# God Makes His Team

Key Passage: Exodus 4
Date: June 7, 2024

I was, if you would, the Exodus, Exodus chapter number four, please. Exodus chapter number four in God’s Word. We’re back on the subject of the life of Moses. We have been here now for a couple months. We took, of course, Christ’s breaking things. We had changed subjects a little bit. We’re back to the life of Moses tonight.

For the internet, the title will be “God Makes His Team.” God makes his team. And let’s just review for a moment about Moses, kind of get our minds back in gear and back going that way. At this point, Moses is 80 years old.

Now remember, you can divide Moses’ life into three parts: 40s, 120 when he passed. The first 40, for the most part, he was raised in Pharaoh’s court. Remember that? The basket. And Pharaoh’s daughter found him at all that. And in 40 years, he had the best education, probably the best this world had to offer at the time.

And then, boy, what a life change. Remember, he slew the Egyptian and he ran. 40 years on the backside of the desert he was just out there much of the time, a bunch of bad, bunch of stinky sheep, you know. And you’ve heard it said, I’ve said it in this series here: the first 40 years he learned he was somebody; in the next 40 years he learned he was nobody. In the last 40 years, and we’re here at the 80 years, he’s been 40 years in the wilderness, backside of the desert, watching those sheep.

And the Lord appeared to him, the burning bush. Remember that? Take the shoes off and standing on holy ground. And God gives him a commission. Any time you get close to the Lord, He’s going to give you something to do. And this old world needs the Lord.

And so God’s given him—He’s giving him his job. “Hey, I’m going to use you to go to Pharaoh and deliver the children of Israel out of bondage.” Now, I’ll be honest with you, Moses is a great man. We’ve talked about that. He’s the one in the Bible that knew the Lord face to face. I mean, some people the Lord talked to, and it was kind of pretty vague, if you will. I mean, we always use comparison to Zekewin the wills, you know. Who can figure all that? If you can figure all that out, I want to talk to you sometimes, you know. But the Lord and Moses just talked very frank with each other. And it’s like the Lord said, “I’m sick and tired of those children of His, about to wipe them out.” Moses said, “Please don’t do that.” And God said, “All right.” And sometimes that role reversed. Moses said, “Get them,” you know. And the Lord said, “No.”

But he’s a great man, but I’ll be honest with you, he responded really, oh, not the best, we’ll just say here. We’ve been studying chapter 3 and 4, the calling, for a couple weeks. But the first thing, God says, “They’re going to use you, Moses, to live with the children of Israel.” Moses said, “Who am I?” I like the humility, but “Who am I that I should go into Pharaoh?”

Remember what God’s response was there in chapter 3? He said, “I’ll go with you, Moses. It’ll be all right.” As long as the Lord’s with you, you know, think you’ll be all right. And then Moses said, “Well, Lord, if I’m going to go and represent You, they’re going to want to know what Your name is. They’re going to want to know that I really do know You.” And that’s when the Lord revealed Himself in a new, wonderful way, and He gave him that name: “I AM that I AM.”

Boy, only God can give that. I was, and I am, and I will be. I am that I am.

And then Moses said, “Well, Lord, they’ll not believe me. They’re just not going to believe me that You sent me.” And remember what the Lord said? “Now, Moses, what’s that in your hand?” “Well, it’s a rod.” Remember we showed the pictures that week of the pharaohs? I think pretty much every picture, realistic picture, or even the mummies, whatnot, the pharaohs are holding a rod. There’s something to this day.

And some, we talked about it, but some would even say maybe the rod that Moses had was his rod from years ago when he was in Egypt. We don’t know that. It could have just been a shepherd’s rod. He’d been a shepherd for 40 years. We don’t know. But he had a rod. And there’s something significant to that. And God said, “Hey, Moses, you take that rod and throw it on the ground.” Remember, threw it on the ground? What happened?

Came a snake, and Moses was scared of it. Now, Moses has been in the desert for 40 years. He’d know what kind of snakes were in there. If it was me, I don’t like any kind of snake. I mean, I mean, the only good—you said, “That’s a good snake.” No, if it’s dead, it’s good. That’s the only kind of good. But anyway, Ted says, “Don’t go there, a preacher,” you know, on that. But anyway, he threw it down and became a snake, and then God said, “Now, Moses, I want you pick it up by the tail.”

