Are we ready for Promised Land Living?

Spiritual Living Vs. Wilderness Living

Are we ready for Promised Land Living?

Numbers 11:1-5, I Corinthians 10:1-11

Numbers 14:2-3; 16:3-5; 21:5;

Introduction

For the past few Sunday we have been using I timothy 3:15 as a textual base for us to be aware to not allow our faith to be prejudiced and how God is sharing with us how we should conduct ourselves in this house. The Apostle Paul uses a word in this text “to know.” It's important that we know. How often do we find ourselves or others who are not equipped or aware of how to handle something, because they just didn’t know what to do? or HAVE Become so accustomed to a way that it becomes the normal and not the abnormal. Church Let's not be those folks. I remember growing up watching GI Joe cartoons and at the end of the show they always tried to have a scene to teach kids something and when the kid says I didn't know, the GI Joe would say knowing is half the battle. Knowing gives us a fighting chance, a leg to stand on a easier route to travel when we are fully aware of what is going on.

God describes our bodies as temples for which all the things of this world and life dwell. Our houses get pulled on, it’s despised, it gets picked on, water damaged, kicked, broken into, and even torn down. So it’s imperative that we place ourselves on the market so that God The Real Estate Agent can find us a better place to occupy. A place that is perfect and has so much more to offer.

So today we begin a series surrounded by the question “are we ready for the promise land living.” Because where we live or occupy should matter and mean something to us. Well, it also means something to God. Places matter to Him. Just look at where Genesis begins with creation, where humans live in the presence of their Lord, and Revelation ends with an even more glorious new creation where all of the redeemed dwell with the Lord and his Christ. But the historical development between the beginning and the end is crucial to observe, for the journey from Eden to the new Jerusalem proceeds through the land promised to Abraham.

In other words, the Promised Land occupies a special place for God’s people after the fall and exile from Eden, because it is the place where they will once again live under his lordship and experience his blessed presence. How do we experience the blessed presence of the Lord? It comes through how we view and perceive this life. Do we view our life as half empty or half full? What does our attitude say about us? It’s true that our attitude depends on how high our altitude will be? Our attitude will determine where we plan to spend our minds, where are hearts will take up residence. The question is will it be in the wilderness or the Promise land? That’s what we intend to investigate in this series.

There is a writer named James Macdonald, who wrote a book called “Lord Change my Attitude before it’s too late” The book exposes negative personality traits of the children of Isreal that kept them in the wilderness, but also the book offers positive attributes to our attitude that will help in developing a God-honoring attitude that will lead us into “Promised Land of Living”. If it’s true, as the saying goes, that your attitude determines altitude, then this series of lessons will help us to mount up our wings like Eagles. It will allow us to not grow weary in well-doing, but rather continue to run this race that is set before us. The children of Isreal were unable to enter the promised land because God had enough of their complaining attitude, the constant backbiting, and lack of trust in Him. Once again church let’s not be those folks

When you look at the definition of the word Attitude, these are patterns of thinking, they manifest and turn into your way of approaching situations in life. It goes back to the time when you were young. For Isreal is going back to Egypt where they have been apart for 400 years. it’s a mental position with the regard to a fact or state. Some scholars believe it to be an arrangement of parts of the body either your posture or position. It begs the question as to what we stand for and what type of Spiritual position and posture do we display? If people were really honest and we could handle the truth what would they say about us?

510 People can alter their lives by altering their attitudes.

William James

In Numbers 11 It begins grumbling, complaining is the first spark. What if you could go back to the beginning of the biggest disaster in your life and trace the whole inferno back to the very spark that started it all? This past Friday many home owners in the Logan county are truly answering that question as they wake up wondering how everythung they owned is gone and wondering how this happened. Who lit a cigarette? What car back fired?

‘So we should be asking ourselves what idea, what attitude, the one bad decision that started the whole mess. Those of you who know the story of numbers know that it does not end well, and number 11 is the spark, The Israelites have been promised a beautiful land of milk and Honey on God‘s word it is theirs. If only they will learn to trust, and that is what the two-year journey through the desert is all about learning to trust and follow God. They had a hiccup early on, but they’ve been making good progress for some time than chapter 11. We haven’t hit bankruptcy yet but an inferno Has to start somewhere.

Verse 1, Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them, his anger was aroused”. So it starts with complaining and grumbling about their hardships and here’s the key in hearing of the Lord. Every complaint, God hears, of course, God hears, but do we truly get it? we complain, and God hears this is a bigger issue than you think. This is the spark, and it’s starting to Kindle back in verse 1, and when he heard them, his anger was aroused and fire from the lord burned among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. God was angry. If you provided food for 2 million people every day and they grumble I think you’d be angry I’d be angry and fire broke out. No injuries were reported but the fire in the outskirts.

