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The Grumbling against a Godly Leader Msg 1620 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Tonight I want to talk with you about one of
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Speaker 1: the mysteries of godliness, and it has to do with
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Speaker 1: the whole area of perils that accompany a close walk
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Speaker 1: with God. Last Sunday night I talked about the importance
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Speaker 1: of spending time with the Lord. Tonight I want to
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Speaker 1: talk about the problem you create when you do that.
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Speaker 1: You determine to spend time with God and to walk
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Speaker 1: with Him You're asking for it. You move into a
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Speaker 1: perilous realm. You begin to experience what we could call
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Speaker 1: the peril principle. To begin with, let me define what
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Speaker 1: we mean by peril and then let me amplify it
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Speaker 1: so that you understand exactly what target we're shooting for tonight.
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Speaker 1: If you were to check Webster to define peril, here's
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Speaker 1: what you would read. Exposure to the risk of being injured. Danger.
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Speaker 1: When we speak of peril, we're not speaking of something
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Speaker 1: that inevitably happens or something that has happened. We're speaking
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Speaker 1: of the threat of something that could happen. And if
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Speaker 1: it does happen, you will be injured. For example, if
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Speaker 1: you like to sail and you have a small vessel
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Speaker 1: that you put out to sea and it gets into
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Speaker 1: the ocean, you face the peril of shipwreck. Doesn't mean
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Speaker 1: that you will be shipwrecked. It means that the peril
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Speaker 1: is very present. If you drive too fast on a
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Speaker 1: rain slick highway in the middle of a rain storm,
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Speaker 1: you face the peril of a car accident. Doesn't mean
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Speaker 1: you will have an accident. It means that the chances
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Speaker 1: are great. You run the risk of an accident. You
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Speaker 1: like to play football and you go out for the
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Speaker 1: team and you face the peril of a torn knee
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Speaker 1: ligament or a broken bone in your body. It doesn't
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Speaker 1: mean you will get a broken bone, but it means
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Speaker 1: that you face the peril of such. Now the axiom
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Speaker 1: that I want to develop from Moses' life and to
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Speaker 1: begin with from some passages of Scripture before Moses' life
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Speaker 1: is this. Those who determine to walk with God... Become
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Speaker 1: the target of the enemy. Last Sunday night, some of
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Speaker 1: you made a decision, and it was perhaps the most
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Speaker 1: significant decision of the year for you. In your own way,
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Speaker 1: you framed a promise to God that said, in effect, Lord,
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Speaker 1: I want to spend time with you consistently. I want
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Speaker 1: to meet with you, and I want my life to
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Speaker 1: be a life that is godly. a life that honors
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Because you made that commitment and the enemy
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Speaker 1: heard it, I can assure you, you are the target
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Speaker 1: of enemy attack. You face a series of perils that
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Speaker 1: could lead to some phase of injury in your spiritual life.
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Speaker 1: Now the great hope we have is that the one
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Speaker 1: in us is greater than the one in the world.
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Speaker 1: We don't face such a formidable enemy that we cannot
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Speaker 1: fight or stand firm and secure. But when you walk
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Speaker 1: close with God, you live with a very real threat
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Speaker 1: or the risk of enemy attack. The closer you walk,
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Speaker 1: the deeper the penetrations. Let me show you from the
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Speaker 1: New Testament some scriptures. First, 2 Timothy chapter 3. You'll
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Speaker 1: be comforted to know that there are some scriptures that
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Speaker 1: give help, and we're going to see some. But I
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Speaker 1: want to be realistic with you and say that if
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Speaker 1: you made such a decision recently, you're facing inevitable traps.
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Speaker 1: You need not fall into any of them, but they
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Speaker 1: will come. 2 Timothy 3.12, and indeed all who desire
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Speaker 1: to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Look
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Speaker 1: at it again. The Amplified Bible says all who are
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Speaker 1: determined to live a devoted godly life will meet persecution.
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Speaker 1: That is, will be made to suffer because of their stand.
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Speaker 1: Now that's a strange promise, but it is a promise.
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Speaker 1: Usually promises are encouraging. This promise we could call realistic.
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Speaker 1: You determine to live godly, you will face the test
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Speaker 1: that will put your decision on the stand. Look at
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Speaker 1: another in 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter 5 verse 8.
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Speaker 1: Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary,
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Speaker 1: now there is the enemy, your adversary, the devil, prowls
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Speaker 1: about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But
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Speaker 1: resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same
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Speaker 1: experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who
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Speaker 1: are in the world. The verses begin with Another promise.
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Speaker 1: Strange as it may seem, it is a promise. Your
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Speaker 1: adversary is like a roaring lion looking for prey. And
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Speaker 1: he seems to prey most upon the godly. If you
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Speaker 1: compromise in your walk, you're not really a target of
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Speaker 1: the enemy. You're already halfway in his camp. But if
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Speaker 1: you determine to stand alone and against the tide... The
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Speaker 1: majority opinion of wherever you may spend your life, the
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Speaker 1: majority opinion, it seems, among the world is always in
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Speaker 1: keeping with the world's lifestyle. You determine to live according
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Speaker 1: to biblical standards. Be sure that your enemy is seeking
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Speaker 1: to devour you. You will live under the gun. Someone
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Speaker 1: put it this way. Whoever desires to walk with God
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Speaker 1: walks right into the crucibles. You will live, veritably, in
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Speaker 1: a crucible. The tests will come. Some of you could
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Speaker 1: stand to your feet and say, you know, I made
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Speaker 1: a decision very recently. And I really thought that from
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Speaker 1: that time on, things would get better. But as a
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Speaker 1: matter of fact, they've gotten worse. I had a man
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Speaker 1: tell me that he made a decision the likes of
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Speaker 1: which he had never made in his Christian life. He
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Speaker 1: was going to walk with God regardless. He happens to
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Speaker 1: be in sales. And he said, almost from the day
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Speaker 1: those words left my lips, I have been in one,
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Speaker 1: what I would call a peril, one peril after another.
