Ep. 10: The Wilderness

Alright, welcome to episode. 10 of the plan. The plan is our current sermon series. You were going through this year, that takes us through the entire story of the Bible, from beginning to end focusing on one on the back. It it's all part of one plot. So there's the same plot that drives a story from Genesis to Revelation. And the plot that we've been looking at is this, the Bible is the story of God's plan to establish a place for the people who live out their purpose in his presence. This is the goal that the Bible is working toward in the very beginning. God makes the world, he puts people in it. He gives them the job of ruling over the Earth on his behalf. And then on the seventh day, he comes in to rest with them, because his goal is to live in relationship with him. In the earth. We talked to them about how Humanity messed that Arrangement up. And so we lost our relationship with God. And so for four generations, Humanity was separated from God, but then. Started a new project through Abraham and the project was that he was going to use. One man and his family and he was going to accomplish the plan for them. In one specific place of one specific group of people and somehow through that. He was going to bless the rest of the world. And so as we're looking at the four parts of the plan, you actually see looking back over the part of the stories, the part of the story we've done so far that God has been methodically putting each of these pieces in place. So in The Exodus the language that is often used as he bought or Ransom himself a people because he brought them up out of Egypt, with his power, they belong to him. So he has a people and he brings them to Mount Sinai where God's presence is and he hasn't build a tabernacle and he comes down to live with him in the Tabernacle. And so he's restored his presents and all through this, he gives them laws. That Define for them. Exactly what their purpose is, exactly what it looks like for them to rule, according to his design. And then so we have people presents and purpose and we blast We got through Leviticus, which covers the things that he tells him, while they're at Mount Sinai, but there's one piece of the plan that still has not been fulfilled for Israel. And that is the place. They're still at the foot of Mount Sinai. They still have not gotten to the place that God promised them. And so the boar moving into the Book of Numbers. Probably one of the most underwhelming Lee named books in the Bible is named after the fact that there's a sense of the beginning of sentence at the end, but there's actually a lot of action that story way more than Leviticus. And in this story, we get the sequence of events that happens as they leave Sinai and journey to the promised land. So I'm going to read you this passage from numbers 10 and then some for numbers, 13. It's going to be cover when they leave Sinai. And then what happens when they get to the edge of the promised land, and through these passages were going to set our coordinates for the story that we're going to be focusing on. So, as I'm reading these passages, I want you to use your outline to track these four things people. So, who is the story about place? Where is their home presents? How can I meet with God and purpose? What did God tell them to do? Alright, so here's the reading. On the 20th day of the second month of the. Second year, the cloud lifted from above the Tabernacle to Covenant law. Then the Israelites set out from the desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place. Till the cloud came to rest in the desert of Perron. They set out this first time at the Lord's command through Moses. Few things happen on their journey and then it when they get to their destination, just outside the promised land. It says the Lord said to Moses, send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I'm going, which I'm giving to the Israelites from each ancestral tribe. Send one of its leaders when Moses sent them to explore Kane, and he said, go up through the negative, and on Into the Hill Country, see what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak few or many.

All right. So first coordinate is people who was the story about Should be surprised if in the same answer for a few weeks now, I had to Moses and the Israelites the Israelites are God's people. Moses is the specially appointed go between the leader of the Israelites. The person who talks to God and the Israelites, so it's about Moses and the Israelites. Where's their home? Their home is the promised land. They're still not in it. But now it's just around the corner. It's just over the hill. It's just across the border right there. Like right on the edge looking into the promised land. So they're really close. All they have to do is easier said than done is go into the land and Conquer it and they've got the whole plan arranged, right? How can I meet with God?

