Pastor Stan Mons
Sermon Transcription:
Let's get into the Word today. The title that the Lord has given me for this Word is this: Jesus Can Do It. Jesus can do it. In many ways, this may just be the simplest message I have ever spoken—the simplest Word the Lord has ever given me. But it is one of the deepest truths that God has ever sought to teach His people. You will see that, I hope, in the Word, and I pray that you will see it in your heart today as well. Because if you learn this one simple truth—Jesus can do it—it will change the way you pray. It will change the way you behave or act under pressure. It will change the way you respond to the unexpected or the unfair. It will change the way you do everything.
If your heart—not just your mind—if your heart can see this biblical truth that the Father has been seeking to teach His children, His people, throughout time, then you will understand. Under the old covenant, under the new covenant, throughout all of history, the Father has been trying to teach this to His people's hearts: Jesus can do it. And the people of God generally have a hard time learning. Amen? They're usually good at complaining, good at forgetting, and good at twisting what God actually said. They don't need any help with those things! But to actually see these heavenly truths that the Father has been trying to teach to His people as a good Father—it takes a journey.
Part of that journey we see in the life of Moses. Moses has an extraordinary story. He was born in a time when it was dangerous to be born. If you were born in Moses' time, the majority of babies did not make it. They were being fed to the crocodiles, discarded into the Nile River.
Any baby born among the people of God was under the threat of a command from another king—a king that did not love life, a king that loved death, and a king that sought death for the newborns among the people of God. Moses was born into that time, and miraculously, he made it through that season. Miraculously, he ended up growing up in the palace, even though he wasn’t born if you will a prince. God performed a miracle, allowing Moses to flourish in the most unlikely of times.
God did the opposite of what the "king of death"—if you want to call him that for a moment—intended for Moses’ life. God turned it around to such an extent that Moses ends up growing up in the "king of death’s" home. Moses ended up flourishing in his home, living off his wealth.
Then, around the time Moses was about 40 years old, Moses commits a crime and end up fleeing Egypt. He has received the highest education possible in the world at that time, learning at Pharaoh's court. For 40 years, he was raised there—to become a success, to be a man of influence. But then he has to flee that place. He didn’t have the power to stay there or to continue flourishing. He left that place and spent another 40 years living in the wilderness, tending sheep. Now, if you’ve ever been there—if you’ve had that thought (and it may be a prideful thought, but I know I’ve had it)—where you wonder, Did I go to school for this? Did I learn all of that for this? Does nobody notice my vast experience?
I'm right here, taking care of sheep. I'm cleaning out their wool. I'm finding places for them to feed, looking for clean water. Honestly, most of the day, you’re sitting on a rock, watching them, making sure they don’t do anything dumb. If one runs off, you go after it and bring it back. Again. That same one I often have to go after, I already know to keep my eye on them a little bit. But this is now what Moses does with his life—he is tending sheep. Among the people of God and among the people of that time, tending sheep was about the lowest thing that you could do. The nations surrounding God's people often looked down upon them because they took care of sheep; they were generally shepherds.
So here comes Moses, from the palace where everything looked miraculously on the up and up, if you will, and here he finds himself, for 40 years, cleaning up after sheep. After 40 years, he has an encounter with the Lord. We don’t read of any encounter with the Lord that he has in between. After 40 years, he's now 80 years old. Let that sink in for a moment—Moses is 80 years old when God encounters him and says, "Now." In my opinion—and in God's opinion—now, in my opinion, you're about ready to actually be used in My hands. And so, the Lord approaches Moses. Moses is just going about his business—he's tending sheep—and he sees a burning bush. The fire is not consuming the bush, and Moses is greatly surprised. So he approaches the bush.
The Lord tells him to take off his shoes: "The ground on which you stand is holy." He does so, and the Lord has a conversation with Moses.
God calls Moses, but Moses says, "God, I can't speak. There was a time I could, but I can't speak." He basically tells God, "I'm 80 years old. This is not going to work. I don’t have what it takes." And God makes it very clear to Moses. God is calling Moses to do something only God can do. God makes it very clear: "I know, Moses, that I’m calling you to do something only I can do." God Himself says in the book of Exodus, "I have come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians. I—I have come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians. Now, Moses, you go and deliver them. I’ve come down to deliver them, but I am sending you."
