Latest / #Faith4TodayPodcast / 🎧 Episode 61 – God’s Guiding Light | Presence, Patience & the Voice of the Spirit

Transcript

🎧 Episode 61 – God’s Guiding Light | Presence, Patience & the Voice of the Spirit · #Faith4TodayPodcast

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What if God's delays aren't in a denial, but are part of his
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formation in our lives? And Numbers 9, Israel moved only
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when the cloud lifted and it stay and they stayed when it
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remained. Sometimes at night, sometimes a
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year, sometimes in a couple months time.
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In this episode, we're going to explore how God still guides His
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people by His presence and spirit today and why complaining
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can harden our hearts. While gratitude sharpens opens
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our ability to hear His voice, the fire of the Spirit still
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burns. The question is, are we willing
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to follow Him? Welcome to another episode of
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the Faith for Today podcast. My name is Matthew.
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I am your host and I am thrilled that you are tuning in today.
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Whether you're watching on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple
0:54
podcast. I'm so glad that you're joining
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us. Our desire is to help you have
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faith for today. In other words, we don't want
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you just to feel good on a Sunday and be inspired, but
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rather we we we want you to integrate it into a life of
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loyalty even on a Thursday. And so we want an everyday kind
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of a faith following Jesus. And so we're going to take some
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time and recap a Sunday message. I'm going to share a little
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bonus content and then respond to some questions that came in.
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First, let's get into the recap. On episode 61, we're talking
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about God's guiding light. And this week in Numbers 915
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through 23, we looked at what it means to follow God's guiding
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light. At the center of this passage is
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a cloud by day and a fire by night.
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Resting over the Tabernacle was a visible reminder that God's
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presence didn't fade after the Exodus, and it didn't stay only
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at Mount Sinai, but it would continue with them on their
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journey. Their journey of Israel was
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organized around their worship, and their movement flowed from
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God's presence. When the cloud lifted, they
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moved. When it stayed, they stayed.
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Whether it was a night, a month, or a year.
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Movement and stillness are equally spiritual.
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We also saw how grace within His Law is present when some of the
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men were ceremonially unclean and couldn't celebrate Passover.
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They didn't look for an excuse or take it as an opportunity to
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neglect the Law. Rather, they looked for ways to
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participate, and they were met with God's grace that He
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provided for them. Grace was available, but neglect
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wasn't tolerated. The wilderness wasn't
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abandonment. It was accompanied by God's very
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presence. And just like in Acts 1728,
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which reminds us that in Him being the Spirit, we live and
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move and find our being, our guidance begins with proximity
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and nearness with God Himself. We also leaned into what it
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means for us today. How does God guide us?
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By His presence, by His commands, and by His voice.
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Following God requires trust, not certainty, because
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uncertainty is a companion of our trust, not the enemy of it.
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And we don't chase signs, rather we pursue His presence.
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But we asked how we learned how to hear His voice.
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And now, by belonging to Him like his sheep to a shepherd,
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bathing our imagination and scripture.
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We talked about how slowing down is required in order to hear and
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listen, and how we need to be stewards and obedient to what He
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has said previously, refusing to let complaining dull our ears.
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In John 16, Jesus promises that the Spirit of truth would guide
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us. In 1st Corinthians 10, Paul
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warns us though that grumbling and entitlement harden our
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hearts and ultimately close up our ears to even hearing the
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voice of God. Gratitude, contentment, and
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quick obedience keep us aligned with the the presence of God and
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the voice of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is still our
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guide today. The fire is still burning, and
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the question is whether we're attentive and willing to move
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when he says move, or do we just stay put because we think it's a
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better option? We got to learn to hear his
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voice and obey when he speaks. All right, let's get into a
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little bit of bonus content. One of the things I said, I said
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it in the first service, but I didn't say it in the second.
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So I wanted to make sure we all got a chance to hear it is one
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of the things that I found interesting was that number 9
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numbers Chapter 9 takes place in the first month of the second
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year after the exodus. However, numbers one through 8
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occur in the second month. And, and part of that is I think
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numbers are setting up this, this understanding of of kind of
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a, some, some chronology numbers one through 8 kind of getting
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some of the census and some of the realities of where they're
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at. But the number 9 actually
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Numbers 9 actually begins kind of to to tell the story of their
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journey where they actually begin to move away from Mount
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Sinai. And I think that this flashback,
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if you will, is really how the author is kind of arranging
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theology, not just chronology. I really do believe that because
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Numbers Chapter 9 begins with Passover, Moses is reminding us
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that it is from this place of who Jesus, who God makes us,
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that we are his people, that he is the Lord, that it is from our
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understanding of our identity and him and in our and his
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covenant that that's what we move out of.
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So, so the journey only begins when the presence of God has
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established who we are in him. And so it took him two years
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since they came to Mount Sinai at this point, 2 years of
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getting set up and building the Tabernacle and learning how to
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set it up and take it down and getting everything arranged.
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And so now in Numbers Chapter 9, they're really beginning to to
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move out as they go. And Numbers one through 8 kind
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of is all the prep work before or they start moving.
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So he kind of inverts it. But he wants the Passover to be
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fresh in our minds that we remembered what what God did for
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them, the children, how the how God passed over and they did not
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experience death. They were preserved and how that
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as God's children loved by him that he set them free from
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Egypt, that that identity is the what they need to carry as they
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begin their journey. And the same is true for for you
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and I. We need to remember the
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redemption of Christ and who we are in Christ before we ever
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really set out in our journey of following God.
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See, God made us human beings, not human doings.
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And I think in our western thought process, we equate
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success to achievement. In the biblical understanding,
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success isn't about external achievement, but rather it's
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about being formed into a proper identity and and having the
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blessing of God in our lives, having the hand of God in our
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lives, being his family. And so it's more about who we're
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becoming, the character formation, the identity
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formation of ourselves, not so much about the external
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accomplishments that we do. And, and we put a huge emphasis
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on outcomes when when God is putting a huge emphasis on
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development. And I think that's one of the
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biggest challenges we have and hearing and discerning God's
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voice is that we are always looking at the outcome of
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something, whether it's a success or not.
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And God is looking at what is being formed in US, who we are
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becoming, and are we being shaped into the people that he
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wants us to be. I think that's a distinction and
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can be a real tension point for us as we're trying to learn how
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to hear God's voice. And we've got to remember it's
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we are human beings, not human doings.
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And God wants us to remember our identity and the redemption of
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Christ 1st. And from that we live our lives.
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From that we move forward, from that we grow and develop.
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The second thing I wanted to to mention was that God has this
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big desire to bring people close.
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In the beginning of Numbers Chapter 9, we we see a provision
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being made for some men who were unclean to still participate in
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Passover. Because God wasn't trying to set
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up arbitrary lines to keep people from him, He actually was
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creating a clear pathway to get people close to him.
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God wanted to be close to his people.
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He wanted them in proximity. In fact, God even made
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provisions for those who were outside Israeli citizenship to
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participate in the past over to participate in worship.
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In fact, we see a number as he says that the same statutes that
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apply to you will apply to a foreigner.