I’ve talked about that. Anybody here hunt snakes? You know, you don’t pick it up by the tail. You pick it up right behind the head so it don’t bite you. And it was a step of faith. And he reached down there and picked that snake up by the tail, and boy, it turned right back to the rod. And God’s saying that your rod’s just not an ordinary rod. It’s later on in the chapter because of the rod of God. They used to see Pharaoh always have his rod. When they see you have your rod, they’re going to say that’s God leading him in this thing. God’s doing something here. Rod of Aaron, the rod of God, rod of Moses.

And then He said, “Now Moses, if that’s not enough, take your hand.” By the way, he had a whole hand, amen, not like me, you know. But take your hand, put it in your bosom. And pull it out. And pull it out, it was like leprosy. And, well, I think that’s a picture of our heart—just so dirty and sinful.

And it comes from Adam, that sin nature we all have. This is natural, flesh, and sinful heart. And that leads our hands to be dirty. We’re sinners because we’re born with that sin nature. And He said, “Put your hand back in there, and that bosom,” and he put it back in there and pulled it out again, and it’s just clean—leprosy all gone. God can change your heart. When God changes a heart, God’s a wonderful thing when God does a work in a heart. And God will clean that heart up.

And boy, it’s amazing, God changes a heart and the hands start doing everything. And it’s a wonderful thing. God said, “Well, I’ll give you one more sign, Moses. Moses, that water poured out and became blood.” And later on, remember, goes over the Nile River, and he pours it out and becomes blood. Of course, that was Egyptians. To them, the Nile River was kind of like their life. They worshipped the Nile. And the best this world has to offer is just death, if you will, blood. And this old world, they’ve got nothing to offer in comparison to God.

And after all that, all that God’s telling Moses that God’s got—and He’s just, He’s really taken care of every excuse that Moses has given Him. That’s where we pick up. Here’s the last excuse Moses uses. We’re in Exodus 4.

And we’re going to start in verse number 10, if you go, Exodus 4 and verse number 10. Would you please stand if you’re able to just to show the word of God respect? It’s worthy of it. I’m not for sure worthy, but the Bible is. We just try to show a little respect by doing this. I’m going to take a quick drink. I’m sorry, I’m getting dry mouth tonight.

Exodus 4. Look in verse number 10, if you would, please. “And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant. But I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.”

Now let me explain a little bit this: “neither heretofore nor since.” He said, “Lord, you know, I’ve had this speech problem.” I’m not sure because I know, and we’ve studied it over there in Acts 7, I think he’s 22, he said, but when he was younger, there’s “mining words and deeds,” remember that? I’m not sure. He took off running to the backside of the desert. Maybe it’s a different language, or maybe he’s kind of forgotten the Egyptian language, or maybe something mental kind of happened to him, you know. But at this point of life, he said, “Lord, for a long time, I haven’t been able to talk right.” Maybe he’s funny.

And he said, “Since I’ve been talking to You, Lord, You’ve come, but You haven’t did anything about that. I’m still, can’t talk right.” I don’t know if it’s like that. Well, that’s what he’s saying. “Lord, here’s his last excuse: Lord, I can’t talk right.”

Verse number 11, here’s God answered. “And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? Or who maketh the dumb or the deaf or the seeing or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?” Moses, I know what I’m doing. I made your mouth. I’m calling you. You can handle this thing. I got you covered, Moses. God doesn’t mess up when He makes it. God doesn’t mess up all those things. God said, “I made you, Moses. I can handle this thing.”

And let’s look and see what it has in verse number 12. “Now therefore go; and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.”

And he said, “Oh, my Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send.” I believe he’s saying there, verse number 13, “Lord, send somebody else. I’m not the kind. Somebody do a better job than me.” Some scholars even think that in verse number 13, he’s saying, “Just send the Messiah.” They knew of the promised Messiah.

Some are interesting. People write the commentaries, they argue back and forth a little bit about this thing here. Some, “Well, just send them aside.” You know, sometimes we get so discouraged. “Lord, come on back. You’ll take care of it all,” you know. And maybe he was there a little bit. You know, I don’t know. Or maybe he’s just saying, “Send someone else.” But he’s saying, “Send someone else. Not me, Lord.”

Look at verse number 14, very interesting. “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.” And He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well: and also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee. And when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.”

