[SPEAKER_00]: Christian parenting.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hello two seekers and welcome back to our summer series, Influencing for Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that you have been learning much already about what it means to influence others for Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus left us eight be attitudes in the book of Matthew chapter five, where he gives us guidelines for what it looks like to follow him.
[SPEAKER_00]: You might be thinking, well, why are we talking about following Jesus?
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought we were talking about influencing others for Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's because we can't influence others for Jesus, unless we're following Jesus first.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to follow Him to be able to influence.
[SPEAKER_00]: So today we're going to talk about the third way that we can follow Jesus, the third be added to the Jesus left us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said, blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you might be thinking, I know that's all good and well, but what does it mean to be meek?
[SPEAKER_00]: But when Jesus said, blessed are the meek.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was referring to those who are humble, those who are not easily proud or puffed up or think that they're better than everybody else.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes people think that to be meek means to be weak and timid and shy, but that's just the opposite.
[SPEAKER_00]: No to be meek takes strength.
[SPEAKER_00]: It takes strength to remain humble.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to brag and boast about oneself and try to put oneself on top, but it takes strength to remain humble, to know when to speak and when not to speak, to refrain from saying things we shouldn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: to be wise with our words and the choices of our actions.
[SPEAKER_00]: Meetness has much power in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's much strength in meekness.
[SPEAKER_00]: To be meek is to be like Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to share with you an example of a man in the Old Testament who was meek.
[SPEAKER_00]: That man was Moses.
[SPEAKER_00]: You may be familiar with Moses.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are a lot of stories in the Old Testament that we've learned about Moses.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses was called from the time he was young to be an influencer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses was saved from death when he was just a baby.
[SPEAKER_00]: His mother had placed him in a basket and floated him down the Nile River.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their pharaoh's daughter found Moses and took him as her own.
[SPEAKER_00]: She raised him
[SPEAKER_00]: Until one day, one day Moses saw an Egyptian beating in Israelite slave, Moses knew he was an Israelite, but raised in the palace, and when he saw one of his own people being beaten.
[SPEAKER_00]: he became angry and killed the Egyptian.
[SPEAKER_00]: In his fear, Moses fled to the desert and there for the next 40 years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses hid in the desert and became a shepherd.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses wandered and traveled the desert for 40 years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thinking he probably was no good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thinking he'd made the biggest mistake of his life and that was it.
[SPEAKER_00]: All he would ever be was a fugitive in hiding in the desert.
[SPEAKER_00]: Until one day, God met Moses in a burning bush.
[SPEAKER_00]: God called Moses, He said, Moses, take off your shoes for where you are standing, it's holy ground.
[SPEAKER_00]: God told Moses that He wanted to use Him to deliver the Israelites who had been in bondage in slavery in Egypt for hundreds of years.
[SPEAKER_00]: God was going to use Moses to be one of the greatest influencers of all time.
[SPEAKER_00]: God was going to use Moses to go back to Egypt and deliver the Israelites.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses just couldn't believe this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses came up with every excuse he could think of for why this wouldn't work.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, they will not believe me.
[SPEAKER_00]: They won't listen to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: They will say, the Lord has not appeared to you, God said to Moses, what is that in your hand?
[SPEAKER_00]: A rod answered Moses, cast it on the ground, said God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Samosas cast it on the ground and it became a serpent and he shrank away from it.
[SPEAKER_00]: God ordered him saying, put forth your hand and take it by the tail.
[SPEAKER_00]: Samosas put forth his hand and caught the serpent and it became a rod again in his hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: God gave Moses other signs to take with him, to show to the Israelites that the one true and living God the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had come with him to deliver them.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Moses still found excuses.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, Oh my Lord, I am not a good speaker.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was not before, and I am not since you have spoken to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am slow of speech, and I have a slow tongue.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses was afraid because of his stuttering, because he couldn't get the words out.
[SPEAKER_00]: He couldn't speak eloquently like kings and fairows.
[SPEAKER_00]: How could he go before Pharaoh and before the people and speak to them on behalf of the Lord?
[SPEAKER_00]: the Lord said to Moses, who has made man's mouth?
