Hi, I'm Ken Davis. When you think of Moses, divisions of Charlton Heston come to mind.
You know, square, determined jaw, flinty eyes, long, coarse, flowing beard, and nerves of
steel. Well, brace yourself, because the Bible paints a slightly more realistic picture.
This video was taped in front of an audience of 4,000 lively college and high school students
in Los Angeles, California, but it has impact for people of all ages. As you watch, I hope
you'll see that God wants to do powerful things through you. If that's true, then why not
let Him? Well, before you answer, watch a wimpy prophet, a butane bush, and no excuses.
It's funny the things that get your attention. You know what? I want to get your attention
tonight because I believe that God has already done that. I want to follow through on what
some of the other speakers have talked about and perhaps give some direction to you that
will allow you to take action on what you have heard. Several years ago, I was getting
on a bus and I said a weird prayer, a prayer that probably should have never been uttered.
I said this prayer to God, oh God, if you want me to share your love with someone, give
me a sign. Now, I'm going to tell you that that's a strange prayer because you don't
need a sign. We've got the only sign we need right here. All through this book, God has
confirmed what you've been learning this week. He has confirmed that we need to be sharing
his love with people that we meet all over the world, with our friends, with our schoolmates,
with the people that we work with. But I said the prayer and evidently God has a great sense
of humor because he kind of answered the prayer. I got on the bus, I sat down, I'd been sitting
there for maybe two minutes, a man got on, sat next to me. He's very nicely dressed and
he began to cry. He's just crying uncontrollably. This isn't some kid, this isn't some little
person, this is an adult, got a little briefcase sitting there and he's crying uncontrollably.
I'm sitting there, I don't want to get involved, you know, just sitting looking straight ahead,
I don't know if he's weird or anything, I just want to sit here and I'd forgotten my
prayer already. When the man finished crying, he turns to me and he says, I'm sorry, he
said, but my life is in ruins. He said, I don't know what to do, he said, it's just
all falling apart. And then he said these words, if only I knew God. And then he looked
at me and he said, do you know God? And do you know what I did? I said another prayer,
oh God, is this a sign? If this is a sign, God, turn the bus driver into an armadillo.
Hey, don't mess with God, you'll be looking up there, that bus driver will be going, ah,
ah, ah, ah. What I'm here to tell you tonight is something that you may be consciously or
unconsciously aware of already. And that is that we live in a world that is desperate
for the love of Jesus Christ. We live in a world that cannot survive without the love
of Jesus Christ. My first responsibility as a youth worker was to officiate at the funeral
of a 16-year-old girl. This young lady was a cheerleader, she was one of the most popular
girls in her school, and after cheerleading practice, she changed uniforms, folded her
clothes very neatly and put them in a locker, and then she took out a.38 revolver that
she had taken from her father and took her own life. She was desperately searching for
meaning in life. Not long ago, the President of the United States was on a program on television
interviewing some young people, and after a bunch of lighthearted talk, a 17-year-old
girl asked the President a very important question. She said, in light of what's happened
like with Kurt Cobain, with the suicide and what's happening among young people today,
she said, what will make young people feel that life is worth living? The President didn't
give a real good answer to that, but I want to tell you this, the answer is in that book.
Jesus Christ and the love and forgiveness he offers is exactly what's needed by our
friends. Every young man and young woman sitting in here knows that you have friends that on
the outside may present an outward appearance of happiness, they keep busy all the time,
they're at every party, but on the inside they're dying. They cover it up with drugs,
they cover it up with promiscuity, they cover it up with all kinds of actions that inside
they know aren't right, and yet they continue to do that because they're searching for something
that makes life worthwhile. This world is in desperate need of the love of Christ, and
my suggestion tonight is that God has chosen you to bring that message to your friends.
Not someone else, not someone down the street, but he's chosen you to bring that message
to your friends. Kids today are in bondage, they are dying, suicide rates are at record
numbers, and where kids aren't committing suicide they're killing each other. Homicide
has passed suicide as one of the leading causes of death among teenagers. Adults are working
at jobs that they felt if they could ever just get this job that somehow happiness would
be theirs, and they find their lives are falling apart. They are in misery, and God knows,
and he cares, and he has a solution, and you're part of that solution.
