Session 1:  God's Relationship with Moses
The good news of the Christian faith – no the Great News – is that God wants an intimate relationship with us.

Key Text:  Exodus 33:11  “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”

When we think about our relationship with God what do we envision?  The Apostle Paul tells us that the relationship with the Almighty is one of a father and son, and that is true.  In other places we are told we worship a king, and the nature of our relationship is one of subjects to a sovereign potentate.  That too is true.  But here, in Exodus we have a different paradigm.  Here, the Scripture refers to this relationship as one of a friend.

It is amazing to think that God would speak to a man as a friend, yet this is what the Scripture tells us was the relationship between Moses and God.   From the beginning, when God created man, we see that one of the core elements of God’s very nature is that He is relational.  God in His nature – as part of His being – is relational, and in that context He desires a relationship with us, His created beings.  It can be said, in fact that He created us for the very purpose of being in a relationship with Him, yet it is difficult for us to comprehend that the God of the universe would pursue us as a friend pursues another friend. 

Too often our picture of God is one of an angry old man who wants anything but a relationship with us.  We see an all-powerful king who has no interest in having an intimate relationship with us, his meaningless subjects.  We see a distant potentate who desires a kind of distance that is void of closeness and intimacy.

It wasn’t like that between God and Moses.  The Scripture tells us that God spoke to Moses as one speaks to a friend.  In this passage we see the relationship that is a foreshadowing of what He desires for even us; not the angry old man or a distant ruler, but rather the intimacy of a friend. 

We see this relational dynamic throughout Moses’ life, as God spoke to him and through him as he led the people out of Egypt.  We see it in Chapter 32 of Exodus after Moses had received the Ten Commandments the first time. While Moses was with God on Mt. Sinai the people built an idol (the golden calf) and God expressed his anger at the nation, even threatening to cut them off.  Moses pleaded with God to spare the nation and even said to Him,  “Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin – but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” (Ex. 32:32).  In other words Moses had the audacity to say to God, “if you don’t forgive these people, then cut off our friendship too.”  This would make no sense for a man to say to God except that Moses and God had a relationship at a deeper level than that of “distant king” and “meaningless servant.”  Moses was not unaware of his standing before the very God of the universe – the creator of all things and the omniscient, omnipotent king of kings – but he was also acutely aware of his relationship with the king.  It was both, and he knew it.

The Scripture tells us that Moses took his tent to the outskirts of the camp in order to meet God there.  His tent was called “the tabernacle of meeting” (Ex. 33:7) because it was where Moses met with God.  In once sense this is where Moses met with his friend.  To say “friend” here is not to diminish the status of God, but rather to describe the nature of the relationship between two parties who, while unequal in standing and nature, were nonetheless bonded by a relationship of friendship.

Verse 9 continues this theme by telling us that “the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses.”  God’s presence came into Moses tent and they talked – not as equals, but as friends.  That is what verse 11 tells us – “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”

The relationship continues in verse 12 when Moses pleads with God.  He begs God to bring up the people and to send someone with him.  He turned God’s own words on Him and said, “You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.””  Moses reminded God of their friendship and told God that He had said He knew Moses by name and that Moses had found grace.   Moses was pushing on the relationship, but he wasn’t finished.

The height of this relational dynamic is found in verses 18-23.   Moses had the gull to say to God, “Please, show me Your glory.”  In a relationship that had become intimate, Moses wanted to know his “friend” in a deeper way.  He said to Him in other words, “show me more of yourself.  Let us be closer.” 

The amazing thing here is that God the almighty King of Kings, maker of heaven and earth did not chastise Moses for such a request, but rather granted the request.  He said in vs. 19, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.”  Then this sentence from the Lord, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

It is important to note here that the originator and initiator of this relationship was God.  God saved Moses from the wrath of Pharaoh when other Hebrew boys were being executed.  God put Moses in Pharaoh’s house for his childhood, and God chose Moses to lead his people out of Egypt.  God was the initiator of this relationship and He reminds Moses of this fact in verse 19.  He is reminding him, “Yes we have a relationship, but don’t forget that it was I who started it.”

The Lord however knows the limitations of this relationship.  He knows that for Moses – or any man – to fully experience His glory would mean death to that man so He says in vs. 20, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”  But God, the friend of Moses had a plan.  It is, that God wanted to be closer to Moses just as Moses wanted to be closer to God.  He too, wanted to deepen the level of intimacy by being more known by His friend; He too wanted the kind of intimacy that comes through more exposure.  He said to Moses, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock.  So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.  Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” 

In other words, God says to His friend, Moses, “I have arranged a way for you to see as much of me as you can handle without dying.  Yes, we will know each other more, we will be more intimate, we will be closer, but this is all you can handle.”

