Inland Empire: Riverside
More Than Manna - Audio
I guess, you know, you may wonder, you know, why would we incorporate Swahili in our singing? And, of course, my response is exactly. You could be turning through Bibles or turned in your Bibles to Numbers, chapter 11. It's going to be our main text will be in Numbers 11 this morning, and I just want to welcome everyone again. Everyone doing OK? Yeah. Yeah, you're all survived Thanksgiving and you're back on your workout regimen and everything's good, right? You get an early start on that New Year's resolution? Yeah. Look, you have very little guesses on that. You know why? You know what's going on? Well, I'm just going to load on for the next month and then I'm really going to go after it come January 1, though, right? I've only got one more month to really go after it. Eat, drink, and be merry. Then I want to be a hard line, amen? Well, we look forward to that. So, Mike and Libby, as you know, are over in Budapest, I wish for you what it is. They might actually be in Rome right now, but they were in Budapest, just having a meeting there, and then they're going to just come back through Rome and then be back home, you know, obviously, to look after Rob for God of Love. But I appreciate that because some of you are like, you know, Mike and Libby, you never get with them. You never seem to have time to get with me. Well, love up on your brother this morning, and you know, as grateful as he is for that, he's not half as grateful as his wife is for what Mike has done for Rob, amen? But Rob, that was very touching and moving. I appreciate that. I appreciate your openness, and I think, as a fellow brother, I appreciate your repentance. You know, I mean, that's very encouraging, and I think, you know, we need that more and more in the church. I mean, I know the brothers got a spoonful of good medicine on Wednesday, our Tuesday night, amen, from Steve Lansbury. So, that's encouraging, amen. I hope that your wives or your children or someone has noticed that you have been more diligent in your times with the Lord and that you have been more diligent in being a great disciple for Jesus. Is that what you saw this week, wives? Amen. Good. So, for those seven dudes that changed because it went Steve shared, it was worth it, amen? It's really worth it to those wives. And if you didn't get a chance, I hope they got recorded, but it was very encouraging at the same time, very challenging lesson for brothers to really rise up and be the men of God that God has called us to be, that God has destined us to be, that God really desires for us to be. And hopefully we have that same desire, brothers, and I know that there are lots of sisters here this morning, and we want you to be great women of God, but we really do want to lead you spiritually. We want to have the heart to lead you spiritually. And as I say that, I don't want anyone who feels like, well, my husband or my boyfriend or what is not leading me. I don't want you to be critical. I just want you to be amen. I know I need that. I need for my husband, whatever. I need him to rise up. I need him to really, you know, but at the same time, I know I have my own calling from the Lord to be an incredible woman of God. And really, that's what makes the church tick. That's what makes the church a happy place. That's what makes a home a happy place when husband and wife aren't going, "Well, wait a minute. We got to divide these dudes evenly. Why are these that? You know, that never works. You know, if you agree, so, okay, I'm going to do this. You're going to do that, amen. And then once in a while, you have to do each other's stuff and still, it still works. But if we get too much that way, if we get too much, you know what, he's never going to change. She's never going to change. Then nothing ever seems to change. And then we think we're right, but we don't realize, no, it's because I'm not taking responsibility to be who God wants me to be. And really, that's what the essence of Christianity is in so many ways. I mean, first and foremost, it's about loving God, amen? That the Bible teaches us that loving God has a lot to do with the way we behave. You know, the things that we involve ourselves with, that's what loving God means. It's how we present ourselves. Do you know that Jesus Christ actually has an expectation of how we live our everyday lives? I don't know, some of you do, amen? Maybe some of us have forgotten. But the Lord has an expectation for how we live our life. The thing is, it may not always be easy, it may not be the easy choice to make, but it's always beneficial whenever we do the Lord's will. And so this morning, I hope that's the spirit that we've come to church in, we've come to church to worship God, we've also come to church to really know God, to hear what God has to say to me. And I like to remind you of that every time I preach it, really, that's what's happening. Whether a Doug or Steve or Mike does a, you know, a great lesson or a not so great that the Lord has something to say to you because as Rob shared, it's bigger than me. It's bigger than you. It's the Lord himself and he wants to say something to you this morning. If you're visiting with us this morning, God wants to say something to you. If you're a member of the church this morning, God wants to say something to you. Don't resist it. You say, well, you know, by the Doug, I have not been very spiritual lately. I'm just not really in a good place to hear. I'm not really good soil right now. So I mean, you know, I'm here, but that's okay. Amen. Thank you for being real. Thank you for being honest, but you need to realize, hey, you know, that the Lord can change your heart quickly. That's so much of being a Christian is what we decide to do. You know, I know it'd be easier if the Lord would just kind of make us feel like doing it, right? That's what I want, right? Lord, just make me feel like doing the right thing. You know, have me stop feeling like doing the wrong thing. Make me disgusted by, you know, any woman sexually that's not my wife, you know, make it disgusting. So I won't even be tempted to even think anything about it. Make it, you know, disgusting to think of taking someone else's property. Make it disgusting to think of taking a better grade by cheating or to get more taxes by cheating. Make all that, you know, that's what we want. And God just says, well, look, you know, my grace is sufficient for you. I've already had my son die, you know, so you do have the strength if you become a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit living in you. You do have the strength to make these right decisions. We just have to decide is that how we're