And let’s just stop there. We’ll read a couple more in a little bit here. Let’s stop there. Let’s just pray kind of the beginning here. Would you ask the Lord to speak to your heart tonight and just do something in your heart that I can’t do? God could do it. Ask Him to give you something tonight. Would you do as I pray? Lord, we come. These people, they’ve made time to be in church, to be in Your house. Father, they’re sincere, Lord. So would You give them something. Father, just take a simple preacher in Your great Word, and Father, send Your Spirit. You give every individual here something from Your Word tonight, Father, please. We’ll thank You for what You do. Father, I’m asking in faith, because we’re asking in the name of Jesus for that. That’s His name we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. Though God’s love is never ending, when you become a born-again Christian, a child of God, you have the love of God on you; it’ll never change. It’ll never change. You’ll always be loved. But God can, if you will—and I don’t know if this wording is exactly right—He can get tired of our excuses sometimes. I mean, just excuse after excuse after excuse after excuse. And finally the Bible says, just clear as day right there, “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.”

I would not like to read in the Bible the anger of the Lord is kindled against Paul. Boy, I wouldn’t like that. I mean, the Lord, if you will, He’s just getting a little fed up with Moses’ excuses. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. Sometimes we pass over that because what happens after; we’ll get to that, but let’s just pause for a second on that.

I remember old Curtis Sutsch, a great preacher, he’s in heaven now. He used to say the best excuse is one not used. Everybody in the world can think of excuses. I guarantee my brain works real good in the morning when my alarm clock goes off. Anybody else? You might work like that. Man, I can come up with excuses, you know, without things going off in the morning time. I mean, everybody can come up with excuses. I never forget, I’ve heard over the years so many excuses for not going to church.

I think maybe one day I’m going to write a book about the excuses why people don’t go to church. I mean, you know, how many have heard that old song, “The Excuses”? Excuses, excuses, you hear them every day. If you haven’t heard that, look it up on YouTube. It’s an old Southern Gospel song, you know. It’s a funny one. You’ll enjoy it. It’s just an enjoyable song. But I think one of the best ones I’ve heard—I remember a fellow at one time, he’d been coming for a while and he dropped out, and I visited him. Said, “Hey, we’ve been missing this on.” And he said, “When I don’t come to church, because people shake hands too much there.” Now, this is way before COVID. Wow! I thought that was a good thing, you know.

And I kind of have a little bit of, you know, just a fog here on me. What’s wrong with that, you know? And he said, “Well, you don’t understand, I have sweaty hands.” Wait a second. What’s wrong with sweaty hands? All of us do sometimes, you know. I mean, if I have to sing a special, I get sweaty hands for sure. I mean, that makes me head about nervous, you know. And he said, “I don’t come to church because I have sweaty hands and I don’t want people shaking my hand.” I said, “Well, just don’t put your hand out now. Go to church,” you know. And I thought, well, man, that takes the cake. The excuses why not to go to church. I’ve heard a lot. We all have excuses.

“Well, I can’t read my Bible through the year.” Well, don’t worry about it then. Just read a couple of verses every day. Start on five a day. I mean, just… “I don’t have a prayer time because I don’t have an hour a day.” Okay, we’ll start with five minutes a day.

“I can’t be a witness.” Well, just tell them what happened to you when you got saved. Get a gospel tract. Give it to them. If I’m not careful, sometimes, men—and I understand all of us battle feeling inadequate—but sometimes men, “Well, I can’t be the leader of my home. My wife knows more Bible than I do. How could I be a Christian leader in my home?” Look, if she’s a good Christian lady, she’s going to support you. You should just be so thrilled. By the way, it was a blessing one of our men—I don’t want to say too much, but we’ll just say it this way: I’ve got to back up. He’s been faithful to the Lord, and it seems like his wife is coming home. He’s not been preaching at his wife; that’s never the right thing. He’s just been doing it right, and his wife’s coming.

But we can always find excuses. But the Lord—just all these excuses and finally the Bible says, “The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.” You ever think about him? I wonder how it would read if Moses… I don’t know. I don’t know. Some—there’s an argument about this. I don’t know if I put a dog in the fight, but some seem to think that instead of the priesthood being through Aaron, it would have been through Moses. Now, I don’t know that. Of course, the Bible records the priesthood, and we know that. Of course, God knew what was happening. But it’s interesting. Just think about if Moses hadn’t gave all these excuses.

Let me read for you what Spurgeon—many of them know Spurgeon. You like Spurgeon? I do too. This is what Spurgeon says about verse number 13: “By this reluctance, Moses lost much honor, for Aaron became the high priest, and he obtained a helper who also provided him.”

