Exodus 3 and Mission Good Friday 4

Hello Project Ezra.  This week’s post starts with a prayer request for the family and friends of David Mann.  David, a fellow Ambassador’s Academy graduate, street preacher, and Project Ezra member, went to be with his Lord and savior due to a tragic car crash yesterday morning.  He was only 25, and was killed when another driver ran a red light.  Although I did not know David personally, he was known to many within the Biblical evangelism community, which tends to be very tightly knit, as a faithful herald of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  His Facebook page, still up as of this writing (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1150610982), certainly shows where his heart was.  Please pray for comfort for those believers who knew him, and conviction his friends and family who did not.  Sometimes it’s this type of tragedy that can spur those who knew him to consider eternal things.  It can also be an excellent illustration of the shortness of life, and how we must consider eternity now.  I’m sure David would approve.

This week we will be looking at Exodus chapter 3, the story of Moses and the burning bush.  The account is familiar, and this week I would like to focus on who God declares Himself to be through His name.  He is the I AM, the one being who’s existence is within himself.  You may have been asked by skeptics “Who created God?”    But part of the definition of God is His eternality, that fact that He is not dependent on anything or anyone else for His existence.  Some may respond that they don’t believe in God, but of course it doesn’t matter whether they believe or not, or whether we believe for that matter.  What matters is what is true, and the Bible states that God has made the truth of His existence so evident that men are without excuse.  It also says that God’s word is powerful and active, and that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.  So, although philosophical or apologetic discussions on the existence of God can be and sometimes are appropriate when people have real questions (which is NOT always the case), we should trust in the truth that all men know God exists, and it’s through the preaching of the gospel and the truth of who He is that people will come to repentance and faith, not merely through good arguments or intellectual knowledge.

Finally, we are just one week away from Mission Good Friday, year four!  It’s amazing that Project Ezra is still going strong, with many faithful brothers and sisters in Christ participating regularly.  So far we are approaching three dozen participants signed up for this year, representing several continents and many countries.  Project Ezra is certainly an international group, which is a huge encouragement to me, as I hope it is to you.  But there is still room for many to participate.  In the past, we have had events with well over 150 people taking part, and it would be wonderful to see that happen again.  And Good Friday and Easter are perfect times to share the gospel.  So, tell your church family, email your friends and relatives who are believers, and post the event information on social media or your blog. 

You can access the basic group and event information here: http://projectezra.blogspot.com/2012/03/mission-good-friday-year-four.html. 

The Facebook event is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/377899072230401/?__adt=9

The participation map is here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104960437667374672361/posts/9BLQF34oGiK

Post your location on the event page or send me a message if you want to be added to the map.  Also, feel free to have your friends send me a Facebook message or email as well, if they have additional questions.

All for His glory!

Dan

READ EXODUS 3

I AM WHO I AM

Say I AM has sent you.

In this passage, Moses meets the God who is

God is the one being who has the reason for existence within Himself

He is the source of all existence

The only one who has always been, and creator of all things

No one created God.  Part of the definition of God is His eternal existence

(Some thoughts on God’s existence: http://carm.org/if-everything-needs-creator-then-who-or-what-created-god)

Doesn’t matter whether you believe or not

God is real and true regardless of what you or I think

What will happen when you stand before that God?

God is a God of love and mercy

Demonstrated in the mercy and love He showed to Israel

Also a God of justice and wrath

Showed to the nation of Egypt

A holy God

Holy means perfect in moral character, pure, other than all we know or experience

Moses frightened to look on God’s holiness

Isaiah said “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5 ESV)

No evil or sin allowed in His sight

We are evil and sinful

Compare yourself by God’s holiness

Look at God’s law

SPECIFICS ON GOD’S LAW.  BRING CONVICTION OF SIN (Exodus 20, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Revelation 21:8, etc.)

Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect.  None of us come close.

If God demands perfection, and we are not perfect, how can we stand before Him?

Through the perfection of another

Only one who was ever perfect, and holy

Jesus Christ, God in human flesh

God the Son humbled Himself, became man (John 1)

Lived the only perfect life, died the only perfect death

Perfect sacrifice for sin

Cannot pass over sin.  His justice must be satisfied.

Jesus, our one mediator and perfect sacrifice, paid our sin debt

Only mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ (1 Tim 2:5)

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.  (Colossians 2:13-14 ESV)

The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. (Hebrews 7:23-28 ESV)

Died a horrible, bloody death on the cross to pay our debt

Rose on the third day, proving His power over death

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 ESV)

Turn from your sin and trust in Him today!

Turn to Him in repentance and faith, and you will be born again

Transformed by God from the inside out.  Will change your heart and desires

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.  (Ezekiel 36:25-27 ESV)

Don’t put it off

Life is short, and none of us is promised a tomorrow

you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:14 ESV)

150,000 people die every day.  One day soon might be yours

Turn to Christ while God has graciously given you time.