Which Voice Do You Hear? What's Your Worldview?

Introduction to What’s Your Worldview?: Emojis - What do they show us? How do we see things - Biblically or Worldly.

Introduction: We are constantly under attack to win our support, loyalty or money. Which voice or voices do you listen to when someone or some organization is telling you what you should or shouldn’t do? So let’s take a look at a time when there is a difference of opinion about what should be done.

Explain the story first...

Numbers 13 - The spies view the land.

The spies report:

Numbers 13:25–33 NASB95

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. 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. 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.” 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.” 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. 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.”

10 Negative reports and 2 positive (The 2 stand in faith with God) God said:

Exodus 13:4–5 NASB95

4 “On this day in the month of Abib, you are about to go forth. 5 “It shall be when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall observe this rite in this month.

What happens next? Numbers 14:1

Numbers 14:1 NASB95

1 Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.

And then the people rebelled. They refused to go up and take the land that God told them He would give them.

The people listened to the wrong voices. They listened to the naysayers and the chickens. The ones with no faith in God - because they saw things they believed were bigger than they could handle.

So what does this have to do with us?

What we believe depends entirely on our point of view or our worldview. Do we see life through the lens of the Bible and the Gospel - or do we see it through some worldly shades.

The loudest voices seem to get their way. They aren’t necessarily saying the right thing even though they are screaming at the top of their lungs. Right now the loudest voices are screaming that:

1. Homosexuality and same sex marriage is good and acceptable

2. Gender is optional - not just gender but if you want to be identified as an animal - that’s OK too.

3. Credit and debt will make your life better

4. The one with the most toys wins

What are some of the other voices you are hearing right now?

All of this is completely dependent upon your worldview. The Bible says:

1. Same sex marriage is not good and is unacceptable

2. Gender is determined by God

3. Credit and debt is bad

4. Storing up treasures on earth gets you nothing

We can find verses in the Bible that tell what is true about these issues. You simply have to look. One example is:

Matthew 6:19–21 NASB95

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

That’s the Biblical answer for he who has the most toys wins.

Exit: When the spies came back and gave their report the majority was negative. They saw themselves as grasshoppers. The problem with this is that they forgot what the Lord had told them. I will give you the land. He didn’t say go take it, and so they ran in fear. Unfortunately the congregation, the entire nation followed them into rebellion against God. If only they had listened to the voices of the two who remembered what God said. They had faith.

What about you? What voice do you listen to? Do you listen to the world which is going in the wrong direction or are you standing on the promises of God. The Bible has the answers we need. We simply need to trust and walk in faith because all the other voices are going to be telling us we are walking in the wrong direction. (Show the Chosen Shirt & how fish are swimming opposite.)

The world would have us believe that God is dead and the Church is irrelevant. We can do and be whatever we want. But the church that stands on God’s truth will hear His voice and walk in His ways. However we all have to walk in faith together. Listen for the voice of the one who dwells within you that you may know the truth and walk in it.

Pray