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Speaker 1: One test after another. Living constantly under the gun of
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Speaker 1: enemy attack. In the last service, we had some friends
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Speaker 1: from Zaire visit with us. I didn't even know they
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Speaker 1: were here. And when I came in, just before this
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Speaker 1: service started and was ready to come in, I was
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Speaker 1: told they were nearby. So I walked over in the
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Speaker 1: other room and sat down with them. And they said,
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Speaker 1: this message was for us. I didn't know that. I
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Speaker 1: really thought it was for me because the preparation, it
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Speaker 1: seemed as though it was tailor-made for my needs. But
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Speaker 1: they said, that is exactly where we have been. And
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Speaker 1: they've been thousands of miles away in Zaire. So you see,
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Speaker 1: it's a universal principle. You determine to live godly, and
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Speaker 1: the peril principle says the enemy will make you his target.
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Speaker 1: Now let me give you some hope. Look at Psalm
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Speaker 1: number 4. This is what I would call reinforcement for
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Speaker 1: the battle. The supply line never runs short with God.
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Speaker 1: When His godly followers... are in need, He is there
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Speaker 1: to supply the reinforcement. As you do battle, He will
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Speaker 1: provide the needs. Psalm 4, verse 3. But know that
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Speaker 1: the Lord has set apart the godly man, the godly woman,
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Speaker 1: for Himself. When you determine to be a godly person,
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Speaker 1: not just a run-of-the-mill, mediocre Christian, Accepting Christ as a
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Speaker 1: fire escape. But when you determine that you are going
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Speaker 1: to count for Christ as a godly man, godly young person,
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Speaker 1: godly woman, you become the object of God's special attention.
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Speaker 1: He says he sets you apart for himself. And the
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Speaker 1: verse goes on to add, the Lord hears when I
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Speaker 1: call to him. Now they fit together. The godly often
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Speaker 1: have a need for calling upon God when these perils come.
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Speaker 1: And he says, I am here and I will answer.
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Speaker 1: I will hear what you have to say. Now, the
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Speaker 1: case study is Moses. Numbers 10. So let's turn back
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Speaker 1: there and let's find this godly man facing the perils
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Speaker 1: of a godly walk. Now, you might wonder, why are
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Speaker 1: we in Numbers when the last Sunday we were together,
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Speaker 1: we were way over in Exodus? Well, remember, we're not
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Speaker 1: studying Exodus. We're studying the life of Moses. And from
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Speaker 1: the last study in Exodus with Moses to the chapter
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Speaker 1: we're in tonight, Numbers 10, the people of God are
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Speaker 1: at Mount Sinai, building a tabernacle, getting their heads together
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Speaker 1: regarding the law of God, And Moses pretty much is
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Speaker 1: living a life among them of leadership. Chronologically, as they
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Speaker 1: leave Sinai, we find them in Numbers 10 on their
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Speaker 1: way to Canaan. So we have overlooked the book of Leviticus,
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Speaker 1: which is a series of directions on tabernacle worship. And
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Speaker 1: important as they are, they don't relate to my study
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Speaker 1: of the life of Moses personally. We're into Moses' life
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Speaker 1: as he leads the people on to Canaan. Take a
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Speaker 1: moment and look at the map on the back of
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Speaker 1: the outline, will you? Let's just get oriented geographically before
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Speaker 1: we biographically study Moses. Look at the middle of the map,
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Speaker 1: Sinai Peninsula. At the base of the Sinai Peninsula, where
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Speaker 1: the arrows no longer are going south but turn back north,
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Speaker 1: you find Mount Sinai, a very small city. Note there,
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Speaker 1: Mount Sinai or Horeb. Now that's where they have been
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Speaker 1: for a period of time, receiving the law and building
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Speaker 1: the tabernacle. And then they move in a northeasterly direction,
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Speaker 1: up toward the wilderness of Paran. Notice that on the map.
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Speaker 1: On up into the wilderness of Zin. And then if
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Speaker 1: you travel northward, there's an arrow that goes out all
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Speaker 1: alone there, pointing toward Canaan. Now, you may want to
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Speaker 1: write it in if you're not familiar with the story.
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Speaker 1: That's the promised land. That's their destination. Now, you that
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Speaker 1: know the story remember that when the people of God
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Speaker 1: got to the southern edge of Canaan, they looked and
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Speaker 1: didn't believe that they could take that land, and God
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Speaker 1: judged that generation in unbelief, and they went around in
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Speaker 1: a circle. That's why you see an arrow making a
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Speaker 1: circle in the middle of this map. For 40 years
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Speaker 1: they went around in a circle until that old generation
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Speaker 1: of unbelievers died off, unbelieving as it regards to the
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Speaker 1: promise of God. And then when that new generation was
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Speaker 1: born and began to be raised, they moved into that
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Speaker 1: new land of Canaan and it became their possession. Now
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Speaker 1: where we are is from Mount Sinai up toward Canaan.
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Speaker 1: We're along the way. Now Numbers chapter 10, we've got
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Speaker 1: that together. Let's discover the perils of of godly Moses.
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Speaker 1: Now remember, Moses had lived for 40 years in Egypt
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Speaker 1: and then he made a decision in the flesh. He
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Speaker 1: killed an Egyptian and he tried to handle the exodus
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Speaker 1: his own way. Remember? And God said, no way. And
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Speaker 1: he judged Moses and sent him to the desert. And
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Speaker 1: for 40 more years he lived in the desert learning
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Speaker 1: the principles of godliness. He was in the school of self-discovery.
