Conquer the Wilderness
Notes
Transcript
Conquer the Wilderness, Don’t Let the Wilderness Conquer You
Conquer the Wilderness, Don’t Let the Wilderness Conquer You
Video
During different times in our lives, we walk through a desert. The way is difficult and we are tempted to give up. But we must conquer the desert. We must seize the day for the Lord. It is not a bed of roses, but we keep God number one in our life, then instead of grumbling and complaining as we in ourselves want to do, we seek to have God glorified in our life. This is a perfect time, as we walk through this desert of Covid-19, we take full advantage of the desert. We are not going to let this conquer us. We are going to use this as a time of growing closer to God.
Moses spent 40 years in the desert. What started as running away because of sin, turned into a time of growing closer to God. God used the desert time to mold Moses into the person He wanted him to be. Instead of a murderer, he would become the deliverer. A forerunner of what Jesus would do for all of humanity, not just one nation.
Moses conquered his desert. Moses goes up the mountain to spend time with God for 40 days and it was amazing. Moses had his time at his oasis. This is what Moses saw:
10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity.
17 The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18 So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
God will make any desert beautiful, if we will seek Him with all our heart and mind. He is our oasis. But when we get our eyes off of Him and focus on the desert around us, then it becomes miserable.
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”
Moses sent the men. They walked out of the desert and saw a beautiful land and were afraid. All except for 2 men. They described the land as wondrous but definitely impossible to conquer.
Is there something in your life in which God is wanting to do the impossible and there seems to be no way for this to happen? Do not be like the 10 spies and prefer to return to your old sinful life instead of stepping out in faith? Why would you want to go back to the slavery to sin? This is what they were advocating. God’s response was quick.
11 Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?
6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord—to whom the Lord swore that He would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”
The punishment for lack of faith was an additional 40 years in the desert. God values obedience over sacrifice. The time spent traveling through the desert is not time wasted. But let us not extend our time in the desert because of lack of faith or rebellion against God.
The next day there were many who decided to go and conquer Canaan. Moses tried to warn them that it would not prosper because God was not in it. Moses would not leave the camp and go with them. Do not think you can force the hand of God. He is God and we are not. We must follow His leading but not dictate His leading.
Conclusion
As we continue to move through this desert, we will find the oasis for our souls.
1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Do you feel as if you are walking through a desert that never ends? Is this a desert of your own creation because you have wandered from God? Not all deserts are a result of our bad choices. Sometimes it is to solidify our commitment to the Lord and remove the sins from our past like the Israelites. Is the desert you are walking through a result of poor choices? This morning,
take a moment and analyze your life. Have you walked away from God? Today is the day to come back. He stands with arms wide open. Have you never made Jesus Lord of your life? You know everywhere you turn is nothing but a wasteland, and you need the Lord to save you and lead you to the oasis? It is as easy as your ABC’s.
A - Acknowledge
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
B- Believe
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
C- Confess
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.