self confidence, all self reliance, so that
all he had was God supernatural in its method. But
(10:30):
I want you to notice something else about it. Sacrificial
in its demands. You think about the toll this took
on Moses. Moses had the responsibility of organizing this crowd,
and you can imagine the kind of attitudes that cropped up.
Sacrificial in its demand. Moses, you are to leave these people.
(10:53):
You're to obey me.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
No matter what, no matter how often they persecute you.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
And you remember what happens so many time they want
to rebel against him. He came down from getting the
Ten commandments, and what had they done? And they just
come from the Red Sea? Got it open the Red
sea for them? They had seen the miracle. They were
a part of the miracle. This is something they read about.
They walk through the sea. Now what they've built themselves
(11:18):
a golden calf, and they're worshiping a golden calf. You
talking about sacrifice and demands, But likewise it was storming
its progress.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
You think about.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
All the heartaches and the burdens and the strife. You
think about two and a half million Hebrews out there
wandering in the desert and following a man they've never seen,
or they tell me his name is Moses. Have you
ever seen him. No, but he's up the head of
the crowd. Well what did he say? I don't know
what he said, but somebody told me that somebody told
them that someone else told them that he said, we
(11:53):
were going to the Promised Land. Well I heard their
enemies out there. Well, somebody told me that somebody else
said that. There can you imagine and a half million
people marching through the desert and the only thing they
had to depend upon was one God they've never even seen.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That's all they had.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
And besides that, every once in a while they wanted
to go back, take us back to Egypt with the
leaks and the onions and the cucumbers that don't mention slavery.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Isn't it amazing how when.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
God begins the breakers, God begins the working our lives.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
We want to run back.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
To where it's ease and comfort and pleasure.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
But you can't do that.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
You see, God has set a purpose in your life.
And I'm want to tell you something, my friend. You
can weasel out of it the best you can and
determine your heart. You are not going to be broken.
And you, with your determination, you are going to get
it done. And one of two things is gonna happen.
You're either gonna give up and surrender. God's going to
put you on the shelf. Now you know, you can
take a beautiful vase, it's worth a thousand dollars or more,
(12:56):
beautifully colored and set on some very prominent place in
your living room, you walk by and Sitdn't that pretty?
You can take an old five dollars gallon bucket pail
and I don't care enough water to refresh a whole
lot of people who are thirsty. There's some folks who
rather be pretty and just looked at. God wants buckets,
(13:19):
old buckets full of God, empty of self, not beautiful vases,
something to look at. But in order for that to happen,
you got to get broken, got to be willing to
get dirty, got to be willing to work, got to
be on the sacrifice, got to be willing to go
(13:40):
through some stormy times, got to be willing to suffer.
And most folks don't want any pain. We want maturity
without suffering and pain. We want to be able to
succeed in the work that God has called us to do.
And no suffering, no pain, no rejection, no any of that.
We just want it just God answering our prayers and
making everything so sweet and comfortable. But I want to
(14:01):
tell you that isn't the way God operates. Moses had
a stormy path, but it was stretching in its effect.
Listen when he came to Pharaoh and said, God said,
Jehovah said let my people go, and he said no.
You can imagine what happened to the faith of Moses
(14:22):
when time after time he went.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
To see these horrible plagues.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Come upon the Egyptians, the first plague, the second, the third,
the fourth, the fifth, sixth, seventy eighth, the ninth to tenth,
until finally he let them go. Can you imagine the
faith stretching experience of that in the life of Moses.
And then when he came to the Red Sea, rumbling
behind them was the sound of Egyptian charioteers, and they
(14:47):
come this fur, here's the water, there's the bank, two
and a half million of us. We can't swim it.