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Speaker 1: While there, he committed himself without reservation to the Lord God.
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Speaker 1: Then the burning bush came, and Moses stood before God,
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Speaker 1: tried every way in the world to get out of it,
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Speaker 1: and finally accepted the commission. And from that point on,
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Speaker 1: Moses walks with God. Makes a few bungles along the way,
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Speaker 1: but for the most part, his life is a godly life.
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Speaker 1: And he faces the perils with these people. Look at
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Speaker 1: verse 11 of chapter 10. It came about in the
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Speaker 1: second year, in the second month, on the 20th of
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Speaker 1: the month, that the cloud was lifted from over the
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Speaker 1: tabernacle of the testimony. And the sons of Israel set
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Speaker 1: out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then
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Speaker 1: the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. We
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Speaker 1: just saw that on the map. Verse 17. The tabernacle
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Speaker 1: was taken down. The sons of Gershon, the sons of
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Speaker 1: Merari were carrying the tabernacle. They set out. What does
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Speaker 1: that mean? Well, the tabernacle was a portable house of worship.
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Speaker 1: It was made up of tents. It was made up
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Speaker 1: of posts that could be dismantled, taken down, folded up,
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Speaker 1: and carried on the shoulders, on the backs of the
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Speaker 1: people of God. And so when they came to a
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Speaker 1: place and put down their camp, then they set up
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Speaker 1: that tabernacle. And when the cloud moved on, they put
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Speaker 1: the tabernacle back together and carried it further. And they
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Speaker 1: opened it back up again. Sounds like an army maneuver,
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Speaker 1: doesn't it? Just as soon as you get it all together,
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Speaker 1: they say pitch the tent. So you put it back
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Speaker 1: together and carry it on. It's precisely the way it
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Speaker 1: was for the people of God. Now you would think
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Speaker 1: that these people who had just seen the law of
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Speaker 1: God written with his own finger and just built this shiny, golden,
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Speaker 1: beautiful piece of construction from God's own mind, that there
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Speaker 1: would be 100% excitement in moving to the land of
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Speaker 1: Canaan But you know there wasn't. There's always a group
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Speaker 1: of people that don't want to walk with God who
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Speaker 1: hang around a larger group of people that does want
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Speaker 1: to walk with God. You found that true? They're called
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Speaker 1: in scripture the rabble. Look at chapter 11 for example.
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Speaker 1: Here we have these people on their way to Canaan
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Speaker 1: and all of a sudden we've got a group that
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Speaker 1: doesn't want To square away. Verse 1. Now the people
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Speaker 1: became like those who complain of adversity. A characteristic of
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Speaker 1: the rabble is grumbling. So these people are grumbling in
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Speaker 1: the hearing of the Lord. And the Lord heard it.
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Speaker 1: His anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord
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Speaker 1: burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of
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Speaker 1: the camp. They cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to
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Speaker 1: the Lord and the fire died out. Verse 4. And
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Speaker 1: the rabble... Here's the crowd. You know what the Hebrew
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Speaker 1: word means? Riff-raff. Isn't that interesting? God really knows how
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Speaker 1: to tag a certain group, doesn't He? The carnal corral
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Speaker 1: would be another way to put it. In this camp of...
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Speaker 1: thousands of Israelites, there was a segment made up of
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Speaker 1: a mixed multitude that came out of Egypt with the
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Speaker 1: people of God who were constantly a thorn in Moses' side.
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Speaker 1: And God called them back in Exodus 12, 38, the
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Speaker 1: mixed multitude. Here he calls them the rabble. Look at
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Speaker 1: what they said. They had greedy desires. And they wept
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Speaker 1: again and said, who will give us meat to eat?
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Speaker 1: We remember the fish which we used to eat free
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Speaker 1: in Egypt. The cucumbers and the melons and the leeks
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Speaker 1: and the onions and the garlic. Now our appetite is gone.
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Speaker 1: I want to say that's what you get for eating
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Speaker 1: stuff like that. No wonder it's gone. There's nothing at
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Speaker 1: all to look at except this manna. And it's sort
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Speaker 1: of a... Manna, morning, noon, and night. Let me tell you,
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Speaker 1: you can hear that kind of stuff only so long,
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Speaker 1: even though you may be very godly. And you face
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Speaker 1: the peril, here it is, of discouragement and depression. That's
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Speaker 1: the first peril. You want to walk with God, but
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Speaker 1: you're with a few people that don't. And they're invariably vocal,
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Speaker 1: invariably petty. Invariably small. They don't want to square away.
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Speaker 1: They want to go their way. And they're always looking
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Speaker 1: back to how great things used to be. Howard Hendricks
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Speaker 1: says those good old times are what created these bad
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Speaker 1: new times that we're having these days. It's incredible, isn't it?
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Speaker 1: We're always looking back to the good old times. These
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Speaker 1: are good new times. But the rabble never knows that.
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Speaker 1: And so Moses heard them gripe and gripe and gripe.
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Speaker 1: Verse 10. Put yourself in the sandals of Moses for
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Speaker 1: a moment. Picture this. Moses heard the people weeping throughout
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Speaker 1: their families. Can't you see Moses walking up and down
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Speaker 1: those tents? And one tent after another, there's complaining, there's griping,
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Speaker 1: there's crying. And before long, he wears down. Each man
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Speaker 1: in the doorway of his tent, the anger of the
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Speaker 1: Lord was kindled, and Moses was, the Hebrew word says, displeased.
