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00:10 I'd like to thank Taka for that wonderful reading and all the pictures
00:15 which made it easier to understand. We are starting a series for the next uh
00:23 month or so on the book of Exodus.
00:28 Now the book of Exodus the first thing people think of is all those movies there are two movies on the
00:34 book of Exodus already one famous Charles H movie for those you old enough
00:40 to remember and then there is the Disneyland movie there's a new one coming up next here the year after Nick
00:46 with Christian Bill of Batman acting in it there's a fascination with this book the thing when you think of the book of
00:53 Exodus you think special effects waters parting plagues you you know thunder and
00:58 lightning and it's difficult at first hand to see how is it relevant to you
01:04 and I in our everyday life you find it is and it's tremendously uh
01:10 encouraging and for me it has been very eye openening let me start off first with a few questions which we will
01:16 address today uh and I think as the lord leads the church to grow I I I challenge
01:22 that perhaps there what god is saying to each one of us here's a question uh which Snoopy is asking where am I going?
01:30 What am I doing? What is the meaning of life? Snoopy. Okay. And many people try
01:36 to answer that. It's it's a question that every human being at one point in
01:41 their life will ask. What am I on earth for? Tagline of
01:47 alpha. Who am I? Why am I here? Who do I belong with? Why why are you here in
01:53 church? What is the purpose in all of this? And the world offers many answers.
01:60 All sorts of answers. Purpose is to be happy. Some say it's not. Some say just
02:05 follow whatever you want. You know, everyone has an idea.
02:10 What is your purpose in life? What is why are you here? Who do you belong
02:16 with? Who are you? Now what if we twist the question a bit
02:22 differently and we don't ask all this usual what is my purpose why am I here who do I belong who am I what if we
02:29 twist the question and what if we twist the question and say what is your
02:34 calling now you find is actually saying the same thing but on the other hand it's not
02:41 because when you say there's a calling who is calling
02:46 who is calling So this morning we look at that. Now in church when we say calling we tend to
02:52 say oh that refers to pastors to elders doesn't refer to me or if you think of
02:58 calling oh calling must mean my ministry. So some people tell me or honor your calling is to speak publicly
03:04 in church. Not so sure that is some people say oh my calling is to teach Sunday school. Is that what calling
03:10 means? Is your calling to sit there in church every Sunday come there sit go back sit go back. So what does calling
03:18 mean? The book of Exodus concerns mainly Moses. Moses called to be a patriarch,
03:26 prophet, priest and leader. How is that relevant to us today? And this morning I
03:34 want to ask a question which I I really really pray at the end of the service you will go back and you have some
03:40 conviction. What is your spiritual calling? What is your calling? And we
03:46 look at Exodus 2 on this. Let us go before the Lord in prayer. Lord, we we this morning we come before you. As we
03:53 start off the book of Exodus, we thank you that the church is growing. But as we grow, we ask ourselves, what is our
04:00 role in our church? Who is calling us in life? What is our purpose in life? We all say we are
04:07 Christians, but some other things drag us, pull us in our spiritual journey. Oh
04:12 Lord, who are we? What do we do? What is important to us? Teach us to learn from
04:19 your word. May you be my mouth and may whatever I teach reflect what scripture
04:25 says. Say this in Jesus name. Amen. The word Exodus to us means balong.
04:32 So you'll find that the only term. So it refers to a huge group of people moving.
04:37 So we call it, you know, Chinese New Bal Kong Exodus. Let me give you a brief of
04:43 the book of Exodus since we are starting this. The book of Exodus can be divided into two key sections and different
04:50 speakers may break it differently but simply there are two main sections. The first is from Egypt and out of Egypt and
04:59 the three things we look at today. We look at the calling of Moses and the key
05:05 sections will be the first three chapters and then after that you have with the elders approaching Faroh. Then
05:10 there's the very famous plagues of Egypt and of course leaving Egypt where the very famous SFX scene of the Red Sea
05:17 parting and everybody going through everyone remembers that. The second part of the book of Exodus is a bit more
05:24 boring but it's very critical. The first part chapter 16 to 20 tells us how the
05:30 10 commandments are brought to the Hebrew people. And the other section
05:36 which is totally almost neglected and which is very critical is the setting up of the tabernacle. So that is basically
05:43 an outline of the book of Exodus. Let me just continue. Exodus is chapter 2.
05:48 Chapter one is Genesis and at the end of the book of Genesis we are told Joseph goes into Egypt. Here are some uh
05:56 Egyptian herography and you find at one point Egypt was very multicultural.
06:01 The picture out there is widely believed by a lot of Jewish archaeologists to represent a painting of Hebrew people
06:10 entering Egypt. We don't know uh uh Jewish archaeologists say that
06:15 because you look at the dressing the dressing they claim are Canaanite dressing. But the picture on the right
06:21 you see the the Egyptians had a lot of mix with many people. You can see Africans there, there are Europeans
06:28 there. There are people of many cultures and some of the tombs will show you some
06:33 of the regalia of many of the ambassadors. You look at that from many nations, Nubians, Midionites, uh, who
06:40 come to Egypt. Now, I I just want to make a small point. At the time of Joseph, he was good,
06:47 multicultural, something we all understand. You could be a minority in that country and that country treated
06:54 you well. That one we all resonate a bit better. But times change. You see times change.