What now, God said, Moses, what do you have nothing,
Same old rod, same old staff.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
He should just raised that the sea.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Right before his eyes opens up. They march across through
the walls of water until every last Hebrew is on
the other side. And when they're on the other side,
God said, Moses just dropped the rod.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Now watch what happens.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
God just releases the water and they're all covered up
and drowned, washed away. You can imagine the faith when
Moses thought, you know, usually the desert's hot. It was
on the back side, down in Horrib or down in Midian.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
It was hot.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Looks up God's cloud keeping him cool. At nighttime usually
when they had to wrap up real good, here was
the fire of God keeping them warm. Can you imagine
the faith of Moses when God said to him, I
want you to go up to the top of this mountain,
Mount Horrab, Mount Sinai, and there waiting upon God. God
(15:59):
writes in stone his law in the very hand of Moses,
and he says to Moses, I want you to teach
this to my people, because I am going to rule
them and govern them all of their lives by this.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
His promise was, I will go with you.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Do you realize that God's made the same promise to
you that he.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Made to Moses.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
It's even a better promise for you and me, because
now we are in dwelt by the supernatural presence and
the power of the Holy Spirit that is the same.
Listen to this now, the same supernatural power that opened
the Red Sea and created clouds of coolness and clouds
of warmth is the same supernatural Holy Spirit who is
(16:52):
abiding and dwelling in you and me every single moment
of our life. So well, why doesn't God do something
supernatural my life? Because it may be, my friend, that
you may be too stubborn and determine self will and
independent to allow God to shat and break you so
(17:12):
that He can trust you with something good and big
in your life. You see, brokenness is God's method. It
isn't man's method. It's God's method.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
It's preparation.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Our usefulness by God will be determined by the degree
of brokenness within our life. There are a lot of
folks who just satisfied, get and saved.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
But let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Would you really, intruly like to discover what God could
do in your life if there were nothing within you
to keep Him from doing it? Would you like to
live your life and find out what God really planned
for you the day brought you to the world. Now
here's your first response, Oh, but would you forget the
(18:09):
butts for a moment. I mean, butts like I'm sixty
years old, and butts, I've made these mistakes and.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Butts, here's what happened.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Just forget all of that for a moment, because I
want you to think about something.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
God will use anybody who's broken. He takes the week.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Think about this, Moses Shepherd's staff, David's slingshot, Gideon's picture.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
So I want to ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
What is it in your life that you're holding on
to that you're not willing to surrender to God so
he can use you to the maximum. You want a
new vision of God's purpose in your life. You want
a new freedom in your spirit. You want a new
power in your service for God. Here is where it begins,
(19:07):
with a sense of humility, to be willing to say
to God, Lord, I'm willing for you to break any
aspect of my life, no matter what it is, in
order to prepare me to become the total person you
created me to be and to achieve the work in
(19:31):
this world you've called me to achieve.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Are you willing to tell him that and listen? If not,
why not listen?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
A new vision of God's purpose for your life, a
new freedom in your spirit and a new power in
your service. Moses learned a great lesson by being broken,
and God wanted to teach him a simple truth. This
(20:04):
absolutely impossible task, but he had to learn something that
God and God alone will do the work. Bear not
a single care thyself. One is too much for thee.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
The work is.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Mine and mine alone, Thy work to rest in me.
It is when you and I learned to rest in
Him and know that it's all his and not ours,
that God is able to accomplish what He has so
willed to accomplish in your life.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
We can either rebel against God's work or surrender to
his will. Today on in Touch, doctor Stanley's message assured
that the Lord doesn't intend to break our spirits, only
our self reliance. If you need to understand more of
the big picture concerning hardship and heartache, visit in touch
dot org and to review this lesson, follow the link
(21:05):
to Today on Radio. Head over to our bookstore to
order a copy of today's complete message, Brokenness the Purpose.
It's also included in doctor Stanley's teaching set Brokenness the
Way to Blessing Again that's in touch dot org. To
call or text it's one eight hundred in Touch. You
can write to us at in Touch Post Office Box
(21:29):
seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia, three zero three five seven.
