by Emily Grooms
CLEVELAND, Ga. (TMCNews) – Dr. Ike Reighard, pastor of Piedmont Church in Marietta, Ga., said the best leadership lesson he ever learned came from his service as a 7th grade student serving as a safety-patrol officer.
“Stop, look, and listen” were the same principles Moses employed when God called him into service, said Reighard, a former crosswalk guard.
Preaching from Exodus 3.1-14 about “Life’s Most Important Questions,” Reighard divided his sermon into two questions regarding believers’ life purpose and their stewardship of time.
“One encounter can change the rest of your life,” Reighard said. “Everything in the world that you’ve been doing can suddenly change if you’re willing to stop what you’re doing, look at the situation, and really listen to God.”
Reighard alluded that most Christians sell God short, only attempting to do what they can do in their flesh. “This was Moses,” he said.
“Do you understand that God uses people like you?” Reighard asked.
“God used Moses and he was a murderer,” Reighard said. “He spent 40 years of his life thinking ‘God is through with me; he can’t use me anymore.'”
Reighard said the number one excuse among Christians as to why they don’t serve God is “God can’t use me anymore.”
When God told Moses to go speak to Pharaoh, the first thing he did was offer excuses, Reighard said. “So many of us attempt so little because we don’t stop and listen to Gods purpose for our life.”
When God told Moses to go rescue the Egyptians, Moses had a decision to make, Reighard said: “Am I going to do what I’m comfortable with or am I going to do what God says?”
“It all starts with your sense of purpose.”
Alluding to his second question, Reighard stated the importance of using time wisely.
“Once a minute is spent, you will never gain it back,” he said. “Moses spent 40 years of his life delaying the rescue the Egyptians and allowed his zeal get out of control,” Reighard said.
“We can’t let our desires get out of control,” Reighard said. “We don’t want to delay what God has for us.”
God told Moses to go back and rescue the Egyptians, and Moses gave God five excuses for why he couldn’t, Reighard said: “‘I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough, I’m not spiritual enough, I’m not talented, and I’d rather you use someone else.'”
“God is never going to call you to a task that He will not equip you for,” Reighard said. “He will take what you’ve got and use it in a magnificent way.”
The Lord is more interested in your availability, Reighard said.
“If you could see yourself the way God sees you, your whole life would change,” Reighard said. “He doesn’t just see you as you are; He sees you as you can be, with all of your talent and potential.”
Reighard said if Christians keep looking at their doubts rather than God, then Christians will cheat themselves.
Every second we delay is time we take away from being used by God, he said.
“The only way to recognize God’s voice is to stop, look, and listen,” Reighard said. “The problem is, most of us never stop what we’re doing.”
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Emily Grooms is a Truett-McConnell student and a freelance writer for the college.
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