07:01 Here is what we call a chronology of how the exodus may have occurred. We are not
07:07 sure. This is a very commonly held hypothesis. There is 430 years from the
07:13 time of Joseph to Moses. And there was a rise of an empire called the Hixos
07:18 Empire. And is universally agreed the Hixos Empire in Egypt was very much
07:24 founded on Jews. A lot of Arabs don't like that. But it's it's very much believed it was a multicultural empire.
07:31 Times are good. So you ask all the older people here, there were times when in Malaysia times are good. Less racism,
07:39 more multiculturalism, more equality. But different pharaohs come, different
07:45 governments come, things change, and pharaohs can become very brutal. Here's
07:51 a carving of a pharaoh trying to kill off a group of Libyans widely believe.
07:58 And in Tutama's uh tomb, there's a cane of two groups of people on a cane. One
08:03 is a Nubian and one is an Asotic man. You know what he's saying? That means he's actually gripping them. Meaning
08:09 he's being cruel to outsiders. Now why am I spending time on this? What the
08:14 Bible is trying to tell you is this. In our life in Malaysia, there will be different sorrows.
08:20 Certain times we treat minorities well. Certain times they treat minorities
08:26 badly. But God allows that. Got to pick that in mind. Now where we are now in history, I
08:32 leave that to you. Okay. And here we find a backdrop. Exodus 11:14. So the
08:38 Pharaoh put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor. And they built pit and rammes as tall cities for
08:45 Pharaoh. They made their lives bitter with hard labor and brick and mortar with kinds of work in the fields. In all
08:51 their hard labor, the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. And there many carvings
08:57 to show you how this actually occurred. You have a lot of pictures out there to
09:02 show that the Egyptians used slave labor. And you look at that, you can tell they actually painted as
09:07 non-Egyptians, Nubians, Hebrews. The the member type steel is a very famous
09:12 carving that showed a a slave master hitting what is widely believed to be Hebrew slaves.
09:20 Now here's the first point in their slavery. They call out what do they
09:26 want? They want God to make their lives better. Like some of us nowadays
09:33 you see what they do to education blueprint. See what they do to quot system. See what they do. I want to
09:40 migrate cannot migrate. So I pray my life gets better since cannot get PR in
09:45 Australia. Too poor. God maybe answers differently. The three
09:51 points here. God doesn't answer their prayers by making the lives of the Israelites better in Egypt. And this is
09:57 what they want. He answers by calling them out of Egypt.
10:02 Calling them out Egypt. Can you imagine conversation or Moses goes, "Hi, hi. Hi. Hello. Excuse me. I'm here to help you.
10:08 Hallelujah. God has answered your prayers. And Egyptian says, "Okay, right. What what we going to do?" Well,
10:14 we're going to call it out, Egypt. Where are we going? I don't know. How do we go? Not sure. Trust me. In
10:22 essence, that's what the book is. Leave Egypt. Go to where you may worship
10:28 God. Where? Don't know. God will tell us on the way. That is what the book of
10:33 Exodus is. Moses does not expect to be called to lead the Israelites.
10:39 The same way the Jews did not expect Jesus to call them for spiritual liberation. They thought they were very
10:44 holy. They wanted the temple restored and they wanted liberation from the
10:51 Romans. Now here the first thing about calling. When was the last time God surprised
10:57 you? Because God's calling is often not what we expect.
11:03 How does a goldfish live? His life is very boring. Every day look around a a
11:08 bowl. No surprises. Most people's lives are the same. You know for all their holidays actually
11:16 very boring one. You know fly air Asia now everyone can fly. Go to here go
11:22 there buy car buy property. Now property $600 per square foot still buying better buy before RGBT tax come in. This is my
11:30 life. This is your life. Hey, where's God? Forgot about God.
11:36 Better put God somewhere in there. Somewhere in there. Where's God? Ah, Sunday. Okay, Sunday. I put God in
11:42 there. Now, you see, Pastor Dor said something very, very prophetic two weeks ago.
11:49 Extremely prophetic. He said, "Are you fitting into God's plan or are you trying to fit God into your plan?"
11:57 When you have rolled out your life, no, this is where I am. This is how I'm going to retire. This way my children
12:03 are going to go to school university. This way we're going to go holiday mat fair. I got a very good deal. Ah
12:11 God where Sunday next Sunday next Sunday cannot long weekend don't come to church. The other Sunday you feel very
12:18 guilty never serve. Okay. Occasionally do a bit of do a bit of ah that's it. My
12:24 next 10 years that's my life. Guess who's doing the calling? You are
12:31 doing the calling, not God. First point, God's calling will surprise you. If it
12:39 won't, there's probably not God calling you. I can tell you for a fact, 20 years
12:44 ago, you said, "I will speak in front of a church. I would have I will run very far away." But God had plans. Here's
12:52 another thing about calling. The way we we we tend to look at spiritual calling like ministry. You know I'm called to
12:58 serve in church and there normally three ways of looking at it. You have a burden for a certain task. And I'm not saying
13:04 this is wrong. Yeah. For example, you you feel concern for poor people or you feel concern for kids or you feel
13:11 concerned for uniform body then you tell yourself you have the gifts for that and
13:17 then you can work with the group within it. Now I'm not saying any of this wrong but if we are honest most of us will
13:23 approach ministry this way. Now I'm not saying it's wrong at all. So you think, "Yeah, okay. I I can cook.