How much do you trust God? And how easily do
you forgive others? Could those two things be linked? Today's
moment with Charles Stanley is coming up with the thirty.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Life Principles Bible Study. You'll enjoy a rich exploration of
God's Word designed as a ninety day learning experience for
individual use.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Or in a group setting.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
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because we can all benefit from a closer look. To
order the thirty Life Principles Bible Study, call one eight
hundred in Touch or visit InTouch dot org slash store.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
We're not the first to seek a life of purpose.
The Bible tells of many who followed a specific path,
step by step, with courage, with surrender for a deeper purpose,
a stronger passion. A lasting piece introducing your path to purpose,
passion and peace. A new ninety day devotional inspired by
(22:36):
the timeless teaching of doctor Charles Stanley, available now at
InTouch dot org slash store.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
You're listening to in Juch. Part of a Christian's journey
is learning to respond to every situation God's way. Here's
a moment with Charles stan Lay.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
I thank you.
Speaker 6 (22:59):
Have to recognize that God is sovereignties in absolute control.
Whatever he allows in our life, whatever goes on in
our life, He's going to turn it for our good
if we'll just trust him. My responsibility is how I
respond to God and how I react all of that.
And I have to be forgiving, because the truth is,
I must also recognize if I hold a grudge, if
(23:20):
I'm resentful, hostile, angry, want to take revenge the person
who hurt me, they've hurt me and forgotten it. If
I hold animosity toward them, I suffer not only what
they did, but I suffer as a result of my
wrong response. And so I have to remember that, and
they exercise that. And remember also Jesus hanging on the
cross said Father.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Forgive them.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
They know not what they do, and so I have
to recognize that and acknowledge the wisest thing for me
to do is to forgive them and move on in life.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Learn more about forgiveness at InTouch dot org. How are
you encouraged by today's message, Please let us know. Tomorrow
on in Touch will continue the series to learn how
to identify and respond correctly to the process of brokenness.
I hope you'll join us Thursday for in Touch, the
teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley. This program is a
(24:18):
presentation of in Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia and remains on
this station through the grace of God and your faithful
prayers and gifts.
God said to Moses there with the burning bush, I
want you to go to Pharaoh and tell him to
let my people go.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Now you can imagine what he must have felt.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Me, Shepherd, go to Pharaoh's court, tell him that you said,
let my people go. Then think about organizing two and
a half million people. Imagine what he must have thought of,
what must have gone through his mind when God said
to him, Moses, I have chosen you.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Do you know God's plan for your life? If so,
are you resisting his efforts to prepare you? Welcome to
in touch the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley. Today
we'll look at the life of Moses to see how
God trains us for service. Listen carefully as a familiar
Bible story offers insight into the purpose for brokenness. Let's
(00:58):
listen in to doctor Stanley.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
The two primary reasons, two primary purposes for which God
breaks us. The first purpose is spiritual maturity.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
So I want you to jot that down.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
In fact, I'm going to give you a number of
things to jot down the two primary purposes. So there
are two primary points to this message, one of them
spiritual maturity. God breaks us in order to mature us
and to make us christ light. There's the second reason
that God has in mind, a second purpose for brokenness.
First of all, we said, spiritual maturity bringing us to
(01:38):
the end of ourselves. So it is us and God alone,
our dependence upon Him, his life flowing through us, that
intimate loving relationship of other dependence upon Him. And the
second purpose for that brokenness is remember first, spiritual maturity.