going to live? Is that how we're going to live? You know, Rob shared that he'd been a Christian for years and had, you know, really been fired up at one point in time, but then had gotten really weak and lax in this conviction. And that it wasn't until he really opened himself up to let another man and to let the Spirit really work in his life again, you know, they got back on track. And that's just what a lot of us need to do, amen? Look over in the book of numbers here. Everyone's there, right? Numbers 11? Okay. We'll read kind of a big passage, a long passage of scripture, can we handle that? We stay focused? Everybody's got their cell phones off, nobody's checking scores or playing poker, right? No one's texting each other. I don't know if Roy's here, but I don't even have my phone up here today, Roy, so don't text me during the sermon. Roy likes to text me and tell him I'm being a racialist or something every once in a while. Just because I don't like white people very much. Now see, I knew when I got fancy here, okay, here we go. Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord. Pretty bold. Sounds like they must have wanted the Lord to hear it, huh? Ever been there? That's right, Lord. Go ahead and listen in. I'm going to have a little chat with my wife and kids, or my decide for whatever. I want you to hear this. And when he heard them, his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. So that place was called Tibera, because fire from the Lord burned among them. The rabble with him, there's always a little bit of rabble. Don't be the rabble. We got a rabble here this morning. You have to sit right next to me, is that what somebody just said? But the rabble with him began to crave other food. And again, the Israelites, see how the rabble with him was craving other food? And then all the other Israelites who maybe God didn't consider rabble at the time started wailing and said, "They kind of joined in with them." Sometimes that happens. We challenge people, "Hey, be careful what you say. Be careful who you say in front of," because bad news travels quickly or it's infective. And so, if only we had meat to eat. We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost. Had they forgotten that they were working 18 hours a day for no pay? Also the cucumbers. Oh, man, those are different cukes, huh? Just thinking about those bad boys, right? Onions, leeks, through leeks in there, onions and garlic. But now we've lost our appetite. We never see anything but this man out. The man was like coriander seed and looked like resin. The people went around gathering it and then they ground in it and then grounded in the hand mill or crushed it in mortar. They cooked it in the pot or made it into the loaves and it tasted like something made with olive oil and also honey. When the deuce settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down. Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance of their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry and Moses was troubled. He asked the Lord, "Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people?" Moses said, "Look, I ain't their daddy." "Did I give them birth?" Not their mama either. "Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms as a nurse, an infant to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me. Give us meat to eat. I cannot carry all these people by myself. The burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me. If I found favor in your eyes and do not let me face my own ruin." The Lord said to Moses, "Bring me 70 of Israel's elders who have known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tenor meeting that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak to you, speak with you there. And I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not carry it along. Tell the people, "Constrate yourself some preparation for tomorrow when you'll eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed. If only we had meat to eat, we were better off in Egypt." Now the Lord will give you meat and you will eat it. You will not eat it just for one day or two days or five or ten or twenty days, but for a whole month until it comes out your nostrils and you loathe it because you're a rejected the Lord who was among you. And I wailed before him saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?" The Moses said, "Here I am among 600,000 men on foot, not to mention the ladies and the children." And you say, "I will give them meat for a whole month. Would they have enough if flaps and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have another of all the fish and the sea were caught for them?" The Lord answered Moses, "Is the Lord's arms too short?" Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you. See Moses is like, "Lord, what have you done?" I mean, I know you're a big God in all, but we're talking, you know, two million people here, men, women and children, and you just told these people they're going to get meat for a month, there ain't enough fish in the sea, Lord. You give them all the fish out of the sea, that's not enough meat for these people? And see, they're going to blame me because I'm their leader, right? So Moses is wearing the Lord, said, "Moses, is my arm too short? Check it out. You're going to find out if what I say is true." So verse 24, Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together 70 of their elders and had them stand around the tent. And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with them and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the 70 elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but didn't do so again. However, two men whose names were Eldad and Meadad. I think that's like the Spanish and Irish, you know, it's like Eldad and I wish Meadad you know. So I think that's the Lord kind of get all nations in there, and I appreciate that about the Lord, you know, because it relates to Mehenthe as well, you know. But those two cats had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders but didn't go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Meadad are prophesying in the camp. Joshua sent a nun who had been Moses' eight since youth spoke up and said, "Moses, my Lord! Stop them!" But Moses replied, "Are you jealous from my sake?" I wished that all the Lord's people were prophets and the Lord put a Spirit on them. You know, first you read that, you think, okay, you know, Moses just wants to really spread this around. But Moses is like, "Let them have it, man! Put the Spirit on all of them. There may not be quite enough left on me, but I can follow for a while, you know. How does that feel? What does that feel like? I just want to follow and say, "Oh, Moses is like feeling the power, the pain of leadership there. Some of you fabric leaders are what I'm talking about." "Hey, Doug, I'm thinking about just being in a family group." I'm like, "Yeah, can you imagine? Can you... Aw, man, yeah, but no, thanks for calling, bro, see you there." Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. Now when went out from the Lord and drove Quail in from the sea, it scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp as far as a day's walk in any journey. So if I started walking right now, I'd walk for a full day, I would never run out of Quail. You say, "But yeah, Doug, you walk slow." No, I walk fast. All around the camp, a day's walk in any direction. All that day and night, and all the next day, the people went out and gathered Quail. No one gathered less than ten homers, and that means a bunch. Then they spread out all around the camp, but while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people and He struck them with severe plague. Therefore the place was named, Qibrath, Hataba, because there they buried the people who craved other food. Father in heaven, we come to you this morning thanking you for your word because it's so incredible God. Thank you so much for both the Old and the New Testament, and certainly the Old Testament was written as we know from what we read in the New Testament, God, so that we might have an example, so that we might have inspiration of how to live, and God we're grateful for that. So, you will open wide our hearts to help me preach the things I need to preach and say what needs to be said, and God, I pray that I can say in the way that the best needs to be said that meets the most needs. And Father, I pray for those especially who will hear it in the way that you don't want them to hear it, God, that you would change their heart so that your word could find fertile ground in each and every heart here this morning. And God, I say a special prayer for any of those that are infirm, for those that can't be heard today because of illness, God, and pray to watch over them in a special way, and be with Mike and Libby, and all those traveling John and Nancy, and get them home safely, God, and a special prayer for one of our own Isabelle. I pray that you'll help her procedure to go well this week, that the doctors would find no cancer, and that she would just be a delivered whole back to us. We love her so much. We love you, too, God, and we know that it's a great blessing for us just to be able to be here. Since these days, we pray. Amen. So, the title of my lesson this morning is more than manna. The Israelites really wanted to be fed, and then God gave them something amazing, and then they got to the point where they wanted, what, more than manna. Say that with me, more than manna. One more time. More than manna. See, too often we have that same mantra, "Oh, I know, I know, I know, I know, but I need, I know God's done this in the past, but I need, well, I know, but I want. But I feel, well, that may be true, but you don't understand how." That's the Israelites we're saying, "Well, that may be true, this may be true, and yeah, the manna is really great, but you know, I'm really one of those people that, you know, I just, you know, I can't, you know, what am I, a dog? I can't eat the same thing every day, right? I have a very refined palate, I, you know, I need different things, you know, and that's what we always laugh about our dogs, you know, minutes, feeding times twice a day, they're just tails are wagging, they're excited. What is it? What is it? What is it? Everything and last night and then pouring for that, it's no way, no way, no way! You know, I mean, they're just fired up, you know. I think we can learn a lot from them. But manna is a Hebrew word that literally means, "What is this?" Right? I mean, stuff fell from the sky and everybody got up that morning and said, "Hey, what is that?" Right? And a modern colloquial listening man said, "You know, that's what I'm calling it," right there. That's a, some of that go hanging stuff, you know, you know, is what that is. But that's really, what is it? What was the miraculous gift from God? Looked like little beads, almost like frost on the ground and it came every morning except for the Sabbath. And that was the only day, the day before the Sabbath, the only day they were allowed to collect more than just one day's ration. We talked about this many times in the past, you know, why did God, you know, the people that went out and tried to collect more each day, what would happen? It would mold. It would ruin. Because God said, "No, get it every day. Don't collect extra. Don't be lazy. Try to get more today. You have to do anything next day. And don't get greedy thinking, "Well, I better get a bunch today in case it doesn't come tomorrow." Lord, say, "No, I'm going to take care of you every day. I'm going to provide for you every day. I just don't want you to have to do anything on the Sabbath. I want you to have that day totally devoted to me." So the day before that, you can collect a little bit of extra because I'm not going to have any there on the Sabbath because I don't even, I don't want you tempted to do anything other than just focus on me. But the rest of the time I said, "No, don't take more. Don't be greedy. And don't be scared. Don't be faithless. I'm going to take care of you." Kind of like our times with God, right? You know, God says, "Well, you can't do two hours today and then none for the next three days because that really averages, you know, to however many that is, Tom, however many many that is per day, you know, 40 minutes per day, you know, and you're good for the next three days." God says, "No, just, you know, spend some time with me every day, amen?" Have you ever heard that before? Have you ever been challenged to have, you know, time with God every day? Okay. So I don't need to go there. I know people get mad. Don't tell us that. We already know that. Amen. That's usually the only people that actually do it every day, amen. But you know, the matter was a complete food. It was, it had all the vitamins and minerals they needed and Deuteronomy, it even mentions that even though these Israelites were out in the desert, you know, for so long that their diet evidently was so good that their feet didn't even swell. You know, it's something you're walking on the hot sand, you know, just day after day. You know, I mean, it's like amazing. So this thing, this manna was really incredible, you know, Israel's people lived on it, you know, for 40 years. It really was God's miracle food is nourishing, nourishing provision to help these guys get through the journey that God has sent them out on. And, you know, just as the manna was their provision for their journey, Jesus Christ is our provision. That's who God has given us. That's the manna from heaven that God has given us for our journey through this life. Amen? Amen. That's what we need to eat heaven. Jesus talked about that. We'll talk a little bit more about that, but let's go ahead and turn that quickly to John Chapter 6. We'll read it and then talk a little bit more about it later. I am the bread of life, John Chapter 6 and verse 48. Jesus says what? I am the bread of life. I am the manna in the morning. