What The Faith Of Moses Can Teach Us About Living A Powerful Missional Life
"By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned." Hebrews 11:27-29 (NIV)
Moses Faith Teaches Us:
I. That Our Faith Will Help Us Stay Focused On God Who Will Help Us Overcome Our Fears!
"By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger he persevered because he saw him who is invisible ..."
Pursuing God's mission will always bring opposition. That thought can be a very frightening proposition. There will always be people that oppose God and His will and they will come to attack God's servants in order to stop the success of God's plan.
Faith allows you to see past the opposition to focus on the God who delivers.
II. That Our Faith In God Will Help Us Live Obedient Lives To God!
"By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel ..."
Moses had heard how God was going to send the death Angel and kill all of the first born sons that lived in Egypt. He also heard about how God provided a way for His people to escape the judgement coming from the Death Angel.
Because Moses' faith allowed Him to believe that God would be true to His word and everything would happen just as He said - that faith propelled Moses to obey God by getting the Children of Israel to put the blood of the lamb on their door post and thereby making it possible for the Death Angel to pass by those homes.
Obedience is always necessary for experiencing God's blessings. Obedience always come before the blessings flow.
Part of missional living, as taught by Christ at the Great Commission, is to teach new disciples to not only understand all that Christ commanded but to also obey all that Christ commanded.
Missional Living doesn't teach God's word just for knowledge but to lead Christ's followers to obey. Missional Living is an obedience driven discipleship venture.
III. That Our Faith In God Will Help Us Overcome All Obstacles!
"... By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned."
NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A BIG OBSTACLE!
Moses and the Children of Israel would never have made it to the Promise Land if they didn't exercise their faith in God and start walking through the Red Sea on dry land with a wall of water on both sides of them. They had to trust God that they could get across safely.
Unresolved obstacles hinders God's people from moving forward to accomplishing God's plan and mission!
In missional living there will always be obstacles standing in the way of accomplishing the work of God but faith allows us to trust God to overcome those obstacles by providing away.
Faith compels us to move forward trusting that as we step forward God will prepare the way.