A Defense Against the Wilderness Experience

Thanksgiving

Scripture:

Title: A Defense Against the Wilderness Experience

Preached: 8 October 2017

Church: St. Paul Chapel Baptist Church

Invited By: Deacon Larry Hayes

A Defense Against the Wilderness Experience

Thanksgiving

Prayer

Heavenly Father! Thank You for using me in Your ministry! Thank You for guiding me thus far and granting me Your grace! Even now Lord You know the purpose for which I have come to You. Father! Fill me with grace, anointing and power so that I can preach Your word boldly and with authority. I'm unworthy Lord! But make me worthy by cleansing me and filling me with Your Holy Spirit. Amen!

Scripture

6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them, 7 and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” 9 And Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

Introduction\Background

I have prayed today about this message and I hope that its received with the same passion as it was place in me. The calling for today is for all of us to take step back and provide room for a deep reflection of self. I have come to noticed that in our everyday busy lives it’s easy for us to get so methodical with our next steps that we can find ourselves moving without thinking. Doing without understanding. Ultimately were so involved in our actions that we often celebrate without acknowledgement. We are a culture of lists, check boxes, and next steps! It’s unfortunate in some cases we are so process that driven that we forget the chief processor and our thesis for today’s discussion is centered on that very fact.

Brothers and Sisters, whenever God has placed you in a position to make a significant decision you ought to first pause and remember that the blessor is always greater than the blessing. That the blessor is greater than then the blessing.

Furthermore, know that the preparation needed to even take part in such a significant decision is not of your own doing, but of Gods glory being witnessed in your actions. God has prepared you for a great work however, don’t mistake your blessings as work done under your own power.

God has placed upon this church a great responsibility. For some, he has called you to put in extra hours of research and discover, trial and error, patience and obedience and a list of other adjectives to describe the toil of searching for a Shepard. Truth be told your closer to completing the task but still far away from taking a break on the entire process. Whenever you’re doing work for the Lord its challenge. If you’re not struggling in ministry, I would suggest that you are not really doing ministry. We are called to die to self-daily. Bare the weight of the cross and to go into the battle field not to turn and run away from it.

While you’re working hard for the Lord guess what the people will starting to talk. The will begin to as questions and apply pressure. All the while you’re trying to spend time talking to God. Your being instructed by God on what to do, when to do it and how to do it. After careful meditation and prayer, you go forth with the instructions to move in a certain direction. One in which you hope that comes with the release of certain responsibilities and promise of a new Shepard. Your so close, you can almost taste the victory. However, somewhere in this process the opportunity to experience success might actually get in under your flesh. There is a lurking sensation to present false witness before the people of God because of your labor through the storm. Words and statements start to emerge such as:

Look at what I did? Look how hard I worked? Yes, we decided to do this over that? And it’s was be we made this happen?

Brothers and sisters, even if you’re not a part of the church administration you too have been in a situation where you and God toiled through some challenges and just before you came out of the storm, and started to record your blessings, you felt the urge to use the same words.

Look at what I did? Look how hard I worked? It was because of my actions that I made this thing happen. Don’t look to your right or left because someone might have already said that in a conversation and I don’t want to start no trouble.

The perils of Israel are somewhat in us all. Everything we witnessed them doing in scripture can been seen in our own lives from time to time. It’s the reason why God has us studying their blessings and failures in so much detail. There's a reason that the Old Testament is so large in comparison to the New Testament. It’s easy to fall for the flesh and to get yourself into a wilderness situation.

Our brother Moses, the chief backsliders in biblical history, teaches us through his experiences what happens when you stand before Gods people and plagiarize blessings as your own.

I don’t want to be before you long but I come by to share with you a "defense against having a wilderness experiences".

I pray that in this time together that you will recognize your current situation, keep your composure and don’t lose your witness in such a critical time in your churches life. I pray that you will head three steps in this journey. The first being to “take it to the Lord” and "hear from God", then "do exactly what He says" and acknowledge Him for His blessings.

Points of power

1. Take it to the Lord

2. Hear from God

3. Do exactly what He says

A defense against the wilderness experience begins with your obedience to Gods commands for you and your people.

In our text, we pick up the story of Moses and people years after fleeing from their captures in the Exodus still wandering in the wilderness of disobedience. Historical commentary suggests that at this point of the journey the people are weary and beat up. They have come a long way and just want some stability in life. We know that Miriam, Aarons sister, a woman in Israel's wilderness community who exercised religious leadership alongside Moses and Aaron had passed on and as a result of this and other challenges the people and leadership was growing weary. The people of Israel had camped in a place called Kadesh. This place was known to be an oasis but for some reason the water was dry. Some would argue that this place being dry was deliberately allowed so that Israel would seek God as their spirits grew dim.

Align with God

That’s where many of us are in life right now. Our spirits have gone dim and we are in seek of a new Shephard. Where is our water? What about our concerns? Who will come see about us. Israel was just miles away from the fertile promised land but without God they can’t get there. You’re just across the street away from getting some support, but remember that without God you can’t get there.

So, preacher what do we do? How do you prepare for the journey that’s just out of arms reach?