There is a passage in scripture that parallels what I'm talking to you about, and it's found
in the book of Exodus chapter 3. In chapter 2 we sort of set the scene here. It says that
during this period of time the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned in their
slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. It
says God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and
with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites, and he was concerned about them. God cares
about what your friends are going through. Some of you are going through struggles that
you don't know how you can face another day. Some of you have to go back to homes where
the problems are so difficult you don't know how you'll be able to live through it. Some
of you face situations in your school that are dangerous and scare you to death. God
knows, and he cares. The truth of the matter is that he has chosen you to be a part of
the answer. There are no excuses. Do you know it's easy to listen to all of these messages?
It's even slightly easy in a situation like this to make a commitment based on the fact
that everyone else around you is making a commitment. But where the rubber hits the
road, where reality happens, is what you actually do, the action you actually take, what you
take home with you when you leave here, because the world is desperate for the message that
you have. God chose Moses. It's a fascinating story. The Bible says, now Moses was tending
the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he had led the flock
to the far side of the desert, and he came to Horab, the mountain of God. There the angel
of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. God got Moses' attention,
and you know how he did it? Out of a burning bush. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're
thinking, well, you know, this is a Bible guy. How do you think Moses responded when
this bush, this bush starts burning? We have this idea in our mind that Bible people were
some kind of super heroes, and that's why God used them. You suppose when this bush
burst into flames that Moses went, behold, verily, a bush burneth. That's what we think
of Bible people. Like, he wasn't, freak, complete me out, give me a break. He wasn't smoking.
He didn't throw a cigarette over there. The sheep weren't smoking. They were Christian
sheep. He didn't toss a match over there. He was alone. He's in the middle of this desert,
and this bush starts burning, and Moses responded the same way you and I would. Whoa. Whoa.
Cool. The bush is burning, and he got a little closer, and the Bible says that as he got
closer, he realized that the bush was burning, but it wasn't burning. You understand what
I'm saying? There were flames. It was burning, but it wasn't burning up. There were no ashes
falling to the ground. A butane bush, except they didn't have butane. God got Moses' attention.
I imagine Moses looked around. He's looking for his friends, right? But there's nobody
there. Moses is going, am I on candid camera? He doesn't know what's going on, and then
the Bible says that I love this part. The Bible says that God spoke to Moses from the
bush. Now, let me tell you something. If God doesn't get your attention with a burning
bush, and if he can't get your attention with a bush that's burning, but it ain't really
burning, he'll get your attention with a bush that talks to you. The bush spoke to Moses,
and this is what God said through the bush. When the Lord saw that he'd gone over to look,
God called to him from within the bush. He said, Moses, Moses. And when a bush talks
to you, it's a good idea to answer it. Moses said, here I am. Then God said this. Now listen
carefully. God said, don't come any closer. The place you're standing, he said, is holy
ground. He said, I am the God your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob. And at this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
Moses understood in that moment that he was in the presence of the awesome God. You know
what's interesting to me? We sing about that all the time. Our God is an awesome God. Yet
when God tries to hit us upside the head and get our attention and help us know that he
has a job for us to do, we do what I did with my sisters when they tried to tell me I had
a job to do. You know, my sisters would always come and go, you need to empty the garbage.