They have left Sinai which was the place where God's presence, dwells God lived on Sinai when they got there, but then God moved into the Tabernacle. And what we saw the beginning of every now and then. Actually moves. And they go with him and God, then I said the Tabernacle and God lives in the Tabernacle. So God has not only moved down from the mountain into the Tabernacle. But now it has led them away from the mountain and he's still with the Tabernacle. So now we seen the God will actually leave the mountain and go on the journey with them. Now what did God tell them to do? There's two things as passwords. There's the big picture thing that he told him to do and then as they get close he gives them another specific command. So the big picture thing that they're supposed to do is follow God's. The Promised Land by God's presence gets up. I got the cloud actually moved, they follow the cloud and they took God is commanding them. When to move when the camp like they're all they have to do is follow God. And he lead them to the promised to the edge of the promised land and they're right on the edge. And when once I get to the edge, God gives them a more specific thing to do at this moment in the story, as part of following God, which is send spies into the land. Send 12 Spies into Canaan and check out the land and then they'll figure it out. You don't got to tell them what to do from there. So this is where we're at in the story. This is what they need to do. And as we read the rest of the story, we read it with the understanding that this is where they're at. And these are the instructions have been given remember that one key to understanding what's going on in the Bible story. Because not everything is spoon-fed to you. If you have your suppose, you are expected to be keeping track of what God has told him to do and comparing what they do to what God has told them to do. That's part of learning from the store itself. Let's look at what the Israelites do with these instructions to despise went up and explore the land from the desert of sin. As far as Ray. Hope, torn label, and came to have Bron where a human Cheshire high and call my the descendants of anak lived. When they reach the valley of escrow. They will cut off a branch during a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them along with some of the pomegranate in figs. That place was called The Valley Of Ashes. All because of the cluster of grapes, the hazard lights cut off their At the end of 40 days, they returned from exploring the land. All right, so they go in the explore, the land. They spent 40 days there. They, they cut off an enormous cluster of grapes. That is so big, that they have to carry it on a pole. And that image is actually currently that the image they use for tourism. And Israel is they the cluster of grapes from this story? So, how did they do? So far, you're doing well. It seems like it. but, It as if you if you pay more attention than I normally do because I had to really study to find something. So there's this is a point where they start to diverge already woke. I told them to do what they actually did. You show your map of what they did. So this is where they started and a journey, all the way up to low Bahamas. And back, seems like a pretty good job of spying out the Holy Land, right? I promised land to see the whole thing, get a good overview of the whole land and come back and make a report on everything. They saw. Good job thoroughly done. Supt. Where did God tell them to go? Did you catch? What, what? What got we're got actually told him to go. He told him to go here.

The instructions they were given were actually just to explore this part. None of this was listed just as part of the part that was on the other side of the border from them. Now. It's interesting as you read the rest of the story, where they're there, seem to be some consequences that come from the fact that they explored more than God told them to explore. Because they come back within a particular impression of the land. Here's what happens when they come back. So they came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the desert of her on there. They reported to them into the whole assembly and show them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account. We went into the land, what you sent us and it does flow with milk and honey. Here is here's its fruit composite. That may seem like a weird thing like milk and honey, but they brought back grapes and they see her as its fruit. And I've learned what what's going on there. If not actually honey in Hebrew. It's syrup. That was made from fruit. It's just that we're still even use the same milk and honey for centuries. And so that the translators just stick with honey, but it actually syrup that they would use to sweeten things and it's made from fruit. Anyway, that is completely irrelevant. I thought it was the people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw the descendants of anak there. 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.

The caliph silence the people before Moses and said, we should go up and take possession of the land for we can certainly do it for the men who have gone up with him said we can't attack those people. They are stronger than we are. So 12.

12 went down to spy on Kaden 10 were bad until we're good. Right? Took 10 of them. They have this really bad impression of the Caleb and Joshua said, yeah, we can take it God, what will God through us, can take the land? But notice what the, what the, the 10 bad despise focus on, they focus on how well fortify the land is Archaeology and shed some light on this for us. It's very interesting. If you look at what archeology has shown us, everything, they're afraid of Is up here?

