Introduction
Praise the Lord. It is a joy and privilege for me to stand here this morning and share the word of God. I also want to greet every one of you in the matchless name of Jesus Christ. Having been raised yup in typical Pentecostal Family, we practiced to preach in the stage where the senior pastors use to sit behind us. But today here are my teachers sitting right in front of me makes me little uncomforted. In our tradition when we tent to make some mistakes while we preach the senior pastor who is sitting behind us will produce a special kind of noise. I thank God here is nobody right behind me.
This morning I just want to take this moment as an opportunity to thank my faculty for their contribution and influence in my life. There are couple of qualities that makes SABC very special, and I do believe that one of them is that our most respected and committed teachers. I learnt a lot from their life. I also want to thank everyone in this campus for the fellowship….you may be wondering…becoz most of you have did not talk to me even once the reason why is that I am a day scholar,…but let me tell you my friends your smile, your voice, your of walk everything contributed to my life…therefore thank you so much………..my class mates……..no words…….in fact I was a forced attachment to this batch but they gave me a chair with them .
Friends I am actually standing here today just by his grace alone…….I joined in 2010…but I was not able to finish my DL subjects on time because I was going through a very tough time of my ministry….I sent excuse letters to the college. The college was so gracious enough to rearrange my due dates every time. At last 2012 august 1st I came to the college and asked the permission to renew my course. Rev Peter Pothen was in his cabin… I waited for some time because I wanted to talk somebody else. But nobody came…I went to Pr. Peter Pothen and explained all my excuses why I was not able to do all these days. He asked me to read Lk. 9:62…..I was so excited that he is going to encourage me……..but he told me that probably I am not fit for the ministry…It was just like injection, the pricking was painful but the medicine that gone through was an agent of healing, an agent of challenging my heart to complete my studies……sometimes it is tough……God uses situations or people to prick us, may be painful but do not worry, an healing is passing through the needle will give you restoration.
For today’s short meditation shall we turn our Bible to Exodus 2: 1-10
Can someone say that whom am I going to preach about?
Jochebed – A woman who stood firm for God’s Vision
I want to draw your attention towards a woman who prepared a plan of God and was not preached much about. Well….when we read this passages we often gets inspiration to think about or preach about Moses or probably the deliverance that God has done through him. Of course Moses is great leader that the world has ever seen. Redeeming about Six lack people from slavery and leading them to their promised land is not an easy job. But today I want to bring your attention to the person who was the cause of his existence in the midst of all the challenges.
I believe Moses himself is a plan of God or a medium of God which He has used to redeem His people. But when we read this passage we will be able realize that Jochebed is a key person who plays very important role. She prepares Moses, a vision, a plan of God. Moses was born in very unfavorable circumstances where he was supposed to be destroyed in his early days itself. But we see here from this passage that God is using his mother to protect him from the danger.
HANDLE THE VISION SERIOUSLY (Ex. 2:2)
Since we all are so familiar with the passage I would like move a little fast. Here we know that time that Moses was born there was a commandment from Pharaoh that every boy is born must be thrown into the Nile river. But Bible says Jochebed the mother of Moses saw something special in this child and didn’t want to throw the child. She hid him for three months. I am sure every other mother in Egypt probably might have thrown their sons into the Nile because the commandment is from the King Pharaoh. But here is a woman who did not throw her son. It was easy for her to throw and to be escaped easily from the danger. But she decided to take the risk. Though it is difficult to hide a baby in its early age specially when his language is just crying for everything, she decided to take the risk. Today where are we? Are we willing to take the risk for the Lord? Sometimes we face the situations that we will be forced to throw out the vision or the plan of God, but be careful we have to handle the vision very seriously. If we do so Lord will surely help us to accomplish the vision successfully.
