Usefulness and Fruitfulness

We will be in the story of Moses today, as we study his remarkable life, friends. Turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 2. We will be in verses 15 through 21. The title of my message today, friends, is Usefulness and Fruitfulness.

Here now is the Word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of his holy word. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away. But Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

And when they came to rule their father, he said, How is it that ye come so soon today? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? Why is it that ye have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

I will stop there, friends. Moses might have been content in Midian, but he was not fulfilled. God had yet to use him.

God had yet to appear to him. God had yet to invite him to participate with the Almighty in his great work of delivering his people out of the Egyptian bondage. Yes, Moses was content in Midian, but he wasn't fulfilled.

It's true that a believer may be content in church in some capacity, but they will never be fulfilled until they enter into God's purpose and will for their life. Moses had yet to stand before the burning bush and enter into such an experience with God that it would transform his purpose and his entire life, giving him both usefulness and fruitfulness to God. You may be a church worker.

You may be a pastor. You may hunger to do greater things for God, but you may be content in your own personal Midian. But staying there, you won't be fulfilled, friend, until you discover what God's best is for you.

God has work to do, and he desires you to participate and join him in that great work. I want to show you, friends, how God worked in the life of Moses, and he will work in your life the same way if you will seek his will and his best for your life. Notice in Exodus chapter 2 and verse 23, it states, And it came to pass in the process of time, there is God's time.

Notice chapter 3 and verse 4, And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him. There is God's call. Look at verse 8, And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

There is God's revealing his purpose. Now look at verse 10, Come now, therefore, and I will send thee. There is God's invitation to join him in his work.

Now look at verse 12, And he said, Certainly I will be with thee. There is God's promise. This, friends, is the operation of God in calling a person into a field of labor for him.

First, there is God's time. Then, there is God's call. Oh, friends, there was a time in my own life when I hungered to be thrust into God's ministry, but it wasn't his time for me.

I had to wait. I had to wait until it was his time. I had to receive a call.

Too many men, I fear, rush into ministry of the gospel without a call, and their work is mainly wood, hay, and stubble, which will one day be burned up. But a God-called man is a burning instrument in his hand, searing the consciences of men with the gospel. God's time, God's call, God's reveal in his purpose, God's invitation to join him in his work, and God's promise to be with that God-called individual through thick and thin.

Moses knew the ways of God, and God used Moses in a life of usefulness and fruitfulness for his glory. Let each of us search our hearts and seek his will for our lives so we can be fulfilled in his purpose for us and his will for us as he moves us into his best for us. Let us pray.