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. Now in case you're visiting and you don't know about that well, they didn't die from eating the manna. They just eventually got old and died, okay? The manna didn't kill him. Everyone understand that? Some of you still look stunned. The manna didn't kill him, okay? It's not the point Jesus is making here. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here, meaning I, and the bread that comes from heaven, comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats his bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Jesus said, yeah, the manna was incredible. It kept these guys alive for a year after a year after a year. It kept them healthy for a year after a year after a year, but he said, man, the bread that I give, the bread that I offer will keep you alive forever. You can eat a this flesh, a this bread, and never die. And that's what we have to remember when we think about how does God provide for us in our day and age. So what I want to talk about, you know, while God was really providing for Israel's need, and it's mind-boggling when you think about it, when you had some two million people wondering in the desert. You can imagine, you know, how much food it must have taken. And I have an illustration that just talks about all the train loads of grain and all the train loads of meat and all the things it would take to feed that many people for that long. It's just incredible when you think about it, and God provided for Israel's every need and that they got into a point where they began to complain and grumble. And so God was doing what he needed to do, taking care of the people and yet Satan at the same time was laying a trap. And that's what the first point is. I want you to notice the trap that Satan laid here, and when did this trap, you know, take place? Israel just had a mighty victory, right? They had just been at the Red Sea, and as I said, you know, God parted the Red Sea, and two million people were able to cross through. And then as their enemy pursued and their chariots and horses, you know the story you have seen, you know, the Spielberg movie, the cartoon movie about Moses, it's incredible, Prince of Egypt. And you know, so, I mean, then all of a sudden the water starts coming down, so behind the Egyptians, but in front, I mean, behind the Israelites, but in front of the Egyptians. So Israel is going this way, and the water is starting to feel back in right behind them so that none of them are getting wet, and it's just in front of the Egyptians who are pursuing them and drowning them as they try to attack God's people. That's an incredible victory, you know, Satan just had a major beat down by God at that point in time, and yet the Bible says he doesn't give up, he's like a lion that prowls around, he doesn't give up. So at that point he laid a trap for the Israelites, and he began to plant the seeds of discontent in some of their hearts, and we read earlier the rabble, and then of course the rabble began talking about it, and it began spreading through the camp, and you know, Satan often reserves his most devious, his most sneaky, his most kind of attacks, but when we're somewhat reveling in a spiritual victory, or you just had a great overcoming of some type, we've just been at a great event, you know, I can remember being a young disciple and really fired up, and you know, in those days when you're a young disciple, you really are changing from the outside in, and so it's a little bit easier, right, I mean, changing from the outside in is a little less challenging than from the inside out, yes, you understand what happened, what happened, okay, when you change from the outside in it's things like, okay, you're no longer swearing, you're not lusting after everything you see, you're not taking extra money from the cashier when they make a mistake, you know, all these outward things, you're changing all these things, and it's kind of rapid fire changing, you know, and then I went to this great conference, and it was incredible, it was a spiritual mountaintop, and then I came back from that conference, and you know, on a Sunday and the very next day, Monday, the new semester in college was starting, and I was in the bookstore buying my books, and I started having these thoughts, what am I doing? What have I done? What have I joined? What have I signed up for? This church is crazy. Look at all this money I just spent that I don't have going out to Boston for some kind of seminar, and you know, we spent the whole time just talking about God, and I'm walking around this campus, you know, telling people I had never even seen before or don't know, trying to get them to come to a Bible study and telling them about Jesus, they think I'm like, what am I doing? I'm out of here. This is all in the bookstore thinking, okay, okay, what do I need to do? All right, sweet, I just moved in with the guys, dang it, but I know their schedules. I know they go to church every Sunday morning, yeah, yeah, see you there. Pack up my little gear, I could have taken the one suitcase challenge fairly easily back then, and be gone, and then I could just avoid them on campus, you know. So all that went through my head in probably two or three minutes time, and then all of a sudden I got slapped back to spiritual reality, and then I was thinking, wait a minute, what are you thinking? So it really was like, you know, the angel on the demon, you know, the devil, the kind of thing you used to see in the old shows of the 60s I've heard about them. Well, one's talking to the other, and I'm like, no, no, don't listen to that guy, look at him, look at that white suit, he's wearing that weird, you know, this red, look at this, it's really cool, you know, and I've got a pitchfork at everything, you know, and that's kind of how it was. But, you know, luckily, the angel won, if you will, and, you know, I just sort of snapped up, like, okay, wait a minute, wait a minute, you studied the Bible, you know, this is what's right, and this is what's true. You've