It's here to empty the garbage. You know what I'd do? I'd put my fingers in my ears and
go, hmm, until they went away. We do the same thing. Sometimes we get involved in church
activity. We may even come to conventions like this, keep as busy as we can keep because
we are afraid of what God is going to ask us to do. Friends, the world is up for grabs
and God has chosen you as his answer. Look what he said to Moses. This just fascinates
me. This part you have to hang on to now. Listen carefully. He says to Moses, I have
indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their
slave drivers. I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down. That's God's
words. I have come down to rescue them. And then you know what God said to Moses the very
next thing? He said, now you go do it. Moses goes, wait, wait. He said, you were coming
down. Listen, if I said to you, isn't it true if I said to you, you came to me and you said,
there's some kids in my room who are really sad and they need some help and there's a
guy hanging a girl out the window by her feet. Could you come and help us? And if I came
to your room and helped you, you'd be satisfied. But what if I said, okay, I will come and
help you? And then I said, okay, go ahead. You go do it. You would wonder just like Moses
wondered, wait a minute. You said you are coming down. The reason God said that is because
you are his answer. You are what he has chosen to bring this wonderful news to a world that
desperately needs it to your friends who desperately need it. Now, once again, we usually think
of Moses as the kind of person who would respond then and say, oh, yes, Lord, if you want me
to go, I shall go. Whatever thou sayest, I shall do. Wherever thou goest, I shall go.
Moses was a wimp. Moses was chicken. Moses tried all kinds of excuses to get out of what
God wanted him to do. There are five excuses he tries to use here that we use all the time.
I'm going to show them to you one at a time. This is the first excuse Moses made. God said,
now you go. And Moses said, wait, wait, because... See, we always think of Moses, don't we, as
what we see on TV, Charlton Heston. You know, he's always standing like this with that big
stick in his hand. Got a long beard that doesn't move much except the bottom of it blows in
the wind. And he's saying great things. He's always standing there. Moses, see, God isn't
looking for people who are special. He's looking for people who will trust him so he can do
special things through them. Moses said to God, first excuse. His first excuse is, but
I'm a nobody. The actual words in the Bible go like this. He said, and I don't know what
he actually talked like, but I'm sure he didn't go behold. He said, I realize that my people
are in trouble, but who am I? That's the exact words written in the word. Who am I? What
he's saying is, I'm a nobody. I'm nobody special. I'm just a guy. I'm pretty old. I got this
beard. Do you know what God's answer to that excuse is? I know a lot of kids that have
used it. I know a lot of adults that use it. But I'm a nobody. I'm a nobody. You know what
God's answer to that is? You might want to write it down. God's answer is, I know. I
know. I'll say it again. God doesn't want somebody's. He wants somebody who will trust
him and allow him to do something through them. You see, this is the truth. You and
God together are a team that cannot be beat. All you need to do is have him on your side.
We live in a society where young men and women and adults believe that the only people that
God can use are special people. That unless you're an athlete or unless you have musical
talent or unless you're a famous speaker or something that God can't use you, nothing
could be further from the truth. I used to believe that I never had the capability to
communicate to people that God could never use me because I didn't have a testimony.
Other people had neat testimonies. They'd done something really bad and God came and
helped them. I wanted a testimony like that. I wanted to be able to come out and go, I
killed 29 people with a wet squirrel. I used to do drugs all the time. I shot peanut butter
in that vein right there. Crunchy peanut butter. It drove me nuts. I don't have a story like
that. I grew up in a Christian home. I don't have a story like that. But God, again, isn't
looking for people with extraordinary stories. He is an extraordinary God which will give
you an extraordinary story as he forgives you and uses you to reach a world. God said
to Moses when Moses said, who am I? God said to him, I will go with you. That's all you
need to know. You and he together are a team that can't be beat. Now you would think that
Moses would take that. See? He would go, all right, God, it's me and you. We're a team.
We're gonna go. We're gonna win. We're gonna go out there and win. Not Moses. Moses has
another excuse. Have you ever heard this one? Here it is. It's found in verse 13. I realized
that I'm a nobody and you're somebody, but I don't know what to say. Have you ever used
that one? I don't know what to say. You know what God's answer to that is? I'll tell you
what to say. You don't have to know everything about the Bible in order to share the good
news with people. God will lead you along. When I was in northern Minnesota, there was
a young lady by the name of Beth. Some Minnesota people here. There was a young lady by the
name of Beth who was afraid to talk to people about Christ. In fact, one of her concerns,
Beth was not a space scientist at all. One of her concerns was that she had so many friends
she didn't know what to do. So I said, well, why don't you just pick one? Oh, she said,
I wouldn't know what to say. I said, why don't you just trust God? So she brought her to
one of the meetings and on the way home, she asked her friend a question. She was just
shaking. She said, she asked her friend a single question and this was the question.
