Saffrin - Moses: Steps to a Life of Faith

Moses

Steps to a Life of Faith

Bob Saffrin

Copyright 2011 by Robert D Saffrin

All rights reserved.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com .

The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Cover image used by license agreement Waj111, Dreamstime LLC

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks so much to my wife Barb for her great editing skills and to Joy Christiansen for her terrific cover design. I also want to thank Rocky for not barking too much while I was trying to write the manuscript.

PREFACE

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God is a dreamer. One day he had a dream and then he thought to himself, W ho will I get to live my dream ? A nd then he made you. He created you to fulfill a dream. You are made for a purpose. This book is about knowing God's dream for you r life and believing him to accomplish it in you. This could be the most exciting thing that has ever happened to you. To enter into God's plan for your life is to become the person he made you to be and to finally find the fulfillment and joy that you have been seeking your whole life.

If you know Jesus as your S avior, then this book can help bring you to the next level of your walk with him. If you don't know God and have never asked him into your life, then this book won't be much help in finding his plan for you. You really can't f ulfill the dream of someone you don't know. There is good news though. It turns out that God himself wants you to know him. He made you primarily because he wants to have a relationship with you. Actually, God loves you. He loves you so much that 2000 years ago he sent his only son to earth to pay the penalty for your sins just so he can have a relationship with you. God is holy and can't have a relationship with anyone who has sin in their life, and the Bible says that we have all sinned. There would be no hope for any of us except that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin so that we can stand sinless before a holy God. Many people think they have to clean up their act before God will accept them; this is just not true. God will take you just the way you are, warts and all. All God requires of us is to want him in our life and accept his sacrifice for us.

This sounds complicated but it really isn't. God will instantly begin to work in your life through a simple, heartfelt prayer. Keep in mind that I'm not talking about religion; all religions are about man trying to reach to God. I'm not talking about that. God is reaching to you today because he wants to know you and have a relationship with you. If you are ready now to receive Jesus into your life, you can pray the simple prayer below from your heart and you will instantly become part of God's family. If you aren't sure if you are ready, that's okay. Read this book, and as God's Spirit begins to stir in you, you can come back here anytime and pray the prayer.

Prayer to receive Jesus:

Dear God,

Im a sinner. Im sorry for my sins and want to turn away from them. I believe that you, Jesus Christ, are the son of God. I believe that you died for me, that you rose from the grave, and that you are alive. I invite you right now to come into my heart to take control. By faith I receive you into my heart to be my God, my friend, my savior, and my Lord. I pray this in the name of Jesus.

Amen

PROLOGUE
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Many years ago when I first started studying the Bible, I pretty much stayed in the New Testament. Even though there was a lot I didnt understand, there was also a lot that was just easy to take at face value. By contrast, the Old Testament was pretty much a mystery to me. As I studied more and more, and the Holy Spirit began opening the book to me, I started to understand why the Lord gave us the Old Testament. First of all, the Lords heart is revealed in the Old Testament like nowhere else. In the Old Testament we see Jehovah dealing with an often rebellious nation of Israel and how he never gave up on them in spite of how badly they treated him. The Old Testament gives us huge revelation into the heart of God. Secondly, the Old Testament gives us great stories that model the doctrines of the New Testament.

What the New Testament states, the Old Testament illustrates.

Ive come to love the Old Testament stories. In particular, I love the little biblical biographies like David and Esther and Elijah, and many others. I love it when Jehovah takes just ordinary people and uses them to accomplish mighty things for the Kingdom of God.

I love superhero stories. As a kid I loved to watch superman on TV. I love to watch action movies because I can imagine myself in the place of the heroes. Through their stories I can have great adventures and do mighty deeds. It is fun, but it is, of course, all imaginary. But the Bible is real. All of the stories are true, and yet each story is better than any movie you will watch or any book that you will read. However, there is a difference. The men and women in the Bible arent really heroes. David wasnt a hero, he was a sinner. Apart from God, Elijah was a coward. Abraham was a liar. Jacob was a deceiver. You will find none of the so-called Bible heroes to be true heroes. They were just ordinary sinners like you and me. There is only one true hero in the Bible. Jehovah is the hero of every Bible story .

Now here is the wonderful part. When you read an adventure story or see a movie, in your imagination you put yourself in the place of the hero and pretend that you can do the things that he or she can do. But the Bible stories are different. None of the Bible characters were up to the adventures they found themselves in. None were capable enough. None were worthy. None were courageous enough. They were just people like you and me who found a way to connect with and tap into the power of the living God. None of the Bible characters had what it takes to be a hero. The mystery is that because these were just ordinary people like you and me, we all have the potential to have great adventures with Jehovah just like they did. Because all of the power rests in God and none in me, I dont have to be good enough or capable enough or courageous enough.

A few years ago I was in India teaching on the life of Moses at a pastors and leaders hip conference. I told the attendees that God had an A plan for each of their lives, and that his A plan for them was just as big as the plan he had for Moses. I told them that God is not a God of small dreams and that each of them could have a ministry that was no less important in the kingdom of God than was the ministry that God gave Moses. The question is not how big is God, but rather, how much can we believe him. During a break at the conference, a young lady asked if she could speak with me. We went out into the center of a vacant lot to talk. She began to cry. She said, All my life, starting with my parents, people have been telling me that my life would never amount to anything. Now I come to this seminar and you tell me that God has a dream for my life that is just as big as the dream he had for Moses. How can this be? I explained to her that the size of Gods dream for her life isnt dependent on what others thought, or her worthiness, her talent, or even her faithfulness, but rather is dependent wholly on God. I assured her that God is big enough to have a huge dream for every person on the planet. I explained that there isnt anything that Moses did or who he was that is beyond our ability, because all of our ability rests in God. I have come to know this young lady personally, even though I have not seen her for several years now. She has several college degrees and is married to a great young pastor. I trust God is using her in a mighty way.