13:29 I can get along with the chefs in the in Globe Cafe. I have the skill. I can teach everyone to do sushi. I'm going to
13:35 go be a chef. I I I I can teach Sunday school. I can get along with teachers. I
13:40 I can do arts and craft. I can do so and so. I'd be a Sunday school teacher." Most of us go along that way. Now, I
13:47 want I want to I want to break that perception. You know, this is the way most people look at their gifting. I
13:53 want to tell you a secular thinking. I'm not saying he's wrong, but he's secular.
13:59 Now, let's see how Moses was called. God tells Moses, "Now go. I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the
14:06 Israelites, out of Egypt." Now, did Moses says, "Yes, Lord. I have the gift. I can walk with the Israelites. I got a
14:12 calling. Let's go." Did Moses say that? Moses said, "Uh, who am I? Uh, I should
14:18 go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites of Egypt." That's first thing. Then God says, "No, no, no, no, no." God tells it
14:24 to him, you must go. Tries to convince him. What does Moses say? Uh, what if
14:30 they don't believe me? They don't listen to me. So God tells G. No, no, no.
14:35 Moses, you can do, you can do it. Moses reassures. God reassures Moses. Then Moses says, "Uh, oh Lord, I cannot talk
14:42 very well." You know, only people in church can talk very well. No, no, no, no. Like me, I I
14:48 started I started I I cannot go like God, don't not me, not me. So God tells him you got to go performs the miracle
14:56 reassures him. Now this is God speaking to Moses. You know this is strike three
15:02 three times and God tells Moses you got to go. I will be with you. I will be
15:08 your mouth. You know how Moses answers God send someone else.
15:15 Send someone else. Now this is very profound.
15:21 Moses was called to lead the Israelites of Egypt. Moses said, "No."
15:28 Gideon was called to lead an army against the Imidian. Gideon said, "No,
15:34 I'm not good enough." Peter was called to bring the gospel to the Gentiles.
15:40 In not so many words, he said, "No, they're not good enough." All of these I got to thank Shate
15:48 because the reality is this. Let me be honest. Some time ago, I sat down with Shayla and I said, you know, I'm going
15:53 to be honest to you. I said I don't feel like preaching. Honest you. I said preaching should be for pastors. Not
16:00 comfortable. So Sheila lectured me, you know. She can lecture people on you know she lectured me not happy today write
16:06 the article I think written to Taro you know you read your church bulletin today. But she was very correct and and
16:12 and I went back I thought about it and what she said was right. Now here's the point. The point is this. God can call
16:19 you to a task even though you have no passion, no interest, no desire or
16:27 confidence for. This is totally against what the world teaches.
16:33 God not only will surprise you, but God will call you out of your comfort zone
16:40 to a task you will not believe. Now, I think this is very, very
16:46 fundamental. Because a lot of us see spiritual calling within our comfort zone. We have
16:53 a certain skill set. We have a certain ministry. We'll match it and then we're happy. It satisfies our conscience. The
17:01 next 20 years I do that. But scripture teaches us we have a God that will
17:08 surprise us. When was the last time God surprised you?
17:14 Now, if he hasn't, maybe you haven't heard his calling.
17:19 When were the last time you went into a task totally you felt unprepared for,
17:26 but the church leader said you should do it? Now, if you do that, you're closer to
17:32 God's calling. I want to give four points from the text that tells you how
17:38 to discern your spiritual calling. Number one, realize your spiritual identity.
17:44 Second point, God is working your life even if it appears not to be. Point
17:51 three, we have various spiritual callings at different times of our life.
17:56 And lastly and most importantly, spiritual calling is the anchor for our
18:03 purpose in life. For whatever we say, most of us have many purposes in life.
18:09 our children's education, happiness, health. But scripture teaches us to
18:15 anchor it in our calling from God. Let me give you the first point. Exodus
18:21 verses 1 to2 or chapter 2 says, "A man of the house of Levi married a Levite
18:28 woman and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son." Now the introduction is
18:33 quite fascinating because in olden time they don't introduce people that way. You know in the movie called Paul I am
18:39 Paul son of Odin you must have your name your father's
18:45 name your family name sons of Zebedee new testament
18:51 how come father's name mother's name not mentioned not mentioned
18:56 single family of limb any other limbs here
19:03 so name I'm a cool Oh, you ask you no. So names are important.
19:11 But here no family name. What is highlighted is they are from the house
19:18 of Levi. Why is the the author is going very far to
19:25 say he's a Torah bread. He's a tarat. The mother is a Levite. The father is a
19:34 Levite. What is the point? The point is he's from the line of priests.
19:40 Hebrews 11:24-26 says this. By faith, Moses when he had
19:45 grown up refused to be known as a son of Pharaoh's daughter.
19:52 He's a Levite. That is what Paul is telling us. He chose to be mistreated along with the
19:58 people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He
20:04 regarded this grace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the
20:09 treasures of Egypt because he were looking ahead to his reward. This is a
20:15 case of commendation for faith because Moses knew his true identity.
20:23 His true identity is not the prince of Egypt. He is a Levite. He is a prince.