This area archaeological evidence shows us that it was very sparsely populated and not very well fortified. The sit like Jericho is one of the famous ones that they're scared of us up here. Everything they they talk about that's all the stuff they weren't sent to look at. Another fruit that they're excited about, that's from the valley vegetable that sound here. But most of what they're afraid of is from the land. They were not told to go into. So what happened is they, they went into the hole and and they looked at the whole big picture of everything. God was going to call them to do. And they saw every possible obstacle that they were going to face in the process of, Conquering the land and that stupid them. Didn't just look at the place. God was sending the next. They looked at the whole place, which isn't necessarily a sin, but it is a bit of a distraction for them because they're looking at everything involved in conquering, the promised land, not just where, God is sending them next. It. So what happens is the spies fixated on the big picture of all the obstacles in their path, every city. They were going to have to conquer every people, they were going to have to face the day that they were focused on the whole day. Picture thing. When God told him. I want you to look at the next place. I'm going to send you. So they come back and I said, yeah. Hey, we got this nice grape cluster, but let's talk about all the stuff. We saw beyond the land. He sent us to. Let's talk about all the tall people in all the big, well fortified cities, and it's a great way, but it's a bit scary up. North. Now, Caleb and Joshua are better focus and so they, they say no we can do it. But the spies are not so sure until after this report. They, they do a human beings. Often do is they start spreading rumors. When the one we're anxious. This is often what we do. We start to talk more about it when we talk and it's interesting how the story changes when we talk about it more as we're anxious, you know, the more you dwell on something when you're anxious and they might get a little worse. That's probably might seem a little bigger than next time. You describe them will. Here's what happened. They spread among the is rice. A bad report about the land. The land explored. They said the land. We explored devours, those living in, it was positive air. It devours those living in it. Now, what they actually found was it isn't the land produces big crops and apparently big people like it's the opposite of devouring. It actually produces huge in every respect, like it is. And how does it devour people? That is not there. So if it devoured people, they wouldn't have to be afraid of the people who are there. But they got this negative sense of the land. He says, all the people there. We are of great size. All the people guy. We saw the Nephilim. They're the descendants of a not come from an F1. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we look the same to them. That is a grasshopper thing is a bit of an exaggeration. I ain't like we know they weren't asked, but it is getting big and bigger in their mind. But why you actually see when you look back that is nothing that they just said is true because they say all the people there are giants. In fact, they're all Nephilim among them are the Nephilim. The Nephilim are a group of people who are mentioned one time earlier in the Bible as these great. Like Mythic level Warriors that everybody knows about that, were just amazing. Stories were told about these Warriors. Who couldn't problem is the Nephilim existed before the flood. In Genesis 6, Noah was one of the Nephilim, there are no Nephilim left. I noticed the narrator doesn't tell us that they're Nephilim those parentheses that's in what they are telling us. And hey, we saw some of those amazing Warriors that are like the greatest warriors. Anybody like sweet. The boogeyman. We tell stories about to our kids. Yeah. We saw them there. And the interesting thing is that when you follow the story forward, this report is never is never validated by the experience that they have in the promised land. They do encounter some people who are in their population is rather tall, but they're not Giants. In fact, they do encounter giant. Those people are giants, even among their own people. Right? Goliath was not from a City full of giant. He was a giant to the Philistines to Play. I did encounter some Giants but this was not a land full of giants. It was not a land full of mythic monster people. There were just some of them were rather tall. So what's happened is, they've been so anxious. They're so focused on the all the obstacles in front of the more. They think about it. The more they talked about it, the bigger those obstacles, get in till they are telling wild rumors throughout the camp. I'm all these horrible things that they're facing. If they go across land and they completely focused on Howard hughes's office off obstacles can be so the spies letting xiety, distort their memories.

