Stepping Out in Faith
Edited directly from the sermon transcript of Will Childers’s message at Highland Hills Church of Christ on May 17, 2026. Adapted for length and readability while preserving his voice and message.
When I was thinking about what I wanted to speak about, my mom talked to me about picking out characters and stories that really resonated with me. The story of the burning bush and the story of Timothy are two stories that have shaped me and led me through my walk as a Christian.
Has anybody seen The Prince of Egypt? It’s such a beautiful movie. That scene where Moses is talking to God in the burning bush is really beautiful. But I want to look at it right out of God’s word.
In Exodus 3, God tells Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hides his face because he is afraid to look upon God.
God says he has seen the oppression of his people in Egypt and heard their cry. He knows their sorrows. He has come down to deliver them and bring them into a good and large land. Then he tells Moses, “I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
Moses asks, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” God answers, “I will certainly be with you.”
When Moses asks what name he should give the people, God says, “I AM WHO I AM.” He tells Moses to gather the elders of Israel and tell them that the God of their fathers has visited them and seen what has been done to them in Egypt.
This is a very powerful conversation. It’s telling the story of a man who has fled his own country and his people. He’s out in the wilderness, and God is speaking to him out of a burning bush. It marks the beginning of a new chapter and the continuation of God’s plan for his people.
This is one of my favorite speeches from God recorded in the Bible. It shows us his power, but also his care and dedication to his promises.
Even though God makes these great promises, Moses still has his doubts. He believes in God. He’s an Israelite, and he’s seeing God speaking to him through a burning bush. But even after all this, Moses pleads with God: “Lord, please send someone else.”
I see myself in Moses, and I think a lot of people can relate to that. We see throughout God’s word that God will guide us. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Often we hear this verse on its own, and it always kind of confused me. My weariness and my burdens aren’t physical, and Jesus isn’t sitting right there in the flesh. I can’t put my burdens in a box, put a label on it, walk over, and hand it directly to Jesus: “Here’s my burdens and weariness for the week. Please give me a rest.”
But the key comes in verses 29 and 30: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Moses was seeing God take action firsthand. Despite not wanting to go to Egypt, he developed a deep faith in God. God demonstrated his might and power through great works in Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea. All these things built Moses’s faith. Through faith, Moses took a yoke upon him and sought to learn from God, to go with God.
In the New Testament, Jesus created his church. This is where we begin to talk about Timothy, a young leader growing up under the new covenant after Jesus had sacrificed himself on the cross for our sins.
Timothy was a close friend and protégé of the apostle Paul. At the beginning of 2 Timothy, Paul focuses on his faith: “When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.” He reminds Timothy to stir up the gift of God, because “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
Paul gives us a specific example of Timothy’s strong faith coming from his mother and grandmother. Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This faith is important to both Timothy’s and Moses’s stories, as well as our lives today.
In Ephesians 2:8–10, Paul writes that we have been saved by grace through faith. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
It was God’s grace that delivered Moses and God’s grace that saved Timothy. Both men exhibited a deep faith in God’s promises. Paul makes sure to point out that it was not our works that saved us. While Moses and Timothy were both created for great things, Timothy was able to experience, grow in, and be a part of God’s church.
Hebrews 12 encourages us to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and to run with endurance the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That great cloud of witnesses, those heroes of the faith such as Moses, should inspire us to run with Jesus and learn from his teachings.
The church has a charge to encourage a closer walk with Christ so that Jesus can work through all of us and increase our faith.
Paul tells Timothy to take heed to himself and to the doctrine, and to continue in them. He also tells him to encourage older men as fathers, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters. He talks about the church as a family.
I think this is something Highland Hills does very well. It’s done very well for me, and through my experiences with the other younger folks in the youth group, I believe it does well for them, too. I’m very proud to be a part of this family.
I’m thankful for the encouragement I’ve received over the two years I’ve been here. I’m thankful to God that he has given me this gift of such a great family that encourages me to step out in faith.
When I thought about this year’s theme, “Next Step,” I thought about my personal next step: going off to college, graduating high school, completely changing the pattern I’ve established over the past four years. Waking up, going to school, coming home, practicing trumpet, going to sleep, doing it all over again. Now that pattern is being interrupted.
All of our lives have patterns, and they change. Our next steps change from time to time. But it’s always important that, like Moses and Timothy, we step out in faith.
Moses was stepping into the role of leading Israel out of captivity. Timothy was stepping into a role as a leader in an early church in a world that opposed them at every step. Paul writes that he is probably about to die for the faith, but Timothy should not be discouraged. God is faithful and promises us a home in heaven someday.
Working for him, taking his yoke upon yourself, and learning from him is the most important thing of all. Highland Hills has taught me that.
Let us continue to encourage each other to grow so that when we speak about Jesus, people will come to know that he is the only way to salvation. If you’re not a part of God’s family, you are called to be baptized in Jesus’s name so your sins can be washed away.
If you have wandered away or are struggling with your burdens, we want to help and encourage you, be there with you, and be a steady hand on your shoulder. We all need that encouragement through the church so much.