Secondly supernatural ministry. He said, well, that leaves me out because.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I'm a homemaker.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Let me ask you something, Mom, Can you tell me
any more responsibility in all of life that is more
demanding than raising a godly family. You think of the
wisdom and the faith, and the patience and the love.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
You can think of all.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
The attributes that are so absolutely necessary for a mother
to raise godly children. Think of all the sacrifice and
all the time it takes, and all the skill and
the wisdom and the knowledge and the understanding that a
woman must have to raise godly children. Don't ever belittle
your responsibility is a mother. Don't ever belittle and say, well,
(02:37):
I don't have a ministry. Suppose moses mother said I
don't have a ministry. Moses' mother had a great ministry
bringing her son into the world, saving him, and then
in the feutttle compact years she had, she ingrained within
him something he never lost. Now, if I should ask you,
(03:03):
how many of you know the name of Moses' mother,
you could look in the Bible and find out, but.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
You know Moses's name.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
But Moses' mother had a godly ministry.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
She raised her son.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
And you see, the truth is that all of us
are to have a ministry. That doesn't mean behind the
pulpit we have different roles. It doesn't mean one is
more important than the other in God's eyes. In your life,
but what God wants is this. He wants your maturity
to be such that whatever His purpose is in your life,
he would be able to accomplish.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
That and achieve that.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That He chose Moses for the purpose of liberating this
family of people that now has grown to almost three million. Now,
I want you to see the ministry to which he
called him and how God has worked this purpose in
his life. First of all, it was absolutely spectacular in
(03:59):
its objective.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Now think about this for a moment.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
God said to Moses, there with the burning bush, I
want you to go to Pharaoh and tell him to
let my people go. Now you can imagine what he
must have felt. Me, shepherd, go to Pharaoh's court, tell
him that I said, or you said, and he won't
even know who you are. Tell him that you said,
(04:25):
let my people go. Then think about organizing two and
a half million Hebrews. Imagine getting them together. Imagine what
he must have thought. What must have gone through his
mind when God said to him, Moses, I had chosen
you after forty years on the backside of the desert.
(04:48):
Now Moses fled up before God, before the burning bush.
Take off the shoes on your feet. The ground upon
which you stand is holy ground. I've got a job
for you, He said, the same thing. You and I
would have said, you got the wrong fellow.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
There's no way.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
He told them he couldn't speak in public. He said,
I can't do it. Send somebody else. He tell them
all of these things, and remember what he asked him
to do. Bring the nation of Israel, or bring the
family of Hebrews out of Egyptian bondage, across the Red
Sea down to sign the Eid, to be de Egyptianized,
to receive the law. Teach them the law, then carry
them up to the Promised Land into the Promised Land
(05:26):
having learned the law, so that they would be a
peculiar people, different from everyone else. God intended to separate
the Hebrews from all the pagan, heathen, idolatrous people around them,
so that the way they dressed, their customs, their sacrifices,
everything made them absolutely a totally different people. He said,
(05:47):
you not to marry them, You not to fellowship with them.
You're not to fight with them, you're not to worship
with them.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Nothing.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
You to be absolutely separated from all the other peoples
of the world.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
So God gave them their own economy.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
God gave them their their own lifestyle, their own way
of living.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
That would totally separate them. That's why he said to them,
under no condition are you to.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Marry with a heathen. You are not to worship their gods.
He gave in the Ten Commandments and all the other
laws in order to keep them a separated, peculiar people.
A spectacular objective he gave to Moses. He says, this
is the responsibility you have. Secondly, it was strategic in
(06:28):
its purpose for God. God's purpose was that through this nation,
all the other nations of the earth would learn the
identity of the One True God, who is Jehovah, Yahweh,
Adam and I all the other names the Old Testament
gives us for God. Now, what a tremendous task. And
(06:48):
through this family and through this nation would come the Messiah.
What a tremendous goal God had set for these people.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
This task that God.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Had given to him was supernatural in its method.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Now, I want you to think about this for a moment.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
How in the world would God ever pull this off?
Moses could never have done it. The only way he
could possibly have fulfilled the ministry God calling to was
first of all, to absolutely strip him of all self confidence,
all goals, all ideas, all plans, all strategy, and leave
him with nothing.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Took him forty years to do it.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
So, now, when God comes to Moses, what does he
tell him? He says, I want you to go to
Pharaoh and tell him let my people go. He says, well, now,
when I tell the Hebrews who sent me, what shall
I say?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
You tell him? I am hath sent you.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I am in the past, I am in the present,
I am in the future. I am serving the past,
I am serving the present. I am sarvrom the future.