20:32 And 1 Peter 2:9 says this, "You, we, FBC, everyone here, we are a royal
20:40 priesthood. We are all Levites. We are a holy nation, a people belonging to God
20:48 that we may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
20:55 wonderful light." I want to pause and and and digest this a bit.
21:01 You see many things uh make us feel better about ourselves. When you you meet someone in the street,
21:07 you say, "Hi, how are you? What's your name?" uh after that what will happen? The name card will come out. Oh, what
21:13 you do? Dr. Peter famous
21:18 younger man. Hey, I introduce you to my daughter. Got daughters was married doctors, lawyers, engineers, everything of no value. But people look at you not
21:28 so much on your insides but your credentials.
21:33 Let me give you example. This movie did very well very famous. Wow. He open a you get a sign superman. We open our
21:40 inside now what we get? Ah this is your true identity.
21:46 Now now you pause and think about it. What is your true identity? What really
21:52 drives you? uh John Kelvin said this you know it is
21:57 certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first
22:03 looked upon God's face and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize
22:10 himself. Now in a growing church like this let me give you some sad stories. We meet a lot
22:18 of people. Some of us we've been here a long time since the birth of this church. And there are people who come,
22:24 they sit here, they get encouraged, they want to serve
22:30 and then business calls them. And you go and see them in their place of business.
22:35 Then they go through difficult times of business. After a while that business becomes them.
22:42 If the business does badly, they feel they're a failure as a human being.
22:48 If the business does very well, they think they're very successful as a human being. So what's the identity? Is the
22:55 business is the fact that they're a doctor or PhD or they are successful.
23:00 For men, their identity is grounded in their work.
23:06 Making some general sexist remarks, but for some women their identity is
23:12 grounded because I'm a successful family person. I raise my kids well.
23:19 If I don't raise my kids well, I'm a failure. What is scripture teaching us? You're a
23:26 failure if you're not a priest for God.
23:32 You're a failure if you are not called out to declare the praises of God.
23:39 You're a failure if you're not a friend of Jesus. There was a time when my business wasn't
23:45 doing well or not doing fantastic and you struggle well how come other people got big project I don't have one
23:52 I might be a very lousy architect but through the darkness God would tell
23:57 me you are a child of God and it sets my confidence back
24:04 last two years like a lot of people business boom wow can be very exal
24:10 says no you're a child of God. These things are temporal. You see, you've got
24:15 to get your right starting point. If you don't get your identity right,
24:21 your calling will be your own voice. So, here's the first thing this morning.
24:26 What anchors you? What gives you security? What makes you feel confident
24:32 of yourself? Is it because you are doing very well in your business? Because you're very successful at home, because
24:38 you got a lot of friends? Or is it because God has called you to be his
24:43 child? Here's the second point. We just looked at the fact that Moses had a priestly
24:49 lineage. And we we are told that when you when you look at the text, it says
24:54 in verse 10, when the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. Meaning his early
25:01 years, he grew up as a Hebrew. Now, this is quite a fascinating point. So, he had
25:07 a priestly lineage. He grew up a Hebrew. He then became a prince of Egypt. He
25:14 then became a very failed social activist actually a a murderer
25:19 failure. After that he became an outcast. He became a rarer of sheep and
25:26 lastly he became a reluctant leader. Now when you look at it is intentional. You
25:32 know this is totally deliberate. This entire line is necessary to make
25:40 Moses the patriarch, Moses the high priest, Moses the prophet. Why? Because
25:48 God calls us to different callings at different times of our life. What did
25:54 Moses learn when he was a prince of Egypt? He learned military things. He
26:01 learned to lead a country. When the exodus happens and two million people are on the go, there are logistic
26:07 issues. There are discipline issues. You don't learn that by being a slave. You
26:13 learn to lead a country when you have the best education system the country
26:18 gives you. And you have the best education system when you're the grandson of the pharaoh. You don't get
26:23 better than that. But here's the thing about very successful people. All the data and the
26:29 tans any tans here? Forgive me if I make sweeping remarks but very successful
26:35 people have one major issue very the papay
26:40 very exy but attitude because I'm good ma
26:46 so you can be very good we call this uh hard skills and soft skills
26:52 but you don't have an attitude how do you learn an attitude to let God lead
26:57 you first you must learn to fail so when He experienced failure, it
27:03 humbles him. And we are told in the book of numbers, Moses is the most humble man
27:08 on the face of earth. And you really want to learn humility from a prince of
27:13 Egypt, you learn to rash she ships. You learn to r. And it becomes so bad
27:20 for Moses. He says in the end in verse 22, I have become an alien in a foreign
27:27 land. from a prince to an alien. But as we look at the chapter, we
27:34 realize one thing. God trains. God trains. So where you are now, wherever
27:40 you have been placed, God is putting you there for a purpose.
27:47 God didn't put you in your particular ministry, particular place, particular
27:52 job, your particular setting by accident. Do you think Moses knew when he was raring sheep that hey, one day
27:58 I'm going to lead a nation? He didn't know that. You think Moses knew when he was a prince of Egypt, one day he was
28:04 going to take the slaves out? He didn't know. But all along, God is training
28:11 him. Now, my question to you and I is, do you feel God's training you in
28:17 whatever you're going through? We go back to this Superman issue.
