Come Up Higher

Exodus 24:1

And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.

Explain: God was calling Moses to a place he had never been before.

· He was calling him to the un-ordinary.

· He was calling him to the uncommon.

· He was calling him to a higher purpose.

In Exodus 4:1 we find Moses saying to God…

· “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.”

In verse 10 we hear him complaining…

· “O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”

But later on in the book of Exodus…

· We find Moses stretching forth his rod upon the Red sea and we see the entire nation of Israel crossing through it on dry ground.

–Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM said in 1943

· “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”

–An Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

· “But what is it good for?”

–Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

· “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” —

–Western Union internal memo, 1876.

· “This ’telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.

–David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920’s said…

· “The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?”

–A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.) said,

· “The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ’C,’ the idea must be feasible.”

–H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

· “Who the heck wants to hear actors talk?”

–Response to Debbi Fields’ idea of starting Mrs. Fields’ Cookies.

· “A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.”

–Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles in 1962 said…

· “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”

–Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

· “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”

” –Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs talked about their attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.

· “So we went to Atari and said, ’Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, ’No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ’Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.’

John 1:46 –Nathanael sarcastically asks Phillip about Jesus…

· Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip told him unto him, Come and see.

· What has been said of you?

· What has been said of your life?

· Better yet, what do you think of you?

Do you realize that there is a divine purpose and call upon your life?

God is calling you up Higher

· There is a higher purpose for your life.

· As God called Peter and his brethren to become ‘Fishers of men’, God is calling you to a higher purpose.

What we fail to realize most often is that we were not born into this world to carry on our father’s deeds.

We were not born into this world to continue in the generational mindset that eludes the will of God for our lives.

We have a higher purpose.

· There is a reason we were born into this world.

· God has called us up higher.

· God has ordained unto us His will and reason for our existence.

WE come from varied backgrounds here today.

But our purpose is the same – to let our lives become what He has ordained us to be.

· Our will today is to allow His will to be done in us.

· Our will today is to enter into the riches of his perfect design for our lives.

The saddest thing in the world to me is a life that has not yet found its purpose in God.

The saddest thing in the world is a life that is full of potential and yet it has not yet found what it is God would have them to do.

What is sad to me is someone like Peter going back to fishing in his father’s boat after Christ was crucified.

· Thank God for his Grace.

· Thank God for his love.

· For had Jesus not called unto Peter as he returned to his career as a fisherman, Peter never would have become the anointed Apostle who preached the Acts 2:38 message of salvation.

Who could have known that the naked man throwing the net into the sea to catch fish that night would just days later be the man who threw the net of the Gospel into the sea of humanity?

Jesus is calling unto us this morning.

· He is asking us – “will you come up higher?”

· Will you allow me to take your life to a higher place of purpose and meaning?

I doubt that there is a person here today who at some point in their life didn’t say, “God why am I here?”

· “What is my purpose?”

When you look into the Bible, you’ll find person after ordinary person who appears to have no talent or purpose for his or her life.

· But after hearing the voice of God in their Life, they become something amazing.

· It’s the little shepherd boy David tending his father’s sheep.

· It’s young Joseph telling his brothers about a dream he just had.

· I hear Mordecai saying to Esther “who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

· I hear Jesus telling Peter, “I’m going to make you a fisher of Men”.

· I hear him telling Saul, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Sometimes we wonder why everything seems to be going wrong in our lives.

· Sometimes we wonder why it just seems like our lives are going nowhere fast.

· Could it be that we are spending our energy kicking against the vary thing that God is calling us up to?

· Could it be that we are running from our calling and our purpose?

I wonder today what could happen if each and every one of us could somehow find our purpose?

· I wonder what would happen if somehow each and every one of us could not only hear the Will of God spoken into our lives, but that we also would begin to walk in that Purpose”?

Here is what I believe…

· Here is what I know to be true…

· Each and every one of us here today has a divine purpose.

· Each and every one of us here today has a reason and call of God upon our lives.

· Not a one of us are an accident.

· None of us come from happenstance.

· None of us are without purpose.

· Each and every one of us was created of the purpose and will of God.

The scriptures declare to us that He knew us “while we were yet in our mothers womb.”

· Don’t think for one moment that He is not concerned about you.

· Don’t think for an instant that He doesn’t know right where you are at this morning.

· David said, Psalm 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

What this world does not understand is that no matter how hard you try, you cannot escape the presence and purpose of God in your life.

· Each of us here today were created in the image of God Himself.

You say, “Jim, you don’t know the depth of sin and depravity I have gone to.”

· Listen – Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we wereyet sinners, Christ died for us.

· Don’t think for one moment that you could stoop so low that God could not pick you back up.

· One old song says, “He brought me out of the Miry Clay. He placed my feet on the rock to stay.”

· Sure our lives get off track.

· Sure we lose our direction.

· But I hear him saying today, “Come Up!”

You see when you’ve lost your direction in God, there is only one direction to go.

· It’s not to the left or right.

· It’s to the North or South.

· The only direction you can go to find God is UP!

Jesus is telling someone here this morning, “look up, and lift up your head; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

· Up might mean a time of repentance for someone here today.

· Up might mean being filled with the Holy Ghost for someone else.

· Up might mean a deeper commitment for you today.

· It could be walking away from something that you know is keeping you from His will in your life.

· Going up signified to Moses that he was separating himself from the carnality of the common people.

· While they were forging molten gods of silver and brass, he was up on the mountain top seeking the face of the One True Living God.

There’s a reason why you are here this morning.

· There’s a reason why you have found yourself in this place today.

· There is something in you that is searching.

· There is something in you that is reaching for its purpose in God.

· It’s the soul crying out, “Help me find my direction.”

I wonder today if anyone here would like to come up higher?

I wonder if anyone here is ready to move away from the ordinary and into the extraordinary.

I wonder if you would be willing to make a commitment to go higher in God today.

Right where you are standing – lift your hands.

If you feel comfortable, find a place to pray where you are or let’s make an altar up here.

Let’s find our place in God.

Let’s find our purpose here today.