Who, Me? Yes, You!

I praise the Lord for another wonderful day at Macedonia. It was a Sunday where many of us had to praise God in spite of a heavy heart. Deacon Kevin Howard and his wife CoCo lost their (her) grandmother and we are praying for that family. Our young people are grieving the loss of a schoolmate who died due to Bacterial meningitis. In addition many of our church members either work or attend this same school that they shut down due to this.

With all of this and much more, I was encouraged to see a church that was determined to press their way to see Jesus, no it was not our usual service in delivery or demonstration but it was dynamic for the glory of God.

We began a series on EXCUSES: The Things that keep us from God's Plan In us; God's Purpose For us; God's Power Through us, and God's Provisions Towards us. An Excuse is: an attempt to release from an obligation or duty by mitigating circumstances, or a reason put forward to justify an action. One writer says that excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.

In Exodus 3 God calls Moses from living a life of obscurity to a life of prominence. It was the obscurity of the desert where God speaks through a burning bush experience. The Hebrew word for "desert" is midbaar which comes from the word dahbaar meaning "to speak" which suggests that the desert is the place where God speaks. What constitutes a desert for me may not seem like a desert to you but we all have to go through a desert.

Swindoll says the desert wears many faces, it can be crowded with people but still lonely, it may rain night and day and yet it is still barren, flowers may bloom and trees may blossom all around you but it can be desolate on your patch of ground. But it is in this place where God speaks and he selects because He is Sovereign and Sufficient.

Moses gives two excuses, one in 3:11 and another in 3:13. To get out of service Moses said, Who am I, and Who are You? Moses basically says, Lord I don't know who I am and I don't know who you are and it is impossible to know who you are until you know who God is, so God reveals himself by saying, I AM.

God is all you need, when you find Him, you find sufficiency. The songwriter says God is my everything, He's my joy in sorrow, He's my hope for tomorrow, He's my rock in a weary land, a shelter in the time of storm, God is my everything.

He is my Access when I can get in, He is my Brother, He is my Courage to face life's difficult moments, He is my Deliverer to avoid Satan's traps and snares, He is my Example, He is a Friend that sticketh closer than any brother, He is Guarantee, He is my Help, He is Intercessor, He is my Justifier, He is my Kinsman Redeemer, He is my Light, He is my Motivation when I don't want to get out of the Bed or even preach on Sunday, He is my Navigation when I can't find my way, He is my Oasis in the middle of my desert experiences, He is my Peace that surpasses all Human Understanding, He gets me out of my Quagmires, because He is My Ransom, He is Strength and my Salvation, He is my Treasure because God is the Ultimate Upgrade, He is my Victory and He is my Well that gives me joy, When you are on the outside looking in, you need someone on the inside looking out at you in love, God says I am the Xenophile you need, I am your Yardstick to measure your growth and I am your Zion, the center of my joy, my banner, battle cry, battalion leader,

God is I AM THAT I AM.


Owens