28:23 Who is the real person? Clark Ken or Superman?
28:28 The reality is both, isn't it? Both are the same person. You see, spiritual
28:34 calling is not a ministry. The biggest danger is when we think a ministry defines us. So people say, "Oh,
28:41 Arnold, you're called to preach." That's that's that's not true. That is something I'm doing now. When
28:48 I'm at home, I'm caught by God. When I'm work, I'm caught by God. Everything I
28:54 do, whatever I eat, whatever I drink, I'm being called by God. See, here is
28:59 something I would like us to just ponder upon. Where you are now in life, where
29:05 is God calling you? This is Tony Fernandez. You list down his credentials very long,
29:11 you know, you know, uh, air Asia hoteler. He's a charter accountant. People don't realize that. President
29:18 basketball league. You don't realize that he owns a racing car, you know, he's a football fan now, reality TV
29:26 star. He's many things, many things. Now, here's the thing with
29:31 a lot of us in this church. There are many successful people, you know, if they list their credential, there are
29:38 many things, you know, they they are they can be doctors, they can be lawyers, they can do this, they can do
29:43 that. They can hold many hats. There are many people here. I can think of them.
29:48 They hold many hats. They can do a lot of things. Now, here's the challenge for
29:54 us. The Bible also talks about multitasking. You know, Paul, scholar,
29:60 tent maker, apostle, prisoner. Joseph, slave, prisoner, ruler. Nehemiah, cup
30:06 bearer, contractor. He was a contractor, security chief. He looked after the walls. He came back to be a cup bearer.
30:14 They went back to be a leader. Esther a nobody to a queen to a savior.
30:22 Now here here's one thing I want to ask us in our secular lives we can wear many
30:27 hats you know wow I can do this do that do do so many things how about church
30:35 and the biggest tragedy sometimes you see some people who are so talented so
30:40 successful but their contribution to church is just like this noh I come occasally and I I jagu
30:47 not saying being a god is is not a good thing to do I I'll come to church once a month and I'll I'll play bass.
30:55 I I'll come occasionally and I I do ushering and it's great to do ushering.
30:60 It's great to play base. It's great to do is all this is servicing. But here's
31:05 the thing is that what God is calling you or are you and I giving God leftovers?
31:15 That means in your secular world you can do so much or come to church yeah a little bit no time
31:22 got time we just can't make it and then people say well I got to hear
31:28 God calling me if God doesn't call me I don't feel it now this is something I I
31:34 I want to spend a bit of time on here's a common prayer we all want to say God let me feel your touch on my life hold
31:42 in your arms show me the light that can illuminate my darkness ness heal my broken heart faithfully yours member of
31:48 ABC meaning this is what people say I'm not
31:54 called to do this or that or that why no feeling I need to feel God ah God
32:01 hallelujah I send your presence your voice I had that burning bush experience then I do if God doesn't call me in a
32:09 very audible voice or line up the go in series of visions then do God didn't
32:14 call for me. Now, here's the point. When you look at chapter 2, have you noticed God is
32:21 almost completely not mentioned? God is only mentioned very explicitly
32:29 that he hears them in verse 24. In the rest of chapter 2, there is no mention
32:35 of God. And that is from the birth of Moses till Moses is being called. You know how
32:43 long that is? That's 40 years, you know, 40 years of slavery,
32:50 40 years of the Israelites crying out, "God, help us." And 40 years of
32:57 deafening silence, deafening silence. But when you look at
33:02 chapter 2, and this has been very, very, very important for me, you can see God's
33:08 hands, how God arranged for Moses to be saved.
33:14 in the river and how God ironically arranged for Moses to be brought up of
33:20 all places in the household of the man who wants to kill all Hebrew kids. How
33:26 God arranged for Moses to go to Midian and to learn many things. There there
33:32 are two things about the name of Moses which I think are very interesting.
33:38 This is how Moses really feels about himself. Verse 24, I have become an
33:43 alien in a foreign land. You know what it means? It means he feels alone. So here's a question I want to ask of you.
33:49 Do you feel alone spiritually? Do you feel that you sit there or you go
33:56 home, I don't feel God? I come to church, I do all this singing,
34:02 go home. Where is God? My mother is sick. I prayed nothing happened.
34:08 All these problems my life I pray no nothing where is God they come to church
34:15 all only pretend only but when I go back I
34:21 don't feel God during the week now if you feel like that
34:27 you're not alone a lot of us go through that including
34:33 Moses he said I have become an alien in a foreign land. But there's another name
34:39 for Moses. The name of Moses which God gave to him providentially is when
34:46 Pharaoh's daughter named him in verse 14. I drew him out of verse 10 of water.
34:55 I drew him out of water. Meaning you have been saved.
35:00 So here's the reality. God has caught you. He has drawn you out of water. He
35:06 has drawn you out of sin to be his child. You may feel like Moses. You're
35:12 an alien. You're alone. But God is with you. The God's ways are silenced. The chapter
35:21 ends with this. The last line. So God looked on the Israelites and was
35:26 concerned about them. How long was he concerned? 40 years. So I I want to
35:33 pause this. If you are going through a very difficult time and you see you know
35:39 what I I don't feel God now this what scripture is teaching us God doesn't
35:45 need to let you sense him you know 40 years he was silent you see all of us I
35:52 I we have this DNA we feel that we need God to make us feel something then I know God's with me but God doesn't work
35:59 that way and here the assurance I want to give everyone here. You may not feel
36:05 God. You may be going through a very difficult time. You may be struggling.
