Keith Battle - It Is Written - Part 3

Alright, I’m going back to Habakkuk Chapter 2 for part three of this series, titled «The Power of Writing Your Vision.» I’m also going to use Exodus Chapter 3 today. If there is a seat in the row near you, would you raise your hand and create space for people to sit by you as they are trying to come in and be seated? So raise your hand if there’s a seat near you. I know you have your coat in one seat and your pocketbook in another because you were just ready. You have on three masks and a helmet, so since you’re all ready, unless someone sits closer to you, um, Exodus Chapter 3 is also where I’m going to get content from today.

Hey, if you’re joining us online right now, do me a favor. There’s an arrow under the YouTube live screen and under the Facebook live screen on Zion anywhere, and if you click on that arrow, it will open a menu of options that allows you to invite people to this experience. Also, in our chat, raise your hand one more time—some people over here still need help. Hey, can y’all come on up front? Come on up front on the deacon’s board row. There’s a reserve sign that just puts Bakery some space for them. You can invite people through the chat as well because you never know, this could be just what someone needs. So care enough to share this with somebody and invite them to church. Amen?

Hey, Deacon and Deaconess, I don’t even know who I’m talking to, but hey, praise the Lord! We’re good! At this time, if you are physically able to do it without injuring yourself, I want you to stand with me for the reading of the Word of God. I’m going to read from Habakkuk Chapter 2. Is it okay if we go 65 minutes into the service? I’ve been trying to keep it to 60. It might go; is that alright? If you have to leave at 60, I respect you, but I’m trying to do it.

I’m going to read from the English Standard Version, Habakkuk Chapter 2, verses 2 and 3, and then I’m going to read from the New Living Translation, Exodus Chapter 3, verses 1 through 11. Y’all ready? Let’s go to Habakkuk Chapter 2, and this is what it says: «And the Lord answered me: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end; it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.»

Exodus Chapter 3, beginning at verse 1, says: «One day, Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, who was the priest of Midian. He led the flock into the wilderness and came to Mount Sinai, the Mountain of God. Then 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. ‘This is amazing, ’ Moses said to himself. ‘Why isn’t this bush burning up? I’ve got to go see this.’

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. ‘Do not come any closer, ’ the Lord warned. ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. You think this is just a bush, but I am in this bush. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. He wasn’t afraid to look at that bush, but he didn’t know God was in the bush. The Lord told him, ‘I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering.’ I’ve read this passage many times and preached from it many times, and I can’t get over these three words: God says, ‘I’ve seen their oppression; I’ve heard their cries, and I’m aware of their suffering.’ I’ve seen it, I’ve heard it, and I’m aware.

I want to say to somebody who didn’t even come here about writing a vision, you needed this part of the message: God sees what you’re going through, He hears it, and He’s aware of it. He sees how you’re being treated; He hears what’s being said about you, and He’s aware of it. In verse 8, He says, ‘I’m on my way.’ Put it up! ‘So I’ve come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey, the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, and Jebusites now live. The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abused them.’

So watch this; now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. Moses, you must lead My People Israel out of Egypt. It’s on you. But Moses protested to God. I’m going to talk more about that next week. He protested, saying, ‘Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people…’