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Speaker 1: He was discouraged, depressed. Now, I wish I could say
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Speaker 1: that Moses passed all these perils with flying colors. He
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Speaker 1: did four out of five, but here's the one that
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Speaker 1: he just didn't handle. I identify with him. I understand.
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Speaker 1: Moses wanted so much for those people to see the
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Speaker 1: God he had seen in that burning bush. and to
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Speaker 1: trust that cloud that moved unerringly right toward Canaan, but
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Speaker 1: they didn't. He wanted them to love the manna and
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Speaker 1: to have that. heavenly appetite that enjoys a heavenly food,
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Speaker 1: but they didn't. And so he became depressed. Now you're
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Speaker 1: going to read the words in verses 11 to 15
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Speaker 1: that are going to surprise you. They came from Moses.
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Speaker 1: They're the words of a discouraged man. Moses said to
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Speaker 1: the Lord, Why hast thou been so hard on thy servant?
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Speaker 1: Why have I not found favor in thy sight that
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Speaker 1: thou hast laid the burden of all this people on me?
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Speaker 1: Was it I who conceived all this people? Did I
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Speaker 1: bring them forth that you should say to me, carry
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Speaker 1: them in your bosom as a nurse carries an infant?
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Speaker 1: Verse 13, where am I to get the meat to
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Speaker 1: give to these people? For they weep before me saying,
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Speaker 1: give us meat. Verse 14, I alone am not able
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Speaker 1: to carry this people. It's too burdensome for me. So
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Speaker 1: if thou art going to deal thus with me, kill
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Speaker 1: me at once. Oh man, he's really low, isn't he?
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Speaker 1: If I found favor in your sight, don't let me
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Speaker 1: see my wretchedness. You understand how you felt? You ever
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Speaker 1: been that low? You ever been so discouraged that you
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Speaker 1: just feel like, you know, the faster you go, the
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Speaker 1: behinder you get? The deeper you commit yourself, the heavier
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Speaker 1: the burden. The faster the pace, it seems, the greater
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Speaker 1: the anchors. And the greater the dreams God gives you,
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Speaker 1: there's always the rabble. that puts down the dream, and
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Speaker 1: you get discouraged. We've got a young man in our
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Speaker 1: church who teaches in a West Dallas school, a West
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Speaker 1: Los Angeles school. And this man, boy, it sounded like
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Speaker 1: he was commuting there for a minute, didn't it? This
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Speaker 1: man teaches math to a group of kids. And, you know,
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Speaker 1: they don't want to learn math. A few of them don't.
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Speaker 1: So he says, really, what I'm teaching is a class
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Speaker 1: on discipline. And in the meantime, I throw in a
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Speaker 1: little math. He told me some time ago he spent
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Speaker 1: part of a class getting a hold of a kid,
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Speaker 1: finally tackled him, and got him on the desk, and
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Speaker 1: he said, I wanted to tell him some things. He
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Speaker 1: never told me what he wanted to tell the boy
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Speaker 1: when he got him on the desk, but he got
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Speaker 1: him on that desk, and that was part of the classroom.
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Speaker 1: You think he ever faces discouragement? Man, he's got a
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Speaker 1: degree in mathematics. He knows how to communicate, but he's
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Speaker 1: spending his time putting out fires not related to his calling.
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Speaker 1: Let me give you a little advice. As soon as
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Speaker 1: a group gets large enough to include the rabble, they're
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Speaker 1: going to be there. You have a Bible class and
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Speaker 1: it increases large enough in size, you're going to get
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Speaker 1: some rabble. You go to a school or seminary, Bible institute,
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Speaker 1: you name it, you're going to find the rabble there.
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Speaker 1: You get in a church of any size, you will
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Speaker 1: find the rabble. It's true of groups in the church,
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Speaker 1: Sunday school classes, choirs. No matter what, when you get
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Speaker 1: a large enough group together, you will find the rabble.
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Speaker 1: And you want your life to be a life that's
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Speaker 1: pleasing to the Lord. You want very much to count
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Speaker 1: for Christ. But you will be rubbing shoulders with those
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Speaker 1: that don't want that at all. If you don't watch it,
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Speaker 1: you're going to get discouraged. You know one of the
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Speaker 1: greatest battles I faced in seminary? I was just naive
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Speaker 1: enough to believe that those men who taught us were
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Speaker 1: men of God. And I was just Strange enough to
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Speaker 1: think that if you really applied yourself in study, it
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Speaker 1: was worth it all. But there was a percentage at
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Speaker 1: the school that couldn't care less. And I had the
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Speaker 1: battle of discouragement around some of those guys. And I didn't,
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Speaker 1: I wasn't the, you know, super saint, never sinned, came through,
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Speaker 1: you know, unparnished. But the point is, my goals, it seemed,
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Speaker 1: didn't fit. a number that were there. So we had
24:40
Speaker 1: some confrontations. It was unpleasant. Now, if your focus is
24:47
Speaker 1: upon those, you will stay discouraged. That's what happened to Moses.
24:51
Speaker 1: He just heard one tent too many crying, and finally
24:53
Speaker 1: he just said, Lord, take my life. That's the ultimate
24:59
Speaker 1: of depression. Now the Lord didn't take his life, but
25:05
Speaker 1: he took care of The problem, Moses was again trying
25:08
Speaker 1: to do too much, and the Lord spread out the workload.
25:11
Speaker 1: You can read it for yourself, beginning with verse 16
25:13
Speaker 1: all the way down through 25. He just took care
25:15
Speaker 1: of the load. But now look, as soon as that
25:18
Speaker 1: peril was over, another one came. Right on the heels
25:22
Speaker 1: of this one came another one. Remember, we mentioned that
25:26
Speaker 1: you will be facing perils as you walk with God.