made the Bible your standard, but the point is, is I had just been, you know, I've been changing like crazy, I'd gone out to this great spiritual mountaintop experience, I couldn't have been more fired up when the plane touched down on Sunday, I was fired up when I got on mine, he couldn't wait to get on campus, you know, take the world for Christ, you know, and then all of a sudden there, I'm in the bookstore, and I'm, I'm making plans to bail. You know, you're like, dude, really, they, who hired you, right? So, they kind of referenced the deal they do in this church, or what is that all about? But, that's what Satan does. He often sets his traps for us when we're so unguarded, because we're on top of the world and nothing can touch us, we're bulletproof, you know, everything, and oftentimes Satan will attack at that point in time. Oftentimes he'll attack right before you're about to have a great spiritual victory, right? In the marriage, you know what I'm talking about, ever had a fight on the way to a marriage retreat? They say he's just going, just in case, boy, you were about to have a great victory, but, ooh, good thing I got you, bad, and hear that way, you won't pay attention to a thing, you'll just be human at that guy, or that girl, right? That's what Satan does. Devious, and so here they are, they had this great victory, and then God is raining down manna from heaven, this incredible substance, and they start complaining. And so, you see, that's how the trap gets laid. Sometimes it's the same for us. You know, things really are, you know, things have got to change in our church, but there are so many great things in our church. We are so blessed to be together, and that doesn't mean that, you know, there's nothing to change, you know, and we don't need to hear from any of you about what to change. We just need for you to, you know, put your nose on the ground, so let's get busy. You know, that's not a terrible idea for some of us, but I think that, you know, the reality is we're very, very blessed. We're very blessed. Most people that come and visit our church, you know, they're like, wow, I wish our church was like this. And I get it, you know, you get a snapshot, and, well, you might be, well, I don't get to see, you know, I've seen you outside the public, buddy, you know, so, but the reality is we are, we are very blessed. You know, we're, we're, we're, we're Israel in a sense. We don't, we're on our journey. You know, we haven't arrived yet. We're, we've left something behind and, and some things that were easier and more comfortable. We left behind and it's a little bit more of a challenging lifestyle that we're living now, but we're blessed. We're being taken care of. We're being led by the Holy Spirit. We're being led by that cloud of smoke. It's the Holy Spirit. We have the bread of life. We have Jesus Christ himself leading us and guiding us and living in us. Amen? And yet, sometimes we can be tempted to grumble and complain. So we have to be careful and that doesn't mean we can't, you know, has some ideas maybe this or maybe that, but some of us, we're, we're just too free with that, quite honestly. We really want everything to be our way and eat. Oh, see, I wouldn't have said it like that. That's a problem with Doug. I really love the way he preaches, but every now and again, he, he does this or he does that and then we get, we get lost in that and we, we can't hear anything else beyond that. Or see, that's a problem with Mike, you know, and, and, well, Jake, we don't have time to list those. Not that what Rob said wasn't, it has some validity. You know, or don't get me started on Steve, you know. I love that guy though, but somebody has to. I feel like, you know, sometimes the Lord just says, bear this cross. And brother, amen. But we have to be careful. We have to be alert. Ephesians 5 and 15 and 16, there were no levers. Someone no levers. Ephesians 5, 15, be very careful then how you live. Not as unwise, but as wise. You know, the King, King James version says not as fools, but as wise. Maybe that's why we don't use the King James, man. He's pretty, pretty straightforward sometimes. But be very careful how you live. And he's writing this to Christians. He's writing this to people who have the Holy Spirit living in them, people who have been saved and forgiven of all their sin have been baptized into Jesus Christ. And he's writing this to them and he's saying, church, be very careful how you live. Not as unwise, but as wise. And church, are we careful? Are we careful what we watch on TV? Are we careful? Are we careful Steve preached a lot about it? I confess him sin to Steve. You know, it was amazing. I went home that night after Steve really challenged the tar out of us, you know, in several different things. And, you know, I was working on some old kind of computer, watching a little TV before I went to bed and all of a sudden boom, there's something, and I turned it right off. And, you know, just boom, before I could really even see anything, just clicked. Because I felt so convicted by what's here and that's like, man, I'm going to be just radical, you know. But it's like before, maybe the night before I might have been like, well, that's, that wise, come on, that click. Right? Look, what, how did that, what kind of pop? See, this is the kind of thing. Come on. I mean, you know, look, I mean, that is, what is she? Get rid of that. Trying to convince ourselves, well, you're not really, you know, you're, but no, the only thing he's like the Bible says, hey, if it calls you, just then cut it off. Look it out. But are we very careful how we live? Angela, I ran in the movie last night and we started watching it. After about five minutes, we're like, done. No, sorry. Not watching this. It wasn't because there was necessary graphic, although there was one little scene, I guess, with some graphic, but it was just the language. It's just so filthy. You go, well, dog, I mean, come on. There's no movie. You can't watch any movies then. Then fine. Some are worse than others. And it's like, you know, the standard is, you know, would I be crumpled sitting there watching that with the coder? No. With Savant, no. With one of you? No. I mean, it's just, this is horrible. No, turn it off. And if we didn't have to pay for it, we'd have broke the video. And Jim, you'll pay for it. I'll still break it. No, sorry. We'll be very careful making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. And that's the question you've all got to ask yourself. Am I being careful how I live? Not, you know, am I watching my pees and cues and making sure I'm dotting all my eyes and crossing, but am I being very careful how I live? Am