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Why? Because non Israelites living
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among them could still participate in Passover when
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they did the very thing that God required of them to do, when
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they walk the pathway through, when they entered in the right,
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the right way. And the Exodus redemption story
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was never meant to ethically seal it.
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In other words, it always was the covenant wasn't just
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ethnically exclusive. However, those that were outside
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the, the, the Jewish and Israelite people, if they wanted
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to participate, had to integrate into and walk that through.
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Now remember all the way back in Genesis when God told Abraham,
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I'm going to make you a great nation and all the nations of
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the world are going to be blessed through you.
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All of them will be your descendants and your people.
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And it's going to start through line.
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And so we see a flat, if you flash forward to the New
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Testament in the new covenant, the second covenant that God
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makes with people, it's, it's through the blood of Christ and
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it's for Jew and Gentile alike. And so the fact that in even the
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first covenant, the first Testament that participation was
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open to outsiders who joined themselves in singular worship
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of Yahweh was a was a big part of pointing to the reality that
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one day the anticipation was that the second covenant, the
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new covenant, would be inclusive of other nations and Gentiles
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into the family of God. It was a prophetic picture
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pointing to God's ultimate plan and purpose.
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Because God wasn't trying to keep people away.
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He actually was trying to bring people close.
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And the other thing that I love is that God accompanied them in
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this journey. God was like the living GPSA,
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holy divine GPS system. And he set it up that their
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movement when they would move from place to place, campsite to
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campsite, was going to be determined entirely by whether
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the cloud and the fire lifted or it stayed in place.
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And I love this because the idea that they had to follow the
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cloud and the fire was emphasizing their obedience to
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God's timing more than moving in a specific direction.
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In other words, it was about remaining obedience rather than
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progressing somewhere to like have more upward mobility.
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Again, we, we talk about this around our church a lot that
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the, the goal of the Christian life isn't Western upward
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mobility, where everything in our lives is getting up into the
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light, where all we do is win, win, win no matter what.
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That's not the, the biblical vision of a flourishing life, or
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rather the vision that God gives his people of a life that is
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successful is one that abides and remains in Christ.
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So it's less of a, a chart graph where everything is just kind of
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moving, where you get a newer job, a better, a bigger house,
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more, more wealth and accolades and and external peace, where
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there are no more conflict and no more problems.
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And you just keep getting healthier and more beautiful and
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like you just keep like, no, that's not the idea of the
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biblical understanding of success or overflourishing life.
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It's it's more of as we talk about a circle where we go from
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glory to glory, Like every time we make that circle and we
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remain in Christ, we are getting stronger in our faith.
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We are getting more strength to follow God and be obedient to
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him. We are more familiar with his
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voice. We we are more aware of his
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presence, like there is an ongoing remaining and abiding in
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him. That doesn't mean that life
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doesn't progress, but doesn't mean that there aren't places,
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places that we go or changes that we have or locations that
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shift. But the main goal is about being
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with the Lord and not doing things for the Lord.
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The main goal is timing and obedience, not just the
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direction. In the book The Awe of God,
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towards the end of it, John Bavier writes and he talks about
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the importance of obedience, that if we're really going to
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have all of God, if we're really going to have fear of God, if
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we're really going to honor and Revere him and love him the way
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that he deserves, then obedience is a part of it.
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And he says the Bible teaches us a few things about obedience #1
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obedience is supposed to be immediate.
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You don't get to wait, you don't get to delay, you don't get to
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make a make, make excuses. No, no, no.
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You obey immediately. Obedience to God is right away
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#2 obedience to God. We, we obey even if it doesn't
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make sense. There's a lot of things that
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sometimes in our limited perspective of the earth, our
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limited perspective of, of our life of of the way things are
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working of even the future, we don't think certain things make
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a lot of sense. In the message I shared a
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personal story of some something that God was speaking for me to
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do, which really seems silly and foolish until it all made sense.
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And I look back and be like, actually God was orchestrating
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something of confirmation in my heart and soul to let me know I
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was on the right, right path. We, we looked at in the message
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talking about some of the things that God had the people children
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of Israel do this week. We'll read in Numbers where they
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were getting sick and people were dying.
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And so Moses, God tells Moses to take a snake and make a bronze
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snake, wrap it around a pole, lift it up in the center.
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And everybody who passes by this, this snake on a stick
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lifted up. I'm kind of like a crossed
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stick. Any anyone who walks past this
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bronze statue, if you will, in the middle of the camp and looks
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upon it with trust, like they'll be healed, their life will be
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preserved. That seems really foolish,
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except for the fact that now looking back, that became a
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picture of Jesus being lifted up on the cross who brings about
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our healing and our wholeness. So it seemed foolish until it
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wasn't. Until people were getting healed
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and not dying from poison. Like it seems foolish except God
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instructed it and so it doesn't always make sense what we're to
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do, but it doesn't mean it's unnecessarily foolish.
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Does that makes like it's only foolish if if just because
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something is foolish doesn't mean God wants you to do it.
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We only do what God and asks us to do So obedience to God is
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immediate obedience to God occurs even if it doesn't make
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sense obedience to God. We obey God even when you don't
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see a personal benefit. I think this is huge that a lot
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of times we, we only want to obey God when there's something
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in it for us. Well, what's in it for me, God,
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it doesn't matter. Well, it's all downside for me,
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God, and all upside for other people doesn't matter.
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Whether or not something is a personal benefit for you does
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not determine whether or not you should obey.
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So obedience to God occurs even when we don't see a personal
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benefit number #4 obedience to God occurs even if it's painful.
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I said in the message that most of the time when we obey the
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commands of God, it's going to cost us our convenience, our
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comfort, it's going to go against cultural norms, and it's
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going to cost us our pride. Like often times it can feel
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just painful to walk in obedience.
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And there have been things in my life where there was a cost.
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It was personally inconvenient. It killed my pride.
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I didn't want to do it, but out of obedience to God, I did it.
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And there are times that I did not obey God because I I didn't
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want to pay. It just felt too painful to do
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it. Whether I didn't go to somebody
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and apologize for something I said, I kind of dismissed it as
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it's no big deal and the Lord had to deal with, I had to
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eventually repentance of the Lord and the time had passed and
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I couldn't really, we could go back and make it right with that
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particular person. And so I just found myself at a
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place of saying, man, I missed that one and it I missed God, I
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didn't obey God. I had to repent.
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But the reason I didn't obey was because it was going to cost my
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pride too much. And then finally in the book he
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says we obey God to completion. Obedience to God must be to
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completion. In other words, we don't stop
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halfway. We don't go a little bit and
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then give up. No, no, we want to obey God
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fully to completion. So we obey God immediately, even
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when it doesn't make sense, even when you don't see a personal
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benefit, even if it's painful, and we do it to completion all
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the way through. And what I think, what I love
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about the the children of Israel following the cloud and the fire
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was that sometimes the cloud stayed at just one night,
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sometimes it was 2 days, sometimes it was a month,
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sometimes maybe even a year. Like they didn't know how long
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they were going to remain in that place, but they remain
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there until God was ready to move them on.
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And I think that tells us something very, very important,
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that both movement and stillness or waiting are equally
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spiritual. It is just as spiritual to wait
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for the Lord for to have you move as it is to move when He
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says to move. There is a spiritual discipline
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of learning how to wait. Now can I?