Their memories no longer correspond to what they actually saw. Whoever hasn't occurred. Somebody else do this where they talk about something you both witness and that is not it. What happened? And I made you realize that sometimes you must do that like but you just you can't catch yourself on it, but you realize that sometimes I'm so fixated on their anxieties that they have forgotten what God has told them because even though the reason why they should. I told them, it seems that the reason why I got told him to look at the first section is because God had aren't just the first part of the fromis 9 is because God had already told them exactly how this was going to go down. Here's what he said, way back in, Exodus 23 before the golden calf. I got a very beginning of the Covenant. Here's what he says. I will send my Terror ahead of you and throw it to confusion. Every Nation you encounter. I'll make all your enemies, turn their backs and run. I will send the Hornet ahead of you to drive Hittites Canaanites and out of your way, but I will not drive them out in a single year because the land would become desolate in the wild animals to numerous for you little by little, I will drive them out before you and tell you have increased enough to take possession of the lamp. Two important things that you would learn from what God has told him. Right there. Number one, God's going to be the one doing it over to God's going to do it gradually step-by-step. He's not going to send them in and have them fight everyone in Canaan at once. So when they go in and they look at every obstacle that they'll ever faced in Canaan, and I think we can't do all of these. That's, that's actually true that you can't conquer all of Canaan. Now God can can conquer through you. But even he is not planning on concrete. Everybody at once, we're going to do this in steps. They have completely forgotten this This has no place in their mindset right now. In the way. They're they're calculating. What can we do? Can we actually do a God's telling us to do it completely, forgotten it. So the spies letting xiety distort their memories and distract from God's promises.

So they decide who's overwhelmed them? But this is still just 10 guys, right? You got an entire population of Israelite to over the last three years, have seen God sent ten plagues on Egypt, part the Red Sea closer as he backed up over the Egyptian army. They seen his presents on the Mountaintop. They've been fed by miraculous bread. Six days, out of every seven. They have seen the presence of God, leave the mountain and come and live with them and they are currently following the visible presence of God. Through the Wilderness. There's no way that these people are going to get sucked in by this hysteria, right? There's no way you're going to convince them. That God can't defeat Canaan by Zeppe's silly because of the Egyptians defeat cleaning all the time of God defeat, the Egyptians obvious. He can defeat K and they're never going to go for this, right? That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole simply said to them. If only we had died in Egypt or in this Wilderness. Why is the Lord bring you to this land? Only to let us Fall by. The sword are wise and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt? And they said to each other, we should choose a leader and go back to Egypt. Like that. In nothing flat. If completely turned against God, completely abandon the Covenant, the plant everything that got so completely forgotten everything that they've experienced. Just like that, we talked about this before in the series. How often I wish that? You know, if God would just do this thing for me or show up for me in this way, or if I can just like, have a face-to-face conversation with a cloud. I would never doubt again. This story proves to us. That is not how human beings work. Human beings have a capacity to forget. Anything. God does for us when it's when it satisfies, our, our desires in the moment. What happened to the Israelites? Lost faith in God and rebelled against his plant. They need need. We're not following God. We're not falling Moses. We're not going to the promised land. We're going back to Egypt, would rather be slaves. Then go to the promised land.

So now Israel has done what they're going to do. And now we look at what how God is going to respond. He's not happy. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. The Lord said to Moses. How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me in spite of all the signs. I performed among them. I will strike them down the plague and Destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they This Probably sounds familiar. If you remember the sermon that we did on the golden calf incident. God says the same thing difference here is that God said that privately to Moses the first time now, they're having this conversation in front of everybody. The whole group, the whole congregation gets to hear what God saying. I'm going to start over you Moses. And if you think that that's an overreaction just now capital punishment continues to be the the the penalty for mutiny. Cuz it on the ship on a ship Authority is really, really important because you're completely cut off from everybody else. You have to be able to keep order in the ship because you're surrounded by water. No help coming. That command is important. You gotta be able to work together, get the ship back to Port. Like that's very important that the Israelites when the exact same situation. They're in the desert. The only reason there are still alive is because God has been miraculously feeding them there in the desert, basically, in the middle of an ocean. They've got slavery in Egypt on one end and they've got hostile Canaanites on the other end. It's really important for them to stay together or they're all going to die, right? They got to be moving together in One Direction. So this is full on Mutiny that is very serious business cuz not only the fate of Israel depends on this but because Israel is God's chosen people. The fate of humanity rests on this cuz God's plan is to to bless the world through Israel. So God understandably reacts in a way that is actually pretty pretty equal with the seriousness of what they're doing. But then Moses speaks up to the Lord. If you put all these people to death leaving, none alive, the Nations who have heard the report about you will say, the Lord was not able to bring those people into the land. He promised to my nose. So he slaughtered them in the wilderness. Now, may the Lord strengthen display, just as you've declared the Lord is slow to anger abounding in love and forgiving sin and Rebellion yet. He does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation in accordance with your great love. For give the sin of these people just as he was, pardoned them from from the time. They left Egypt until now to Moses steps. In in the same role. He played last night remembered Moses and God are working together. So they reach decisions together. And so Moses says, but wait a minute, if you slaughter them, the world is going to think that you couldn't get them into Canaan in. This is your failure. Remind God of who God has said. He is a God who loves who is slow to anger who forgives too? So he asked God to continue to be who got it. Last time. They had this conversation. Took Moses five times to bring God around 8 to have the conversation with God's where God would agree to do, what he intended to do the whole time, but it took five conversations right now that they rebelled again in an argument even worse way. You should take a lot more to bring around, right?

