Memphs XA Eyes of the Two

I. Intro

a. window

b. Pray

c. Read

Numbers 13:25–33 NIV

25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. 26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.” 30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

II. Story the Passage

III. What do we see

a. Challenges, Impossibilities, Giants

i. The task is too great

ii. UPGs bound by demonic powers, ancestor worship, false gods, false religion

iii. Governments opposition

iv. UPGs resisting for generations

v. Hardship, suffering, persecution, martyrdom

b. But also…

i. Hundreds of millions unreached, without witness

ii. Opportunities

iii. Joy at sharing with someone for their first time

iv. Joy at watching someone accept

v. Joy at following our Lord’s command to go

vi. The heart of God

IV. Whose eyes do we have?

a. Eyes of the 10, we turn and run

b. Eyes of the 2, we run to the task at hand

i. Accomplish God’s mission

ii. Fulfill God’s calling

iii. Obey God’s command to all, follow Christ’s example

V. What is Holding you Back?

From apathy to zeal:

Sin turns us inward; salvation turns us outward. In Titus, Paul writes that Jesus saved us to “purify a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” - including the good work of loving our cross-cultural neighbor.

From contempt to compassion:

The whole thrust of the Good News is not about “I am right and you are wrong” but that we all are wrong and we all need a Savior (Rom 1-3). The Good News does not win the way the world does - through triumphalism but through laying down our lives (Jn 10, Lk 14, Rom 9).

From fear to courage:

It is hard to be afraid of Muslims (or any other culture for that matter) when one is your friend; it is hard not to be afraid of them when all you know is filtered through CNN. We need not be ashamed or afraid (Rom 1, Ps 91). We go with Jesus, with all authority (Mt 28), with all the promises of God (Ps 91, Gen 12), knowing how the story with end (Rev 7).

VI. Conclusion