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Israel didn't control when to move.
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They didn't get that. You don't get to control when
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God asks you to do something. You don't get to control all of
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the elements of your life. How long did they stay or the
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pace that they went out on the journey?
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It wasn't quick. It was a slow journey.
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And, and these are all things that honestly we don't get to
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control, but we often try to control.
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So often we want to hurry a process along.
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And God's like, Nah, no, no, no, no, we're, we're not rushing
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this. We're, you're going to be in
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this for a minute. Sometimes God's like, hey, it's
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time to move, be obedient. Be be like, take the step.
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Don't wait, don't hesitate. Don't don't do not pass.
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Go, do not collect $200. You don't need to tell everybody
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that you're going to do it. Just obey and do it.
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Both are true. There is both a spiritual trust
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required in our obedience in our movement and there is spiritual
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discipline and trust required in our waiting and both require us
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to trust God. Listen, waiting is not what we
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like to do, but sometimes God has us just wait.
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The the delay is real. Listen, I I think it's in the
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waiting, in the delay in, in, in things that in the slow process
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of something coming, we often are tempted to think God's just
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holding out on me. Yep.
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He, he doesn't love me as lets you, he loves somebody else.
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No, no, no. I think the delay itself is
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something God is trying to teach you about himself, trying to
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reveal something in your own heart and soul, helping us to,
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to see and grow in an area. The weighting itself is a test
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and we don't like to do it. We're not good at it.
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We want to hurry through it. We want to rush it through.
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But, but I think God has his weight often times because there
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is a development of trust. We have to be willing to, to,
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to, to, to remain, to abide, to live out the essentials, to
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learn, to live with discipline and diligence.
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Think about it. It took them two years to
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construct the Tabernacle. Like they got it kind of got
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them out of Egypt. They were at Sinai for a while
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and it took them almost at least a year, maybe a little bit
20:01
longer to construct the temple, but they were at Sinai.
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For they, it was 2 years. Numbers Chapter 9.
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It's two years and one month since they left Exodus, since
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they exited out of Egypt, since they were here.
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So in that process, they had to get the 10 commandments.
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They had to build the golden calf, destroy the golden calf,
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repent. Here, here are the 10
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commandments. Learn about Leviticus law.
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Construct the Tabernacle. Gather all the things, Learn
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each other's placements. Where are they going to camp?
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How are they going to set up camp?
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Tear down camp, Move, move the Tabernacle?
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Who's carrying what parts? Like, I think all of this was
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part of the process for, for, for, for close to two years.
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So it's been 2 years since they left Egypt.
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It took them a long time, a while to build this, to
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construct the Tabernacle. How impatient do you and I get
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when we have to wait on something for for for a year or
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more? Like how easy it is to drift
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into our own selfishness just in two years as a church.
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Our theme of essential was something that we sat in for two
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years. Like how he's ma'am.
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I can't believe we're talking about the same thing for another
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year. I can't believe we haven't
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figured this out. Like God is gracious and he
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let's gives us time to repeat tests.
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That's true. But I think sometimes the the
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waiting, it's really about, are we going to be diligent and
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disciplined while we're waiting or are we just going to drift
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off course? We're going to go drift into
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complacency. Are we going to allow our
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spiritual lives to just drift and cruise because we're just
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kind of hanging out here anyways?
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While you're waiting, what is your heart doing?
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And when we're waiting, it's so easy to get distracted.
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It's so easy to drift into wrong habits, wrong ideas, and to
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construct in our minds wrong conceptions or concepts of God
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himself and his character. And the number one thing that we
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think about when, when, when we're waiting on God is somehow,
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somehow, surely God is holding out on us.
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Surely God has abandoned us. Surely he's not with us.
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And, and it feels dry and desert like I'm just telling you, God's
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not holding out on you. God is forming something in in
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US. I think about it this way.
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They the, the GPS of the fire and the cloud, like they had it
22:13
visible. And in our minds, we're like,
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man, how cool would it be to see a cloud and, and have to follow
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the cloud? Yeah, I think that would be kind
22:20
of a neat thing. But you know what I think
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they're going to do when we get to heaven?
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All, all of those that were in the the old covenant, I think
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they're going to come up to us and be like, whoa, tell me what
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it was like to have the Spirit of God living in you.
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Like we only heard it from a distance and it was in the
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Tabernacle and we couldn't get into the presence of God
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directly ourselves. What was it like to have access
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to God anytime you wanted it? What is it like to be able to
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pray and talk to God directly without having to kill an animal
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first? What was that like?
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I think they're going to be like, tell me about the awesome
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things that God LED you to do and how you grew because the
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Spirit was inside of you and you had access to that anytime you
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wanted. How awesome was that?
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Tell me all about it. How are we going to respond when
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that question comes? No, I'm not saying they're going
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to ask that question and it that that's a bit imaginative.
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I, I realize that I'm taking a little bit of a creative thought
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and liberty, liberty there, but it makes me think, man, how, how
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do we show up for worship on Sunday?
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How do we show up to come into the presence of God?
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Do we treat it just like another thing, another song, another
23:24
Sunday, another moment, or do we get to recognize me?
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We get to come and behold his presence together.
23:30
We get to come into a sanctuary without fear or wrath of
23:34
punishment, like we get to come in and experience the glory of
23:37
God. We can we can talk to God and
23:39
his very spirit is in us. We don't we don't have to watch
23:41
for something external. It's internal with it abides.
23:44
He resides. We get his presence all the
23:46
time. I think that's kind of a cool
23:49
thing. I think the question is, are we
23:52
living in into that? Are we are we living into that?
23:55
Or are we sitting back wondering like like they were?
23:57
Oh, I wish we were back in Egypt and we're like, man, I wish we
24:00
had the cloud of fire to know what God was saying.
24:03
Like I think we're in the season and the space and time that
24:06
we're in and we need to steward the, the avenues and the the
24:12
invitation of God and the invitation of God for us today
24:16
is to grow in relationship with him, to receive his spirit and
24:19
to be led by the spirit in all things that we that we do.
24:26
The the last thing I want to to kind of share in this bonus
24:29
content section is just talk a little bit more about
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contentment. Contentment with godliness is
24:36
essential. And what we find through the
24:39
story of Israel is that as we watch their journey, they became
24:43
discontent and it LED them to godlessness.
24:47
They became discontent in their situation.
24:50
They they became complainers. And in their complaining it
24:54
moved them into ungodly behavior.
24:58
It moved them to drift into things away from God's best.
25:03
They, they lost sight of the discipline and the diligence to
25:06
worship God correctly. And they no longer gave God
25:09
their whole heart. They just started giving their
25:12
heart to other things. And you, you begin to see in the
25:15
story of Israel unfold that they did not live with contentment,
25:19
which meant that they lived with complaining and it LED them to
25:22
God. Lessness rather than godliness.
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Contentment with godliness, Paul says, is great gain.
25:29
It is essential to your life of faith, in other words,
25:32
contentment, to just keep abiding in Christ and growing in
25:35
him, to be strengthened in him. Each year that you are following
25:39
Jesus and reading the scriptures, you just keep being
25:42
content, growing in godliness, reflecting the holiness and the
25:48
character of God, being guided by the light of God.