She said, what did you think of the meeting? Now there's a deep theological question, right?
What did you think of the meeting? And her friend responded, the meeting was pretty good
except for the God part. And Beth responded, what do you mean? And her friend responded,
God could never love me. And then over the next 15 minutes or so, she began to tell how
she felt God could never forgive her for the things that she had done. And Beth told her
that he could. Beth said, would you like to know him? And her friend said, yes, could
you show me how? And Beth said, yes, I can. And she led her friend to Christ. A couple
of days later, a couple of days later, Beth was in my office crying, crying because she
said, no, I led that person to the Lord and I can't lead anybody else. Beth had a problem.
But God used Beth to leave seven of her friends to Christ during her senior year in high school
because she simply learned to trust God. That's all she did. It's no excuse. I don't know
what to say because God will tell you what to say. So you'd think that Moses would get
it now, right? Okay, God, I'm a nobody and you're somebody. I understand. I understand.
And I don't know what to say and you'll tell me what to say. I understand. His next excuse,
are you ready for this? Moses said, but what if they don't believe me? You've never used
that, huh? What if they don't believe me? One of the things that keeps us from being
the witness that we need to be is a lie told by Satan. And this is the lie. If you share
your faith in Christ and nobody comes to know him, you have failed. That is a lie. It is
not our job to bring people to Christ. It is our job to be faithful in sharing the good
news. It's God's job to draw people to himself. That's one of the most hilarious things in
scripture, the way God did this. You see, Moses said to God, what if they don't believe me?
And God said, let me show you what I'm going to do. And he showed him some marvelous miracles
that would make them believe. It's hilarious. I wish I'd have been there. God said to Moses,
what's that in your hand? A microphone? Moses. Oh, a stick. That's my stick. My sheep stick.
Sometimes the sheep get bad and I go, bad sheep, my sheep stick. Moses, throw it down.
The stick? Yes, Moses. Why? Does this sound familiar? Moses. Okay, no need to get testy.
Moses threw the stick down. Do you know what happened? Do you remember this story? The
stick turned into a snake and Moses went, behold, a snake. Do you buy that? There's
no way. In fact, the Bible tells us that that isn't what Moses did at all. The Bible says
he put his knees to the breeze and he bugger started there. Moses threw that stick down
and he goes, boom, and it says, yeah, snake, and he's gone. He starts making his way back
toward the snake. In fact, the Lord told him, come on back. Moses is looking at the snake
and he's looking at the bush. God says, Moses, pick up the snake. No. You made the snake.
You pick it up. I'll pick up the stick. You do the snake. God said, Moses, okay, pick
up the snake. He's trying to distract the snake with a microphone. God saw he had some
trouble. God said, pick it up by the tail, like Moses was going to go for the fangs.
Turn back into a stick. Moses is going, God, that was great. I can hardly wait till my
friends, hey, Fred, come here. Moses, okay, I'll pick up the snake here. I can hardly
wait till my friends, hey, Fred, come here. Moses, okay, I'll pick up the snake here.
God will convince them. Moses, yes. Put your hand in your coat. I can't. I got a microphone
in one hand and a stick in the other. Moses, okay, I'll lay the stick down, but keep it
in the stick. You're not going to make five little snakes, are you? Moses, take your hand
out. He looked over at his hand. There is no way to describe the horror he must have
felt. What he saw was leprosy. His hand was white. He knew what would happen now. There
was no cure for this disease. He would be ostracized. I can't think of any equivalent
in today's society except this. If I were to ask you to give me a sample of blood and
step back here to a small laboratory that I had and then come back and say to you, I'm
sorry, but this has tested HIV positive. He would be socially ostracized. He would have
to go through the streets yelling, unclean, unclean, wherever he went. The disease would
spread. It would eat at his face. It would eat at his feet. It would eat at other parts
of his body. God, I'm sorry about the snake thing. I'm sorry. I just, would you please
Moses? Yeah? Put your hand back in your coat. Could you heal it first because I, please?
