A DIRECT PIPELINE TO GOD

Moses was a beautiful baby boy. His parents were determined to save his life since Pharaoh had ordered that all Male Hebrew boys would be put to death. They placed him in an ark - a basket. His life was saved as he floated down the Nile River. Pharaoh's daughter saw the child floating downstream and drew him out of the water. Therefore He was named Moses, which means "Drawn out of water".

He grew up in Pharaoh's household. He was obviously of the Hebrew race. He was circumcised. This Pharaoh was not a good man. He drove the Israelites as slaves. There was much suffering for the Israelites and they cried out to God for help. Moses started to believe that he should defend his poor Hebrew people from their Egyptian oppressors.

One day he saw a slave driver beating Hebrew slaves and he was moved to stop him. Moses ended up getting into a fight with the slave driver and killing him. After this he feared for his life and fled from Egypt to the country of Midian . He lived there forty years. He married there also.

In Egypt, Moses had been educated in the "wisdom of Egypt". As Pharaohs "son", he had been a great man. Now he was greatly humbled as a shepherd of flocks. Sometimes he even struggled feeling like he was a useless person. This is where the story starts. He went out with his flock into the Sinai desert. It gets up to 130 to 140 degrees. As he walked along he came upon a bush that burned and burned yet was not consumed. There He heard the voice of God speak to him….

With a pipe you can hear a man's voice downstairs in a house. Have you ever experienced that? listening to someone's voice through a pipe ? It is very clear.

...Moses looked at the bush and heard the voice "Moses, take off your sandles, for this is holy ground. I am going to send you back to Egypt to see Pharaoh. Tell him "Let my people go!"

Moses said "Who shall I say sent me? What is your name?" "YHWH...I am who I am." "Aaron will speak for you."

After forty years, he saw his brother, Aaron. The Bible says that Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth. What does meek mean? It means humble What does humble mean? Humble and meek means that you are willing to do what you are told. You are under authority .

Moses led 1 million people out of Egypt into the Sinai desert. He could hear the voice of God. God spoke to Him. He had a direct pipeline to God. Jethro, Mosess Father in law, spoke to Moses, "Let others help you rule." Moses was meek, so he heard our Father's voice. Our Father spoke many things to him.

How did they know which way to go in? They followed the cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It was big enough for one and a half million people to see.

I want to tell you what God's heart is. Every man among you is to be a priest - a whole kingdom of priests. Priests have a "direct pipeline to God." They hear in their hearts the words of God and they speak it.

God said to Moses, "My angel is with you". This is his authority. We are all going to be priests. But there is a great responsibility to be priests. Moses was clean! So must we be.

He was humble. He always confessed his sins. They went to mount Sinai. Moses said "I've seen this mountain before." At eighty years old he was there again. 1 million people, 12 Tribes. More people than in all of Albany. God said "I'm going to speak with you now" The people camped out at the base of the mountain. First the whole mountain started to catch on fire! There was thick black smoke. Flames. The whole mountain quivered. The ground shook. Then, There were loud trumpet blasts from heaven! Louder and louder! The people were afraid. "Oh, Moses! You go talk to Him! We are afraid!" He said, " I am full of fear and shaking inside". The sheep and goats wanted to run away. God said "Moses, come up the mountain". So, Moses went up the mountain. You can see why Moses was the meekest man on the face of the Earth. He was ready to die. He threw himself at our Fathers' mercy. His body was shaking. It was very scary! He spoke to Moses face to face. For forty days and forty nights. Without water. He then came down from the mountain, full of energy, full of encouragement.

At the bottom of the mountain, the Israelites were worshipping the golden calf. Moses exploded! He threw down the stone tablets. He really rebuked them. "Everyone who is for YHWH, step over this line!" But only a few did it - the tribe of Levi, Mosess tribe. "Put the rest to the sword of your tribe, all those who did not follow". Can you imagine running a sword through your father's guts? They were idol worshippers, so God was cleansing them of this sin and setting apart his true priests for himself.

