{"id":21424,"date":"2017-06-21T00:10:33","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T07:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=11059"},"modified":"2017-06-21T00:10:33","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T07:10:33","slug":"june-21-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/06\/21\/june-21-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"June 21, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cNow when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, \u2018Come, make us gods that shall go before us\u2026\u2019 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, \u2018This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!\u2019\u201d<\/em> Exodus 32:1, 4<\/span><\/p>\n

Can God Use Me?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

I have talked to a number of women who believe they have sinned too much for the Lord to use them in kingdom work. They just don\u2019t see themselves as good enough to be used of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s review today\u2019s Scripture. Here we see Aaron, Moses\u2019 brother, already used as a spokesman for Moses and thus for God. He sins big time, making a golden calf and declaring it to be the god who delivered the people from Egypt. Not only did he fashion an idol, but he was usurping Moses\u2019 leadership (who had clearly been chosen by God as leader), promoting the Israelites\u2019 impatience with God\u2019s timing, and offering them an alternative to worshiping the one true God. He had not restrained the people\u2019s foolishness. When questioned, Aaron lied about how it all happened. (\u201cI threw the gold in the fire, and the calf just jumped out!\u201d) What resulted was not only the anger of God, but the death of 3,000 men (verse 28) and plagues on the people (verse 35).<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet just three chapters prior, in Exodus 29, Aaron had been anointed priest of the tabernacle in an elaborate, seven-day ceremony, where he had been consecrated (set apart) for God\u2019s service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Atonement had to be made for the grievous sins, of course. Moses took care of this. He had long, persuasive conversations with God about the whole affair; God relented, and promised His Presence once again. Aaron continued to serve as priest. God wasn\u2019t done with him after all. God had chosen Aaron to serve\u2014He forgave his sins and restored him to fellowship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Time does not permit to tell of all the unworthy men and women who were used by God. Prostitutes. Murderers. Betrayers. Liars. Haters. Of course, God does not use them in this state\u2014He forgives and restores first, then calls to holiness and blamelessness and love.<\/span><\/p>\n

No one is out of God\u2019s reach. Even the saintliest saint has sinned (\u201cFor all have sinned\u201d<\/em>). The holiest person you know needed forgiveness. The godliest Bible teacher who ever lived had to repent and be forgiven. \u201cThere is none righteous; no, NOT ONE\u201d<\/em> (Romans 3:10).<\/span><\/p>\n

So, let me ask you, is your sin so bad that it will keep you from being forgiven? And if you are forgiven, won\u2019t God use you for Kingdom work? Don\u2019t wait until you\u2019re perfect\u2014that won\u2019t happen until you see Him as He is in His Kingdom (1 John 3:2).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur great God, we know You have plans to use us. All we can do is thank You for Your forgiveness and great love. Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNow when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5zy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}