25:50
That is the essentials of our faith.
25:54
It is essential to grow in contentment which produces
25:58
godliness. I said in the message that
26:00
complaining sears your sensitivity to the work of the
26:04
Spirit, and I mentioned how there were five things that kept
26:09
Israel from the Promised land. First Corinthians says that it
26:14
was that they craved evil things, they worshipped idols,
26:16
sexual immorality, they tested God and they were complainers.
26:21
Those five things kept them from inheriting the promise and
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complaining is listed. Complaining was listed as
26:27
equally damaging to their life and future as worshipping idols
26:33
as being sexually immoral. Being depraved like complaining
26:38
is listed with that as a sin that God says that's going to
26:41
cause you to miss out on the future of the promise that God
26:44
has for you. Let me read it to you at First
26:46
Corinthians chapter 10, verse one through 6 says this.
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Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,
26:55
that our ancestors were all under the cloud and they all
26:58
passed through the sea. They were all baptized into
27:01
Moses and the cloud in the sea. In other words, they walked
27:04
through the Red Sea and they saw the cloud come down on Sinai and
27:07
they saw the cloud in the fire settle on the Tabernacle to lead
27:10
and guide them every step of the way because God was with them.
27:13
He goes on to say in verse three, they all ate the same
27:16
spiritual food. They all drank the same
27:17
spiritual drink, for they drank this from the spiritual rock
27:20
that followed, and that rock was actually Christ.
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Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them since
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they were struck down in the wilderness paws.
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He was saying, listen, God had done all of these things for
27:34
them. They saw all of the blessings of
27:36
God. They saw all of the provision of
27:37
God. They they saw and experience
27:40
God's grace in real time, yet God still was displeased with
27:44
them. They, they, they missed it.
27:46
They let their heart drift, they drifted from contentment to
27:51
complaining. And he goes on to say this God
27:53
was not pleased since some of them got struck down in the
27:56
wilderness. Now these things took place for
28:00
examples for us so that we will not desire evil things as they
28:06
did. Verse 10 goes on to say and do
28:09
not grumble as some of them did and were killed by the
28:13
destroyer. These things happen to them as
28:16
examples and they were written for our instruction on whom the
28:20
ends of the ages have come. In other words, Paul is saying
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look at what happened to them. They that is something we need
28:28
to take into account into our lives today.
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You get to experience the freedom of God.
28:33
You've been blessed by the Spirit, you've been saved, and
28:36
you walk through the waters of baptism.
28:39
You are eating the spiritual food which is Christ himself.
28:42
He's giving you the living water and the Spirit of God lives on
28:45
the inside of you. Don't you dare for a minute
28:48
think that that automatically pushes you into a category
28:52
beyond where they were. Because if you are not careful,
28:55
you will drift. And you'll drift into all of
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these things, the evil things, the the worshipping idols,
29:02
craving sexuality, sexual immorality.
29:05
You'll test God in the wrong way and you'll complain and you'll
29:08
be one of these complainers. You're going to grumble like
29:10
they did, and in your complaining and grumbling, it's
29:13
going to bring you to a place where you live out something
29:17
that is less than God's best. It will lead you to ungodliness
29:21
that that gets you outside of the covenant of God.
29:24
In fact, Ephesians forces it like this.
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Don't let any foul language come from your mouth.
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But only what is good for building up someone in need so
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that it gives grace to those who hear and do not grieve.
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God's Holy Spirit, You were sealed by Him for the day of
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redemption, so let all bitterness, anger, wrath,
29:45
shouting, and slander be removed from you along with all malice.
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Pause, he says. We're talking about the words
29:53
that come out of your mouth. Don't let foul language come out
29:54
of your mouth. And then he says, don't grieve
29:56
God's Holy Spirit. In other words, he's telling you
29:58
something that comes out of your mouth will grieve God's Spirit.
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And then he explains it even more, Don't grieve God's Holy
30:04
Spirit. You were sealed with him for the
30:07
In other words, if you're supposed to be led by the
30:08
Spirit, but you grieve the Spirit, you're not going to be
30:11
hearing the Spirit anymore. He says you were sealed by him.
30:15
But so let go of all bitterness, anger, wrath, shouting, slander.
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Let it all be removed from you along with all malice.
30:23
What is complaining? Think about it.
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We complain because something doesn't go our way and we get
30:28
better. We complain because we're
30:31
frustrated with the situation and we just get angry.
30:33
We complain in a way of like pouring out wrath on someone
30:38
else, like using our words to just malign them.
30:42
We scream, we shout. We, we, we slander other
30:46
people's character because we complain about how they're
30:49
doing, how they're leading, what they're saying, what they do,
30:51
and we just slander their character.
30:54
It's a form of complaining and malice.
30:57
When there is malice in our heart, there is contempt growing
31:00
in US towards other people and towards God.
31:06
And when we are complainers because of bitterness, anger,
31:09
wrath, shouting, slander, malice, the Spirit of God in
31:14
this is grieved, recoils, go silent, and it causes our ears
31:22
to not hear the voice of God. The sensitivity that we need to
31:26
follow the Spirit is we, we get dull, that the sensitivity goes
31:31
away because of our hearts filled with complaints, because
31:37
without contentment, we don't grow in godliness.
31:42
And we, we have a tendency to grieve God and to grieve the
31:46
very spirit that's living on the inside of us.
31:48
And our hearts grow hard and our ears grow deaf to the voice of
31:54
God and the sensitivity of the spirit inside of us because we
31:57
have filled our mouth and filled our heart with complaints and
32:00
contempt and it will damage our life with God.
32:06
I love a Philippians 4 where it talks about being content.
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Paul Rice has to say, listen, I've learned to be content
32:14
whether I'm well fed or I'm hungry.
32:15
I'm content regardless of my situation, whether I'm healthy
32:19
or I'm hurting, whether whether I'm free or I'm in prison,
32:22
whether I've been beaten or I've been set free.
32:24
Like I've learned the secret to being content in everything.
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And then he says, and you can be content in any situation.
32:32
Wow. Because he who lives in you is
32:36
strengthening you and you can do all things through Christ who
32:39
strengthens you. Now you've heard that verse
32:41
probably before, that you can do all things through Christ who
32:43
strengthens you, and you can, if we're talking about what Paul is
32:48
talking about, and Paul is talking about living in
32:51
godliness in the midst of discomfort, in the midst of
32:55
discouragement, in the midst of situations and circumstances
33:00
being less than optimal of what we would desire.
33:03
He says, I've learned to be content when I'm abounding and
33:07
I've got all of the blessings in the world and when I have
33:09
nothing, I'm content. In other words, I'm not letting
33:13
my heart drift. I'm not getting distracted, I'm
33:17
not getting discouraged. I'm staying diligent, I'm
33:20
staying disciplined, I'm staying devoted to the Lord.
33:24
And I'm able to do it because Christ gives me the strength to
33:28
be content. So when I want to complain about
33:31
everything going on in our world, I choose to be content
33:34
and grateful because Christ is giving me the strength to do it.