The text we just heard in our reading shows us a seen where Moses and Aaron are confronted by the people and they decided to take their concerns to the Lord. The first thing you ought to do when confronted with a challenge, a big decision, a moment where the flesh just might get in the way. Take it to the Lord!

Take it to the Lord:

The song writer says: What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and grieves to bear. What a privilege it is to carry. Everything to God in Prayer!

Moses and Aaron was in the midst of a challenge, a big decision needed to be made and they took their issue to the Lord. St. Paul in whatever you do, do it in prayer. Leadership starts with leaders who prays. "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ()

Moses and Aaron didn’t have a problem with their first action. The did exactly what one should do when the people are calling on help. When you need direction and guidance. The text says in verse 6 "Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them," ().

St. Paul, in this moment while you are searching for your Shephard and you got decisions to make you need to separate yourself from the people and noise and get into a place where God can speak to you. You got to take it to the Lord.

I'm reminded of Nehemiah who received the news of broken walls in Jerusalem and his response was to first mediated and pray. Chapter two which happened almost four months later He moved to tell the king, “your cupbearer needs to leave for a while, and I need some money and your name on these papers so I can build a wall.” Right now, you should be praying and fasting and preparation to take your cares to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

No matter the challenge. No matter the decision. No matter the circumstance. In order to avoid having a defense against the wilderness experience you have to learn to take it all to the Lord and then you need to wait and hear from God.

Hear from Lord

After we take our concerns to the Lord. After we all get into the room. Practice silence. Practice the art of just being still because sometime God stays silent until were ready to listen. We then wait to hear from the Lord. We need to hear from God.

In our text verse 7, "7 and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”

It’s important to note the change in Gods response here in the text. In previous conversations with the Lord about the rebellion of the people in the wilderness God always appeared in judgement, however, in this particular situation there is no anger. God very peacefully gives instructions to Moses and Aaron to take the to the people. I believe that Gods attitude was an indication for the reader that something significant was about to happen. After you separate yourself from the noise and God has a moment to meet with you, meet with the board, meet with the congregation and anyone else dealing with a moment where you need to part of a big decision. God will speak with you gently so that you can hear him clearly.

I love the words of David in : “I hear this most gentle whisper from One I never guessed would speak to me” (verse 5 The Message). David first heard God whisper when he was a young shepherd, and afterward he heard God’s voice everywhere. He described God’s voice as the “most gentle whisper.” (Bevere)

Do what God

In order to build a defense against having a wilderness experience you need to listen for the gentle whispers of God giving you instructions. St. Paul God is whispering right now as you pray, decide and act. Someone in this audience has a very difficult decision to make in their lives and God is trying to speak to you but you got to lower the noise in your life so that you can hear what he has to say.

Do exactly what He Says

As I prepare to close. I have just one more thought to share with you. After you take your issues to the Lord, and then you Hear from God. The next step is to do exactly what He says. Do exactly, what He says!

Shopping at IKEA!

Brothers and sisters, it makes no sense to pray, fast, meditate, to lay prostrate, to spend time with God, receive his gentle voice, be clear on His guidance and then go and do whatever you want to do (2x).

If God has setup a system to acknowledge the man or women as leader based on these votes then there is no room for argument. There is no debate. There are no do overs. You need to honor what God has put in place and move on to the next phase of the process.

It’s in this very moment where you will either step into your Canaanite experience or stay lost in the wilderness because of your disobedience. St. Paul when you sit at the table and have to make an important decision, leave yourself mess at home and allow God to use the person you are becoming to vote, choose, or decide. Don’t allow your flesh to speak or show up. Don’t allow past issues to enter into the conversation. Do exactly, what God says to do and don’t alter the plan for no reason at all. Let this community see God in this house of Zion and not our mess.

That’s exactly what happened to Moses and as a result he would die in his current situation and never be allowed to live out life in the space that God has planned for him to be in. Remember, God didn’t rebel against the people as he had done in the past. So, Moses decided he would! Moses let all his emotions explode before the people. Moses first words were, "here now you rebels" (10). Gods first words were, (8) "tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water". See the difference in the flesh and in what God is saying.

Watch the words that you use to convey Gods message to His people.

St. Paul, if it’s not clear let’s make it clear. Moses and those over a certain age would be freed from captivity of Pharaoh only to become captive to their own rebellion. As a result of this they would die in the wilderness. What did Moses do that warranted such a severe penalty from the Lord? First, Moses disobeyed a direct command from God. God had commanded Moses to speak to the rock. Instead, Moses struck the rock with his staff. Second, Moses took the credit for bringing forth the water. Notice how in verse 10 Moses says, "Must we [referring to Moses and Aaron] bring you water out of this rock?" Moses took credit for the miracle himself, instead of attributing it to God. Lastly, Moses committed this sin in front of all the Israelites. Such a public example of direct disobedience could not go unpunished.

Watch the words that you use to convey Gods message to His people.

Everyone under the sound of my voice has been in a situation where God has provided for you. He has brought you from the brink of despair. He kept you when you needed keeping. He covered you when you needed covering. And in all that He has done, we ought to make sure He gets the glory!

In conclusion,

I close with this. Take it to the Lord. Listen and hear from Him. Then do exactly what he says and prevent yourself from having a wilderness experience. Amen!