Maybe one day we get to heaven, you know, maybe we can rewind at this point, and the Lord will change you a little bit and play it if Moses hadn’t had all the excuses. But we know the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. We know that.

A couple other things about this. You know, Moses and Aaron, they became the greater team, and God used them greatly. But can I be honest with you? Let’s just be frank for a second. They never let him into the promise. Moses or Aaron never made it into the promised land. I wonder if Moses hadn’t had all the excuses if it had been written…

I mean, Israel, Israel, and they got the promise name—remember that? They sent in those 12 spies, the southern border there, Kadesh Barnea, and they sent in the 12 spies, and 10 were bad and two were good, remember the song you sing in Sunday school, you know? And the children of Israel, they followed the 10 out of lack of faith. And they made the wrong decision. They had excuses, if you will, have made the wrong decision. And so they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and the older generation, they passed away, natural death, and it was a younger generation that went in. Maybe it would be different if Moses hadn’t had all those excuses. And it seems a little bit like they’re following suit with what Moses did.

Not only that, just think a little bit here. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses—all these excuses that… And I know we’re studying Moses, a great man, but I just want to be honest about this phase of his life up here. But isn’t it interesting? So Moses leaves these two million—some go up to three and a half million Jewish people, Hebrews. And boy, they were murmuring and complaining people. Anybody ever read that part of the Bible and say, “Man, one more than the world is wrong to these people,” but all it’s complaining? And every time I do that, the Lord says, “Paul, you do the same thing.” And I say, “Yes,” you know.

But maybe, you know, Moses is a little bit reaping. But at this point, it’s just excuse, excuse, excuse, excuse. And it seemed like he had to lead some people that had excuse, excuse, excuse. But the anger, anger, anger—I’ll get it out right here—the anger of the Lord was kindled against… He’s just tired. Friend, oh, be careful of always having an excuse. I’ve been there before. Just always have an excuse. And the Lord after a while, He says, “All right, Paul, we’ll have to teach you a lesson.” And let’s keep going. Y’all women tonight, you’re just kind of going on here with this life of Moses. And…

Let’s go back to verse number 14. Verse number 14. I’m going to take another drink. I apologize. I seem like the last bit, I get more dry mouth than heaven before.

Verse number 14, verse number 14. “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well: and also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee. And when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put my words in his mouth: and I will put—and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye should do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people. And he shall be, even he should be to thee instead of a mouth. And thou shalt be to him instead.”

That last part, that is so powerful: “And thou shalt be to him instead.”

Now, God—God here is putting together His team. Yes, I think there were consequences for all the excuses and the anger of the Lord was kindled against, but God said, “All right, Moses, we’re going to move on, we’re going to move forward, and I’m going to give you a partner. I’m going to give you a team here.” It’s always wonderful to watch God put a team together.

I love this. Over the years in our church, it’s been such a blessing to see the team. I’ve been here 23 years, you know all that. And a lot of times there’s different cycles, if you go, over the years, different teams that God puts together. But God always puts them together. God has always got His team. He’s always bonding people together to work for the Lord.

And this team here now is a likely team in some ways because they’re brothers. I mean, Aaron is three years older than Moses. It’s his brother. And so a little bit, they’ve got a little bit maybe of the same makeup. They come from the same parents. Now, yes, we don’t know the age when Moses had to go live in Pharaoh’s court, but they had some similarities.

Maybe both of them knew all their dads’, all his old stories. Anybody have a mom or a dad, and you’ve heard those stories about 100 times? Am I like that? Yeah, yeah. It’s just part of it. And probably Moses and Aaron had heard. I’m just saying they had some similar, some common bond. And it’s a very likely team in many ways. We don’t know, but maybe, maybe Moses and Aaron had contact in those four years. We don’t know that, but when the Lord spoke to Aaron and said, “Hey, go out in the wilderness and meet your brother,” he knew where to go. And so I don’t know. We don’t know that.