Moses. Okay. Put his hand back in his coat. God said, Moses, pull it out. God, I'm really
sorry. Don't make it worse. And he looked at his hand and it was clean. Oh, don't do
that. Kids, listen. When you leave here, it is not your responsibility to make people
believe that is a miracle that belongs to God. It is your responsibility to be faithful
in presenting the message. You'd think Moses would have got it, but he didn't. He has another
excuse. He says, but God, I, I try to say, I can't talk good. Some historians tell us
that Moses may have stuttered. He had some kind of speech impediment. He did not speak
easily. Do you know what God's answer is when you say, I'm too short. I'm too tall. I'm
not a good enough athlete. I'm not good looking enough. I'm not popular enough. You know what
God's answer is when you point to some physical thing and say, God, look, I can't do it. God's
answer is the same as it was to Moses. Who made you? Who formed you? Before the world
was put in place, your picture was on God's wall. You're a masterpiece. He designed you
perfectly for what he wants you to do. One of my favorite people in the world is my friend
David Ring. David has cerebral palsy. You can barely understand him when he talks. David
says, I can't even pronounce the name Jesus. But he says, I'm going to brag about Jesus
till the day I die. Then he says, what's your excuse? This man is hilarious. I remember
we were arguing once. We were talking about how mean the people at Customs are crossing
into Canada. David made me laugh so hard. He said, those people were mean. He said,
I brought some videotapes. And I have to almost talk like he does in order to get you to understand
how hilarious he is. And they said, what's in the boxes? He said, I told them videotapes.
And the man looked at me mean, and he said, how many? He said, I don't know. And the man
said, count them. And David got this twinkle in his eye, and he said, suddenly my handicap
got worse. He said, I began to count one, two. He said, the man yelled at him, what's wrong
with you? And he said, I looked at him, and I said, now you made me forget. He should
be in a corner somewhere yelling at God with his fist in the air saying, God, how come
you did this to me? He's not. Instead, he's out there using what God gave him to reach
other people for Christ. When he appeared on a program, a television program recently,
they had more phone calls in response to his appearance than any program in history. What's
our excuse? What's our excuse? The last and final excuse that Moses gave to God. He still
wasn't done. He tried real hard. I'm a nobody. God said, well, I'm a somebody. He said, well,
I don't know what to say. God said, I'll tell you what to say. He says, well, what if they
don't believe me? God said, it's not your job. He said, well, look at how I talk, watch
my lips move. God said, I made your lips. I know what I'm doing. And finally, Moses's
final excuse was this, send somebody else. And I'm going to tell you what God's answer
to that is tonight, friends. No. He doesn't want to send somebody else. He's chosen you.
There's a world out there that is desperate to hear about his love. Families falling apart.
Families falling apart at the seams. Young people who need to know about the love and
forgiveness that only Jesus can offer. Let me tell you something. You may be a nobody,
but he's a somebody. You may not know what to say. Trust his spirit. He'll tell you.
You be faithful in telling others about Christ. He'll take care of the believing part. Trust
the fact that he knew what he was doing when you made you and go out there and witness.
Those are no excuses. There are no excuses. God wants to use you, so let's go. Go do it.
God bless you.
For more information on Ken's bestselling books, tapes, and videos, write Ken Davis
Productions, 6080 West 82nd Drive, Arvada, Colorado 803. Or call 303-425-1319. To schedule
a personal appearance, the address and phone are the same. Ken Davis Productions, 6080
West 82nd Drive, Arvada, Colorado 803. Or call 303-425-1319.
Ken Davis Productions, 6080 West 82nd Drive, Arvada, Colorado 803. Or call 303-425-1319.
, Ken Davis Productions, 6080 West 82nd Drive, Arvada, Colorado 853. Or call 303-425-1319.
Thank you.