God’s will my way. I want to begin today asking a, I think, a sobering question. Have you ever wondered what is the spiritual condition of America? Maybe another way to put it is what if, what’s the greatest threat to faith in America? Some might say it’s atheism. But what if it isn’t? What if instead it might be what could be called functional atheism? Here’s what I mean. It’s what researchers are starting to call the spiritual condition of modern day American Christianity, functional atheism. Here’s two numbers to illustrate my point. 79 and 14. According to a study done this year, 2025, by Barer Research Group and the Culture Research Center, 79% of Americans say they believe in the Biblical God. Now that sounds good, doesn’t it? Until you dig deeper into the details and you read this next line, only 14% say God actually influences their daily decisions. Think about that. Eight out of 10 say they believe in God, but less than one in seven, live as if he’s real. In that same study, only 9% nine claim an intimate, interactive relationship with God and just 16% say they put God first in their lives. Uh, you could say we as a country, we haven’t stopped believing in God. We’ve just kind of politely pushed him to the side. We live as if God’s like, like an accessory, a, a charm bracelet we wear on Sundays, but not the compass that needs to direct us Monday through Saturday. Let me push just a little deeper into the same study. Less than 4% of Americans, it showed hold to a full biblical worldview, of which there are seven key components, 4% and only 25% believe that there is something as absolute moral truth. One in four and a whopping 71% say they’d rather shape their own beliefs than adopt the teaching of any church or faith tradition. You see, we, we want God, but only on our terms. We want salvation, but not surrender. We want spiritual inspiration, but not biblical authority. And the result, just look around. We have a, a culture, a generation that claims to know God, but lives as if they themselves are God. And if any of this hits close to any of you, you’re not alone. In fact, we’re gonna go even back into the scriptures and spend the next few minutes walking through the story where someone tried to do God’s will in his way and it unraveled quickly on him. Yeah, but we’re also gonna see how God in his mercy doesn’t discard us when we go our way. Instead, he calls after us and he redeems our story as we surrender and receive his. So I’m gonna be in Exodus chapter two, reading verses 10 through 15. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses. There it is, Moses saying I drew him out of the water. One day after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that, and seeing no one. He killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew? The man said, who made you ruler and judge over us?Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses was afraid and thought what I did must have become known. When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian where he sat down by a Well, yeah, this story, this is the word of the Lord. Thanks you, God. Let’s pray as we continue. Lord God, this is quite a, a story of one of your key leaders when you had things to do to teach him and shape him and. You probably do for us today as your people as well. So Holy Spirit, illuminate our hearts with your living word that we might hear your truth and follow you in faith. Speak to each heart today. Ask in Jesus’ precious name and for his sake. Amen. Amen. Well, dear friends, grace to you and peace from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Today we’re going to walk through a painful detour in Moses’ life, and yet I hope we’ll discover that even our biggest misfires can become grace filled classrooms.

Where, where God will teach us or maybe reteach us to trust his way, his pace, and rely on his strength. So we’re gonna walk through this episode underneath three points. The first being God’s will without God’s Way leads to regret picture Moses as described in our text, A 30 something powerhouse in Pharaoh’s court. There’s a retelling of this episode in the New Testament book of Acts, chapter seven that adds this insight. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action status. Check influence Czech, but every glance out the palace window for Moses. Reopened this old wound, the sight of his people in chains and in bondage. And then comes this tipping point. One day after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. Now that word translated watched in the Hebrew. It’s rah, it’s not some casual look. It’s a, it’s a soul level anguish. Moses doesn’t just see slavery, he feels it deeply, and so he crafts a one man rescue plan. Yeah. Looking this way in that and seeing no one, I mean, can’t, you can just imagine that, right? He killed the Egyptian and hi him in the sand. Hmm. Heroic. No. The Book of Acts supplies this commentary. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not translation. Moses like, Hey, God, relax. I got this. And so he reacts out of emotion rather than God’s leading. And the crowd that Moses expected to applaud and welcome him responds with crickets and blank stares because you see passion without divine permission turned a corpse buried into the de, into the desert sand for hiding, and then a prince sprinting for his life. Martin Luther warns us. The flesh ever seeks to do the work of the spirit. Moses tried and, and God had him enroll immediately in the school of regret. Have you ever tried to solve something while you’re kind of focusing on yourself? Ever tried to mend a marriage with manipulation or to mend a marriage with manipulation to lead a ministry just on pure ego because prayer felt too slow, parent by instinct because waiting on God seemed impractical and not coming. Good goals, wrong tools. And so scripture waves this red flag and says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him and he will make your path straight. And more than 700 years after Moses, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, writes this truth for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My way. Declares the Lord as the heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts you see for Moses? Same for us. Whenever we hijack God’s timetable, we end up burying evidence in the sand and have to flee then into obscurity. And yet, here’s the gospel twist that even in exile. Grace can set up a classroom where God will reteach us trust and pacing and power. But now the kind that flows from surrender, not self will and self-reliance. God’s will without God’s way leads to regret. Second self will dressed in righteousness, still misses the mark. I think sometimes the most dangerous mistakes we can make come not from bad intentions, but from rushed intentions. This was Moses. The very day after he buries the Egyptian in the sand. He, he returns to the scene perhaps thinking, well, maybe they’ll rally around me this time. Maybe they’ll understand that I am sent here to help. But then this happens the next day. He went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew? And maybe there’s hope yet in his voice, but the response hits Moses like a slap. The man said, who are you? Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you did the Egyptian? Yikes. Ouch. Here’s how the New Testament remembers this moment, but the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside, pushed aside. That’s what comes from spiritual presumption. We assume or presume that because we care deeply, that we’re automatically right, that because our motives are pure and our own thinking, then our methods must be as well. But here’s the truth. Self will dressed in righteousness is still self will author and Pastor Paul David Tripp once wrote, you and I will never be righteous enough, wise enough or strong enough to do God’s work our way. So let me ask, have you ever tried to help someone only to kind of have it blow up in your face? You step in to save the day, but you end up making it worse. That can happen when we try to do God’s work without God’s wisdom. The Bible shows us something better as Jeanette Red Forest in James chapter one.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. And the Apostle Paul urges us do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but rather in humility, value others above yourselves. But this calls for humility, doesn’t it? And that seems to be in short supply today. Barner research in a 2021 study four years ago found that 44% of Americans in c uh, that Christians in America say they could live a fully spiritual life without being a part of any church. 44%. Now, that’s DIY, spirituality on steroids, and it’s a trap. Martin Luther reminds us, the church is the mother that begets and bears every Christian through the word of God. That’s in our larger catechism. In other words, there are no healthy lone ranger Christians in the kingdom of God. We all need God’s word. We need God’s people in order to discern God’s timing and God’s way. Uh, you, you know, Moses had the right instinct. He cared about the suffering of his people, but he ended up lack acting kind of more like a, a military commando rather than a surrendered servant. And because of that, he was misunderstood. Yes. Pushed aside, absolutely. And forced to flee into the wilderness. God’s will without God’s way leads to regret. Self will dressed in righteousness still misses the mark. And third and finally, and hope filled the desert of disappointment can become a well of grace. When Pharaoh got word of what Moses had done, he, he didn’t act, he didn’t, uh, wait to act. He immediately, he wanted him dead. And so Moses ran. He had to run, he had to run out of the palaces of Egypt, out of his identity as a prince, out of the narrative that he had written for himself. And he fled east. Out of the Lush Nile Delta and across the sun scorched Sinai Peninsula in the Midian, a land of deserts of shepherds, of isolation and silence. And did you catch this? At the end of our text, Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well, just that he sat down by a well. But that’s where everything begins to change. I can well imagine Moses thought that, that he’d ruined it all thought he’d failed in his calling, that it was all over. But the book of Acts reminds us that this was not some happenstance detour. It was God’s design. Acts seven says, after 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. That same wilderness that had no doubt felt like exile had become God’s classroom. My favorite radio preacher when I was in college, pastor sw, Chuck Swindall, reflects beautifully on this verse. When the self life finally sits down the well of new life is near, that’s where grace begins. It’s not in our own momentum, but sometimes even just in our meltdown. Grace begins, not when we are riding high, but when we’re sitting down by a well. And Moses, he would sit there for 40 years. 40 years of obscurity, 40 years of shepherding, of, of praying, 40 years of waiting. But God didn’t waste those 40 years. He was actually forming a powerful and humble servant. Martin Luther wrote, it is certain that man must utterly despair of his own ability before he is prepared to receive the grace of Christ. So my dear friend, if you’ve ever felt crushed by disappointment and take heart, the Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. And if you wonder whether God can really redeem what may feel like a waste to you, the Bible says this, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