33:39
I can be content regardless of the circumstance, whether the
33:43
cloud is moving and I'm feeling like I'm progressing in life or
33:46
the cloud has stopped and God has me waiting And in my
33:50
waiting, I'm learning to still be content, to still celebrate,
33:55
to still put my faith in Him, to still come to Him, to be
33:58
diligent and disciplined rather than become lazy and throw off
34:02
all restraint in my life. No, I'm going to be content
34:06
because Christ is giving me the strength to be content.
34:10
And in that moment of contentment, I know that God, I
34:13
will supply all that I need according to his riches and
34:16
glory by Christ Jesus. And so these words of Paul that
34:20
we put on mugs and T-shirts, I can do all things through Christ
34:23
inspiring me. My God's going to supply all
34:25
that I need. Those are verses about helping
34:28
you be content with godliness rather than complain and grow in
34:32
ungodliness. So it's important for us to
34:35
recognize that contentment matters.
34:38
And when we are content and and and grateful and and thankful,
34:42
then we are staying sensitive to the voice of the Spirit.
34:45
But when we are grumbling, when we are complaining, when we are
34:47
slanderous, when we are shouting, when we're using our
34:50
mouth in a foul way, Scripture says that it grieves the Holy
34:56
Spirit inside of us and we grow D sensitive.
35:01
We lose sensitivity to what He is saying, what He is doing, and
35:05
how He is prompting us. And we want to be guided by the
35:09
Spirit at all times. He is the one who is leading and
35:13
guiding us. That's what Jesus promised.
35:15
That's the relationship we want to have, and we want to stay
35:16
sensitive to him. And one way that that makes us
35:20
lose sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is when we complain with
35:24
our mouth and in our heart. So let's be a grateful people
35:28
and let's learn to follow the voice of the Spirit in our
35:30
lives. All right, let me share a few
35:33
responses to some questions that came in question number one,
35:37
what would represent the pillar or cloud today?
35:43
So when you look at Scripture, the cloud in Scripture often is
35:46
represented by God's manifest presence that the cloud comes,
35:50
the voice of God shows up, the cloud comes on Sinai, God starts
35:53
to speak with Moses, cloud shows up in the mount transfiguration.
35:58
God speaks his affirmation over Jesus, right?
36:01
So, so the cloud in Scripture represents God's kind of
36:04
manifest presence. So where when the presence of
36:07
God shows up in our midst, that's, that's kind of
36:10
representative or, or throwback or similar to that, right?
36:13
The pillar of fire and fire kind of in general, most often, not
36:17
always, but most often in Scripture represents the
36:20
activity and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
36:22
This is why at the day of Pentecost, there were pillars
36:25
or, or tongs of flickers of fire that appeared over each head.
36:30
So it wasn't just one thing being filled or representing or
36:33
being a carrier of the presence of God, but it was the presence
36:36
of the Spirit filling each individual person as well.
36:40
So we are all containers of the presence of God.
36:42
So when I think about the cloud and the fire today, I think
36:46
about God's manifest presence and I think about the the person
36:49
of the Spirit filling each believer specifically.
36:53
I feel like those are kind of what they're pointing to as near
36:56
as I can tell thus far. And so I think that would be
36:59
kind of my response to, to that, that question #2 how can I
37:04
discern God's voice speaking something to me versus something
37:08
I think he would want for me or even something I think about
37:11
because I want it. I think this is such a good,
37:14
good question because where, where does kind of the, the
37:17
thoughts of God versus our thoughts?
37:20
How do I discern motive in all of this?
37:22
I, I think it's a, it's a great question.
37:24
I think #1 now you have to remember, you don't need to
37:26
over, over complicate this. I think a lot of times start
37:31
acting on something and see kind of where, where if God is
37:34
developing something in you, right?
37:35
So like, is it God? Is it me?
37:37
As long as it's not evil, it, it's not going to hurt you to,
37:41
to start moving in a in a direction most of the time.
37:45
But I think you have to remember that God always speaks in a way
37:50
or speaks things that are consistent with his character,
37:53
right? So he's not going to ask us to
37:56
do something out of character. So, for example, is it me or is
38:00
it God? You know, like God told me to
38:02
speed through the light. No, he didn't.
38:03
It's like that's don't, don't, don't be foolish.
38:06
God. It's not going to tell you to
38:07
break laws unnecessarily endanger other people too do
38:10
harm. Like that's not God.
38:11
That's totally you. Like that's not that's not the
38:14
Lord. Like I just was in a hurry.
38:16
Well, that's your fault. Like, okay, that's not God.
38:19
God. God is not gonna ask us to do
38:21
something that is inconsistent with his character, speak
38:24
anything out of character or out of alignment with the scripture.
38:27
And at the same time, just because it's something good in
38:30
our lives doesn't mean it's not from God.
38:32
A God is not opposed to seeing your life flourish or blessings
38:36
externally show up in your life like it's OK.
38:39
God, God, God, God will lead you to a place to have a job that
38:43
like has amazing Co workers, has great provision for your family,
38:48
has good benefits and plans and is a healthy environment to work
38:52
in. Something that you love doing
38:53
right. Like God's not just going to
38:55
give you things that are uncomfortable, comfortable, that
38:58
are hated or that like are a loathe in your life.
39:02
No, God's not arbitrary in that way.
39:05
In fact, I would argue that most of the time we think in terms of
39:09
outcome and God isn't. It's not to say that God doesn't
39:13
care about outcomes. Actually outcomes are all God's
39:14
thing. But for us, we're trying to
39:16
determine, is this a good thing for me or is this feel like a
39:19
bad thing for me? And those externals are really
39:22
about our value system of am I worthy or am I not worthy?
39:27
Is this what I want or is this not what I want?
39:30
And I think that's the wrong perspective to hold when trying
39:34
to discern and hear hear God. God is not opposed to blessing
39:37
you, but but he also won't bring blessing into your life in a way
39:42
that doesn't bring him glory or in a way that causes you to
39:45
drift further away from him instead of grow closer to him
39:47
like God. God knows it terribly.
39:49
Couple something on on one of the Bible recap videos recently,
39:53
she said something that along the lines of many of us are more
39:58
comfortable with the wrath of God than the goodness of God.
40:01
And I think that's very, very true that there are moments in
40:04
my life where I'm like, Nope, I just I'm going to assume the
40:06
bad. I'm going to assume that it's
40:08
not going to be good. I'm assume that it's hard
40:09
because I, I, I can more easily accept that than I can the
40:14
goodness of God, like God being so good to me, blessing me,
40:17
loving me benevolently. That just feels so unworthy of
40:22
or like that's not it. At the same time, some, some of
40:24
us are like, I'm entitled to this.
40:26
This is actually. All that God does and like we're
40:28
like, there's no consequence, there's no negativity, there's
40:31
there's no joy in suffering, right?
40:32
Like it's all sunshine, rainbows and up and to the right.
40:35
Well, that's, that's not true either.
40:37
And I think that God meets us where we're at.
40:40
God wants to speak to us in the ways that help lead us and guide
40:43
us and and God gives us common sense as a gift right to help
40:46
discern and distinguish. I think one of the the questions
40:50
to ask yourself when trying to discern is this something God is
40:52
saying or is this something just like I want?