36:10 But God is there and God is concerned for you.
36:17 Now, how does it tie into our calling? Because when we go through difficult times, we don't feel any calling. We
36:24 only want to be called out of our trouble. I had a friend who came to this country to be a missionary.
36:31 It went really badly. So he left and went back to his home country.
36:38 I had a long talk to him recently because he came back. He told me when he went back to his home country, he froze.
36:44 You know, he said he felt like a total failure. He came to Malaysia to be a
36:50 missionary. He felt God caught him totally. He felt didn't get well, didn't
36:56 get on with people. He said when he went back home he shut off from everybody from the church. He said he just froze
37:04 and doubt went into his mind. Then I said what do you do? He said later on an opportunity came up to take
37:11 a job a secular job. Then he said he prayed God is this my job? Silence. So I
37:19 said what do you do? I just moved ahead. I just went. Now he's better. He's on
37:25 his feet. He's clearer what he wants to do and he is moving. Now, here's my
37:30 point. God's calling means this also. We are created to make
37:39 decisions. You just choose. You ask yourself that, how do I know what's
37:44 right? What's wrong? God gave you a brain, isn't it? Use it. But, but no,
37:50 no, no, no, honor. I need to know, am I called to be a chef? I need God to to show me some sign. God sometimes will be
37:56 silent. God will say, "You decide." No, no, no, no, no. I need to know. Should I
38:02 play drums for the church? You decide. God is working in your life even if he
38:09 appears not to be. And we know in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called
38:16 according to his purpose. How do we find that in this text? We find three clear examples. The
38:24 midwives chose to not obey Pharaoh's orders to kill Hebrew babies. Were they
38:30 called to do it? Yes. Did they know? No, they chose. The mother of Moses chose to
38:36 save him. Was she called to do it? Yes. Did she know? No, she didn't.
38:43 Miriam, the sister, and you find she's going to grow up to be very shrewd person. You know, a prophetus chose to
38:50 suggest to Pharaoh's daughter, Moses be nursed by a Hebrew woman. And ironically, Moses will be brought up by
38:57 his own natural mother. Did Miriam as a kid know that God was calling her to do
39:02 it? No. She chose. So, here this thing about God's calling.
39:08 It is not this kind of I need to sense this kind of thrill down my back then I
39:13 know God is calling me. Can God do that? Yes, he can. He can give you your
39:19 burning bush moment. But more so, he just wants us to go in obedience.
39:26 So, let me pause and ask yourself, what is your role
39:33 in this church? You stop and think.
39:38 Is it to just sit there week after week? Is it to do a little ministry which
39:45 you're fitting into your life where you're comfortable with? Is that what God is calling you?
39:52 Now before you say, "I don't know," look at them. They chose.
40:00 And when they chose, God honored them. Here's where we know when God chose us.
40:07 If your kingdom service doesn't include hardship, rejection, opposition,
40:14 humiliation, risk, probably God wasn't calling you.
40:20 I'm telling you what's the first thing God told Moses to be rejected.
40:25 It's such an ironic test uh text, isn't it? In verse 14, the man says, "Who made you ruler and judge over us?" Actually,
40:32 God is, you know, God made him ruler and judge. The first lesson Moses learned was
40:38 rejection. If any of you serving in church hasn't
40:44 had any humiliation, well, you're going to have it. If you haven't had it, you're probably
40:52 fitting God in your comfort zone. You're probably building a wall around you and you're probably keeping a distance. And
40:57 that's not God calling you. Second point, God's calling is with his
41:03 strength. He tells Moses later on that he is with his mouth. The danger of some
41:11 ministries like preaching is very tempting to go with your talents and to
41:16 forget God is using our mouths. My mouth in this case. And lastly, God's calling
41:23 is collective. Moses was called with Aaron.
41:29 I I I I give you my own reference. Like I said, I when I was a younger man, you
41:34 know, I was like, "Uncle Tan, where's Uncle Tan? I love Uncle Tan." You see, Uncle Tan love to goring people. You do
41:40 Bible study, him very frightening. He'll ask you a million questions until you sweat. But it's correct because when I
41:47 was younger man, I was like him. I used to ask why like why? Why? Why? And then the more I ask, the more the fellow
41:52 squirm, I feel better. Uncle T's not like that. But I was a bit more mean, you see. But but because I did that, I I
41:59 I I then developed a culture of reading scripture. But never in my mind I
42:06 thought I was going to be ending up one day speaking on a pullpit. I told myself I can talk so I do MCing.
42:14 Then I thought maybe I'll be an actor. So I do drama. So in my life I thought I'll do drama in
42:20 church. I had set it up. I'll do drama in church. I do this. But God has irony. and you know 20 years later I'm in front
42:27 here which is very frightening. Now that's one. Number two, I want to honestly tell you one thing. You may not
42:34 realize this, but being up here is not something I enjoy. Contrary to popular belief,
42:40 you know, I tell you in when you speak in my early years, no, when I used to speak and I was younger and my mouth was
42:46 bit more moto mouth, I used to get emails, y ah this fellow insult the pit,
42:52 you know, tell stupid jokes, you know, always speak in Cantonese, all these things. This fellow has no right. Ah
42:59 then younger guy I don't want to speak up. You find someone else. Peter knows it.