The Lord replied, I have forgiven them had to ask. If we give them like that, it's important for us to recognize this beat in the story because God forgives them very easily. Just because I almost had to do was ask and lay out the reasons why it seems to me that it's important for this conversation to happen in front of his real so that they know why they're not being wiped out. They need to have her the decision-making process, even though God would concluded to forgive them. In the end. They needed to hear this conversation happened. So they don't think the gods, just okay with mutiny. But he forgives them. And it's important for us to remember the god of the Old Testament is consistently testified to be slow to anger abounding in love and he forgives and that's exactly what it does In This Moment. So God, forgives the Israelites forgave his rights of their Rebellion. That's who he is. He is a God who forgives? It's important for us to remember that in order for us to have the right picture of who got is, it's also important for us to remember that in order to understand what's going to happen next. Because I think this is a really important beats in the story. They were about to hit because I forgave you let's head into the Promised Land. Instead. He says this one side of Moses and Aaron. How long will this wicked Community Grumble against me. I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them as, surely as I live declares the Lord, I will do the very thing. I heard you say. In this Wilderness, your bodies will fall every one of you, 20 years, older more, who have counted, who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you enter the land. I swore with a blistering hands, to make your home except hail the sun of just Luna and Joshua, son of nun. As for your children, that you said would be taking his plunder. I will bring them in, to enjoy the land. You have rejected know that seems like a punishment which seems to contradict the fact that God forgave them, but I don't think that's what's going on. It says God forgave them. So he must have forgiven him. So why are there still consequences?

Because there is a difference between forgiving, someone. And putting them in a position of trust again. And giving them responsibility. There's a difference. Is one of things is going to happen after the story. Immediately after he says, this is what I sent to take over. So sorry, we were, let's go into the promised land anyway and got it told them not to they go in without him and they get trounced and then they rebelled against God. Several more times in the story is we're going through number like this generation. Just never really gets infected Moses and Aaron even get caught up in it. They rebelled and they end up dying in the wilderness to this generation doesn't get it. The next stage in the plan is for God, to lead his people into the promised land to conquer the promised land. And that means he needs a generation that he can trust. Isn't he very important when we get into Joshua? That he is right to do what God tells him to do, most of the time they do, but even the next generation is going to mess up. But most of the time they obey and that's on God to work through them. But if you're going to go into battle, you need people that are going to follow you. You need people that are going to obey you. So what that means is essentially what I see Happening Here, I forgive you, but you're not the generation that I can depend on to take the Promised Land. So you're going to get what you asked for. I'm not going to take you in. I'm going to take your kids in and they'll be the generation that I can depend on. So God decided not to trust that generation with the next step of his plan. Because they had proven over and over and over again. We numbers is like a broken record of how many times this generation will Rebelle. And for how many reasons they will find any reason to rebel against God to not trust in him and they proved as thoroughly as anyone can they cannot be depended on.