25:29
Speaker 1: Look at verse 26. Two men had remained in the camp.
25:34
Speaker 1: Now that doesn't mean much to you unless you remember
25:37
Speaker 1: that Moses has said, all of you come out of
25:40
Speaker 1: the camp and get together under your heads. There are
25:43
Speaker 1: 70 men that he had appointed under God to carry
25:46
Speaker 1: the load. And there were two men that didn't come out.
25:51
Speaker 1: The name of one was Eldad. The name of the
25:53
Speaker 1: other was Medad. The spirit rested upon them. That's important.
25:58
Speaker 1: These weren't rebels. They were led by the spirit of
26:01
Speaker 1: God to stay in the camp. And it says in
26:06
Speaker 1: verse 26, they prophesied in the camp. So a young
26:13
Speaker 1: man ran and told Moses and said, Eldad and Medad
26:17
Speaker 1: are prophesying in the camp. Meaning what? Well, that's Moses' job.
26:24
Speaker 1: He's the prophet. And if anybody's going to prophesy, let
26:29
Speaker 1: Moses do it. That is, that's the way that young
26:32
Speaker 1: man saw it. And he said, he was kind of
26:35
Speaker 1: a tattler. He said, Moses, a couple of fellows are
26:38
Speaker 1: not getting with the program. And of all things, they're
26:41
Speaker 1: in there doing your job. Look at the next verse. Joshua,
26:47
Speaker 1: now that's the same one. The book bears his name.
26:51
Speaker 1: The son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth,
26:53
Speaker 1: answered and said, Moses, my Lord, restrain them. What's the problem? Well,
27:00
Speaker 1: it's the peril of jealousy and indispensability. They were jealous
27:07
Speaker 1: for Moses' role. And they thought, Moses, you can't let
27:11
Speaker 1: them get away with that. You're the prophet. What's Eldad
27:17
Speaker 1: and Medad doing in there? I wonder if they were
27:19
Speaker 1: twins with names like that. What are they doing in
27:22
Speaker 1: there prophesying? That's your job. And Joshua says, hey Moses,
27:27
Speaker 1: put a stop to it. Let me show you how
27:29
Speaker 1: broad-shouldered Moses is. Look at the next verse. It's just great.
27:35
Speaker 1: Moses said to them, are you jealous for my sake?
27:42
Speaker 1: Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the
27:47
Speaker 1: Lord would put his spirit upon them. Wow. Talk about unselfish.
27:55
Speaker 1: There wasn't an ounce of jealousy in that man of God.
27:59
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you, when you are godly and you
28:02
Speaker 1: want to count for Christ and you're gifted, you will
28:06
Speaker 1: face the peril of jealousy. The feeling at times of
28:10
Speaker 1: being indispensable for some particular ministry. And there will be
28:15
Speaker 1: those around you who will plant those seeds in your
28:19
Speaker 1: heart so as to prompt jealousy. And the feeling of indispensable.
28:25
Speaker 1: What's she doing up there? I could teach better than she. Or,
28:31
Speaker 1: you know, that man bears watching. He's trying to take over.
28:37
Speaker 1: Everybody knows I'm the leader. Or as some counselor might say,
28:41
Speaker 1: you know, you're the leader. You better watch out for him. Or,
28:48
Speaker 1: I can't afford to step down. I started this organization.
28:53
Speaker 1: Ever heard those words? Ever said them? Those are words
28:59
Speaker 1: of indispensability. Listen, everybody can afford to step down if
29:07
Speaker 1: God's enthroned. Some of the most jealous, suspicious people in
29:16
Speaker 1: the world are so-called Christian public figures who are very
29:26
Speaker 1: enamored with their track record. And it's terribly important to
29:32
Speaker 1: them that they drop the right names and that they
29:36
Speaker 1: be seen by the right people and that they have
29:39
Speaker 1: a name. And God help the one whose name gets
29:44
Speaker 1: close to theirs. I came across a neat poem. Sometime
29:50
Speaker 1: when you're feeling important, sometime when your ego's way up,
29:54
Speaker 1: sometime when you take it for granted that you are
29:56
Speaker 1: the prize-winning pup, Sometime when you feel that your absence
30:00
Speaker 1: would leave an unfillable hole, just follow these simple instructions
30:04
Speaker 1: and see how it humbles your soul. Take a bucket,
30:08
Speaker 1: fill it with water, put your hand in it up
30:10
Speaker 1: to your wrist. Now pull it out fast and the
30:13
Speaker 1: hole that remains is the measure of how you'll be missed.
30:18
Speaker 1: You may splash all you like as you enter and
30:21
Speaker 1: stir up the water galore, but stop and you'll find
30:24
Speaker 1: in a minute it's right back where it was before. Amen.
30:33
Speaker 1: You're not indispensable. I'm not indispensable. Nobody's indispensable but Jesus Christ.
30:40
Speaker 1: He's the head. He's the president. He's the founder. He's
30:45
Speaker 1: the leader. And when he moves one and demotes him
30:49
Speaker 1: and sets up another, he calls the shots. You don't
30:52
Speaker 1: even have to live under the threat of that. He's sovereign.
30:56
Speaker 1: He's sovereign. The problem is when we get to thinking
31:02
Speaker 1: we're sovereign. He gave you that job. He can take
31:07
Speaker 1: it just as fast. Just do your work. Lie low
31:12
Speaker 1: and exalt Christ. Now you would think, wow, since Moses
31:17
Speaker 1: passed that test, man, that was it. No, as a
31:23
Speaker 1: matter of fact, chapter 12 introduces a third test. Let
31:28
Speaker 1: me give you the peril and then let's look at
31:29
Speaker 1: the passage. It gets better as you work your way
31:32
Speaker 1: through these perils. The third one is the peril of
31:35
Speaker 1: being misunderstood and misrepresented. They go together. People who are
31:43
Speaker 1: misunderstood are misrepresented to others. Now that happened to Moses.