43:05 Sounds familiar. Now anyone of you serving in church if you haven't gone through an experience
43:12 like that an Exodus moment you haven't been called by God.
43:19 Prerequisite for being called by God. Number one get humiliated. Number two get criticized.
43:26 Number three no one appreciates you. You can take that. Hallelujah. God has called you.
43:31 If you want to serve church, hey, I want to find my kaki. You know, my friends, I want to be belong to a group which I can
43:37 hang out with. I want to be commended and pedled on. Thank you on. That's you calling yourself.
43:44 That's not God calling you. One of the biggest danger of churches after a while when they grow big, they become clubs,
43:50 you know. And ministry become gangs, you know. This is my cartel. You want to
43:56 cook, you cannot cook unless you cook my way. Not saying anything about
44:01 play music, you must be my gang. You want to do creative ministry, you must be my gang. You must think like me, act
44:07 like me, act like my gang. Either that you don't come in. We call that club membership. We don't call that kingdom
44:14 service. In this church, we learn to serve in love. Now, there was a lesson I
44:20 needed to learn because I was very defensive. So nowadays if people criticize me my first impression I ball
44:27 this fellow very one kind of then I turn down I go in the room I pray I say God
44:33 am I a bit like that and very often God says yes you are you better change you better watch your
44:39 mouth okay okay sorry try again where is God calling you where is God
44:46 calling you let me close by answering Snoopy's question where am I going? What
44:52 am I doing? What is the meaning of life? Well, my life is a spiritual journey.
45:01 You and I are on this spiritual journey. Same way God called the Israelites out
45:08 of bondage from Egypt to the promised land. God called everyone here out of
45:15 sin to follow Christ on this journey. This journey is uncertain, is unknown,
45:23 but God is with your mouths, with your hands, and with your heart. And this
45:28 morning, as Peter tells us, the church grows to 700.
45:34 The church needs everyone seated here to hear his call. But what is his call?
45:42 Well, your call is to Balik Kong. And on that journey, this is what God says. How
45:49 gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land. This is the promise to the Hebrews, the most
45:56 beautiful inheritance of any nation. I thought you will call me father and not
46:01 turn away from following me. And we challenge everyone here today by saying,
46:07 are we following God's calling or are we hearing our own voice? Let me close with
46:15 four examples. Some people say well spiritual calling is meaning for pastors for people like Peter, pastor Joshua,
46:22 pastor Rama doesn't apply to me. Every Christian has a spiritual calling
46:28 to God's salvation plan and kingdom service. Brothers and sisters, all of
46:34 you here are called. Here's a little caveat. We must give extra honor to
46:40 those who have been called for full-time ministry. Don't treat your pastors like their employees. And this morning I want
46:47 to just take some note to thank Pastor Rama, Pastor Joshua who's downstairs,
46:54 Masimo who's downstairs, Pastor Mark. I'd like to thank David and Susan Adams.
47:02 Why? Because they have been obedient to the call of full-time service. And I
47:09 want to encourage all of you afterwards to go and shake their hands to thank them because they left comfort to hear
47:17 the call of going full-time. In a church like ours is very tempting to treat our
47:23 pastors like they are staff. They are not. They are worthy of double honor.
47:28 Here's the second thing. Some people say I'm very clear my spiritual calling. I've been involved in the same ministry
47:35 the last 20 years. It could be anything. uh boys brigade la youth la preaching la
47:41 teaching la Sunday school you name it that's where I am now casu is your
47:49 ministry your idol John says this third John I wrote to the church but the first
47:57 who loves to be first will have nothing to do with us he also stop those who
48:02 want to do so and push them out of church if he can put people out of church.
48:08 Guess what he is? He's an elder. Do you think he's called by God to be an
48:14 elder? Obviously not, because John is going to go and kick his butt real bad.
48:21 So, here's the thing. I want to challenge some of us. Just because you'll be in a ministry, that same
48:28 ministry you've been playing guitar, involved in mission group, been doing this for the last so many years, you may
48:35 just be fitting God into your life, you know, because God is a God who surprises
48:40 us. God may be asking you to move to new frontiers. God may be asking you to pass
48:46 the baton to other people because you don't want to let go. Or God may be asking you to share.
48:53 Don't let your ministry be your idol. Some of us says, "I thought my spiritual
48:59 calling was to, you know, so something in church, be in the AV team, do this,
49:04 but it didn't work out." I have no idea what my spiritual calling is now. Why
49:09 didn't it work out? I will give you a prophetic answer. 99% because there was a fight or
49:17 something happened. A yeah, this person like that I don't want to do. Correct or not? is always the case. They didn't
49:24 appreciate me in my ministry. I do this, nobody, everybody criticize me. I serve
49:30 in the kitchen, they say my food is lousy. I do ushering, they they they
49:36 talk bad about me. I go and help them. They say, you know, they badmouth me. Don't do correct. Very common, right?