I'm all power from the past. I'm all power from
the president. I'm all power from the future. The Great
I Am has sent you.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Now.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
He told him what to do, But there's some things
God didn't tell him. So I want to tell you,
my friend, when God calls you to a task, he's
not going to give you the full story. Can you
imagine what Moses must have thought if God had said
to him of the burning Bush, Moses, I want you
to go to Pharaoh and tell him let my people go.
(08:21):
I'm going to send ten plagues. I'm going to open
the red sea. I'm going to cover you with a
cloud by day and fire by night. But God gave
him just enough. He said, Moses, all you need to
know is that you to go, and the only thing
you need to remember is I will.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Be with thee.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Why did God strip Moses and break him because he
wanted Moses to go to see Pharaoh with only one thing,
a shepherd's staff in his hand, which was a symbol
of the presence of God. That's only had he said,
I will go with thee.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
What did God do?
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Not only did he free those Hebrews, the Bible says
God sent them plegues, plague after plague after plague, ten plagues.
He sent them until finally even the Pharaoh was broken
and let them go. Then when they got, of course,
to the Red Sea. You remember what happened there. Supernatural
(09:26):
the way God did it. He gave them a cloud
by day to keep the heat of the desert sun
off of them, to keep them cool at night. The
desert is cold, and so he let there be a
fire in the heavens, a cloud of fire to keep
them warm at night.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Their shoes didn't even wear.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Out, and God rained down food from heaven, and water
was there when they needed it. Every single thing they needed.
I want you to remember, Moses didn't provide any of it.
Moses didn't open the Red Sea. Moses didn't con vince Pharaoh.
The only thing Moses did was to follow the commands
of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
His God.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
God assumed full responsibility for all the consequences and all
the needs of two and a half millions of people
through the leadership of one obedient servant who had been
stripped of all self confidence, all self reliance, so that
all he had was God supernatural in its method. But
(10:30):
I want you to notice something else about it. Sacrificial
in its demands. You think about the toll this took
on Moses. Moses had the responsibility of organizing this crowd,
and you can imagine the kind of attitudes that cropped up.
Sacrificial in its demand. Moses, you are to leave these people.
(10:53):
You're to obey me.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
No matter what, no matter how often they persecute you.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
And you remember what happens so many time they want
to rebel against him. He came down from getting the
Ten commandments, and what had they done? And they just
come from the Red Sea? Got it open the Red
sea for them? They had seen the miracle. They were
a part of the miracle. This is something they read about.
They walk through the sea. Now what they've built themselves
(11:18):
a golden calf, and they're worshiping a golden calf. You
talking about sacrifice and demands, But likewise it was storming
its progress.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
You think about.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
All the heartaches and the burdens and the strife. You
think about two and a half million Hebrews out there
wandering in the desert and following a man they've never seen,
or they tell me his name is Moses. Have you
ever seen him. No, but he's up the head of
the crowd. Well what did he say? I don't know
what he said, but somebody told me that somebody told
them that someone else told them that he said, we
(11:53):
were going to the Promised Land. Well I heard their
enemies out there. Well, somebody told me that somebody else
said that. There can you imagine and a half million
people marching through the desert and the only thing they
had to depend upon was one God they've never even seen.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That's all they had.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
And besides that, every once in a while they wanted
to go back, take us back to Egypt with the
leaks and the onions and the cucumbers that don't mention slavery.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Isn't it amazing how when.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
God begins the breakers, God begins the working our lives.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
We want to run back.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
To where it's ease and comfort and pleasure.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
But you can't do that.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
You see, God has set a purpose in your life.
And I'm want to tell you something, my friend. You
can weasel out of it the best you can and
determine your heart. You are not going to be broken.
And you, with your determination, you are going to get
it done. And one of two things is gonna happen.