[SPEAKER_00]: Who makes the dumb the deaf, the seeing or the blind?
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, not I, the Lord, so go now and I will be with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you shall say.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even though Moses,
[SPEAKER_00]: had argued with the Lord and came up with so many excuses for why he could not go.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord was gracious and patient with Moses.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even sent Aaron as a helper to go with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses took the journey back to Egypt.
[SPEAKER_00]: After all of those years, after all that time had gone by, I wonder what was going through Moses's mind as he headed back to Egypt to face the Pharaoh.
[SPEAKER_00]: God had called Moses to do this, God had called him for such a time as this.
[SPEAKER_00]: and so when Moses stood before Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the land, his knees might have been shaking a little bit, but he had the power of God with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said to Pharaoh, God has said, let my people go.
[SPEAKER_00]: And over the course of time, after God sent plague, after plague, after plague upon the Egyptians, finally, Pharaoh, let Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
[SPEAKER_00]: God had revealed, through Moses, through the signs and wonders, that he was more powerful than any Egyptian false God.
[SPEAKER_00]: through all the plagues that God had sent.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses was his mouthpiece.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses was the prophet to speak on behalf of the Lord to do the signs and miracles that God had commanded him to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: This could have caused Moses to get a big head.
[SPEAKER_00]: This could have caused Moses to be puffed up and conceded and to think highly of himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every miracle that Moses performed was only because God did it through him.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Moses threw down his staff and it turned into a snake, that was not because Moses had any power.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was because God had power.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Moses turned the Nile River into blood, that was not Moses' power.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was God's power.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Moses commanded the darkness to come upon the Egyptians,
[SPEAKER_00]: That was not Moses' power.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was God's power.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses knew every single time God acted that it was not his power.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the Lord's.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Moses stood and watched the Lord part the Red Sea from one side to the next so that the Israelites could pass on dry ground, Moses knew he was not doing that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses had no strength or ability to be able to cause the waters to part, but when he raised his hands like the Lord told him to, he knew it was the power of the Lord causing the waters to part.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses remained meek.
[SPEAKER_00]: was he strong, yes, he was strong in the power of the Lord, but he was meek in his humbleness before the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses did not become arrogant or proud.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses remained humble as a mouthpiece as a spokesperson as a servant of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses did what the Lord asked him to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses obeyed
[SPEAKER_00]: Up on Mount Sinai, Moses said to the Lord, "'God show me your glory.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to see your glory.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses knew that the Lord was good and holy and righteous, and he knew if he just saw a glimpse of the glory of the Lord, that that would be all he needed.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the Lord put Moses in the clapped of Iraq, and he said, I will cause my goodness to pass by you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moses saw the goodness of the Lord passed by him, and when he came down from that mountain, his face was full of the glory of the Lord, and he shone so brightly that the people said, put a covering over your face!
[SPEAKER_00]: It is so bright!
[SPEAKER_00]: True Seekers, let us be influencers that shine bright like Moses with the glory of the Lord, but the glory of the Lord consume us, but the glory of the Lord cover us so that wherever we go, whoever we meet, whatever we say, people would recognize the glory of the Lord upon us,
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the Lord's Glory, as we remain meek and humble, the Lord will bless us and use us just like he did Moses to influence an entire nation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dear Jesus, I thank you, the you are the one with all the power, you are the one with all the glory, you are the one who is worthy of our praise, we lay our crowns down, we lay ourselves down at your feet, and we worship you, you are Lord of Lords, King of Kings, you are holy and you deserve our worship.
[SPEAKER_00]: Father, we remain weak before you, and we know that that is not a place of weakness, but that in that place it is your power and your strength that moves through us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Give us restraint in our words, help us to know what to say and when to say it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Help us know when not to speak when just to reflect your glory and be in your presence.
[SPEAKER_00]: where we just thank you, the you've promised that you would bless the meek, so it would help us to be influencers for you as we follow you in humility and meekness in your name we pray.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, two seekers, that was a good one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can't wait till we learn about the fourth be added to tomorrow, so be sure to tune in and I'll talk to you soon.