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It is indeed a pleasure to be here. I can honestly say there is nowhere that I would rather be at this moment and this time than preaching God's word here during lent at Austin Seminary. Thank you

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for joining me and being part of this community as it is gathered today. It will never be the way it is exactly at this moment. So we're grateful to God to be in God's house today.

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You have heard the reading from the Hebrew scriptures now here, reading from the new testament from first Corinthians chapter two, beginning at verse one, listen for God's word. When I came to you, brothers

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and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you and lofty words are wisdom for I decided to know nothing among you except jesus christ and him crucified and I came to you and weakness

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and in fear and in much trembling my speech and my problem proclamation were not plausible. Words of wisdom , but with a demonstration of the spirit and of power so that your faith might rest not on human

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wisdom, but on the power of God. Here ends the reading to God, be glory forever. Let us pray. Mhm. Guide us. O God! By your word, by your power,

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By your wisdom. Nourish us. Oh God! With your word of life. Meet us. Even in this moment as we opened ourselves up to you . So that in your light we may see light

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in your truth. Find freedom and in your will , discover your piece through jesus christ our Lord. Oh man! All right, we all know the story of moses moses is the son of a hebrew

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slave who was brought up by pharaoh's daughter. He rises from the ranks of pharaoh's household and one day kills an Egyptian guard who was beating a hebrew slave moses escapes to the wilderness of Midian and he meets

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a young woman named Zipporah marries her and is welcomed into his father in law's business. He's tending Jethro sheep. When he sees a burning bush, he takes a closer look and he hears a voice instructing

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him to take off his shoes. For the place on which he is standing is holy ground moses recognizes the holiness of the place where he's standing. He knows he's at the Mountain of God. By the

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way, anytime you see the mountain of God and the bible, you know, something is going to happen. It is a place known by the spiritual activity that happens there. So you can expect that

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another spiritual experience may indeed happen in this place. Spiritual things happen at mountains. In the bible moses hears his name spoken and he's presented with the opportunity to meet the God of his mother. And father

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moses knows he is on holy ground, Curiously. This is the first time the term holy is used in the Bible here in Exodus. 1st 5 God is here at the mountain and moses experiences the Holy

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. Have you experienced the Holy the majesty, The mystery of God? I experience it when I walk outside on a warm austin day and notice the beauty of nature. I can notice it in snow,

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but I really notice it when I see something green . Maybe you've experienced it in a breathtaking landscape at home, when you get on your knees to pray in the sanctuary of a church, in this chapel

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, at a concert, when you hear beautiful instruments and voices and are suddenly drawn into the Holy mystery of God. In a big way, Rudolf Otto spoke of encountering the Holy in his book, the

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idea of the Holy for oct bach's Mass in B minor Mendelssohn setting of psalm two and the popular mayors of thomas, luis de vitoria get as near to the heart and mystery and majesty of God as any

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music can. Now there are other pieces of music that may be just as holy for you. Songs by Kirk franklin, or they grew back or more contemporary musicians. There may be pieces of music or

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art or places in the earth that are holy ground for you. Our native american sisters and brothers are known for their appreciation of the earth and recognizing the holiness of God's creation. And sometimes we get it

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too. However, we experience holiness. We are often struck with awe and unworthiness when we encounter it , moses hid his face. He was made aware of the power, the majesty, the mystery of

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God, and he turned away, afraid to hear more afraid to know, more afraid to see more . God calls moses to lead God's people out of Egypt to a land of freedom moses resists God's call

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. He offers several points of resistance. The first resistance is that he's nobody who am I. That I should go to pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt moses didn't know who he was, moses

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didn't know he was moses. Okay, do you suppose moses start dang? I knew I shouldn't have led this flock to the mountain of God before he could even fully hear his call to ministry. He

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was already trying to back out of it. To question it. To doubt himself. To doubt God moses has many objections to God's call to him. Who am I? He says, who are you

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? What's your name? And then he says, people won't believe me. He's afraid he will be rejected by his own people. He says he's a poor speaker. Eventually moses says, Lord, please

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send somebody else. I know no one in this room has had this experience. God fed up with moses objection says, okay, take Aaron with you . He will speak for you now, here's another

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curious dynamic. God doesn't answer nor refute moses objections , but God overrides them by continuing to place moses called before him. When moses says he's inadequate, God doesn't say you are adequate. Yeah, but

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God says I will be with you. When moses says, I don't even know your name. God doesn't say, let me tell you who I am . God gives moses. God gives moses a formula

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which yields no name at all. When moses says , I'm a poor speaker, God doesn't say you're a great speaker, but God says I preside over speech, I give tongues as they are needed.

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Finally, God does give moses Aaron as his spokesperson , but still moses is the leader in the confrontation to come. This is moses pivotal moment and look at how badly he's trying to get out of it

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. Is anybody here relating to this stuff moses was at a time of great possibility, a time of transformation, a time of challenge and leadership and ministry , and he questioned his call. Sometimes we get

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in the way in responding to God's call in our lives. I understand moses questioning because I questioned God to God, I don't know how God's call has presented itself in your life. But it took me

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many years to respond to my call to ministry. I thought if I just ignored God long enough, maybe God would go away. I convinced myself that I was hearing somebody else's call, but it was

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coming through me. You know how phone lines get crossed? Well, you probably don't know that. But phone lines used to get crossed and you would hear someone else's in certain neighborhoods. It still happens

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, but you would hear somebody else's conversation. You may know the spiritual jesus is on the mainline, tell him what you want. Well, Jesus was on the main line and I kept telling him you

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have the wrong number, Jeremiah and Isaiah, question God's call to them to. Some of their objections were similar. I'm not worthy enough. I don't speak. Well. That's when people use a lot

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. I'm not good enough. I'm only a boy . I'm a woman, I'm 60 years old, I'm in a wheelchair. I'm at a small church . I'm blind. Who am I? Lord.

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Yeah, sometimes we don't know who we are and sometimes we don't recognize where we are. We have to be reminded that we are on holy ground. We know we are ministers, teachers, leaders in

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the church, but we forget the awe of it , the honor, the privilege, the mystery, the holiness of the place where we stand, we stand before God at a pivotal time in the life

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of the Presbyterian Church. Usa it is a time of great possibility, a time of transformation, of re reaffirmation, of regeneration, of welcome, of renewal. We can be changed, recreated, empowered

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, freed. And we don't even know it. Some of us do not know who we are. God has endowed us with gift upon gift with a cloud of grace to walk upon and we don't even

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know it. Many of us are called to a special and particular ministry. God is going to do