Listen, this is how it is. Grumbling starts a fire in the camp in your marriage in your family in your youth group at your church in any group that is committed to following God together. it’s the little grumbling that sparks the fire in camp just the outskirts at first, but the fire spreads. Verse 2 When the people cried out to Moses. He prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. Well, prayer is a powerful crisis averted for the moment verse 4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing, and said if only we had meat to eat. So here we get to the source, “the rabble”, the Jews had some tagalongs, Egyptian‘s, and others who joined the Israelites on their journey, but they didn’t have the same commitment to God. It happens in the church to tagalong‘s who like the fun stuff, but don’t have the same commitment. Folk who don’t have the same appetite for spiritual things. God provided manna every day for the Jews wafers of food that appeared with the evening to you on the ground every night man it was all they needed, but the Rabble was tired of it. God and Moses warned the Israelites to not allow Non-Isrealites to join the journey. They thought they were good people, but really they thought it was going to be a cool fun thing to do. Church that’s why it’s okay to entice the people or find new points of entry into the church, but if they don’t get spiritual truth and substance once the fun and hard things begin they are gone.

Verse 5- we remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost also the cucumbers, melons leeks, onions, and garlic but now we have lost our appetite. We never see anything but this Manna. What! all the goodies we had in Egypt. The Jews were in slavery. They weren’t feasting they were crying to God for rescue, but memory can deceive you, especially when you get to reminiscing about the worldly stuff.

Remember Egypt in the Bible pictures the world and manna is a picture of Jesus what happens when Christians grumble when just having Jesus every day isn’t enough back in the world I had all the fun hey that fun destroyed you, but we get stupid hang out with the rabble and start talking about the glory days watch out Moses heard the grumbling to and Moses was troubled When circumstance are hard or we get desperate the people remember Egypt and can’t move forward. They are moving but the mind is not moving with the body. For us to see where God is taking us we must quit longing for Egypt/past. Move out if what you are comfortable with and move into the newness of the life created by God. It’s called Freedom.

An Unknown author said that Harriet Tubman could have freed a lot more slaves if they knew they were slaves. Many did not want to leave. Church God wants to free us but we are stuck in our old ways. When we think the past was better we are more likely to just spin our wheels in neutral without forward progress. Remember the Israelites who forgot how bad slavery was in Egypt? When they balked at entering the Promised Land they just went in circles for another 38 years! We reminisce about how things used to be, If it was good, then it would still be here. It’s time to stop wondering in the desert and get to living the promised land life. Isrealites when times got tough they wanted to go back to Egypt. Where they thought things were going good. We don’t want to change and we feel its Whats comfortable and what they thought where. Millwood when I got there people outside talk about what it used to be.

Before you can focus on this serious we need to answer some questions

Are you open to considering what the Lord has to say about changing your attitude?

This series will provide a study of what God has to say in scripture about our bad attitudes. It details the consequences of rejecting God’s ways. The sad part is many people are unwilling to listen to what God has to say about their happiness and what are the detailed instructions about attitudes and how God wants to change them.

Are you willing to be changed?

If changing our attitudes was easy, then everyone would be doing it, but in reality most people like staying in the position they are in and call it “set in our ways” I believe learning has no age or cap into what we can do to improve our spiritual happiness.

Are you willing to change your attitude?

The title makes it very clear that this serious is about attitudes. Let’s get some things clear, it’s not about your actions or circumstances, It’s not about your relationships or your ministry. It’s about you, and more specifically its’ about our pattern of thinking formed over a long period of time. You can’t change your attitude in a few minutes, but you can admit the wrong ones and decide to begin working on the right ones. You can stop the flow negativity that causes happiness to hemorrhage, and start the flow of good attitudes that causes abundant joy to overflow.

Are you willing to focus exclusively on your attitude?

This is not a serious about someone else, so if you keep bringing to mind someone else then you will miss the mark. We all need to grow and change, and no one has the attitude thing down 100 percent.

Does our attitude benefit God’s work?

I believe that transformation of our attitude is the key to seeing the world through the eyes of faith; it is the key to inner work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Since how we live our life determines our rewards in the next life, we must begin today to learn from the mistakes of those who have preceded us, and begin the process of becoming the people God wants us to be.

Realize that attitudes are patterns of thinking formed over a long period of time. It’s not hereditary or forced upon us, but rather a choice that we choose to allow certain circumstances or systems to formulate our thoughts, feelings and actions.

503 God … gives me the freedom to acknowledge my negative attitudes before him but not the freedom to act them out because they are as destructive for me as they are for the other person.

Rebecca Manley Pippert

The longer I live the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what others think, or say, or do. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

Chuck Swindoll

Billy Joel sings, “You know the good old days weren’t always good. And tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.” Solomon wrote this in Ecclesiastes 7:10,“Don’t long for ‘the good old days.’ This is not wise.”

God overlooks it as long as you don’t know any better—but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he’s calling for a radical life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead.”

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:13, 14)

And we want to do this before it’s too late.