You're either gonna give up and surrender. God's going to
put you on the shelf. Now you know, you can
take a beautiful vase, it's worth a thousand dollars or more,
(12:56):
beautifully colored and set on some very prominent place in
your living room, you walk by and Sitdn't that pretty?
You can take an old five dollars gallon bucket pail
and I don't care enough water to refresh a whole
lot of people who are thirsty. There's some folks who
rather be pretty and just looked at. God wants buckets,
(13:19):
old buckets full of God, empty of self, not beautiful vases,
something to look at. But in order for that to happen,
you got to get broken, got to be willing to
get dirty, got to be willing to work, got to
be on the sacrifice, got to be willing to go
(13:40):
through some stormy times, got to be willing to suffer.
And most folks don't want any pain. We want maturity
without suffering and pain. We want to be able to
succeed in the work that God has called us to do.
And no suffering, no pain, no rejection, no any of that.
We just want it just God answering our prayers and
making everything so sweet and comfortable. But I want to
(14:01):
tell you that isn't the way God operates. Moses had
a stormy path, but it was stretching in its effect.
Listen when he came to Pharaoh and said, God said,
Jehovah said let my people go, and he said no.
You can imagine what happened to the faith of Moses
(14:22):
when time after time he went.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
To see these horrible plagues.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Come upon the Egyptians, the first plague, the second, the third,
the fourth, the fifth, sixth, seventy eighth, the ninth to tenth,
until finally he let them go. Can you imagine the
faith stretching experience of that in the life of Moses.
And then when he came to the Red Sea, rumbling
behind them was the sound of Egyptian charioteers, and they
(14:47):
come this fur, here's the water, there's the bank, two
and a half million of us. We can't swim it.
What now, God said, Moses, what do you have nothing,
Same old rod, same old staff.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
He should just raised that the sea.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Right before his eyes opens up. They march across through
the walls of water until every last Hebrew is on
the other side. And when they're on the other side,
God said, Moses just dropped the rod.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Now watch what happens.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
God just releases the water and they're all covered up
and drowned, washed away. You can imagine the faith when
Moses thought, you know, usually the desert's hot. It was
on the back side, down in Horrib or down in Midian.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
It was hot.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Looks up God's cloud keeping him cool. At nighttime usually
when they had to wrap up real good, here was
the fire of God keeping them warm. Can you imagine
the faith of Moses when God said to him, I
want you to go up to the top of this mountain,
Mount Horrab, Mount Sinai, and there waiting upon God. God
(15:59):
writes in stone his law in the very hand of Moses,
and he says to Moses, I want you to teach
this to my people, because I am going to rule
them and govern them all of their lives by this.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
His promise was, I will go with you.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Do you realize that God's made the same promise to
you that he.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Made to Moses.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
It's even a better promise for you and me, because
now we are in dwelt by the supernatural presence and
the power of the Holy Spirit that is the same.
Listen to this now, the same supernatural power that opened
the Red Sea and created clouds of coolness and clouds
of warmth is the same supernatural Holy Spirit who is
(16:52):
abiding and dwelling in you and me every single moment
of our life. So well, why doesn't God do something
supernatural my life? Because it may be, my friend, that
you may be too stubborn and determine self will and
independent to allow God to shat and break you so
(17:12):
that He can trust you with something good and big
in your life. You see, brokenness is God's method. It
isn't man's method. It's God's method.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
It's preparation.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Our usefulness by God will be determined by the degree
of brokenness within our life. There are a lot of
folks who just satisfied, get and saved.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
But let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Would you really, intruly like to discover what God could
do in your life if there were nothing within you
to keep Him from doing it? Would you like to
live your life and find out what God really planned
for you the day brought you to the world. Now
here's your first response, Oh, but would you forget the
(18:09):
butts for a moment. I mean, butts like I'm sixty
years old, and butts, I've made these mistakes and.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Butts, here's what happened.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Just forget all of that for a moment, because I
want you to think about something.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
God will use anybody who's broken. He takes the week.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Think about this, Moses Shepherd's staff, David's slingshot, Gideon's picture.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
So I want to ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
What is it in your life that you're holding on
to that you're not willing to surrender to God so
he can use you to the maximum. You want a
new vision of God's purpose in your life. You want
a new freedom in your spirit. You want a new
power in your service for God. Here is where it begins,
(19:07):
with a sense of humility, to be willing to say
to God, Lord, I'm willing for you to break any
aspect of my life, no matter what it is, in
order to prepare me to become the total person you
created me to be and to achieve the work in
(19:31):
this world you've called me to achieve.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Are you willing to tell him that and listen? If not,
why not listen?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
A new vision of God's purpose for your life, a
new freedom in your spirit and a new power in
your service. Moses learned a great lesson by being broken,
and God wanted to teach him a simple truth. This
(20:04):
absolutely impossible task, but he had to learn something that
God and God alone will do the work. Bear not
a single care thyself. One is too much for thee.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
The work is.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Mine and mine alone, Thy work to rest in me.