But it’s a likely team in some ways, brothers. But then let me flip the coin: in some ways, it’s an unlikely team. You see, there’s something in the Bible often about the firstborn, you know. Well, Aaron was the firstborn. He was the oldest, three years. But the Lord is going to use Moses to be the prophet, if you will, and the high priest. And He said, “Now, Aaron, you’re going to be the spokesman.” You know, in the White House, they have the press conference, and I don’t know who the spokesman is. Brother Adam probably knows who it is right now. He’s shaking his head, you know. I kind of like, “Yeah, I know who it is right now.” You understand all that. But they’re not the top dog, you know. And I didn’t use that dog on purpose. I didn’t—it didn’t mean no pun there, you know, all right now, you know. But so Moses is going to be the leader and Aaron’s the spokesman.

But wait a second, there’s the older one. You know, it’s amazing through scripture how many times God reverses that role? It’s Jacob and Esau. Jacob was the younger. Esau not by much, but he was. Esau had the birthright. Jacob stole it from him. David was one of the youngest, maybe the youngest of all those seven brothers of Jesse’s sons, and yet David was a king. Joseph was second to the youngest of the 12 boys. It wasn’t who Reuben, I think, if I remember right, was the oldest. Gideon was the youngest. Solomon was the youngest. Solomon was a kid.

And I’m not trying to say if you’re the oldest one, you’re found—well, God can’t use you to grow. I’m not trying to say that. But this is what I’m saying: it’s not always the one we think. It’s not always the one that everybody, “Well, he’s the strong one, he’s gifted, he’s this, that, and the other,” you know. God uses the weak. God uses those that everybody else thinks they don’t have much, not much to them. And they’re often the ones that God uses. What does the Bible say over there in 2 Corinthians 12, verse number 9? “His strength is made perfect in what?” Weakness. Yeah. His strength is made perfect in weakness. And God is using this younger brother to be the leader of the older. Not uncommon. Not uncommon.

But let’s look at a couple of things here. I want you to know, first of all, I think you know this part: God called Moses. You understand that. We’ve been studying that for a while, chapter three and four, God has called Moses. I want you to see something. Would you look at verse number 27, verse number 27 of chapter number four? “And the Lord said unto Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” And he went and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.

Now, I want you just notice that God called Moses, and God called Aaron. God called him both. Now let’s just think that God called Moses to do a job. “I’m going to call you. You’re going to be the one to lead Israel to Egypt.” And God calls Aaron to go assist him. Think about it.

Go back over Genesis 2, if you would, please. Look over in Genesis 2 real quickly here, 2:15. Genesis 2:15. This is Adam. God’s made Adam. And what you just know is a little principle often found in the Bible: Genesis 2 and verse number 15, “And the Lord God took the man”—that’s Adam—“and put him in the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” So God made Adam, and He called him to do something. He gave Adam a job. He commissioned him.

Now look down in verse 18, verse 18. “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone.” Us men typically don’t do good on our own. We really don’t. But that’s a general rule. There would be exceptions, but for the most part, “It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him an help meet for him”—that’s a helper designed, someone fit to meet his needs, to help him.

You see the principle: God called Adam, and He gave him a job to do, and then God made Eve and said, “I want you to assist him.” That’s just very, very typical.

Look over in 1 Samuel, chapter number 10, if you would please. First Samuel, we’re going to get somewhere in just a second. Hang with me. 1 Samuel chapter number 10, and uh want you just see a little bit here and we’re going to pull a couple principles and be done for tonight. 1 Samuel chapter number 10. This is Saul earlier. God had used Samuel the prophet to anoint him of old and anoint him to be king, but he just went off and did his own thing. This is a little bit later on; it’s kind of like his second, his royal anointing to be king.

1 Samuel 10, look in verse number 21. This is Samuel doing this: “And when he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken: and Saul the son of Kish was taken: and when they sought him, he could not be found. Therefore they inquired of the Lord farther, if the man should yet come thither. And the Lord answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff.”

And they ran and fetched him thence. And when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. And Samuel said to all the people, “See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, there is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted and said, “God save the king!” So clearly, God led Saul to be the king. The people are on board now.

Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. Watch this. “And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there went with him a band of men whose hearts God had touched.” You see the same principle. God called Saul to be king, and there’s a band of a group of men God touched the heart. They said, “We are going to support that king.” They went home with him. Saul for a while just took care of the sheep, and then there was trouble in Israel, and Saul raised up an army. These band of men were there to be with you. You see the principle: now both are called—Moses and Aaron, Adam and Eve, Saul and this band of men whose hearts the Lord had touched. You see the principle.