I very careful to love people? Am I very careful to give? Am I very careful to make sure I have time for God? Am I careful to protect my times for God? Am I very careful to make sure that I get up early enough to get to church on time and get to church early? Am I very careful to make sure I don't miss anything? Am I very careful to make sure that I'm giving God his due financially? Am I very careful to make sure I'm sharing my faith with people that God has crossed my path? See, because we can have this feeling, oh, yeah, I'm being careful, but then we start asking questions like that one by one to go, oh, well, not real. Oh, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, you know, if when I was I could be a little more careful. Well, amen. We need to be very careful how we live. That's an exoneration that Paul gave to a bunch of Christians at a very solid church of Christ in the Bible, amen. Secondly, notice the nature of the trap. You know, they just had this battle from without this open battle with the enemy, but now it's a battle from within, isn't it? A few moments ago I talked about change from the outside in and, you know, you're changing and sometimes you go through a little bit of a depression almost. It's not quite a depression, but I've seen it many times. I went through it myself after about six months of being a disciple. And, you know, I, and I done fairly well. I really changed a lot. I'd so radically different, you know, to the point where when I would talk to my family or my cousins or my friends, they'd just stop, talk like you used to talk, stop talking about Jesus. You know, I changed so much, but then now a sudden it was the inside stuff that wasn't even changed. It was who I really was, the sinful nature, the humanistic person of who I was deep in my heart and I started getting discouraged because I felt like I wasn't changing as much as I was. And so I thought maybe something was wrong. Maybe I'm not doing something right now. Maybe I need an extra hour in my Bible and an extra hour of prayer and you're like, oh, Doug, just knowing you now. I'm sure you did, brother. Amen. I appreciate that. I probably needed two extra hours. And, but the thing is, is that, you know, and I know some of you have probably experienced and I've dealt with people. And the reason being is because it's so much harder to change those things. That's really the challenge. That's how we, you know, when we talk about when you get a lot of older as a disciple, how you start realizing how far from God you are, even though you're so radically different than who you were 20 years ago, but you're so much more mature, spiritually. Now you're so much more aware now that you realize, man, I'm just nothing like God. Therefore be perfect because I am perfect. It's like, really? I mean, I am just so not like, I can't believe I just had that thought. I can't believe that word just popped in my hand. I can't, but what is, because you realize, man, there's so much sin there. But we're all going to sing together, but we have to notice the nature of the trap and how Satan will set it for us. It becomes a battle from within. It becomes really, oftentimes what we want versus what God wants for us. And those two things really battle. You know, and I've seen it before. I've seen, you know, young Mary's, I've been in the church a long time now. So I've seen, you know, kids grow up from baby to graduating college, you know, and I've seen young Mary's who were battling financially and, you know, trying to make ends meet and, you know, living in small places or whatever. And maybe they had small kids, but they were faithful, man, always on time, working hard, pushing their children around in strollers, you know, ringing, knocking on people's doors just to tell about the Lord and to raise money for this cause or that cause and just, you know, do incredibly well spiritually. And then they get older and they got better jobs, they got better education, they got, and now, wow, they got, you know, it's like, well, I don't really know that we need to be doing that. Yeah, you know, I can't make it to that. Well, you know, I got my own business and so I'm a, I'm a lot more busy than, you know, the normal person. And I can't just, you know, and so now it's all of a sudden prosperity ruins more Christians than, than, than poverty ever did. Because it's amazing how oftentimes we can go through the battle and we know, okay, I, I got nothing but the lowers, right? The Lord will get you in that spot where you just really, I really, God's all I have. When, when life gets so hard and, and the problems surround us so deeply and, and it seems so overwhelming, you know, if we hang in there and we get to the point, we go, you know, all I've got is God. I mean, I realize that he's all I've got. And so we battle spiritually and we pray and we're faithful and we, we come to more, we give more, we, because we know it got my whole person got alone. And then we get out of those battles. And now sometimes just like Egypt, just like Israel, they get out of the most, you, you, you think Israel was praying on the edges of the water of the Red Sea, do you think when they were high-stepping with chariots chasing them? You think maybe they were, they were thinking about the Lord and hoping he was going to do something? None of them were, you don't see them going to say, let's just make a stand. They're so confident, man. Drag around, drag around, drag around, drag around, drag around. Then they look back and see the water behind them and they start going, whoa, they probably turned around and started going backwards a little bit just to see what was happening back there. But then they get on the other side and God provides food from heaven. They go, you know, dude, we had fish in Egypt. Cucumbers and leeks. So, you know, and sometimes we look at that and we're appalled, aren't we? You fools. That's what we feel like. Like kung fu theory. You fools. And yet, we're just like that. We come through on the other side and, you know, we're so grateful to God. We're so amazed at how God provides and what he did, what he's done for us. And then all of a sudden we start going, yeah, but no, no, no, no, no, no. I understand. No, no, no. I know God is good. I know you keep telling me that everything. And God will say, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. She can do it. She can do it. But right now, you know, it's just, I'm going to need to put in a few extra hours. I'm going to have to, you know, take a class that's going to keep me away from church, you know, on all the mid weeks and even some Sundays. And I, you know, I mean, every now and again, hey, you got to do