Don't talk yourself out of a blessing!
Notes
Transcript
intro
intro
the task of walking out your personal Christian life is not easy
God will throw in and/or allow some seemingly impossible circumstances to be in between you and a blessing
today’s word and encouragement is that you don’t allow these challenges to tempt you to talk yourself out of a blessing
Background
Background
The descendants of Abraham, that we call, “the children of Israel” and they had been in slavery for over 400 years in the land of Egypt
God rescues them using Moses
God causes 10 super natural events to occur and they leave Egypt as free people
they have also see other miracles and wondrous acts of God
Crossing the Red Sea to escape Pharoah when he gives chase
bread fall from the sky when they are hungry, water from a rock
Now there are on the verge of entering the Promised Land, the land promised to their ancestor Abraham, way back in the Book of Genesis
a land “flowing with milk and honey” - - a very good and fertile land
they send 12 guys to check it out the land, to spy the land, and 10 of them come back with a negative report, but not because of the land, but because of the challenges, circumstances, and obstacles in between them and their blessing
and they talk their way out of a blessing
How do you know if you are talking your way out of a blessing?
You talk more about the problems than the promise.
You talk more about the problems than the promise.
what has God put in your heart, what has God shown you?
What vision has God given you?
What calling has God revealed to you
what promises in the Word of God do you see and understand?
These are the things to talk about, make some noise about, and get hype about, talk about what God has in store for you
but you can talk yourself out of a blessing when you talk more about the problems than the promise.
25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,
26 they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.
27 Thus they told him, and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
The report starts off good, they talk about the promise . . . the land is awesome, it’s great (flow with milk and honey), we brought some of its fruit back
. . . but then they begin to go in depth about the problems
28 “Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
nevertheless . . . just wiped out all the positive you just said . . .
it’s a good land but . . . the people are strong, the cities are fortified, the cities are large, and those people are huge . . .
and they keep talking about the problems in verse 29 . . .
29 “Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.”
they even break the problem down . . . they start talking about the populations, locations, topography of the land . . .
they didn’t break down the greatness of the land/the promise like that (valleys, rivers, springs, prairies, fields already planted, wells already dug) . . . they just said it flows with milk and honey and here is some of its fruit
all they can seem talk about are the problems
and when you talk about the problems more than you do the promise, you are about to talk yourself out of a blessing!
Promises and problems go together
God gives us a vision, but the vision comes with complications
God gives us a revelation, but the revelation comes with obstacles
God gives a plan, but the plan comes with problems
God puts a dream in our heart, but the dream comes with difficulties
We see a promise in His word, but the word comes with tribulations
and the problem comes when we will say a few words about the the vision, the revelation, the plan, the dream, the promise . . .
and spend the majority of the time talking about the complications, the obstacles, the problems, the difficulties, and the tribulations
and we talk ourselves out of a blessing!
don’t talk more about the problems than the promises
You talk about your abilities
You talk about your abilities
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.”
We are not able . . . . they are too strong . . . implying that they are too weak
We don’t have the ability: not as big, not as strong, not as mighty
they are focused on what they can do, and not on what God can do
when you start talking about your abilities, you are talking yourself out of a blessing
Be careful, don’t start saying:
I’m not able
I can’t
I am too weak, too young, too old, too poor, too inexperienced, too late, too poor
it’s not about what your ability, it’s about God’s ability
don’t talk your way out of a blessing by talking about your abilities
it’s not about your shortcomings, weaknesses, faults
it’s about a God is more than able to make up for your shortcomings
for when we are weak, then he is strong!
don’t talk more about the problems than the promises
don’t talk about your ability
another sign is when
You talk like the promise is the problem
You talk like the promise is the problem
if you are not careful, you will talk like blessing is the burden
32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.
notice a downward spiral as they keep talking: first time they said, good land and some of the people are big
now they say, the land itself will devour us . . . the promised land is the problem
and we do the same thing . . .
