Exodus 3:9-15 NLT - ⁹ Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. ¹⁰ Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹² God answered, “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.”

¹³ But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”

¹⁴ God replied to Moses, “I am who i am. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.” ¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.

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1. IDENTITY IS OFTEN FORGED IN THE WILDERNESS

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2. YOUR EXCUSES REVEAL YOUR IDENTITY STRUGGLE

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Five Excuses:

Excuse 1: “WHO AM I?” 

Exodus 3:11 NLT - But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”

Truth:
God never answers insecurity with self-esteem. He answers it with His presence.

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Excuse 2: “WHO ARE YOU?” 

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Exodus 3:13 NLT - But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”

Truth:
You don’t build God into your identity…God builds your identity into Himself!

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Excuse 3: “WHAT IF THEY DON’T BELIEVE ME?” 

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Exodus 4:1 NLT - But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”

Truth:

Your identity cannot be built on people’s approval. If it is… you’ll never obey God fully.

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Isaiah 53:3-6 NLT - He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. ⁴ Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! ⁵ But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. ⁶ All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

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Ephesians 1:6 NKJV - ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

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Romans 9:20 NIV - But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” 

Excuse 4: “I CAN’T…” 

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Exodus 4:10 NLT - But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

Truth:

Your limitations don’t disqualify you…They reveal where God wants to show His power.

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Excuse 5: “USE SOMEONE ELSE” 

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Exodus 4:13 NLT - But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”

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3. YOUR IDENTITY IS ROOTED IN GOD’S PRESENCE, NOT YOUR PERFORMANCE

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4. YOU CAN’T WALK IN PURPOSE UNTIL YOU SETTLE IDENTITY

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Truth:

“When identity is unclear, obedience becomes optional.”

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