something extra. I get that. But we have to be very careful how we live. And we have to be willing to listen to other people. And sometimes we think, well, you're just going to to, you know, the party line. That's, no, sometimes there is a reason. You can't get this class in your time and take it two more years of graduate, which cost you 40,000 more. No, you got, you know, there are situations, right? But we have to be very careful how we live church, because that snare gets set in our hearts, you know, and Israel just a few days before they were begging for water and needed water. So God looked around and said, all right, Moses, get some out of that rock. Huh? This is desert rocks. He's like, yeah, but you have that staff member who came to snake and he can do all kinds of stuff. You know, just tap the rock and most like tap it. These guys shouldn't be grabbing at you anyway, Lord. Oh, no, he beats the rock and Lord says, now you don't get to go to promise land. Anyway, it's a whole other lesson, but, but nonetheless God brought water out of a rock. Water out of a rock. They needed food, so God gave them mana. And now they have everything they need, but they come to satisfy, because they want what they want versus what God wants for them. And third, notice how Satan attacked. You know, notice what Satan attacked. He attacked their appetite or their desire for God's bread and their thankfulness for God's bread. That's what he attacked. Something more subtle. He tried the big, you know, full on frontal assault and that didn't work. And oftentimes, you know, we can stand up against those things. We see something coming at us. We, you know, get some proposition or we get, you know, something we're like, no way, dude, that's not what I do. You know, that's not my deal. I'm a Christian, you know, you got to, you know, but the subtle things that creep in. And that's why Paul is exhorting the church to be very careful how you live because it's so easy. You're on this narrow road, guys. You understand that Christians? You're on this narrow road that only a few people find. The whole world out there says, oh, I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. But God says, not true. It's a narrow road, and only a few find it. Only a few find it. And you're on that narrow road. And yeah, there are others, but it's still a narrow road. And you think about it, it's like, okay, if I'm not very careful how I live, like, oh, I'm off the road. Oh, I'm off the road. See, but the other, everybody else is on this road. Watch this. They're just staying on the road, man. It's every way they want to go, whatever they feel like. Go with the flow, right? Free-wheeling Franklin. You got to be old enough to remember that, to appreciate that. Ray, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. I've seen pictures of Ray dressed like free-wheeling Franklin. Amen. But that's a wide road, and it's easy to stay on, and it feels good, and there's a lot of good things on that road. There's cucumbers, and leeks, and onions, and fish, and it's incredible. But Satan attacks their appetizer, their desire for God's bread. God's bread for Israel was man, it was perfect food, better than fish, better than all those things they had in Egypt, it was better. Remember Jesus says, I'm the bread of life that has come down from heaven. I am the best thing for you, and still we look around, and still we wonder. And young people, you're wondering for a little bit different than ours, because you go, well, you know, it's always a danger sometimes I think when people get restored to the Lord for young people, because they start going, well, they came back, and they start thinking people always come back, right? Not realizing how many people leave, and you never see again. Not really, not how many people come back, and then leave again. And so they get lulled in, they're not careful how they live, and they get lulled into thinking they missed something. Like my girls, you know, I mean, you know, they've been really good girls overall. Amen? And if some of you know something I don't know, let's make sure I know, okay, come on. I know your tricks. But the reality is they could someday struggle with, you know, but we didn't do all these things you did, Dad. We've heard you give your testimony, and, you know, you're a good Christian, Dad. And you did all that stuff. We didn't do any of that, and maybe we need to so we can understand people better. We'll be able to convert more people and relate to more people, and maybe it'll give us a greater appreciation for the Lord. Yeah, and maybe you'll die while you're out there wandering around in the desert. And then you won't get to be with Mommy and Daddy in Heaven. See, there's all kinds of things that Satan does. There's all kinds of ways that he attacks us, and we have to be wise, we have to be careful how we live. Man, it was a perfect food, but they wanted more. God gives us his bread, we become dissatisfied with his bread. His word gets replaced by Vogue or, you know, pop psychology. And look, I'm all for getting extra help. I've advised many of you to do that. But there's a certain point where when people, no, I'm serious. I mean, there's certain times when that's very appropriate. But we have to be very careful even then, because I've seen people, I've seen people from our church get counseled by non-Christian counselors, and the Christian counselors literally tell them, I think the problem is your church. I think the problem is they make you feel guilty, which isn't good for you. You shouldn't be feeling guilty. I think the problem is they expect too much from you. And so I think you've got a confusion. I think from what I understand about Christianity, I think it's pretty, you know, it's all about love. And it doesn't seem like you really feel love there. And you start going, wow, that's a professional. And they done a lot of studying. And, wow, you know what I mean? So we have to be very careful in any and every situation. But the thing is, is that God's word gets replaced by these things. God's word gets replaced by our experience now, by our great expertise, by our time in the church, right? It's like I spent, you know, hundreds of hours of my garage. So now I'm a car, you know, that kind of thing. And, I go to church every Sunday and every Tuesday. So, you know, you don't have some kind of, that's what they told Moses, who died in Major League? And God said, well, I did. How about a little leprosy, right? Basically, Moses, if you want, you can pray for it. I'll take it away. But if you don't, you got it, you know. But we have to be careful how we live. Let's read Psalm 106 verse 13. We're going to wrap it up. And