And Moses basically says, "I don’t think so. You have the wrong man. The people won’t believe my words. They won’t listen to me. Look at my past. I ran off. My people were still stuck in slavery for 40 more years, and I’ve been free here. And they already see me coming—they’re not going to listen to me."
You ever felt like that? Where God shows you something over this generation that He’d like to do, and our first feeling, inkling, thought, attitude is: "Yeah, somebody should really go do this."
"I really think I see in my heart what God would do over this generation, and I really think Pastor may just make a difference in it. I really see what God wants to do over my family. I really hope somehow I can get them to Christmas, and maybe Pastor’s word will speak into their heart. They won’t listen to me. They won’t believe my words." "God, You’re showing this vision over this generation, or my family, or my friends, to the wrong person. I know who could go. I know who could be used for this. But they won’t listen to me. God, this is just not going to work. I don’t have what it takes."
This is the person—just like Moses went through it—that says: "I can see in my heart, if God would have His way in this generation that I live in, if God would have His way, I know some of the things He would change. I know some of the freedom that He would either proclaim or bring into people’s lives. I know some of the people that He would feed if Jesus were here. But Lord, it’s—I can’t go. You’re calling the wrong man. I know someone else that could go, but I cannot do this. That’s not going to work. I don’t have what it takes." And that’s where we pick up Exodus 4:2-12. This is God responding to a man that is exactly in that place. So the Lord said to him, “What is in your hand?” I love it when the Lord asks us a question, like He didn’t know. “What is in your hand, Moses?” Here, Moses is completely focused on every single reason as to why God should really go ahead and do what is in God’s heart for this generation. But God has the wrong man. "I cannot do these things. I cannot be used that way. I cannot be used to deliver other people. I cannot be used to be heard—really heard—in their heart and change their mind. By other people? That’s the wrong person for the job."
And God responds to him like this. He says, "What is in your hand?" And he said, “A rod.”
And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." And he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. "That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you." Furthermore, the Lord said to him, "Now put your hand in your bosom." And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. And He said, "Put your hand in your bosom again." So he put his hand in his bosom again and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh.
Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land. Then Moses said to the Lord, "Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." So the Lord said to him, "Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say."
Here we have Moses in this state of mind where he says, "I’m facing an assignment. I’m facing an issue in my generation. I’m facing something that I cannot do. I agree it needs to be done. Maybe if we all go, we can get it done. But me—myself and I—just receiving this assignment, just seeing in my heart’s eye and in my mind’s eye the something the Lord is showing me, just seeing what really God wants to change in people’s lives or in the lives of some loved ones or in my generation—Lord, that can’t just be for me. That can’t be my assignment. That can’t be my call. You must have the wrong person." And God turns to Moses, who’s going exactly through that, and He says, "What do you have in your hand?" And he says, "A staff," which is a reference to the cross of Jesus Christ.
Then the Lord tells him, "Put your hand in your bosom and take it out of your bosom." And he has leprosy. Then He tells him again, and he is healed. In other words, a reference to the Healer.
Then He tells him, "Grab some of the water; it will turn into blood," a reference to the blood. He is giving him a clear reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s trying to show him: Christ, who died on the cross, is with you. Christ, who is our Healer, is with you. The blood of Christ that has the ability to set people free—the blood is going to be with you. I’m not sending you alone.
What is in your hand? Here is why we are addressing this story today. As we’ve been looking in the Old Testament to see how it reveals Jesus to us who live in New Testament times, this is why this story is so important today for you and me: God is calling you and me to something only Jesus can do in this generation, but He’s sending you. Just like with Moses, God is calling you to something only God can do, yet He tells you and me, "I’m sending you. You’re My pick, just like Moses."