Now let me just talk to you a little bit here tonight. We’re going to be done. Accept your position. Wherever, whatever your position is, accept it. God calls men to do a job, sometimes lays you a job, and He calls others to assist that man, typically, sometimes a lady. He calls someone to do it, and then God calls others to assist.

Now let me talk to you for just a minute if maybe God is calling you to do something for you. Moses has every excuse in the world. Can I just say this? Now listen, we’re almost done. God often calls those that feel like they’re just inadequate. And it’s not unusual to say, “There’s no way I can do that.” You’re probably a good candidate to do something for the Lord. That’s exactly how Moses felt.

Now, America is dying for leaders, leadership. You take the home. The homes across America, they are dying. I’ll often say this: God’s called the man to be the head of the wife. That’s biblical for me. I’m not trying to belittle. It doesn’t mean one’s better than the other; it’s just biblical roles. This is an old saying I got from an old preacher. He’s in heaven. He used to say, “No head, you’re dead.”

And if a family has a man that just won’t lead, and a lot of times because he doesn’t feel adequate—man, there are families all across America that need—doesn’t need a perfect man; there’s no such thing, one that knows all his Bible, no—just a man that is honest and sincere and in love says, “I’m going to serve the Lord. I want my family to serve the Lord.” But even if you don’t, “I’m going to serve the Lord.” Now, that’s a loving leadership. Not—I’m talking about that Flintstone, don’t beat somebody with a stick, you know, making somebody follow. That’s not your job. Your job is to lead. But America’s dying for that. We’re in trouble because we don’t have that. And so many good ladies, they would just love to have a man that at least tries.

I wonder in ministries—and I don’t know what kind of ministry it may be. It may be, maybe a unique ministry I would never dream of, but God’s calling you to some kind of a ministry. And the typical—it’s just so easy to make excuses. I think of families that someone, someone even now, that they’re trying to get into foster care and maybe adopt. And if God’s leading—and I’m not trying to push it because God needs to lead you in that—what’s a special call? But if God is calling you some kind of ministry, don’t make excuse.

It’s just so typical to say, “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.” I wonder, you know, America is so needy of good pastors. I wonder how many good pastors are sitting in a pew somewhere and they won’t step out and do what God’s called them to do? Moses just making excuses—don’t do that. If God has called you, say, “I don’t know much I can do, but I’ll do whatever.” That’s the people God uses. He doesn’t use those with ability; He uses those with availability. Is somebody willing to do whatever God wants?

You know, a great ministry, and praise the Lord, our church has it, but the bus ministry. Typically picking up boys and girls they wouldn’t be able to make it to church; their parents don’t go, their families don’t go—typical, not every single one, but the vast majority. And yet those kids are so impressionable, and they’re—by the way, I was so proud of James as far as riders on the bus; he’s the only one that rode, you know, and he came on his own Sunday. Wow. But there’s so many young people; they just need a Sunday school teacher, a bus worker, a children’s church worker just to love them and teach them the Word of God.

And yet I wonder how many churches don’t have a bus ministry because, you know, back in the '70s, it was financed in the '60s and '70s. Man, a lot of money to pay for those buses and insurance and diesel and upkeep all that. But for the vast majority in our day and time, it’s not money per se; it’s just a lack of workers. The bus ministry is work. I mean, if you’re wearing a tie Sunday morning, you go to church, and it’s right where it ought to be, your belt buckle—man, you ride that bus. Brother Josh can testify, Brother Tim can testify, Brother Anthony can testify, you know. By the time you get to church, Brother Richard, you can testify, they’ve been swinging on that tie of those kids, you know, and it’s dangled down to your knees by then. I mean, it’s Stretch Armstrong tie, you know what I mean? It’s just part of it, and it takes workers.

But I wonder how many God’s called to be involved in the bus ministry. “I just wouldn’t do it.” I’m telling you, God calls people to ministries, to jobs, all kind of various things. And please, if the Lord is leading you, and you say, “I don’t feel adequate,” there’s a good chance you are the one He wants. When Moses was 40 years old, he had it all together like the world saw it. And he fell flat on his face. I mean, he killed a man and had to run, flee down. Now he’s 80; he doesn’t feel like he could do anything. And God says, “Moses is not ready to do anything.”

So the Lord’s calling you to do something. I don’t know what it might be. You can run from it. I thought about Victory Baptist Church in Shelbyville, Tennessee, about an hour south of there. How many know Victory Baptist Church down there? It’s a great ministry, great ministry. They’ve been there for 60-something years. They have a camp. They do everything. They have a Christian school and a lot of ministries. God’s been using that church for years and years.