40:55
Is it like wrong motives? I think ask yourself it would
40:59
you be disappointed if God wasn't giving this to you or if
41:03
God wasn't leading you to do this or if God's answer was you
41:06
need to wait or it's a no completely, would you be
41:10
disappointed? I think that that allows us just
41:14
to check our motives and check our check our hearts.
41:17
At the end of the day, God wants you to follow his voice and his
41:21
commands more than you want to. And God is really good and
41:24
gracious about when our hearts are postured in a way that wants
41:28
to honor him, wants to follow him and we miss it.
41:32
We do something and it was more us than him.
41:35
God will lovingly remind us. He'll lovingly correct us,
41:38
invite us to repent from it and readjust the course.
41:40
It's not, it's not straight to jail kind of a thing, right?
41:46
Like you, you thought God wanted to take that job, but he really
41:49
want to take that. I'm straight to jail.
41:51
You failed. You are no longer a child of
41:53
God. You can never hear God's voice
41:54
again. It's not that God is much more
41:56
gracious, much more patient and willing for us to learn.
42:00
There have been many things I thought God was speaking or
42:03
leading me, and it was really just about my motives.
42:06
But God was merciful in the process to meet me, navigate me,
42:10
and help me grow in that too. And so it doesn't derail the
42:15
plans of God, our decisions. He, he is moving and working in
42:21
all of those things. And I think you have to remember
42:24
learning to hear God's voice is is is more about us growing
42:28
closer to him and less about us getting what we want from God.
42:32
It's not about outcomes near as much as it is about the
42:35
formation of a relationship with him.
42:39
So so when it comes to discerning if what I'm hearing
42:41
is God or if it's not God, whether it's me something else,
42:45
like how do I discern book. Here's kind of a four checks, if
42:48
you will. Number one, check with Scripture
42:50
again, God's not going to have you do anything that is contrary
42:54
to scripture #2 check with trusted, spiritually mature
43:00
people. Just hey, this is what I think
43:02
God is saying. I think this is what God is
43:05
leading. What do you, what do you think?
43:07
Give me your perspective on this.
43:10
Number three, check your hurry. What do I mean by that?
43:15
I mean wait on it. Don't rush the decision if
43:19
you're like, like, like unwilling to wait and give it
43:23
some time to really discern. You don't need to be in a hasty
43:28
hurry. I don't think that's typically
43:30
how God works. There are sometimes God hastens
43:34
the pace that we're moving, but he doesn't rush us.
43:39
He, he might want us to, to not waste time, but he's not
43:43
hastening us or hurrying us along in some unloving way.
43:46
So when I say check the hurry, I mean think about what God is, is
43:50
wait and just wait on it. Weigh it for a little bit.
43:53
Let it sit with your heart for a little bit before you make the
43:56
decision. So check your hurry and then #4
43:59
check the results. I don't mean like, did it go my
44:05
way or did it not go my way? Did I get what I want?
44:07
Did I not get what I want? I mean, check the results in
44:10
that. Are you living more of the fruit
44:15
of the Spirit in your life? More joy, love, peace, patience,
44:19
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
44:21
self-control? Or are you less walking in the
44:24
spirit now? Are you?
44:26
Did you force it or man? Was it just just God
44:30
orchestrating all of it all along the way?
44:33
When you look back, you'll be able to examine whether it was
44:37
God or not, and you'll be able to reflect and if necessary
44:41
repent, but just check the results.
44:43
Sometimes you don't know until you trust and you take a step
44:46
whether it was you, whether it was God, whether it was what,
44:49
whatever. Again, you're going to find here
44:51
in the Children of Israel's story, there comes a moment
44:56
where they needed water and they were complaining and God tells
44:59
Moses to strike a rock with his rod and water starts pouring
45:04
from the the rock. And they had water, they
45:07
survived. It was essential.
45:09
There was another time they were complaining again about water
45:12
and about all sorts of stuff. And God told Moses, Moses, I
45:15
want you to speak to the rock and tell water to come out of
45:17
it. And instead of speaking to the
45:19
rock, Moses in his anger strikes the rock again.
45:23
He repeats what he did the last time and it it actually was
45:28
detrimental to Moses's future and God brought consequences on
45:33
Moses in that moment. Moses missed it.
45:35
He did not obey God. And what do we hear when you
45:39
look back at the results it did it bring you, did it bring God
45:43
honor? Did it help you grow in your the
45:45
fruit of the Spirit? Or did it cause you to act in a
45:47
way that was hasty, hurried, forceful, you trying to make
45:52
something happen for God rather than move at the pace of God?
45:56
Sometimes the only way we'll know whether we heard God or
46:00
didn't hear God is just looking back at the results.
46:03
And when we miss it, we need to repent and acknowledge it.
46:05
And when it was God and we, we did the right thing and we
46:08
followed God and we were obedient and we were good
46:10
stewards of we just need to be grateful and thankful and let
46:13
that reinforce our trust to hear God's voice and to know that he
46:17
speaks. So check with scripture, check
46:19
with trusted spiritual nature, check your hurry and just slow
46:23
down and wait for a little bit. Sit with the decision.
46:26
Sit with the choice and then check the results.
46:28
Make the decision. Step out of faith and and see if
46:31
it was helping you grow in your godliness or if it was doing
46:36
something unhelpful or unholy in in your life.
46:40
Knowing that God's grace and His mercy is always available and He
46:43
wants us to grow and develop more than produce and do things.
46:47
So learning to hear God is more about our character development
46:50
and our close intimate relationship with Him than it
46:52
ever is about achieving something more for God.
46:57
Great, great question. And at the end of the day, keep
47:00
practicing and watch God teach you along the way #3 when
47:04
something good happens to believers, isn't it a slap in
47:07
God's face just to say, yeah, I'm just lucky that way?
47:09
Or what a coincidence since God works all the time to bring good
47:14
to us. James 117, Could you elaborate
47:17
on the importance of giving God the glory instead of just
47:20
happenstance? Yeah, I kind of made a bit of a
47:23
joke about this in the message. Just kind of like coincidences
47:26
happen and it's the universe and all of these things.
47:30
I think we need to recognize that when we don't give God the
47:37
credit for leading and guiding our lives, we actually short
47:40
circuit what God is trying to build in our lives.
47:44
Said another way, anything that we turn in praise away from God
47:49
that belongs to God creates A loyalty to that thing.
47:54
So if you give yourself credit for something that God was
47:57
leading or enabling you to do, then you will be more loyal to
48:01
yourself than you will be to God.
48:03
You will build more trust in yourself than you are trusting
48:06
in God. And that may seem fine for a
48:11
period of time, but ultimately you're putting your trust in
48:14
your knowledge of good and evil verse putting your trust in the
48:17
life of God and the tree of life.
48:20
So when we don't give God praise and we aren't thankful to him
48:25
and we are humble and redirecting to him, that's where
48:29
pride and entitlement begin to grow in our hearts.
48:32
And when we withhold gratitude from God, we will grow impatient
48:37
with God. So giving God praise and
48:40
recognizing that God is the author of our lives, God
48:43
navigates and leads and guides us.
48:44
We're led by his spirit. It's not just our arbitrary
48:47
thoughts like, and I'm not giving everything credit.
