When It Looks Too Late For A Comeback

As long as you're breathing, you can still have a comeback.  

You may have lost a job, a spouse, or a house, but comebacks are based upon God Himself.

  

Moses was supposed to be killed as a baby, but was saved by Pharaoh's daughter, which was his first comeback.

His second comeback happened at age 80.  Here's how it happened.  

  

Acts 7:23-29  (NLT)

23 “One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. 

24 He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. 

So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian.

25 Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t.  

26 “The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. 

He tried to be a peacemaker. 

‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. 

Why are you fighting each other?’

27 “But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. 

28 ‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ 

29 When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. 

There his two sons were born.

Acts 7:30 (NLT)

30 “Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.

Exodus 3:1-2 (NLT)

3 One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro,the priest of Midian. 

He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai,the mountain of God. 

2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. 

Moses stared in amazement. 

Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.

In the midst of his routine.  

When Moses least expected it.  

He was surprised by God's invitation.  

What made the bush extraordinary?  

It wasn't the bush, but God presence within the bush that made it special. 

Exodus 3:4-5 (NLT)

4 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, 

“Moses! Moses!”

“Here I am!” 

Moses replied.

5 “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. 

“Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.

The first thing that Moses heard was God speaking his name.  

It is a holy place wherever God shows up.  

Moses had a lot of questions for God.

Let's hear Moses ask his questions.

God said that I want you to go back to Egypt and set my people free.

1. Moses said, Who am I?  

He said God, I'm not qualified.  

What you want me to do is greater than my qualifications. 

It's not about who you are, but who is with you. 

The answer is not who you are, but who God is. 

It's not the bush that made it important. 

It was God's presence in the bush.  

It's not you, Moses, but my presence in you. 

Exodus 3:11-12 (NLT)

11 But Moses protested to God, 

“Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? 

Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”

12 God answered,

“I will be with you. 

And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: 

When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.”

God's answer: I will be with you.

2 Corinthians 3:5 (NLT)

5 (Paul writing) It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. 

Our qualification comes from God.

You can choose comfort and control, or you can choose God's presence. 

2. Moses asked, Who are you, God?

Exodus 3:13-14  (NLT)

13 But Moses protested, 

“If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, 

‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, 

‘What is his name?’ 

Then what should I tell them?”

14 God replied to Moses, 

“I am who i am.  

Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.” 

When God says, I am... the one who can meet any need that you have.  

I AM your provision (Jehovah Jireh)

I AM your victory (Jehovah Nissi)

I AM your peace (Jehovah Shalom)

I AM there (Jehovah Shammah)

God's answer: What is your need?  I AM the one who can meet it. 

We live in "I wish for" world.  

God says, I AM who you wish for.  

3. Moses asked, What about them?   

I tried to be their Savior before, and they rejected me. 

Exodus 4:1-2  (NLT)

4 But Moses protested again, 

“What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? 

What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”

2 Then the Lord asked him, 

“What is that in your hand?”

“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.

What things or people are keeping you from your purpose?  

It may be the tape in your mind of family or friends who are long gone.

God's answer: What's in your hand?

God took what Moses knew to help him.  

Exodus 4:3-4 New Living Translation (NLT)

3 “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. 

So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.

4 Then the Lord told him, 

“Reach out and grab its tail.” 

So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.

You take what's in your hand, and put it into God's hand, and see what He can do with it. 

We break free when we realize that we can't give God what we don't have, but God can take what we do have.  

God is not looking for extraordinary people, but ordinary people who put themselves in God's hand, so God gets glory. 

4. Moses asked, What about this? 

  

Exodus 4:10-11 (NLT)

10 But Moses pleaded with the Lord, 

“O Lord, I’m not very good with words. 

I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. 

I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

11 Then the Lord asked Moses, 

“Who makes a person’s mouth? 

Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? 

Is it not I, the Lord?

Moses felt handicapped.  

God's answer: I'm in control.

God says since I made your mouth.  

I can surely speak out of it. 

Sometimes, God removes the handicap, but sometimes He speaks in the midst of the handicap.  

If you can't get a miracle, be a miracle. 

Your handicap isn't in control. God is in control.  

What if Moses said no?  He wouldn't have seen the Red Sea split, or the Manna, or the 10 Commandments.  

What's your next step towards God's purpose in your life?

Hebrews 11:26-27 (NLT)

26 He (Moses) thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.

27 It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. 

He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.

Are you hearing God call your name right now?  

Joel 2:12A (NLT)

12 That is why the Lord says,

    “Turn to me now, while there is time.
Give me your hearts.

  

Say Lord Jesus, please take my mistakes and my failures.  

Be my Lord.  

Please save me Lord Jesus. 

You are the only one who can.

Notes taken from Tom Holladay, Saddleback Church