Think of it like this for a moment: all of the people of God at that time—all of Israel—had been in bondage for 400 years. The United States, this year, 2024, is 248 years old. That’s the history of the United States of America so far: 248 years old. This is 400 years. 400 years and nobody’s been free. 400 years of history shaped into a mindset, an identity, an experience of life that, if you would have been alive at that time and a part of God’s people at that time, you would have said, "It has always been this way." "We’ve always lived here in Goshen. We know that Joseph was the one that made a way for us into Egypt, and we were the people of honor. It was our relative that caused Egypt to be a beacon of light and life in a time of death and famine. It was Joseph, and we were treated honorably because of it. We got to live here. We got a good piece of land. We were honored by all people because our sibling, our family member, Joseph, caused life to resound here in Egypt."
The Word tells us that the king—that is, Pharaoh—who is king now... Historically, you can look this up. There was actually a Pharaoh dynasty that was overthrown in that season of 400 years of time. The Word tells us that Pharaoh, that new Pharaoh, "did not know Joseph." Now, that’s a very interesting statement because the Egyptians kept their history records very, very clearly. They honored that. They had the hieroglyphs that we still hear about from time to time or discover today. So it’s a very strange statement that the Bible makes: that this new king "did not know about Joseph."
But when you realize what had happened in the history of Egypt—a whole dynasty was overthrown—a new Pharaoh had come in that had no lineage, no history in Egypt. Now, this king saw the people of God as a threat—another king of death coming upon the people of God. And this Pharaoh is oppressing the people of God. For 400 years they've been in bondage. Four hundred years—as far as anybody can remember back to any story that was passed along—never anybody had a breakthrough. Everybody just lived like this. Everybody just woke up, had to go to forced labor, came back home, just barely enough food to get by day to day—not a day off. This is how we all lived. We don’t know any other life. I’m part of that kind of a people. That is the mindset. That is where the people of that time were at. This is unchanged. It’s been like this forever. Everyone lives like this.
You can imagine the expectation in the heart of a woman or a man living in that time. There’s no expectation to ever attain to any dreams in the heart. There’s no expectation to ever really build something for you or for your family. There’s no expectation to ever amount to anything—that your children look at you and go, "I want to be like my dad. I want to be like my mom."
There’s no expectation that you can really become anything in this life at all. There’s a worldview that has become so narrow because things are just not possible in your life. It’s possible for other people. If I had only been born an Egyptian. But I was born into the people of God. Others can, but I cannot.
See, that is the message that the king of death will always try to bring upon the hearts of the people of God. Others can, but you cannot. Others can be free, but you cannot. Others can be used to bring deliverance, but you cannot. Even Moses was still being haunted by this: "Others can, but I cannot." And this is the kind of people that God had a plan for. This is the kind of people that get to see the staff of Moses. They get to see the little lamb that is slain. They get to see the blood on the doorpost. They get to see the miracles of sicknesses and healings. They get to see all of these references to Christ Jesus because God the Father was teaching them just one biblical truth: Jesus can do it.
This was a people that did not know in their heart of hearts that Jesus can do it. Their entire perception of life was built by limitations and inabilities, restraints that held them back and limited them in what they could become in life, what they could achieve in life, what they could possibly do. And it gave birth to that mindset: I cannot. And here comes the Father lovingly, with a plan that involves a piece of wood , a plan that involves blood, a plan that involves healing. And He says, "I’m going to teach something and do something in My people that is going to bring them into freedom: Jesus can do it." Now let me read to you Isaiah 41:13. Here’s what the Lord prophesies through the prophet Isaiah to those that would be touched by the life of Jesus Christ.
Here’s what verse 13 reads: "For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.'" For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, "Fear not, I will help you." Church, let me ask you a question: What is that in your hand? What is that in your hand? This is the question that God proposed to Moses when he felt so many things would be impossible for him in this life: impossible for God to use me, impossible for me to be heard by people, impossible for me to fulfill the call on my life, impossible for me to get through the obstacles, impossible for me to see these mountains move. Impossible, impossible, impossible. And God says, "What is that in your hand? What did I cause to grow? What did I make that ended up in your hand?" And in the very same way, He is speaking to us in the same manner, saying, "What did I do? What did I bring about? What did I cause that now causes My hand to rest in you? Why don’t you take your eyes off all the impossibilities and, for a moment, realize what I have placed so near to you—in your hand?"