You know, a young man came there 60-something years ago to start that. And he started the work, but he only stayed for maybe six months, just small. And he felt like the Lord was leading him on, and maybe a little bit longer than six months—I’m not sure—but just a short time. And God was leading, and they needed a pastor. And there’s a young man there, never been to Bible college, never really preached much, but he just got saved, and he was on fire for the Lord.

And they said, “Well, why won’t you fill in for us until we get a pastor?” And that young man—so, “I’ll try. I don’t know what I’m doing.” He said, this is what he said. He’s told me before. He’s in heaven now, but he’s told me before himself. He said, “I had about seven sermons.” And I thought, “Well, maybe I can fill in for seven services. I can preach all those sermons, and I’ll be done. And they’ll have another—they’ll have a pastor by then.” And so that young man, he said, “I don’t know what I can do, but I’ll try.” And he pastored that church for over 58 years.

And God really used him. A great work. He’s in heaven now, brother. But the Lord said, “A great job behind.” Great job. There’s just someone said, “I don’t have much, but I’ll do whatever God calls me to do.” Those are the ones the Lord uses.

Now, let’s flip the coin for just a second here. We’re nearing the end. All right, we’re not landing quite yet, but we’re circling the airport, all right? Y’all with me? Anybody tired out there tonight? Anybody worked all day? Anybody got up at 4 a.m.? Wow, y’all got me beat. My goodness. All right, we’re going to hurry it up, man. How many took a nap after that, though? Come on now, you know. Good. Some people are honest about it.

All right. Accept the position God’s called you to do something. Good. That’s your side of the coin. But maybe God’s called you to assist someone that is called to do a job for you. You’re to be the extension of the leader. Okay. We’ve applied it to the home a lot. And husband, can I encourage you just to do your best? And then wife, he’s not going to be perfect. He’s going to mess up. You’re going to think that’s the dumbest decision in the world, and you’re probably right, but he’ll learn. He’ll grow. Assist him. When a wife says, “I want to assist my husband,” I want to help him be and do whatever God wants to be and do. Not that a wife—not that the Lord doesn’t use men; I’m not trying to say that. He does, but I’m just looking at this original role, Adam and Eve, and that’s typically the home. When a wife does that, oh, it creates such a sweetness in the home, such a harmony, such a unity, such a—such a sweetness.

The world, Hollywood tries to mimic that, and they can’t do it because they don’t want to follow those roles that God’s given. It’s just key. I am in a church, and I’m not trying to say I’m anything. I’m a sinner just like you, and I’ve probably got more problems than you guys, honest truth. But the Lord’s called me here to pastor the church. And it’s such a wonderful thing over the years, all the people God’s brought on board—not to lift me up, it’s all to lift the Lord up—but you’re going to have some organization. Man, praise the Lord for the people over the years that just says, “Hey,” someone said this years ago, and there are lies that they said either, as far as the ministry, as far as churches, God’s even called you to pastor or to assist the pastor. And I’m not trying to say I’m everything. I’m not trying to do that. If you’ve been around here, you know even financial decisions, I’ve told our deacons before, “I get one vote like everybody else gets a vote when it comes to money. It’s not my money; it’s God’s money.”

Now, the decisions as far as preaching and all that, I’m going to lead in those things. But I’m just trying to say I’m not a bully leader. But, friend, man, okay, if God’s called someone else and God’s not called you to lead, assist the leader. And you do a wonderful job. I was talking to a man; he’s a principal for a Christian school. And we were talking years ago, and he said, he said, “You know, we were talking about him and his pastor, both good guys, and I know him both, a very good man. And he said, ‘I don’t want the pastor’s chair. I don’t want that. I don’t want to sit in there; too much going on.’ And he doesn’t want my chair either, and he knows I don’t want his chair, and I don’t think he wants my chair, you know, dealing with kids all day long.” And I thought, “They probably got a pretty good working relationship.”

Whatever it may be, whether it be home or church or at work. Okay, if God’s not called you to be the employee, assist the employee. That’s foreign in our day and time. Either you’re the boss or you’re after the boss, you know. That’s where it is in America. We don’t have good work relationships. You get an employer that gets an employee that says, “Hey, I’m not the employer; I’m here to assist the employee.” If he’s got half a brain, that employer is going to be like, “Man, I’ve got a valuable employee.”