this is the Psalmist's writing about what happened in the desert. But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold. You ever been there in your walk with God? Have you forgotten what God has done? You still have the same joy that you had when you came up out of those waters of baptism? When you came out of the water and you said, oh my goodness, I'm clean. I'm free. I'm on the narrow road. I'm on my way to heaven if I just stay faithful to God. I've been forgiven of everything. There's nothing for me to apologize to God for because God would say, I don't know what you're talking about because God says, you know, I'll remember their sins no more. And I'm talking to one of the future brothers yesterday about that. I said, you know, and God doesn't forget like we forget like, oh, what is it? God chooses to forget. Because God can do any chooses and believe me, when God decides to forget, it's final. He has forgotten. We still have that same joy. But soon they forgot what he had done and didn't wait for his plan to unfold. In the desert, they gave him their craving in the wilderness. They put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them. In the camp, they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron who was consecrated to the Lord. The earth opened up and swallowed Nathan. It buried the company of a beer. You know, in verse 15 and the King James it reads this way and he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. And the old, you know, Bible scholars used to speak of leanness of soul. And it meant, you know, a situation, descriptive of a situation where you really had everything. You know, that God wanted you to have, but you felt empty. It's a leanness of soul. And you say, yeah, you know, you know, like I just don't feel as close, you know, to the Lord as I used to. Well, brother, he hadn't moved. God hasn't moved. Leanness of soul because we're trying to get full on things of the world. And we've been dulled into it. We've been lulled into it. You remember about five years ago when it was a lot of prosperity, right? All kinds of us. I'm getting rid of this dumpy little house. I'm buying that thing. And then when the price goes up on that thing, I'm selling, I'm going bigger yet, right? I deserve it. I've worked hard. I'm driving a fancy car. I'm driving a, you know, I'm sporting a big house with all the nice, you know, amenities and all of it. And then all of a sudden, whoa, right? See, it's, it's not theory I'm talking about. We've lived it. We've seen it. And it may not be that way now, but God will bless us again. This time, hopefully we'll be ready for it. We'll be more spiritual. You know how that leanness of soul? It's like cotton candy, isn't it? You see, it takes this a little bit of sugar and some, some color dye or whatever. It spins around and then it goes on a stick so it looks like a lot. It's just a little bit of sugar. It's really not that much sugar. It's enough to be bad for you, but it's not that much sugar. You spin it, it's on this big beautiful color stick or maybe a wide stick and it looks fantastic and you just kind of, you got to just keep going because it just dissolves right in your mouth. It's not much. It's not very nutritional. I know that Steve and his son Kyle would argue, no, I think you can live on it. I once survived on cotton candy for 13 days. But trust me, you would die trying to live on cotton candy. And some of us, we try to do that spiritually. We read a verse on our way out the door. We say a quick prayer in the car as we park our car in the parking lot of our office and in the rest of our day, it's just all on us. We're trying to survive spiritually on cotton candy. You know, all of us can remember a time in our life when God provided, can't we? How many of you guys can remember a time in your life when it seemed hopeless, but you just said somehow I'm going to remain hopeful and God did it? Okay, pretty much everybody in the room, you know, the Bible is alive. Prayer was, in your mind, it was a request before the king. It was a request before someone who you knew not only could do it, but would do it and had the authority to make it happen. That's how you felt when you prayed the God. Now, sometimes I fear we pray like, I don't know if you're up there, I mean, I know you're up there, but I don't know if you're listening, but I don't know if you'll do it. Anyway, God, what I'm trying to say is, you know, if you want, I really like for you, but I don't know, you haven't yet. So I don't know yet. I would get tempted to have that experience because we're living on cotton candy spiritually. But all those things you had those moments and then God answered and you were so excited, you were so great, you told everybody. You told your friends at work, like, you know, people were going through things and you had the story to tell now that seemed to relate to every situation. You know, Bob, I understand what you're saying. Let me tell you about the time when God, you know, and you weren't arrogant about it, you weren't, you were just full of faith and you were, but then you got tired of the manna. And you wanted something more, something you used to have or something you've never had. And you started pursuing the quail instead of gathering the manna. So we have to make a decision of whether or not we really believe that God is enough and that God loves us in no answer. And listen, I know some of you are going through it. Some of my closest friends in the congregation, you're going through it right now. But I beseech you, stay faithful to God, pour out your hearts to God, and don't believe any less. God's refining you. God is making you, is creating a story in you that you won't believe. Hey, listen, you're set up for a miracle. Right? God's got a lot of you guys set up for a miracle. Just have to hold on and believe that and then be willing to let others know about it when the time comes. But see, Satan has a trap for us. He has the design for each one of us. We've got to be careful how we live. And church, I want us to start thinking about how blessed we are. It's that time of season, right? Thanksgiving and Christmas. We can really think about, let's really think about that versus, oh my gosh, I hope I can get enough stuff for my kids. I hope we'll be happy. I hope that, you know, oh, I got these first at work. I know they're going to give me something great and then I got to impress them back and I got, let's just let all that go. But let's remember, hey, God has a plan for our life and He gives us the manna and that manna is Jesus and we have access to that every day, amen? Amen, Church. [Applause] (applause) [ Silence ]
Sunday lesson by Doug Wens