Meeting God

Intro.: When I meet someone new, I want to know something about them.

1. It really goes both ways – I want to learn about them, and they will want to learn about me.
2. It's part of the conversational process.
3. That process starts for Moses in Exodus 3:7-12

Read: Exodus 3:7-12

Pray

Trans: Moses would have been startled when God spoke, but as he listened to God he learned a great deal about God

T.S. In Exodus 3:7-12 we will see three characteristics of God described as God began to instruct Moses in the task Moses had ahead of him.

1. God is omniscient – He is all-knowing

   1. “Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,” Exodus 3:7

   2. I don't know if Moses knew that God was looking, that God was watching.

   3. Not just him (after all he found Moses in Midian), but Israel (250 miles away) as well.

(Ill.) While the Americans were blockading Cuba, several captains endeavored to elude their vigilance by night, trusting that the darkness would conceal them as they passed between the American warships. But in almost every case the dazzling rays of a searchlight frustrated the attempt, and the fugitives’ vessel was captured by the Americans. The brilliant searchlight sweeping the broad ocean and revealing even the smallest craft on its surface is but a faint example of the Eternal Light from which no sinner can hide his sin.¹

4. God knew what was going on – whether it was 3500 years ago in a desert in the Middle East, or around an island in the Gulf of Mexico, or atop a hill on the outskirts of a village in upstate New York, God knew, God knows what is going on.

(Appl.) It is easy for us to forget that God knows all things. But at Christmas we have no problem singing --

He sees you when you're sleeping He knows when you're awake He knows if you've been bad or good²

The song may be about Santa Clause – but Santa Clause is a fun, though fictional, part of Christmas. On the other hand, the words do apply to an omniscient God.

The God we serve knows both our flaws and out needs. We cannot hide our pains – whatever their source – from Him. God is omniscient, God does know all things.

2. God is omnipotent – he is all-powerful

   1. There was a time that I felt omnipotent – all powerful.

   2. I could do anything, I could fix anything, I could - well you get the picture.

   3. But the truth is I am not – and, in spite of how I felt, I never was.

   4. However, the same cannot be said of God – He is, He was, He always will be omnipotent

"and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:8-11

(Ill.) A. W. Tozer understood what it meant for God to be omnipotent: “The Lord God omnipotent can do anything as easily as anything else. All His acts are done without effort. He expends no energy that must be replenished.”³

5. What no man could do, God could accomplish. What no man can do, God can accomplish.

6. The only limits that God has are the very limits he has put on himself. The limits that allow us to be free. The limits that allow us to choose – good or bad.

(Appl.) The same freedom that allows us to choose to do good also allows us to choose to do bad. God has given up some of His power, so that we have the freedom to exercise some of our own power.

3. God is omnipresent – He is always present

1. God is omniscient, God is omnipotent. He is also omnipresent – He is always present.

(Ill.) I've told you before about our trip back to California a number of years ago. We had gone for my father's funeral – but had a couple of extra days on our hands before stopping to also visit Sandra's mother. We made a trip up California's coast to Eureka. We toured the Red Woods, we took a day trip up and down the coast, and we went to church. It was amazing experience. The pastor had no idea who we were – but God did.

Here, 2000 miles away from our home at the time, we were singing the same music, reading the same Bible, hearing the voice of the same God, that we had heard just a week before at home. God knew what we needed at then, God knew where we were hurting – and he met us there. God was there.

2. God is here this morning.

3. God is in your apartment – late at night when you feel very alone.

4. God is there – when you need him most.

Conclusion: I don't know your future.

1. Whatever you face – God knows about it

2. Whatever you face – God is in control

3. Whatever you face – God is there

4. Whatever you face – turn it over to God.

Pray

1AMG Bible Illustrations. 2000. Bible Illustrations Series. Chattanooga: AMG Publishers.

2http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/lonestar/santaclausiscomintotown.html

3Morgan, R. J. (2004). Nelson’s annual preacher’s sourcebook (2004 Edition). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.