REVEALING THE VISION SAFELY (Ex 2:3)
When we read the passage when Moses was three months old it was difficult to his mother to hide him anymore. That’s is where she decided her son out to the public, but bring him out she has to follow certain cautions steps to keep him alive because if she reveals him suddenly the king get news and he will try to kill him, probably the whole family. That’s where she decided to reveal her son very safely. In fact she had to pay price for that. We see that she prepares a wicker basket and covered it with the tar and pitch. It shows that still she wanted that her son to be alive. Probably she could have aligned several excuses that she tried her level best for last three months. It is no longer possible to hide him. But she didn’t do that; she handled it very safely, paying the price behind that. Probably thinking, praying, and getting ideas. Almost some same situations we may face in our ministry. We may have a God given vision, we may have a plan of God, May be after days of struggles we received it… We handled it very seriously. So then we must be very careful about, how we launch our vision. There may be difficulties, of course, there may be oppositions, but still it is our responsibility to reveal our vision safely on time and I am sure we will see the result.
WATCH OVER THE VISION CAREFULLY (Ex.2:4)
We talk about Jochebed is handling the vision seriously and revealing the vision safely. Now the third step. When her vision is out she is watching over or she has sent her daughter to watch over the basket which contained the baby Moses. Taking so many struggles she hid him three months, now she prepared the box spending her money, now she is taking responsibility to watch over that. She never felt sleep, she never felt that I have done my part, she send her daughter. How this basket moves over the Nile River. As we all know the story Jochebed sending her daughter to watch over that what happens to the basket. When we are in mission field some times, Vision is out, the plan of God is out of our hands, probably for a particular period of time, and we may be little far from the plan of God. But still this is my encouragement that we have to watch over. God has given to you and me because it is in the position that it may sink anytime into the deep. It is in danger always, if Miriam were not there, just behind this basket, jochebed would not have known that her son reached into pharaoh’s daughter. So lets us be alert that we will watch over our vision or plan that God has given to you and me.
ACCESSIBLE TO VISION MEANINGFULLY (Ex.2:7)
The Story is so clear that basket reached the Pharaoh’s daughter‘s hand and she recognized that he is the Hebrew baby. Probably for a moment she was astonished, she didn’t have an idea what to do with this baby, because she felt pity on the baby, she decided to keep him but she knew that she is not able to nurse him. She started looking around that’s the time the Miriam acted wisely. She was in an accessible distant to this basket… When this basket was pharaoh’s daughter hand, she could see from little distance. Miriam took the courage to run towards Moses. It was natural for her to get fear and run back to the home to inform her mother all that is happened. But she didn’t. She ran off to pharaoh’s daughter and asked her shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women , that she may nurse the child for You? This incident proves that she was in an accessible distant to the basket. She was their very meaningfully, it was not just a name sake because her mother sent her to wait there and watch over the baby rather she was meaning fully following the basket. She wanted to follow the baby very meaning fully. Here is the question, when we are in the field, when our vision or the plan of God is out in the field, are we meaning fully accessible to our vision. We all are limited being, we are weak, sometimes there is a possibility that we may be away from the plan of God. Yes, the vision is not in our hand, it looks like it is in danger; probably we can’t reach very easily. But still be patience follow it meaningfully, when the time comes God will ask where are you? The plan is coming back to your hands. Therefore be accessible to vision meaningfully.
RAISE THE VISION SUCCESSFULLY (Ex.2:9)
God was faithful to bring the baby Moses to his mother. Probably she was the only woman who was paid by someone to feed her own son. Now Moses is being raised up in his own house and being nursed by his own mother growing as a plan of God. In fact God is bringing up the redeemer in his enemies house itself. Bible says that Moses was in the Palace for about 40 years. He was getting prepared by God himself to fulfill His Mission.
Conclusion
Jochebed was a very normal person. But she knew and found something special in Moses. Probably she understood that he is the plan of God or a deliverer from God. Just like any other mother in Egypt she could throw this baby Moses but she didn’t. She took the risk to hide him. She pampered it nourished it and did everything possible to sustain the plan of God. Take some moments to examine ourselves, did you already throw out the plan of God from your life when someone told you throw or is it still with you………..desires a progress in your vision. Take every possible step to achieve the task. It is 2000+ years now India is been touched by the gospel…but still we are just hardly 5%. Take a challenge I will not throw out my vision I will not throw out the plan of God. Believe in him He will bless you and raise you up. May God be with you.
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With PrayersPr. Liju Koshy