It is an amazing peek into the heart of God that He desires intimacy with those whom He chooses to have intimacy with.  But of course, it doesn’t end there.

Moses – or any other man – could not have total communion with God because the very nature of man is separated from God in every aspect.  God’s nature is one of complete holiness and man’s is one of fallenness.  God’s nature is one of total light and mans is one of darkness.  

God desires an intimate relationship with all those whom He chooses.  If the first step in that relationship was creating man, then the next step in God’s redemptive plan – the plan of engaging that relationship – was for Him to take on the form of a man.  God became a man in order that He might establish an intimate relationship with us.  God took on the physical nature of man so that the relationship He could not have with Moses was possible as a man-to-man; face to face friendship.  John 1: 4 tells us, “In Him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”  The nature of God – light – was in Christ and yet He was in the form of a man.  He was and is the “light of the world.”

Again John tells us in I John 1:5b-7 “…God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

 But God wasn’t done.  There is yet a third stage to come in this ongoing story of relationship building.

Revelation 22: 3-5 tells us of the final state of this relationship.  “And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.  They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.  There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light.  And they shall reign forever and ever.”

Note the usage of the terms “face” and “light.” 

God “clothes” us with light in our final state.  He says that there will be no night, and we won’t need a lamp or sun because the Lord God will give us light.   We have a foreshadowing of this state in Ex. 34 after Moses has been given the Ten Commandments for the second time and he descends from the mountain. 

The Scripture tells us “the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.”  Moses’ face shone with the light of God.  Then it tells us (vs. 30) “So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.”  Vs. 33-35 says, “And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.  But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded.  And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.”

Simply by being in the presence of God, Moses had been given a small part of the “light” that was God.  We have traditionally thought that Moses “caught” this light by being in God’s presence, and that may be true.  But what if God gave him the light on purpose.  What if God intentionally made Moses into a very small portion of His own likeness in order to deepen the relationship with him?  What if God’s desire for a more intimate relationship with His friend included sharing more of His essence?  When Moses was with God in the tent, he removed the veil because he was with his “friend.” In those times the Lord and His light intersected the light that was Moses.  Here we have a picture of friendship – the coming together of two lights, sharing intimately and knowing each other “face to face.”

God says that in the final state we will see His face – the same term that is used in Exodus when God talks to Moses “face to face” - a euphemism for the closeness of the relationship.  We will have an intimate relationship with God and be with Him “face to face.’

The final state in this relationship is one of God changing us to be the glorious light that is His nature.  The final nature of the relationship is one of “light to light,” as God makes us into light.

Today, while not yet clothed outwardly with the light of God we nonetheless have His light in us because of Christ.  We can experience a deep relationship with God because of the work He did in becoming a man and placing His spirit in us.  It is that intimacy of relationship that encourages us to walk with Him – our friend – through this life with joy, and in anticipation of an even deeper relationship when we are clothed with the final light of His glory.
 

Session 3 Outline
Building Club through Campaigners. 
 

I.    Key Principle: a kid will grow more by experiencing God in his life than by simply learning about God.
    A.    Kids must experience a relationship with God by risking and trusting Him.  When He is real in their lives they can’t be talked out of it.
    B.    4 keys to Christian growth:
            i.     Bible Study
            ii.    Prayer
            iii.   Fellowship
            iv.   Ministry

II. Key Principle: Visionary Participatory Leadership
    A.    The ministry must belong to the Campaigners.
            i.    They pray for their friends
            ii.   They invite their friends to club
            iii.   They give the feedback on the club
            iv.   They make contacts happen.
            v.    None of it happens without them.
    B    Vision is everything.  You give kids vision by painting pictures of success
    C. One kid with the right vision is worth fifty without.  Find the right kid to start.
            i.    Who is he/she? 
            ii.   The one God leads you to. 
            iii.  The one with the vision 
            iv.  The one with commitment
            v.   The one you will pour your life into.

III. Key principle: Leading Leaders (see also www.visionforyourlife.com - newsletters)
    A.    Principle #1: If you are going to grow something beyond the number of people who will be directly connected to you, then you must learn to lead leaders.
    B.    Principle #2: The paradigm of leading leaders is different from the paradigm of leading followers.
    C.    Principle #3: Leaders are difficult.  If you are going to lead leaders you are going to lead  difficult people.
    D.    Principle #4: The most important factor in leading leaders is to have a high “EQ.”
    E.    Principle #5: For leaders the decision is not whether they can lead or not it is always a question of weather they will lead or not.