31:53
Speaker 1: It is very possible that Moses' wife Zipporah died. And
31:59
Speaker 1: he married another woman who is described in verse 1
32:05
Speaker 1: of chapter 12 as a Cushite. Look at the response
32:10
Speaker 1: to this choice that Moses made. Then Miriam and Aaron
32:15
Speaker 1: spoke against Moses. Wait a minute. Who's Miriam and Aaron?
32:21
Speaker 1: Who are they? They're Moses' sister and brother, aren't they?
32:26
Speaker 1: If your memory is back into Exodus, you'll remember that. Now,
32:31
Speaker 1: his sister and his brother started a whispering campaign against Moses. Why?
32:39
Speaker 1: Because of the Cushite woman whom he had married. Now,
32:46
Speaker 1: this troubles some who read this because God stood in
32:49
Speaker 1: Moses' defense and yet he didn't marry an Israelite. Wait
32:52
Speaker 1: a minute. The Lord had specifically declared an Israelite was
32:57
Speaker 1: never to marry a Canaanite. She was a Cushite. It's
33:02
Speaker 1: very possible she was an Asiatic, not necessarily an African.
33:08
Speaker 1: But the point is she wasn't one in the camp,
33:10
Speaker 1: and furthermore, Moses didn't turn to Miriam and Aaron and
33:16
Speaker 1: ask for their counsel or promote them to his level.
33:21
Speaker 1: So they didn't like it. Look at what they said.
33:25
Speaker 1: Verse 2. Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses
33:30
Speaker 1: underscore only? That's the slander. Has he not spoken through
33:36
Speaker 1: us as well? And the Lord heard it. Uh-oh. In
33:47
Speaker 1: every slander there is a gossiper and a gossipy. And
33:51
Speaker 1: between the two is the Lord. And before the gossipy
33:56
Speaker 1: ever hears the comment, the Lord has intercepted what was said.
34:04
Speaker 1: They misunderstood and they misrepresented this man of God who
34:09
Speaker 1: made a decision regarding a wife that they couldn't understand.
34:13
Speaker 1: And because they couldn't, and in all honesty, because they
34:19
Speaker 1: weren't promoted in the process, they failed. tucked their thumbs
34:23
Speaker 1: under their suspenders and pranced around saying, Look, we are
34:29
Speaker 1: authorities just like Moses. Now, verse 3 sets the stage.
34:37
Speaker 1: Moses was very humble, more than any man on the
34:39
Speaker 1: face of the earth. Verse 4. Suddenly the Lord said
34:45
Speaker 1: to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, You three come out
34:51
Speaker 1: to the tent of meetings. When I read that, a
34:53
Speaker 1: funny little chill runs up and down my back. Can
34:57
Speaker 1: you imagine? Just remember those days when you were in
35:01
Speaker 1: school and you got a note to go to the
35:03
Speaker 1: principal's office. Remember that? Oh, man, you'd look for the
35:07
Speaker 1: first fire escape. You just couldn't believe you were to
35:10
Speaker 1: go to the principal's office. God said, you three come
35:15
Speaker 1: to my office. Well, Moses had nothing to lose. He
35:21
Speaker 1: just was delighted to go back in the Lord's presence.
35:24
Speaker 1: But not Miriam and Aaron, you will notice. They came out.
35:29
Speaker 1: You bet they did. When the Lord said come, they came.
35:32
Speaker 1: And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud
35:34
Speaker 1: and stood at the doorway of the tent, and he
35:36
Speaker 1: called Aaron and Miriam. When they came forward, he said,
35:41
Speaker 1: Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I,
35:45
Speaker 1: the Lord, shall make myself known to him in a vision.
35:48
Speaker 1: I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so
35:51
Speaker 1: with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my household.
35:55
Speaker 1: With him, I speak mouth to mouth. Isn't that beautiful?
36:01
Speaker 1: I have a unique relationship with my servant, and no
36:05
Speaker 1: one will take his place. He will die and pass on,
36:10
Speaker 1: but there will be no one else in this camp
36:12
Speaker 1: as long as he is alive with whom I have
36:14
Speaker 1: a mouth to mouth relationship. Leave him alone. Now look further.
36:22
Speaker 1: Verse 10. When the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold,
36:28
Speaker 1: Miriam was leprous, white as snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam. Behold,
36:38
Speaker 1: she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my Lord,
36:43
Speaker 1: I beg you, do not account this sin to us,
36:46
Speaker 1: in which we have acted foolishly and in which we
36:48
Speaker 1: have sinned. Oh, do not let her be like one dead.
36:52
Speaker 1: Verse 13, Moses cried out to the Lord saying, Oh God,
36:56
Speaker 1: heal her. What humility! Moses had been slandered by his sister,
37:02
Speaker 1: but when he saw her leprous, he said, God, heal
37:05
Speaker 1: her body. Now look at God's response. Verse 14, the
37:10
Speaker 1: only time you read such a statement from God. If
37:14
Speaker 1: her father had but spit in her face... Would she
37:17
Speaker 1: not bear her shame seven days? Let her be shut
37:21
Speaker 1: up for seven days outside the camp, and afterwards she
37:24
Speaker 1: may be received. Let this chastisement run a course of
37:27
Speaker 1: one week. And so Miriam was shut up outside the
37:30
Speaker 1: camp for seven days, and the people did not move
37:33
Speaker 1: on until she was received again. That's a chapter that
37:36
Speaker 1: describes how God protects the godly person. You don't have
37:42
Speaker 1: to run your own defense. God runs the defense for you.
