I’m one of those different girls who likes football. Even if I don’t understand every part of the game, there’s just something that makes me excited while reading the word “touchdown” when my team scores. The other day while watching my team play, the camera zooms in and one of the fans of my team is standing in the middle of our opponents fan section. In the middle of all their same color, he stood out because of the colors that he was wearing was different. This makes me think about the verse Romans 12:2 which says “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” In what was possibly Jesus’ most powerful sermon, the sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus tells us that we are the light of the world, and to let our light shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in Heaven. What does this mean though, let our light shine? Where does this light come from? How do we get it? In Exodus 34 Moses comes down from Mount Siani the second time, and there is something different about him; so different that everyone else sees what he doesn’t even realize, his face literally shone! What happened on Mount Siani though, to cause this difference? Most of us probably already know this is where we were given the 10 Commandments, but that wasn’t all that happened on Mount Siani. Four other huge events occurred, that I want to talk to you about today. 34:6-7 & 10-27 God spoke to Moses. In 34:8 Moses worshipped God. In 34:9 Moses talked to God, and in 34:28 it says that Moses fasted for forty days. God has many ways of talking to us, but one of the most common ways is through his word. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that all scripture is given by the inspiration of God. Eph. 6:17 calls the word of God the sword of the spirit. We are told in John 17:17 that it is truth. Jesus told us in John 6:63 the words that he spoke to us are spirit and life. In Deut. 8:3 Moses wrote that man shouldnt live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. When Satan tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread in Matthew 4:4 this is the verse that he uses in response to rebuke Satan. So, from all these verses we know that the Bible is the inspired word of God, it is the sword we use to fight the enemy with, it is truth, spirit and life, and is necessary to take in, because without it we will spiritually starve. God spoke to Moses, and God wants to speak to you and I, but in order for this to happen, we must take it in, by studying and reading it daily! Exodus 34:9 Moses talks to God. How do we talk to God? Through prayer. 1 Thess. 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing. No one is going to be able to pray all the time, but that’s taking this scripture out of context. However, God wants and desires to hear from his children. Talking to God too much isn’t a possibility. He wants to hear every desire, every problem, every emotion that we have. He doesn’t want to just hear from us when life is hard or we have a problem, but even in the good times. James 5:16 we are told to pray for each other. It’s easy to pray for our family and friends, but Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:44 to even pray for our enemies. 1 Tim. 2:1-3 tells us to pray for our leaders. Don’t be selfish with your prayers! I have found often that praying for others I get more of a blessing out of doing that and watching them be blessed than I do sometimes having my pastor pray for me. Exodus 34:8 Moses worshipped God. This is something that I don’t think people truly realize the importance of. Worship is just as important as prayer and reading our Bibles. Rev. 14:7 says “Fear God, and give glory to him, worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Luke 4:8 Jesus told Satan that we shall worship the Lord our God. Psalms 29:2 “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name” Rev. 15:4 tells us all nations shall come and worship God. We can worship God anywhere, but we especially need to be worshipping him in his house. Jer. 26:2 says “Thus saith the Lord; Stand in the court of the LORD’S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word.” John 4:24 Jesus tells us God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. In Luke 19 the story is told of Jesus making his triumphantal Palm Sunday entrance. As he did so, the people began to cry out and worship Jesus. We’re told that some of the Pharisees who were in the crowd told Jesus to rebuke his disciples for doing this. Jesus’ response was “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out” I’m going to make a rather bold statement on this, that may lead to some people getting upset with me, so I’m apologizing in advance, but so often in church we have leaders who try to stop the spirit of God from moving. When I was searching for a church there were several that I won’t name but I went in and was terrified of being thrown out the doors if I had raised my hands in worship. If you don’t feel free to worship God however you feel led by him to do, then isn’t that leader like one of the Pharisees we see here? How dare a rock get the honor of praising my Jesus instead of me! So, what is Biblical examples of worship? 1 Tim. 2:8 “Lifting up holy hands.” Luke 17:5 tells about a man who was healed, turning back, praising God with a loud voice, shouting! Psa. 98:4 tells us to make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises. Luke 6:23 tells us to rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is our reward in Heaven. Psa. 47:1 “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” David, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) and the apple of God’s eye (Psa. 17:8) we are told in 2 Sam. 6:14 danced with all his might before the Lord. So raising our hands, shouting, singing, jumping, clapping, and even dancing are all biblical ways to worship. Finally, the last thing that occurred on Mount Siani, Moses fasted. So, what is fasting? It is giving something up, such as food, for a certain set amount of time, and replacing it with prayer, reading God’s word and worship. Moses fasted forty days from food and water, but this doesn’t necessarily mean we have to fast for that long or even just from food and water. We can even fast from one meal, or even Facebook or TV. If you have any questions about this, please send us a message and we’ll be happy to go into further details with you about this. So, what does it take to make our light burn that we are called to do? Prayer, staying in God’s word, worship, and fasting. Even if you were in church all your life, if I guessed, I would say that when you decided to follow Jesus people pointed out that there was something different about you. Maybe you appeared happier, or less stressed out, had a more positive appearance. If you wasn’t in church before, you didn’t want to go to the bar anymore, or you began to dress differently. You probably didn’t even have to say anything, just them being around you, even if they couldn’t figure out what was different, they saw a difference. Moses didn’t even know that his face shone, but everyone around him saw it plainly. They were scared and tried to avoid Moses. That is one of the most painful parts of becoming a Christian, because our friends that are used to us partying with them suddenly doesn’t want to be around us anymore. Why? They see the light that we are shining, and feel the conviction through our testimony and aren’t ready for the change in their own lives. When you see such a difference in someone, it can be a scary thing. You soon hear things like “what has happened to you? You’ve changed. You’re not who you used to be” They are exactly right, we’re not who we used to be! 2 Cor. 5:17 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” Romans 6:4 says when we are baptized, we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” When people see these things though, and they don’t want to hang out with us anymore, it can be hard. Friendships that were important to us, suddenly aren’t there anymore. We then have to make the choice, we can either continue to live for Jesus, or go back to our old ways and have them in our lives. Some of us try to have our friends and hide that we are new creatures in Christ, but Matthew 10:33 Jesus says if we deny him before men, he will deny us before the Father. This doesnt mean that you have to go tell all your friends that you cant be friends with them anymore. However, if they are doing things that you know will be too tempting to be around without giving in, then you need to distance yourself from those activities. When I was praying about this message, God told me “Go tell my people to be a moon!” I have to admit, that was a rather strange command. The more I thought about it though, I realized what it means to be a moon. The moon doesn’t shine its own light, it reflects the suns light. Jesus told us in John 8:12 “I am the light of the world.” In 1 Thess. 5:5 we are told that we are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of the darkness.” We have a job to do, which is to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:79), to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light (Acts 26:18). So, the moon reflects the sun’s light in the darkness. We are to reflect Christ’s light in the darkness, which is sin of the world. Go let people see your light, don’t try to hide it and be ashamed of it, let it burn! Go be a moon!
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 16:00:00 +0000