癤?011 March 27th
Sunday Sermon at Yoido Full Gospel Church ??Seoul, Korea
Speaker: Senior Pastor Rev. Younghoon LEE

The Staff of God
(Ex 4:2-5)

Today's scripture is the story where God calls Moses as the leader of Israel. When God called Moses as the leader of Israel after he left the palace and tended flocks in the desert for 40 years, he rejected it for several reasons. Therefore, God performed a miracle that changed Moses' staff into a snake. That shows that even a trivial staff can be used as a tremendously powerful instrument when it is held in God's hands. What is the lesson that God is teaching us today through this story?

1. The thing that Moses had
When God called Moses as the leader to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, he rejected his calling, considering himself powerless and miserable. Then God asked Moses, ?쏻hat is that in your hand???He held in his hand a trifling, old staff that looked like his past life. By turning the staff into a snake, God showed Moses how a trivial staff could be used greatly by Him when His power was with it.

2. Moses obeyed God
After God changed the staff into a snake, He said to Moses, ?쐔ake it by the tail.??Moses knew that he could have been bitten by the snake when he took it by the tail. Nevertheless, he obeyed the Word of God and took the tail of the snake. Then the snake was changed back into a staff. This miracle was not done by the power of Moses but by his obedience to the Word of God. God requires our obedience. When we obey Him, a miracle is performed and we can live a valuable life used by God.

3. A life that is held in God's hands
When an ordinary staff that Moses usually carried was held in God's hand, it became a staff of God. (Ex 4:20) Then the staff was used powerfully to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. However worthless we may look, when we are also held in God's hand by obeying the Word of God, we can be used preciously for His work.

Moses' staff that was stained with all kinds of sorrows and despair of life during his time in the desert shows us the life that turned away from God. People who turn away from God live a life like a dry staff, stained with sin. However, even such people can live a life used valuably only when they are held in God's hand, obeying the Word of God and being filled with the Holy Spirit.