Moses went up the mountain again. The "finger of God" wrote on another set of stone tablets, the ten commandments again. Then, Moses went down to the camp again. This time they were not worshipping the golden calf. The Israelites could not look at Moses because He was so radiant. The glory of god radiated brightly like the sun, off his face! So the people asked him "can you wear a veil?" So he did. Then he could talk to the people without them being blinded.

Moses said, "I'm going to make a tent of meeting outside the camp." Why? Maybe because they were not holy. There, Moses would speak to God, face to face with the Almighty. Moses would ask, "How are we to live ? How are we to rule the people?"

Joshua ben Nun was a very good man. He worked alongside Moses. God saw him, "This man is just like Moses." Moses heard what God said and raised him up. Then God said, "You are going back to the land of your forefathers. Be careful! Be faithful. Don't bow down to their idols! If you do you will die."

Do you think they obeyed that? This was their biggest problem. Why? They should have known this was the true God! What about us today? Are we pure? Are we also more interested in the things of the world? Idols? False gods. They actually burned their children in the fire. They never recovered from this.

Then God said "I want the elders to come up the mountain with you Moses to see me". There was a cloud which came down on the tent of meeting. There, the 70 elders all prophesied with Moses. But there were two men who were not there with them-but they prophesied in the camp. "Hey Moses, --Those two are prophesying in the camp. Who do they think they are ?"

Then Moses heard directly from our Father's heart and said, "I wish that all men could prophesy like this." Moses was sensitive to God, and stood on the truth he heard in his heart even in the face of opposition.

After they crossed the Jordan, you could see who was willing to serve God and who wasn't. There was a whole generation which had their "religion", but were not devoted. Like Miriam, Moses' sister. "Moses, who do you think you are?" She was mad because he had married a Cushite woman. A black woman. (But in Midian, there are no shemite women.). Our Father had spoken clearly to his heart that this was okay. Our Father never condemned him for this, but Miriam did.

When our Father heard her words, and Aaron did not rebuke her, God called all three of them to the tent of meeting. Down came the cloud and His voice. "Aaron and Miriam, step forward. If you are a prophet I can speak to you in a vision, but to Moses I speak face to face." He had seen the "Form of YHWH".

Then, Miriam's skin turned white with leprosy! Moses cried out "Please heal her!" And because he had a direct connection to God's heart, God respected his prayer and spoke to Moses "Let her be outside the camp for seven days.". It was like she had gone to death. Do you think that she spoke against Moses again? Or anyone else? Well, they did!

To have a direct pipeline to God, you must be clean! Confess your sins! God does not overlook sins.

There was a man picking up sticks on the Sabbath. They arrested him. They had to judge whether or not he was guilty. Priests who hear from our Father can judge these things. It was clear to them He was a rebel. "He must be stoned to death." This was a serious judgement, but it was straight from our Father in heaven.

The man had an evil spirit. He said "I don't care!" He had high-handed rebellion. There is no room for that in Israel. Our Father can help people with weakness or unintentional sins, but not rebellion. Do you know anyone like that? Expose it to the light. If you don't care, then that spirit will destroy you! It can destroy the community from within if it is not dealt with.

Later Korah was jealous of Moses and started to lead a rebellion. He said, "This whole congregation is holy, who do you think you are! Are you better than everyone else? Does God only speak through you?"

Again, Moses was an example of meekness and did not defend himself. He heard directly from our Father how to handle this rebellion. God would destroy them. Yes, Korah and his friends and family were all swallowed up by the Earth! There was a huge earthquake and the ground opened up. They screamed and cried out, but it was too late. Their destiny was sealed.

Down into the earth they went, with no one to help them, and the ground closed up as quickly as it had opened. They were all gone!

Some others said "You caused the death of these people Moses!" How could they say such things against God's authority in Moses? Obviously, they could not hear the voice of God in their hearts. They were not hearing like Moses could.

But after all these obvious signs from our Father, how could they just speak against authority? This is mysterious. Paul says it's written for our instruction. Our Father put you children here so you could hear and have a direct pipeline to God. But you must remain clean! Why does our Father want us to keep a clean conscience? So He can reward us with His voice. You're now just children. Listen to your parents. They hear directly from our Father. But you will receive the voice of His Spirit one day.