It is when you and I learned to rest in
Him and know that it's all his and not ours,
that God is able to accomplish what He has so
willed to accomplish in your life.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
We can either rebel against God's work or surrender to
his will. Today on in Touch, doctor Stanley's message assured
that the Lord doesn't intend to break our spirits, only
our self reliance. If you need to understand more of
the big picture concerning hardship and heartache, visit in touch
dot org and to review this lesson, follow the link
(21:05):
to Today on Radio. Head over to our bookstore to
order a copy of today's complete message, Brokenness the Purpose.
It's also included in doctor Stanley's teaching set Brokenness the
Way to Blessing Again that's in touch dot org. To
call or text it's one eight hundred in Touch. You
can write to us at in Touch Post Office Box
(21:29):
seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia, three zero three five seven.
How much do you trust God? And how easily do
you forgive others? Could those two things be linked? Today's
moment with Charles Stanley is coming up with the thirty.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Life Principles Bible Study. You'll enjoy a rich exploration of
God's Word designed as a ninety day learning experience for
individual use.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Or in a group setting.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
You'll explore doctor Stanley's thirty Life Principles and learn how
to make the Bible a part of your everyday life
because we can all benefit from a closer look. To
order the thirty Life Principles Bible Study, call one eight
hundred in Touch or visit InTouch dot org slash store.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
We're not the first to seek a life of purpose.
The Bible tells of many who followed a specific path,
step by step, with courage, with surrender for a deeper purpose,
a stronger passion. A lasting piece introducing your path to purpose,
passion and peace. A new ninety day devotional inspired by
(22:36):
the timeless teaching of doctor Charles Stanley, available now at
InTouch dot org slash store.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
You're listening to in Juch. Part of a Christian's journey
is learning to respond to every situation God's way. Here's
a moment with Charles stan Lay.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
I thank you.
Speaker 6 (22:59):
Have to recognize that God is sovereignties in absolute control.
Whatever he allows in our life, whatever goes on in
our life, He's going to turn it for our good
if we'll just trust him. My responsibility is how I
respond to God and how I react all of that.
And I have to be forgiving, because the truth is,
I must also recognize if I hold a grudge, if
(23:20):
I'm resentful, hostile, angry, want to take revenge the person
who hurt me, they've hurt me and forgotten it. If
I hold animosity toward them, I suffer not only what
they did, but I suffer as a result of my
wrong response. And so I have to remember that, and
they exercise that. And remember also Jesus hanging on the
cross said Father.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Forgive them.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
They know not what they do, and so I have
to recognize that and acknowledge the wisest thing for me
to do is to forgive them and move on in life.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Learn more about forgiveness at InTouch dot org. How are
you encouraged by today's message, Please let us know. Tomorrow
on in Touch will continue the series to learn how
to identify and respond correctly to the process of brokenness.
I hope you'll join us Thursday for in Touch, the
teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley. This program is a
(24:18):
presentation of in Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia and remains on
this station through the grace of God and your faithful
prayers and gifts.
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