Holy Spirit can speak through anyone

June 9th 2024

Series: Who is the Holy Spirit?

Sermon Title: Holy Spirit can speak through anyone

Topic: Journey to help us learn who the Holy Spirit was, is, and will always be and how the Holy Spirit is active in our lives today.

Key Passages: Numbers 22-24

Topic: Holy Spirit, Following, God’s Voice, Discernment

Sermon Blurb: In today’s message, we will see how the Holy Spirit can quite literally speak through anyone, or anything!

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Dedication, Baptism, or Ministry Highlight (1st Sunday even months):

Sermon:

Hello Family Church!

Family Moment –

Start with something personal from your family life recently to help people get to know you.

Celebrate salvation / re-dedications / baptisms last week.

Those of you who are new to Family Church, we are SUPER happy you are with us today!

We are in a series that is taking a DEEP dive into who the Holy Spirit actually was, is, and will always be.

How God the Father.

The Son Jesus.

The Holy Spirit….

How they are ALL the SAME…

And how they are ALL different…

PAUSE

We are in the process of walking through the Old Testament and looking at how the Holy Spirit was active there.

Today, we are going to continue looking at that.

Last week we got into the book of Numbers and where we see the Holy Spirit moving there.

We saw how the Holy Spirit can help us lead well…

AND how the Holy Spirit can help others around us lead..

Today we will still be in Numbers..

Grab your Bible and open it up to

Numbers 22

That is the next place we see the Spirit moving.

And by the way…..

New Person Bible Connection:

If you do not have a Bible, that is ok!

After service, we will give you an AMAZING leather-bound study Bible!

Just go to ADD YOUR CAMPUS PLACE and get one for FREE!!!

PAUSE

If you look in your notes….It lists all the locations in the first 5 books of the Bible where the Holy Spirit is mentioned.

Holy Spirit in the Old Testament: Genesis 1:2, 2:7, 6:3, 41:38. Exodus 31:3, 35:31. Numbers 11:17,25-26,29, 24:2, 27:18. Deuteronomy 34:9.

And you might notice Numbers 22 is NOT there…

But we will start in Numbers 22 because I want to introduce you to the guy we see the Holy Spirit work through in Numbers 24.

Let me just give a little background and then we will jump into the Bible.

Where we pick up the Bible today, God’s people are making waves all over the Middle East.

As they are traveling to the land of Israel, that God promised them would be theirs, they are going into battle after battle.

They are getting other people groups very nervous….

And into that scene, we will meet this guy named Balaam….

Let’s read the start of this story…

Numbers 22: 1-12 Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho.

2 Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites,

3 and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.

4 The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.”

So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor….

Pause here for one second, and let me point something out.

Balaam was NOT with God’s chosen people.

Balaam was NOT traveling with God’s people.

Balaam was known by Kings who worshiped OTHER gods.

Hold on to that thought and listen to what comes next…

And bear in mind with that thought…

Our sermon title is the Holy Spirit can speak through ANYONE…

You are going to see that come true multiple ways today.

So they get to Balaam and say…

“A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me.

6 Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me.

Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land.

For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”

7 The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.

Stop there for a second…

So Balaam is know as a guy who curses people for money.

Balaam is a guy known for blessing people for money.

Balaam is known as a spiritual guy who seemingly can successfully hear from someone and respond…

And verse 8 is where it gets REALLY interesting…

Balaam says….

8 “Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will report back to you with the answer the Lord gives me.” So the Moabite officials stayed with him.

What????

So he talks to God?

Apparently yes…

And this should give ALL of you out there who struggle with the idea of people all over the world never hearing about Jesus and going to hell.

IF Balaam can hear from God…

IF Balaam can respond to God…

That means ANYONE can…IF they choose to listen…

IF they choose to SEEK God…

Look at this….he talks with God! Verse 9….

9 God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”

10 Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message:

11 ‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me.

Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’”

12 But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”

Wow!

This guy is NOT a part of the Jewish people.

This guy is NOT a part of God’s chosen people.

This guy lives in the wilderness hears and speaks with God!

That should give ALL of us hope for ourselves…

AND people all over the world!!!

BUT…

The key is what do we do with our connection with God?

Do we ONLY care about God if he enriches us?

Do we ONLY care about God if he blesses us?

Do we ONLY care about God if he curses our enemies?

Do we ONLY care about God if he does our bidding?

PAUSE

You will see a question in your notes….

Do I want something FROM God OR do I want serve God?

Repeat

I want to encourage you ALL to really think about that.

We will soon see the answer to that for Balaam... and others!

PAUSE

Let me paraphrase and you can read it all later…

After this Balaam listens to God…

They come back to Balaam and try to convince him to do the king's will AGAIN and NOT listen to God…

And Balaam goes back to God and God tells him this…

20 That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.”

And here is when it gets interesting…

Here is where you will see Balaam and Pastor Adam have something in common!

If you did not know Pastor Adam owned a donkey when he was a kid!

Verse 21….

21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the Moabite officials.

22 But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him.

Side note…

God is NOT mad at Balaam for going…

God told him to do that…

Why is God angry? Well there is a clue shortly… let me show you…

Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

23 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field.

Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.

Interesting the donkey can see an angel…

The servants cannot.

Balaam cannot.

What is going on?

24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides.

25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it.

So he beat the donkey again.

26 Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left.

27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff.

Now if you have never owned a donkey…

Let me just fill you in on something…

THEY ARE CRAZY STUBBORN!

They will do what they want…

And even if you hit them…they will do what they want…

But it also looks like Balaam might have some anger issues…

And now it gets crazy…

And remember our sermon title.

The Holy Spirit can speak through ANYONE….

Verse 28 says…

28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”

29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”

30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”

“No,” he said.

Stop there…

The donkey speaks…

God opens a donkey’s mouth and it speaks to its master.

And Balaam doesn’t miss a stride!

He just talks with his donkey…

I mean come on!!!

If your dog, cat, or some random animal spoke to you…

How many of you would FREAK OUT?? Let me see those hands!

Again…

God can speak through anyone…

Through anything…

God can do what is impossible…

Let’s keep reading…

31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn.

So he bowed low and fell facedown.

32 The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times?

I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.

Ah….so now we are getting a clue as to why God was mad back in verse 21…

Balaam is doing what God said to BUT in a reckless way…

See church….

We can think we are following God but not be fully.

It is easy for us to follow God but on OUR terms…

And it seems Balaam is doing just that…

But there is more to learn…let’s keep reading..

33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”

Do you hear that?

The angel would have killed Balaam for being reckless and spared his donkey!

And here is where we get another clue as to why God was so mad…

Why God would have sent a angel to re-direct Balaam…

Verse 34…

34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me.

Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”

35 The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.

Look at what it says…

ONLY speak what I…what GOD…tells you…

The same thing God said to Balaam before this and will after this.

Here is the key church…

Write this down…

The key to following God is simple, follow God FULLY.

Repeat

God does not want us half in.

God does not want us to follow Him but on OUR terms.

God does not want us to follow Him but on if He is our genie.

God does not want us to follow Him if times are good.

God wants us to follow him FULLY and without conditions!!!

Balaam clearly was NOT fully following God.

Balaam, most scholars would say, was clearly read to do what the king was paying him to do REGUARDLESS of what God wanted.

Balaam had a business model and it worked for him.

Balaam wanted to keep his business model going!

God had other plans…

And when God has OTHER plans for our life….

It can be hard to follow…

PAUSE

But Balaam gets to the king and listen to what he says…

Verse 38…

38 “Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”

NOTE those words church…

I MUST SPEAK ONLY…what WHO church??

God…

He must speak ONLY the words GOD puts in his mouth…

PAUSE

Remember what I just said?

He says…

I have to change my old ways…

I have to change my normal business patterns…

I no longer get to do what I want to do….

I now have to do what God….wants me to do and say…..

That is NOT easy…

But he does it…

PAUSE

Then the balance of this chapter is him going to see the Israelite camp.

Going to see this group of people he was NOT a part of…

PAUSE

Then we get to chapter 23…

In chapter 23, we have 3 messages from God to Balaam to this pagan king…

Verses 1-12 are his first message….

This is why you bring your Bible to church. We won't have all those verses on the screen….

But there you can see Balaam going to talk with God and God telling him to bless NOT the king who paid and summoned him, but they bless the Israelite people!

And he did…

And the king was NOT happy…

PAUSE

Then in verses 13-26 have his second message…

The king takes him to a second place to CURSE the Israelites…

Balaam takes off to hear from God in verse 15 and he does in verse 16…

And then he blesses the Israelites again!

And the king is NOT happy!

PAUSE

Then in verse 27 and into Chapter 24 we get into the third message God speaks through Balaam and here is where we see the Holy Spirit show up!

24 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not resort to divination as at other times, but turned his face toward the wilderness.

Did you hear that church?

This guy….

Who has been hearing from God…

Has been learning from God…

Has been slowly been being changed by God…

He breaks his training…

He breaks his normal patterns…

He changes…

And look at what happens next…

2 When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him 3 and he spoke his message:

He follows God’s leading…

He messes up along the way….

We saw that with his donkey…

No one is perfect…

He had a messed up past!

He used to just use God for money…

BUT…

He changed…

He learned from God.

As he got to know God through God just working in his life…

He changed…

Here is the question church…

Have you recognized God’s work in your life and let God change you?

Repeat

I hope today..

You can see how God can speak through anyone.

How God can speak through anything.

How even people FAR from God can hear from God.

But the key is NOT hearing from God or even knowing God…

The key is following God and allowing God to transform you…

PAUSE

Let me share your life application with you today….

For those of you who are new, or newer, to Family Church.

We end our messages with a Life Application.

It is simply something to help you go home and process this message with someone else.

Something to help you continue to ponder how you can apply today's message to your life.

So here is what I want you all to spend some time processing and talking with someone about.

Life Application: How could you open your life to the Holy Spirit’s leading?

As a result of today’s message, I will _________________________.

Prayer:

Make sure to do salvation call!

Offering:

Thank you all for being here today!

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