That’s the way it works. And God calls someone to do something, then God calls people to assist. There’s no way Moses could have done it all. No way. By the way, it was more than just Aaron. I mean, remember a little bit later on, the Battle of the Amalekites, and they’re up on the hill, and Moses is holding up the rod of God. I’m looking for something like the rod of God, and he’s holding it up. This is a poor rod of God right here, but he’s holding up the rod of God, you know. What happens? His hand gets tired to hold it up. When he sits down on that rock, and Aaron goes on one side and Hur on the other, and they assist him. That’s just typical. Both—Moses couldn’t have held that rod up long enough for doing it in the battle. Aaron couldn’t have made it on his own.

For 40 days, Moses was going up on the mountain. And when Moses comes down out of the mountain—he comes down from the mountain—he’s got the Ten Commandments. And what’s happening? It’s an idolatrous rock and roll concert going on down there. And Moses says, “What in the world are you doing making this golden calf?” I mean, just 40 days. Aaron needed the leader. Aaron—just 40 days, the things are falling apart. Both are important. They both needed each other. That’s God’s plan typically.

Now, here’s the thing, and I’m almost done. Someone said this: They said, “Success is finding God’s will for your life and doing that.” Success—where’s God got you? Success is fighting the will of God for your life and doing it.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Are you doing the will of God for your life? “Well, I want to know the big thing, and then I’ll start doing.” No, no, no. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” Are you doing it right now? It doesn’t say the setting down and standing still. The steps of the good—just, just right now where you’re at, do what God’s called you to do right now. And then God leads you further. And I want to get in there, and I want to do the will of God for my life now. I hope that should be hard. I want to do the will of God for my life now.

Whatever side of the coin it is, God’s called you to do something. Praise the Lord, please, please do it for the Lord. God’s called you to assist someone in doing the will of God. Praise the Lord, get there and assist. Both are vital. Just doing what God has you do right now is the key. Right now is the key.

I’m going to ask tonight, would you just spend some time asking the Lord, “Am I doing Your will for my life right now?” Right now. Would you spend some time? I’m not going to have you raise your hand. Would you do it? Just spend some time. “Lord, am I doing Your will for my life right now?”

Would you do that? Maybe here tonight, you say, “Preacher, I need to accept the will of God for my life. I’ve kind of been battling. I want to be on the other side of the coin. I just need to accept this where God has me.” Moses, just accept it. God’s calling me to lead. Stop making excuses. Just lead. Aaron, Aaron did good about it; he just assisted. But maybe you’re there, and you stopped trying to be the leader; just assist wherever God has you. He said, “All right, you accept it and be of God.”

Would you stand for a word of prayer? Would you spend some time with the Lord praying about those things? Lord, we come to You. Thank You for Your goodness. Thank You for Moses. Help us to learn from it all, Lord. Father, would You take some of these truths and apply them to our hearts, Lord, please? Have Your will in Your way. Let us be sincere in seeking Your will for our life in the moment and accepting the position You’ve given us. Father, help us to be content right where You put us. Bless these few minutes in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Would you be seated? Spend some time with Him as we should play by a little bit to church. That’s of course on my mind. There’s a lot you can play a lot of different other ways, but it’s amazing. I’ve talked to a lot of pastors over the years that um hired a leading and uh and they stepped out of the ministry. I have seen it so many times, and you know about a year later, they want back in the ministry.

How many you’ve seen that? Just don’t raise your hand, but you’ve seen it. About a year later, man, they’re looking for another book. And if you’re not careful, you’ll spend all your years wanting to be on the other side of the coin the way you are. And then how many people, they’re just always complaining about the leadership, the leadership, and they kind of want to be on the other side of the coin, and they’re not going to think of that. And people will spend their lives not content with where the Lord’s called. You just say, “Hey, that’s where I’m at. That’s what God wants.” I’m just going to be happy to do what God’s going to do. And God puts together those teams. I’m so glad you’re in church tonight. Saturday looking forward to a good banquet at 4 o’clock down at Fair Haven’s Independent Baptist Church. The address is on that sign at the back table. I can do that. I apologize. I don’t have it in front of me. You can Google, of course, but I hope you can come at 4 o’clock. It’s just a special time for the church family, and I think it’ll be a blessing for you. Hope to come to it for sure. That would be a great thing.

Original File: God Makes His Team - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Wednesday PM 142023