You see, Moses had to unlearn control to unlearn performance-based living to unlearn the quick fixes of Egypt and his own heart. And so do we, because God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips those he calls, but he only works with surrendered hearts, not self will. And maybe you feel like you’re in your own Midian right now. Maybe your, your plans seem to have failed or your passion has run dry, then may, maybe this is God’s word to you, sit by the well. Sit down, be still. That’s where Jesus meets us, and that’s where grace gets to work. Before we close, I wanna share a brief story of someone right here in our church family who’s discovered what it means to do God’s will, God’s way. He answered God’s call to serve in a ministry of presence, of compassion, of listening and care. And so let’s hear how God met him at the well. Of his life and then invited him into something greater. Let’s watch the screens. Hello, I’m Ron Swarovski and I’m one of the new Stephen Ministers here at Victory Lutheran Church. Being a Stephen Minister means a great deal because it gives me the opportunity to spread God’s word to share his gospel with other people after the death of my wife. My life changed from being very busy with her care to having a lot of idle time. I felt the Lord’s calling to become more involved with the church activities. What was important to me was to not only accept God and Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but to follow his command to spread the gospel to other people, and that’s what I was looking for an opportunity to do. I began by going to men’s Bible study, reading the Bible, and one phrase seemed to repeat, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and spread the gospel. After a few weeks of praying, I read in the Bible, be patient until God gets things in place for what he wants you to do. Shortly after that it was announced that a Stephen Minister class was planned, and if interested to apply, I knew this was God’s answer to my prayer. My application was accepted and I began the weeks of training. The training was excellent. We recovered every aspect of human behavior and learned how to deal with that and answer their questions and to help them with their problems. It’s been very rewarding. It’s such a good feeling to, to be there, to be with these people who need God’s word and his presence. Well, what I would suggest to people is that they attend bible study, uh, attend church services and other activities in the church to, to gain more involvement. It has been so comforting to pray and want to do his will, which brings me closer to Jesus Christ. I thank God every day for his love and mercy. God bless you all. Isn’t that wonderful? It’s, uh, our Stephen of ministry, Stephen of ministers, tremendous ministers of care and presence. God’s will done God’s way. So what might all this mean for you? Well, for one, it can mean that your hope it’s not in doing better or trying harder or, or trying to get it right the next time. Your hope is found only and solely in Jesus Christ, who is already done all that you need and what we can’t seem to do, where Moses ran ahead, Jesus walked in perfect obedience. Where Moses took justice into his own hands, Jesus took judgment upon himself. Where Moses fled for taking a life, Jesus gave his to save yours. The Bible tells us this foundational truth. In Isaiah 53, he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our inequities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. And then he rose the tomb’s, empty the penalty of your sin. It’s fully paid death, defeated grace available. And this isn’t just good advice. It’s good news. It’s great news. So now what? Well, now you don’t, you don’t have to carry the weight of your past. You don’t have to try to figure out your future alone because Jesus invites you to trust him today, this day, not just as Savior, but as shepherd and God. The Holy Spirit has been given to you, and the word of God is your roadmap. The Bible says in Psalm one 19, your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. So stop striving, sit down by the well, not in defeat, but in faith, and let Jesus meet you and speak to you through His Word, and fill you with the spirit. Because God’s will done God’s way was actually fully accomplished by Jesus Christ for you. And so now you are free to walk in grace, to live by faith, and be led by the Holy Spirit every day of your life. Join me in prayer,

Lord Jesus. When we rush ahead of you, bring us back to the well of your grace. Teach us to trust your timing. Lean on your strength and follow your way. Thank you for redeeming our failures and calling us still by your cross and for your glory. It’s in your precious name. Jesus said I pray. Amen. Amen.