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I mean, there's some things that I do that I make decisions
48:52
because that's the decision I made.
48:53
It's I didn't really hear from the Lord.
48:55
It wasn't one of those things. It was kind of like he gave me
48:57
common sense. He's given me the ability to
48:59
think reason and logically go and, and I didn't really hear
49:02
him and I need to make a decision.
49:03
So I'm going to make a decision. And so I'm not going to pass
49:05
that off on God. Well, God told me to do it.
49:07
God's not your scapegoat. And I think that's the other
49:10
side of this conversation where we just blame God for everything
49:13
good and bad. And I don't really feel like
49:15
that's a healthy or accurate way of going about it.
49:19
But but when God is leading and guiding us, I'm going to give
49:23
him credit, not not something else.
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I have no problem with saying that God was leading and guiding
49:27
us. I'm so thankful for his mercy.
49:28
I'm so thankful for his grace, so thankful for his voice that
49:31
helps shape who we are, right? Like, man, this is, this is
49:34
good. And then there are other times
49:36
we're like, you know what? This just seems like the best
49:38
decision to make. I'm OK with when that happens,
49:41
stating the simple facts. It's like this is the decision
49:43
we made and owning a decision. But I think we need to be
49:48
careful to give credit incorrectly to other things or
49:51
other places because it will develop trust and loyalty within
49:54
us. And we don't want entitlement to
49:57
grow. And so we want to be thankful to
49:59
God for who he is, who he's allowed us to be.
50:02
And even in the decisions that I make on my own man, it's the
50:06
breath in my lungs that belongs to God, right?
50:08
All of my life belongs to him. And I want to do even the
50:11
decisions that I make in a way that honor him, that's humble
50:14
before him, and that is trusting him to continuedly to rightly
50:19
order the steps that I take and to to rightly order the results
50:23
of the things that come my way. And so we just, in giving God
50:26
praise and gratitude, we're just protecting our heart from
50:29
entitlement and arrogance #4 what does it look like to trust
50:34
God's guidance when I don't have clarity about timing or
50:38
outcomes? So what does it look like?
50:40
I think it looks like whether you're waiting or you're
50:45
uncertain but still need to make a decision, I think it still
50:48
looks like the joy of the Lord is present.
50:50
The peace of God is presence. The love of God is being seen in
50:54
your life. You are patient, you are kind,
50:56
you're not envious or boastful or proud or rude.
50:59
You're you're walking in love in that way I think it should.
51:01
I think your life should look like that.
51:02
I think it should look like you are faithful to the last thing
51:06
God spoke and stewarding what is in your hand now.
51:11
Don't. While you're waiting for God to
51:15
answer your prayer about giving you a House of your own, take
51:19
care of the rental house that you're in, like you owned it,
51:22
like care for it, fix it up. Be a good agent.
51:27
While you're waiting for the promotion and you're believing
51:30
God for promotion, do your current role better than you've
51:33
ever done it before. Be faithful in what you have now
51:37
and trust that God will bring you to the next thing.
51:40
That every stop where the Israelites had to stop to camp,
51:44
when the cloud stopped, they had to set up camp and had to do it
51:46
the right way, had to order it up, put the people in the right
51:49
place. They did it right.
51:51
They were faithful to the commands of God on how to set up
51:53
camp. And when the cloud moved, they
51:56
were faithful to take down camp, to pack everything up and to
52:00
move in obedience to the movement of God in the Spirit.
52:03
And so you, you are faithful in the moment while you're waiting
52:08
for the clarity of what comes next.
52:11
So what does it look like to wait, whether you have clarity
52:14
or not to while you're waiting on the timing of God to come
52:17
through, you are faithful in the moment.
52:20
I think it should look like you are waiting, but also making
52:22
preparation things that you're waiting for, waiting on, on God
52:26
to do. Right now.
52:27
We're waiting for God to fully fund the building for our
52:31
church, for our expansion. We are out of room in our kids
52:34
areas. Our parking lot is is full.
52:37
And so we need to make more space in that way.
52:39
And so part of the new building is adding more parking is all of
52:42
these things right? So we're just out of space.
52:44
We want to continue to grow. We want to make room for people
52:47
to come in here and learn and grow in the things of God.
52:50
And so while we're waiting, we're still making preparations.
52:54
What's this room going to look like?
52:55
How how do we want this to get settled?
52:57
Like there's still preparation that can be made while you're
52:59
waiting. If you're, you're really going
53:02
to get married and you feel like God has put that on your heart,
53:04
you're not waiting as a single and wasted time.
53:06
No, you're preparing your character, preparing your
53:09
finances, getting your, your hobbies in order.
53:12
You're, you're becoming the kind of person that you would want of
53:16
a spouse, right? While you're waiting for to, to,
53:20
to, to figure out the right college, you're becoming the
53:22
kind of student that the college you want to go to wants to have
53:25
in your in their in in their institution.
53:28
So, so waiting in preparation go hand in hand while you're
53:31
expecting clarity. I think if I looking for
53:35
guidance and, and what do we do trusting God in the midst of not
53:39
having clarity or not sharing about timing or, or outcomes.
53:42
I think at the end of the day, I'm not thinking about making a
53:45
decision based on the outcome. I'm looking to make a decision
53:49
based on what is God asking me to do.
53:51
Outcomes are his responsibility. Success in the biblical mind is
53:56
not the outcome. Whether it was good or bad, it
53:59
worked, didn't work. Success is did I obey or did I
54:02
disobey? That is success in the biblical
54:06
story in the biblical biblical way.
54:07
So I think one of the things that is important to do while
54:11
you're waiting for clarity and you're looking for timing is to
54:14
ask wise counsel from godly people, their perspective.
54:18
In my life and in our church, especially with with big
54:20
decisions, I refuse to make a decision until I've heard from
54:25
the Lord until the till I've got a word, till God has spoken,
54:28
till he's confirmed something or made something more clear.
54:31
We're given the right idea to move it forward.
54:34
We're not just arbitrarily doing things just because we think
54:37
it's a good idea. There's a lot of things we could
54:41
do as a church to be like, oh, that's a good idea.
54:43
Hey, that's a good idea. That's not the question.
54:45
The question isn't, is this a good idea?
54:46
The question is, is this what God wants us to put our energy,
54:50
our time, our resources, our value toward?
54:54
Is this part of the problem God is giving us to solve, to be a
54:57
part of the solution? It's not that we're trying to
55:00
make everything so major, but at the same time, we want to honor
55:04
God in everything, and we want to be good stewards of the
55:07
people around us, of the resources here.
55:09
And so rarely will I'd make a big decision.
55:12
Or will we? Will we move forward quickly
55:15
without hearing from the Lord? We want to make sure we've got a
55:19
word from God that we know what he's saying, what he's really
55:21
asking us has to do because that's what's going to give us
55:24
courage when it gets tough. That's what's going to help us
55:27
follow through when it doesn't feel like it's working.
55:29
Because sometimes you'll make a decision because you hear from
55:32
the Lord and everything starts to go to, to, to, to, to the
55:36
pooper, right? Everything hits the fan.
55:39
The question is, did you miss God?