37:47
Speaker 1: You will be misrepresented. You will be misunderstood. Don't try
37:52
Speaker 1: to cover all of those slanderous things set against you.
37:57
Speaker 1: Let me say something else while I'm on the subject.
38:00
Speaker 1: Interesting to me that he was slandered because of an
38:03
Speaker 1: area of privacy. Who he married was his own business.
38:10
Speaker 1: The whole area of the domestic life seems to be
38:14
Speaker 1: the area of scandal. fed upon by the rabble, especially
38:21
Speaker 1: among the godly. It's interesting to me that God never
38:25
Speaker 1: does tell us why he married her. But I take
38:29
Speaker 1: it since God defended his decision that Moses and God
38:31
Speaker 1: had talked about it, and he chose the woman God
38:35
Speaker 1: would have him have. They couldn't understand it, and so
38:39
Speaker 1: they put him down. You be exceedingly careful about what
38:44
Speaker 1: you say regarding marriage. the privacy areas of people of God.
38:52
Speaker 1: If you do not know the facts and they trouble you,
38:55
Speaker 1: you talk to them one-on-one or you say nothing. They
39:01
Speaker 1: have nothing to hide. I'm appalled at what is said
39:06
Speaker 1: regarding individuals that people marry. I won't call his name,
39:12
Speaker 1: but one of the saints of the last generation lost
39:15
Speaker 1: his wife And after a few years of being alone,
39:18
Speaker 1: he married a woman several years younger than himself. In fact,
39:23
Speaker 1: many years. And some old bitty came up to him
39:29
Speaker 1: and said to him the nerve how could you have
39:32
Speaker 1: the nerve to marry somebody that much younger than you
39:37
Speaker 1: and in his gravel voice he said listen honey i'd
39:41
Speaker 1: rather smell perfume than liniment any day I love that answer. Oh, wow.
39:53
Speaker 1: I wish I knew what the woman said back. She
39:55
Speaker 1: probably didn't say anything. What a fabulous answer. Who wants
39:59
Speaker 1: to smell liniment when you can smell perfume? Wow. You
40:06
Speaker 1: just be sure you've got God's woman or you've got
40:08
Speaker 1: God's man and forget it. Because invariably there will be
40:13
Speaker 1: those who will pick on you because of your choice.
40:17
Speaker 1: Same applies to your kids. Just go right on. Somebody
40:22
Speaker 1: said maturity is moving from a soft skin and a
40:25
Speaker 1: tough heart to a tough skin and a soft heart.
40:30
Speaker 1: I like that. Don't let your heart get hard, but
40:34
Speaker 1: let your skin get tough. You'll never amount to much
40:37
Speaker 1: as a godly man or woman if you've got thin skin.
40:41
Speaker 1: There's a fourth peril. They came to the land of Canaan,
40:46
Speaker 1: or almost there, and God told them to spy out
40:50
Speaker 1: the land. Verse 2 of chapter 13. And He sent
40:57
Speaker 1: them out, verse 3, from the wilderness of Paran. And
41:01
Speaker 1: they began to spy out the land. Look at 13, 25.
41:07
Speaker 1: When they returned from spying out the land at the
41:09
Speaker 1: end of 40 days, they came to Moses and Aaron.
41:13
Speaker 1: Now here they are, having come back from those 40
41:15
Speaker 1: days of looking at the land of Canaan, which God
41:18
Speaker 1: had promised. And they told them, verse 27... We went
41:25
Speaker 1: into the land where you sent us, and it certainly
41:27
Speaker 1: does flow with milk and honey. This is its fruit,
41:30
Speaker 1: and they display these beautiful examples of fruit from the
41:34
Speaker 1: land of Canaan. Wow, it was beautiful. And Moses' heart
41:38
Speaker 1: beat faster because he could see the people going into
41:41
Speaker 1: the land and taking it as God had promised. But
41:44
Speaker 1: they didn't. Verse 28, Nevertheless... The people who live in
41:49
Speaker 1: the land are strong and the cities are fortified and
41:52
Speaker 1: very large. And moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
41:57
Speaker 1: Who are the Anak descendants? They're the giants. They are
42:03
Speaker 1: a people of giants. And we were going along and
42:07
Speaker 1: all of a sudden we came upon these giants. We've
42:13
Speaker 1: been running ever since. Back to you guys to tell
42:16
Speaker 1: you about it. We had a couple in our church
42:18
Speaker 1: up in New England who were our interns. And the
42:21
Speaker 1: guy was about 6'5, 6'6, and his wife was about 6'1.
42:26
Speaker 1: And when she was in high heels, wow, they were
42:29
Speaker 1: really up there, you know, sort of jump center for
42:31
Speaker 1: the Bruins type of thing. And one afternoon after church,
42:34
Speaker 1: when she was all dressed up, and he was too,
42:37
Speaker 1: They went into this grocery store and they were going
42:39
Speaker 1: to get a few things before Sunday lunch. And they
42:42
Speaker 1: were pushing this cart down the aisle. And here he
42:46
Speaker 1: was and here she was. And all of a sudden
42:48
Speaker 1: this little kid came tooling around the corner and running
42:50
Speaker 1: down an aisle. And he came up on these two.
42:53
Speaker 1: And he looked at them and he said, Giants! And
42:59
Speaker 1: he took off in the other direction. Oh, that's crazy.