if God has called you to start a ministry . . . “Well you know being in the ministry has broken a lot of people
God has called you to start a business . . . “Well you know that some people have lost all they head starting their own business
God has called you to get a degree . . . .”well you know a lot of people have degrees and still can’t find jobs”
God has called you to THIS AND THAT and all you can talk about is how THIS AND THAT messed people up
and now the promise has become a problem
What if I promised you a new car, and all you can talk about is
well you know, gas is real high
well you know sometimes cars crash
well you know, people try to break into new cars
well you know, when new cars break down, they are expensive to fix
well you know, some people might get jealous if I get a new car
I’m gonna say, well you know . . . don’t worry about it . . . since my promise is a problem for you . . . don’t worry about receiving it
you are about to talk yourself out of a blessing when
you talk more about the problems than the promise
you talk about your abilities
you talk like the promise is a problem
also . . .
You talk too much about how you feel
You talk too much about how you feel
33 “There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
when we saw them, we felt like grasshoppers
and when they saw us, I’m sure we looked like grasshoppers to them
they are all in their feelings . . . they feel like grasshoppers
Grasshoppers are insects that just try to survive
they are good at hiding (camouflage) and jumping away from predators . . . just trying to eat a few plants and survive
when you talk too much about your feelings, you will find yourself in a survival mode of thinking
not trying to accomplish, or achieve, or conquer, nor overcome, not trying to fight for the promises of God . . .but just trying to survive
hiding and jumping away from every hard situation
so don’t talk too much about how you feel or you will talk yourself out of a blessing, and talk yourself in to a grasshopper’s life (hiding in the wilderness for 40 years)
the sad part is that We learn later, that their feelings were far from the truth. The truth was that the people of the land were terrified of the Israelites
but this group will never expereince victory because they are talking too much about their feelings . . . we felt like grasshoppers because of the Nephilim, these big people
you felt like grasshoppers, but the truth was that you all were God’s chosen people, the truth was that God had promised that land to you
don’t talk about how you feel, talk about the truth . . . talk about how
God is able
God is powerful
God keeps his promises
nothing is too hard for God
if God be for us who can be against us
he has not brought us this far to leave us now!
how we are more than conquerors
they might be Nephilim, or the sons of Anak . . . but we are the children of the most high God!
don’t magnify how you feel, magnify the Lord
you are about to talk yourself out of a blessing when
you talk more about the problems than the promise
you talk about your abilities
you talk like the promise is a problem
you talk too much about how you feel
and they talked themselves out of a blessing
despite the encouragement and warnings from Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Caleb
the people decided that they could not do it
they wanted to kill Moses and return to Egypt
God was going to wipe them all out and start again with Moses, but Moses pleaded on their behalf and God sent them back to the wilderness for 40 years (until all the unbelievers died off)
a two week journey would now take 40 years
don’t talk yourself out of a blessing!
and I am not talking about just name a blessing and be positive about it or speaking a blessing into existence
i’m talking about God has shown you something, called you to something, promised you something, revealed something to you . . . the promised land was a blessing promised to them from long ago
in other words the blessing is already there, you just have to accept it by believing
you will have to fight for it, but it is there as promised
I’m talking about your faith
faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God
you are hearing what you are saying and it is affecting your faith in God
and eventually your faith will follow your mouth
the people got what they said. “we can’t do it” and they didn’t
Why not talk yourself into a blessing?
believe what God has promised you, and talk about that
believe what God has shown you, and talk about that
believe the revelation and talk about that
believe the vision and talk about that
examples from Joshua and Caleb
we should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it
if the lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us
do not fear the people of the land, they will be our prey.
Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them
Caleb and Joshua said, “with God we can do it”, and they did
it’s time out for saying I can’t do it . . . when God says I can
God said to tell some of you, that you have been sent to the wilderness before . . . and you are at the crossroads again, don’t talk yourself out of a blessing and into another wilderness experience (you might not make it back)
somebody needs to talk themself into a salvation blessing
God does love me
Jesus blood will cleanse me
he is able save my soul
he is able to make me whole
I will live in glory
I won’t fear death because of what God promised
and you don’t have to feel worthy becaue the truth is that whosoever shall call on