55:41
If you're waiting to evaluate whether or not you it was God or
55:48
not based on if everything is working smoothly, you'll always
55:52
miss God. You'll you'll be second guessing
55:54
everything because there are sometimes God says to move and
55:57
it's really a hard thing to do at first, but he wants you to
56:01
remain faithful to being obedient to it because there is
56:05
reward on the other side. There's something he's
56:07
developing on the other side. So it's not just about the
56:10
external outcomes that reveal whether or not it is God or
56:13
isn't. God can be, but not always.
56:16
We can't be led by outcomes. We must be led by the voice of
56:22
God and what he's saying. And if we've heard God, we're
56:25
going to stick with it until God makes it abundantly clear that
56:29
we made the wrong decisions and we need to make a different one.
56:32
And even in the process of that, you start down a path, you do
56:35
it. This is what God wants, is what
56:36
God wants. And then he says to pivot or
56:37
change. You're still learning how to
56:40
follow God. You're still learning something
56:42
in the process. Your heart is still to seek God,
56:44
honor God, not get certain outcomes from God.
56:49
Last question, is complaining really that serious spiritually?
56:54
How can I cultivate gratitude when life feels delayed or
56:58
difficult? I wouldn't be really clear.
57:01
Yes, complaining is really that serious.
57:05
You can complain your way straight to hell, straight
57:10
straight out of the covenant. I mean, you can complain
57:12
yourself straight into ungodly living.
57:17
You can complain your way straight into trying to control
57:20
everything in your life to where you don't trust God anywhere in
57:23
your life. Gratitude is a powerful,
57:30
powerful tool in our hearts and in our lives.
57:35
But gratitude is only powerful when we speak it out and it's
57:40
specific general gratitude is good, but specific gratitude is
57:46
powerful. I think it's really important to
57:51
be grateful to speak gratitude. I, I, I read the scriptures a
57:55
little bit earlier in this episode talking about grieving
57:59
the Holy Spirit and how they complained.
58:01
And because of their grumbling and complaining, they had a
58:03
heart that got soured towards God and then a heart that sat,
58:07
they got contemptuous towards God.
58:09
In other words, they started to talk like God was against them,
58:12
God was holding out on them, God was out to get them, that God
58:15
had a band in them. And so they started to malign
58:19
the character of God. They created a slanderous
58:22
assault on the character of God with their complaints.
58:26
That's a big deal. So it's a it's something that
58:29
sours our hearts especially. It grows entitlement.
58:33
And again, ultimately complaining leads to a
58:37
discontent in heart and a discontented heart leads to
58:42
ungodly acts, to disloyal acts toward God.
58:48
So so in other words, you stop being faithful, stop being
58:50
loyal, stop being devoted to God simply because something in your
58:54
heart has drifted and you started complaining in your
58:58
heart. So yes, complaining is a big
58:59
deal. It's a big deal to God.
59:01
It shows 0 fear for for who God is.
59:05
It makes you buck up as if God you are owed something from God.
59:11
Man I I don't want to be so arrogant ever that I walk up to
59:14
God like he owes me something. God doesn't owe us anything, and
59:19
complaining is essentially telling God we don't like him,
59:24
we don't trust him, and what he's done isn't good enough.
59:29
That's just not a good place to be.
59:31
So how do we cultivate gratitude?
59:33
Well, I think a good place to start is maybe at meal time when
59:36
you're praying get and list. Make it a goal every time.
59:40
You're you're, you're, you're coming to pray before a meal.
59:44
Give God thanks for one specific thing outside of just the food
59:49
instead of saying Lord, thank you for the food.
59:51
Thank God we are grateful that you've given us the strength and
59:55
the job to help bring resources and to provide for our basic
59:59
needs like our food. God, thank you for the farmers
1:00:02
who have cared for and made it possible for this food to be
1:00:05
available in our midst. God, thank you for the rain that
1:00:08
allowed crops to grow like. Like get specific in your
1:00:12
gratitude and just say one thing within your prayer.
1:00:15
Again, I said it in one of the services.
1:00:16
The reason why we pray before meals isn't to, to, for God to
1:00:20
keep protecting so we don't die from food poisoning.
1:00:24
It's great. It's great, great thing.
1:00:25
Thank you, Lord, for protecting us from food poisoning.
1:00:27
Right? Like that.
1:00:29
Depending on what restaurant you're eating, you're eating at
1:00:30
Taco Bell a whole lot. You might really want to pray a
1:00:32
prayer like that. I don't know.
1:00:34
But but in all seriousness, like we, we pray before a meal to
1:00:38
give God thanks, to express gratitude for God providing
1:00:43
what's in front of us. So in the midst of your your
1:00:46
prayer time and a meal, say one specific thing that you're
1:00:49
grateful for. It could have to do with the
1:00:51
food. It have nothing to do with the
1:00:53
food whatsoever, but just practice gratitude in one
1:00:56
specific thing every time you eat and pray.
1:00:58
Maybe keep a journal and then just write three things in your
1:01:02
journal every day that you're grateful for.
1:01:04
Maybe you're you're having a hard time complaining about work
1:01:08
every day. Find 3 things to be grateful for
1:01:10
about that day's work. Maybe you're having a hard time
1:01:13
and you're complaining about local government.
1:01:16
Every day write three things that you're grateful about the
1:01:19
community in which you're living in.
1:01:20
Maybe you're having trouble in your marriage and you just are
1:01:22
nagging and complaining and you can't see anything positive and
1:01:25
it's negative, negative, negative, negative, negative.
1:01:27
Maybe in a journal write three things that you are grateful
1:01:31
specifically as it relates for your marriage or your spouse.
1:01:34
Maybe do that. At the end of the day, what you
1:01:36
fix your eyes on and let your mouth speak about is where
1:01:40
you're going to go. Philippians 3 and four are great
1:01:43
chapters to help reorient our minds towards heavenly things
1:01:49
and Orient our mouths towards grateful things.
1:01:52
It's all about your mindset and gratitude.
1:01:55
So Philippians 3 and four are great passages to read to help
1:01:58
cultivate gratitude even in the midst of difficulty or it's
1:02:03
delayed. In fact, it's in Philippians
1:02:05
where he says rejoice in the Lord always.
1:02:07
And again I say rejoice. And Paul is writing this from a
1:02:09
prison cell. I mean, if you can be content
1:02:13
and joyful in the midst of a circumstance that has you in
1:02:16
prison wrongfully accused of something, of having your
1:02:20
character maligned and your reputation on the line, you can
1:02:23
rejoice in the Lord in that moment.
1:02:25
Well, now you're developing a real heart of resilience and
1:02:28
trust in God. God wants to guide you.
1:02:30
God wants to guide me and He wants to lead us by His Holy
1:02:34
Spirit that He has given to every believer.
1:02:36
And we can learn to hear the voice of God and we want to be
1:02:41
obedient to follow His leading each and every day.
1:02:45
Friends, thanks for listening. Thanks for sending in questions.
1:02:48
We love getting to respond to those directly.
1:02:51
And as always, that does it for today's episode.
1:02:54
And I hope today has helped you. Have some faith for today.
1:02:58
I love you, friends. We'll see you next week.