What is in your hand? God is holding your right hand. Everything that is impossible, church—and I know the feeling: others can, but I can’t. I can’t get through this. I can’t be victorious like that. I cannot be disciplined like that. I cannot give up those things. I cannot build a life that honors God. I cannot—all the "I cannots." And God goes, "What is in your hand? Who is holding your hand? What did God place in your hand, saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you'?" You see, Mark 9:23 tells us this: Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Here we have a desperate parent faced with an impossibility. And the moment that Jesus is brought into that impossibility, He says, "If you believe, My Father, everything is possible."
If you will take your eyes off everything that you think cannot work out in your life, cannot be brought to fulfillment in your life, cannot be done through you—you as a believer in this generation—if you will just realize what God has put in your hand. What is that in your hand?
He says, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." And that doesn’t put the burden on you, church. That doesn’t mean that you have to be this super believer that is able to recite every promise of God and declare them with confidence and preach them and hold on to them and live diligently and have a devotional life that is impressive. You don’t have to be an impressive believer. Just because the Word says, "For him who believes, all things are possible," still today the Father is trying to get a message across to His people: Jesus can do it.
Whatever you’re facing, Jesus can do it. It doesn’t matter how long, how many generations you haven’t seen it happen—it does not matter.
The Father says, "What is in your hand?" You can go. You can be victorious. You can be free. You can be taught by the Holy Spirit. You can make it through the most impossible bondage, the most impossible mountains, the most impossible situations. If you have impossible situations as far as your heart’s understanding goes, that means you are human. We are so unable, so limited. And you have just positioned yourself perfectly to learn a truth from heaven that will bring you into freedom, as it did the people that were stuck in Egypt. Ever since Christ Jesus was crucified and rose again, anyone who believed on His holy name saw impossibilities made to nothing, saw mountains become plains before them, saw things done that could not be done, saw the dead come to life, saw the sick healed, saw the blood cleanse off sins that could never be washed away, saw the cross take away shame that I've been carrying all my life.
What is that in your hand? What has God placed in your hand? Because Jesus can do the impossible in your and my life.
You don't have to be the super believer. You have to come to a place where you're willing to look at what God put in your hand. God Himself says, "I’m holding your right hand." He doesn’t say, "I’m holding the right hand of your pastor—go to him; he has all the answers." God says, "I’m holding your right hand. Don’t pay attention to all the 'I cannots' or all the impossibilities. What is that right there in your hand?" Church, Jesus has taken you by the hand, and Jesus can do it. Would you stand with me for a moment? Here’s the altar call today: What is hard or even impossible in your life? Maybe you’ve been calling it impossible. Maybe you’ve been feeling like Moses did: "I can’t do this. I can’t see this miracle come to pass. I can’t make it out of this. I cannot make it back into this."
Whatever it may be, whatever is impossible in your life—Jesus can do it. If you feel it is impossible for you to be forgiven, free from shame, free from guilt—Jesus can do it. If you feel the relationship you’re thinking about cannot properly be restored, if you think, "They’re not going to take it if I just go and say I’m sorry"—Jesus can do it. If you say, "I don’t know how finances are going to work out at the end of the month"—What is in your hand? Jesus can do it.
Whatever you face that is impossible, God is calling out to our hearts, saying, "What is in your hand? What did I put in your hand?" Jesus can do it. Whatever the impossibility may be, if you believe today that Jesus can do it, as an act of faith and declaration—an act that says, "I believe that Jesus can do it"—you may have your impossibility in your mind, but you say, "My heart believes Jesus can do it." If you believe Jesus can do it, would you come forward? Would you join me at this altar as a declaration of your faith today? "I believe that all things are possible because God placed His hand in mine. All things are possible for him who believes. What is in your hand today? What has God done? Jesus can do it. No matter what it is, Jesus can do it."
-Pastor Stan Mons