49:45 We are called to make wise decisions in the fear of the Lord. You are not called
49:51 to abandon the ministry. It doesn't work out, find another ministry. Do something else. You're not
49:59 called to freeze. You're on a spiritual journey. You're caught move. Here's the
50:05 last one and probably the most important. Some people say, "My spiritual calling
50:12 is come to church regularly, help out whenever I can." and they contended with
50:17 this arrangement. In 3 years time, FBC may go to 1,000 members. By then, they will classify us
50:25 as mega church. You know what happens in mega church?
50:31 Many people. You know what's a common uh uh uh
50:36 profile of mega church? I come, I sit, I listen, I go home.
50:43 Then you tell yourself that's my calling. and you do statistics, many churches
50:48 have people in that category. Now, if you feel that is your spiritual
50:54 calling in love, I want to tell you what scripture says.
50:60 There's no such calling. It doesn't exist. It doesn't exist.
51:08 You are formed. You are known. You are set apart. You
51:14 are called this morning. God is challenging us out of our comfort zone.
51:20 Everyone here seated in this room. Everybody, you have a place in this
51:26 church. You have a ministry. You have a role.
51:32 What is it? Choose. Know your spiritual identity.
51:38 Know that at different time God calls you to different things. serve and let that be the anchor in your
51:46 life. Now, let's close in prayer. As I invite the worship team to come up,
51:53 I want us to just perhaps as the worship team begins to play and we close our
51:59 eyes and I want to ask you and I to challenge what is your calling in this
52:04 church. Lord God, we come before you now in uh
52:10 prayer, in meditation, Lord.
52:15 Lord, this morning we ask as we look at how Moses was called
52:20 and how you prepared the way for him to be raised a Hebrew, then as a prince
52:27 of Egypt, then to learn humiliation of failure,
52:33 then to be an outsider and to be a shepherd, and finally a reluctant leader,
52:40 to be one of the most respected patriarchs.
52:45 in the Bible. And Lord, we say that could be us. That
52:52 that could be us. This morning, Lord, as we are seated there, we ask ourselves, what is our
52:58 calling? We are called, Lord, to be part of your salvation plan.
53:04 And we are called to be part of your kingdom building.
53:09 Lord, ignite a passion in us that we do not fit you into our comfort zones.
53:17 But we see the need. Lord, as First Baptist Church grows,
53:22 every hand is needed. Every person in this hall has a part to play. And we are
53:28 not called to be fencers. We are not called to be sewers. Convict us, oh
53:35 Lord. Convict us. May we say here we are oh Lord. Here we are. We are available.
53:42 We are ready. We are willing. And we are able. We say this in Jesus name. Amen.
53:49 We're going to sing this song. Be still for the presence of the Lord. In the Moses moment that we all stand.
53:58 Moses stands before God on holy ground and then God speaks to him in the
54:04 burning bush. Be still for God's presence is here. And
54:09 as we sing this song, as God's presence goes across this hall, may God convict
54:16 you of your place in this church, of your role in his kingdom, of your role
54:22 in his salvation plan. Lord God, as the music plays, Lord, we
54:29 ask that your presence fills this hall. And Lord, we ask that we will be still.
54:37 Lord, quieten our hearts now, oh Lord. Each one here, Lord, is called. We are
54:42 set apart right now in the quietness of this moment. We ask the spirit to just
54:49 speak to us, Lord. In life, many voices call us. They call us to be successful
54:55 in our business. They call us to be successful in our family. They call us
55:01 to be successful in our careers, but those voices
55:07 don't tell us to be successful for you. We will be still now, Lord. May the Holy
55:14 Spirit speak to us. May we hear your voice, oh Lord, calling us now
55:20 in a quietness now as as God's presence descends on this hall.
55:26 Ask yourself, what is God calling you in this church? What is your place? Where
55:34 are you going? What is the purpose of your life?
55:39 We are called out of sin into his kingdom to serve him. Be still,
55:45 Lord. Be still. For God's presence is in this place.
56:04 in this. Hallelujah, Lord. Hallelujah. He's moving
56:11 in this place, Lord Jesus. Hallelujah. Lord, Lord, come upon us right now in
56:17 your presence, Lord. Fill us. Descend upon us your spirit, Lord. Fill us that we sense you. We know you're here right
56:23 now, oh Lord. You're speaking to us in a very, very private and personal way.
56:28 You're speaking to us and we will be still and we will listen.
56:34 And we say this in your son's most precious name who called us out of darkness, out of bondage of sin, on this
56:41 spiritual journey, on this exodus. And one day we will see you face to face
56:47 when we enter the promised land. We say this in Jesus name. Amen. like to invite Pastor Rama to give us the benediction.
57:10 Our vocations are one avenue for doing God's work in
57:15 the world. As Christ followers, we are in perpetual motion. We are always
57:22 growing, learning and changing. Sometimes things come clearly into focus
57:30 and other time it all feels so random and useless.
57:35 Both are part of a faithful journey. Sometimes we walk on a well-lit path and
57:42 sometimes we simply step out in fame into what feels like a black abyss.
57:50 Our life vocation is a treasure buried in a field. The pearl of great prize. The grace is
57:58 in the calling. Pursue it at whatever the cost.
58:03 Now for the benediction. I pray God eliminates your path. But
58:09 even if you're walking in a dark place right now, you're not alone. Amen.
58:15 Please be seated. After your solemn meditation, the service is over.