43:04
Speaker 1: That's what happened here. Man, we were going through the
43:07
Speaker 1: land and all of a sudden these giants came. Oh man,
43:11
Speaker 1: Moses' heart went right down to the bottom. Don't listen
43:14
Speaker 1: to these guys about the giants. We've got a giant
43:17
Speaker 1: God who can take us right into the land. But
43:22
Speaker 1: they didn't listen. Look at chapter 14, verse 4. Look
43:28
Speaker 1: at this verse. They said to one another, let's appoint
43:32
Speaker 1: another leader. and go back to Egypt. This is the
43:37
Speaker 1: peril of being ignored and rejected. They didn't want the land.
43:43
Speaker 1: They wanted to go back to that secure, carnal area
43:47
Speaker 1: of Egypt. Because to go into the land means you've
43:50
Speaker 1: got to face the giants. Now you might think, well,
43:54
Speaker 1: they really didn't mean that. Oh no? Look at verse 10.
43:59
Speaker 1: They looked at Moses and Aaron, all the congregation said
44:01
Speaker 1: to stone them with stones. Get rid of them. They
44:07
Speaker 1: don't do things our way. Get rid of them. This
44:12
Speaker 1: can lead to the last peril, the peril of resentment
44:15
Speaker 1: and revenge. Boy, what a chance for Moses to say, Lord,
44:22
Speaker 1: zap them. Look at verse 11. The Lord said to Moses,
44:27
Speaker 1: how long will the people spurn me? How long will
44:29
Speaker 1: they not believe in me? Verse 12, I'll smite them
44:32
Speaker 1: with pestilence. I'll destroy them, literally. And Moses said to
44:38
Speaker 1: the Lord, great idea. No, that's what I would have said.
44:43
Speaker 1: But Moses said to the Lord, oh, but your testimony
44:47
Speaker 1: is at stake. The Egyptians will hear about it. And oh,
44:51
Speaker 1: what will we say? And Moses, in the last part
44:53
Speaker 1: of this chapter, you read it. We can't because of time.
44:57
Speaker 1: Moses defended them and said, Lord, don't do that. And
45:02
Speaker 1: God didn't. No resentment, no revenge. I'll tell you when
45:05
Speaker 1: you're shot at as a godly person, it will be
45:08
Speaker 1: the peril of resentment and revenge that will eat at
45:11
Speaker 1: you like an acid. Many a man of God in
45:15
Speaker 1: a pulpit turns the pulpit into a hammer, fighting his
45:18
Speaker 1: battles against the rabble, filled with resentment and revenge. Look,
45:26
Speaker 1: leave that with God. He did deal with them, but
45:29
Speaker 1: Moses didn't. Let me give you three things to remember.
45:32
Speaker 1: The godly life is never easy. Rewarding, yes. Fulfilling, yes.
45:37
Speaker 1: But it's never easy. You think twice before you think
45:41
Speaker 1: of the Christian ministry. You think twice before you think
45:45
Speaker 1: of a Christian school where you fulfill complete commitments in
45:49
Speaker 1: your area of life because there's a whole realm of
45:53
Speaker 1: difficulty connected with that. Second, the godly life is often endangered.
45:59
Speaker 1: Someone said the life of the apostles was like a
46:02
Speaker 1: bleeding hair making his way over the snowy hills. A
46:07
Speaker 1: wounded rabbit, just a trail of blood. The godly life
46:11
Speaker 1: is often endangered. Third, the godly life is always eventful.
46:19
Speaker 1: Tell you, if you really want to break the boredom syndrome,
46:22
Speaker 1: commit yourself to Jesus Christ. Most exciting things take place
46:27
Speaker 1: you can't believe. You will become effective, empowered from heaven,
46:33
Speaker 1: and the battle will rage. You never find people on
46:36
Speaker 1: the front lines going to sleep. They're in the fray.
46:42
Speaker 1: The battle's going on. It's terribly eventful when your life
46:45
Speaker 1: counts for Christ. Psalm 34 says, Isn't that great? I
47:01
Speaker 1: can promise you one thing, if your walk with Christ
47:04
Speaker 1: is consistent, all hell will break loose, but all heaven
47:11
Speaker 1: will come to your rescue. It's the only way to live.
47:19
Speaker 1: Our Father, we love you with all the love we
47:22
Speaker 1: can muster, but we cannot outlove you We find security
47:29
Speaker 1: in your strength and in your acceptance. We're so grateful
47:34
Speaker 1: that you know these perils, every one of them, and
47:38
Speaker 1: you take delight in meeting our needs as they come.
47:45
Speaker 1: With great anticipation, with enthusiasm, we look forward to tomorrow
47:52
Speaker 1: where we live that gospel, where we live that life,
47:58
Speaker 1: That we've heard about today. We realize that the forces
48:02
Speaker 1: of hell. Work against us. But the power of heaven.
48:08
Speaker 1: Comes to our rescue. Tonight above and beyond all the enemy.
48:13
Speaker 1: And all the attacks. We give you our life afresh
48:18
Speaker 1: and anew. With confidence. That there is no giant. Worth
48:24
Speaker 1: even a passing worry. We love you. And as one
48:31
Speaker 1: in the bond of love, we go together out of
48:34
Speaker 1: this place with rejoicing. Considering ourselves worthy that we might
48:42
Speaker 1: live in this world that hates you, a life that
48:47
Speaker 1: continually convicts those who are without Christ. Help us, our Father,
48:55
Speaker 1: as we emulate the Savior. To be so dedicated and
49:00
Speaker 1: devoted to him. That the heart is warm and soft.
49:05
Speaker 1: The skin is tough. And our minds are fixed. On you.
49:13
Speaker 1: In the loving name of Jesus Christ. We pray.
49:19
Speaker 2: Amen. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024. All
49:41
Speaker 2: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
49:46
Speaker 2: use is strictly prohibited.