Just Say Yes...Part 2

Below is this past week's message notes. I really enjoyed it and think you would too. You can listen to it here.


Just Say Yes...When You Feel Inadequate

Exodus 3-4 (Moses)
>Moses resisted God's call to use him (he even gave 5 reasons why he was inadequate!)
->3:3 "I must turn aside, and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." (NASB)
-->Moses did not HAVE to turn aside; he chose to. We also must choose.

How God are you at turning aside to listen to God? How hard is it for God to get your attention?

1. Who am I? v.11 (I'm nobody. How am I supposed to do what you want me to?)
>God does not look for extraordinary people, just regular people willing to say yes to an extraordinary God.
>v.12 (God's response) "I will be with you"
->Hebrews 11 - common people with great faith
->2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

2. Who are you? v.13 (What about your character and intentions?
>v.14 "I am". I AM the God who cares about you.

3. What if they do not believe me or listen to me? 4:1
>God asks Moses to trust him; provides miraculous signs
->God asks us to give him whatever is in our hand (unhindered access to what we DO have).

4. I am slow of speech and tongue. v.10
>v.11 Who gave man his mouth?...Is it not I, the Lord?...I will help you.
->God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called.
->God has made you perfect for what he wants you to do.

5. Please send someone else to do it. v.13
>God gives him his brother Aaron to help him.
->In community we help one another say yes to God.
->Who is your Aaron, helping you say yes to God? Who are you being an Aaron to?

What happened to the burning bush? Scripture doesn't say. Perhaps it's still burning, inviting us to turn aside and answer God's call.

The cross of Christ has made our insecurities irrelevant.


This was such a good message. We are all guilty of making excuses as to why we cannot do what God has asked us to do. It may be as simple as "It's too hard". I know I can be like Moses and just not want to (Please send someone else). But there's a reason God has asked ME to do this thing. There is something he wants to teach me or bless me with. I don't want to miss out on gaining intimacy with and knowledge of God. I need to stay connected so that I will have eyes to see and a heart willing to turn aside.

Is there anything in your life that you know God wants you to do but you keep making excuses? Perhaps you should ask God to answer your insecurities like he did Moses'. Of course, if you do this, you may feel really silly when you realize how small you've made God out to be. He can do ANYTHING with ANYONE!

BUG Book

I believe I've mentioned on here before that I am working on writing a book for Christian girls preparing for college. Well, I finished the first draft at the end of July and handed out a few copies to some trusted people to read and make comments the beginning of August. That was a scary step because it required me to be vulnerable to others and allow them to critique my writing style and ideas. But I knew it was necessary. It was probably also good to let people who know me see it first so that I can get used to the feedback before giving it to random people who will probably be more harsh with their comments. Plus I want it to be well developed before potential publishers see it.

It is now the middle of October. I have received a couple of manuscripts back with notes. There are still a couple floating out there, which is fine. However, I have done absolutely nothing with the notes since receiving them. I did read through the first edited manuscript to see what kind of feedback there was. It was much more encouraging than I had expected (why I expected harshness, I have no idea). But they've just sat in the closet not being properly used. I have had people ask how the book is going and have honestly answered that I've been lazy and done nothing with them. In slight defense, I was dealing with my first trimester of pregnancy which makes one less than ambitious.

You would think that the accountability of people knowing and asking would motivate me, but it really didn't. I was okay with being honest about my laziness and not doing anything about it. I was sort of proud that I was at least honest. But, at the Catalyst Conference, the question was raised by someone speaking whether there was something God had called us to do that we weren't doing. I immediately thought about the book. God placed the idea and desire in me and I do need to be obedient and see it to completion. I don't know what is going to happen with it, but I need to do my part. And then Sunday's message was about needing to be obedient to God's promptings if we want to continue to hear him.

I finally got the message. I need to put aside any of my handy excuses for not working on the book (I'm lazy, the editing part is soooooo boring, I don't have all of my copies back) and just do it. So I decided to go back to the reasoning I used when working on the first draft when the writing became tedious. "Just sit down for 15 minutes and work on it. When it's done, you can go do other things." In the past, fifteen minutes sometimes was just that. But many times it turned in to an hour or more.

This morning I decided that it would be the first task I worked on for the day. To my surprise, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined it to be. I know some later parts will be more challenging than today's editing process, but fifteen minutes is a manageable chunk of time. I think I had allowed Satan to build it up in my mind as this completely boring and painful chore, which kept me from action. Now that I've taken that first step, I think the next one will be easier. Praise God who frees us from fear and does not allow us to drown in condemnation, shame or guilt!