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TITLE: Any Old Bush Will Do

TEXT: Exodus 3:2-6

PROPOSITION: God is the power by which we operate.

QUESTION: Who?

KEY WORD: Powers

READING: Same

 

INTRODUCTION:

1. Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel (248.4 H) "But it is not the bush that sustains the flame. It is God in the bush, and so, any old bush will do!" (p. 31)

(Also next paragraph. See next page.)

2. What does not matter?

A. Nationality B. Education C. Personality

D. Beautiful E. Powerful F. Wealthy

G. Healthy G. Age H. Gender

3. I come as example and warning. - - -

A. Warning - prayers might be answered

B. Example - resigned Grundy St. - going to Russia

4. Many in God's army are trying to retire early.

1. God can use any old bush to do his work.

A. Mud with a soul = rule over all creation

B. Grumpy Abraham and Sarah = start a great race

C. Unemployed prince, murderer, fugitive = leader of Israel's freedom

D. Teenage boy + slingshot = kill giant

E. Small boy's lunch = feed 5,000 (5 loaves, 2 fish)

F. Sickly, stuttering old man = Paul the Apostle

2. Remember, it is not the bush, but God in the bush.

A. Enthusiasm = "God in us"

1. Is Christianity exciting to you?

2. Are you glad to be a Christian?

B. Most of us are so familiar with these stories that they no longer astound us. We are not surprised.

C. "All you need is what you have, and what you have is what He is! He does not give you strength, He is your strength!"

1. II Cor. 4:7 "power is of God, not of us."

2. II Cor. 12:9-10 "when weak, is when strong"

3. I Cor. 2:5 "not wisdom of men, power of God"


Conclusion:

1. Poem pg. 25 of Holy Sweat

2. No excuses! Just let God use you for His will!

"The shocking message of the Bible continues to be that God has chosen the least suspecting of all vessels to do his greatest work. What you are at this particular moment in your life is irrelevant - your nationality, your education, your personality, or how you are physically, spiritually, and otherwise. Who you are is likewise irrelevant. What counts most is what and who you are willing to become. See that scruffy-looking bush over there? That bush will do. See this funny-looking bush over here? It will do too." Holy Sweat, Tim Hansen, pg. 31


 

Five Loaves and Two Fishes

God uses what you have to fill a need

Which you never could have filled.

God uses where you are to take you

Where you never could have gone.

God uses what you can do to accomplish

What you never could have done.

God uses who you are to let you become

Who you never could have been.

Philip Clarke Brewer



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