Now, we can feel like at this point, God has given up on them and he's abandoned them and he's just going to wait until the people. He likes comes around in the Next Generation. That's kind of what it what it could feel like if you don't cover the rest of the story. So I'm just touched briefly on one story that happens after this, that helps us understand where it how God really feels about this generation is a very fascinating story that normally would have all the talking donkey, but I'm going to really a short in it. So I encourage you to read the later chapters of numbers about Balaam cuz there's talking donkey in its various ceasuri. What you need to know is the Israelites are in the wilderness and there are some Canaanite King. There's a k, 19, who is real uncomfortable with this huge Army of Nomads that are camped out near as well. And so he hires a sorcerer named Balaam to curse them out bail. And is actually so famous of a sorcerer that we have independent archaeological evidence of his existence. We have found documents mentioning by on cuz this guy if you needed someone curse baling with a guy to go to guide. This was his business. And so he calls Balaam to curse God and threw a weird story. Involving a talking donkey. God makes it clear to him, that he should say only what God tells him to say. So imagine it is real is camped out in the wilderness and their, this is the generation that's in the middle of rebellion, against God and complaining. And just just being horrible. And Balaam steps up on this mountain, overlooking, these people, this this worst generation of Israelites and he's about to say what God tells me to say, I think at this point in the story of Balaam says, I'm going to curse the Israelites got to say. Okay here. Let me let me give you some suggestions like yours to hear some notes. I've been taking use this right like that every reason to to lean into Bayland cursing, right? Instead when Balaam says what God tells me to say, this is one of the things that he says,

They all spoke this message arise balak. That's the Canaanite King and listen, hear me. Son of zipper. God is Not Human. That he should lie. Not a human being that he should change his mind. Does he speak? And then I asked as he promised and not fulfill. I have received a command to bless. He has blessed and I cannot change it. No, Misfortune is seen in Jacob. No misery observant Israel. The Lord, their God is with them. The shout of the king is among them. God brought them out of Egypt. They have the strength of a wild ox. There is no divination. I know it's against Jacob. No, evil almonds against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, see what God has done. That is what God says over Israel, as they are in the midst of just being the worst, right? They are just being the worst and at the same time, God has promised to watch over them and he continues to watch over the bluff. Now, he's not going to go into battle with them. He's going to try and conquer the land with them, but he is still, he still loves them. He still cares for them. He still keeps his promises to them. So God stays faithful to his promise to bless and protect his people. Define is a God never abandoned the Israelites. He did make a decision not to use them in certain ways because they had proven, they couldn't be counted on in those moments. But he never abandon them. The Book of Numbers I would argue is in a lot of ways. It's all about faithfulness. It's about our calling, to be faithful to God in the many ways that we fail and what it means for God, to be faithful to us, in the midst of all of that. It's widely turn to what? What this story teaches us about following God today. The theme is faithfulness. The first thing that we learn from the story of the many things we can't can learn is that God works through faithful people and around faithless people.

God works through faithful people. What he needs from people needs in order to work through us. If we're going to be part of that. What we need to do is we need to be able to say yes. We'd be able to say yes to God, even when we'd rather not say yes, we need to be faithful and if we're face less, well, that just means God's going to work around us rather than through us. What I don't want you to hear is that you're one mistake away from being discounted as faithless and gods never going to use you. That's not what the Israelites did a lot worse than that, right? They were very thorough and prove it to God that they couldn't be counted on. They also had a very, very important once in in for once, ever mission to conquer the Promised Land.

But what it means is that each of us faces a choice, as we seek to serve God, we can be faithful to him and will be used by him or we can be faithless. We cannot step up when he calls his we can do our own thing. Instead. We can refuse to follow what we know he wants us to do it instead, do what makes me feel good. And in those moments God will work around us. Because God does what he's going to do. And it's our opportunity is to be a part of it or not, be a part of it. And hopefully each one of us has a follower of Christ wants to be part of God's plan. We want to be part of what God's doing, because ideally that is part of why we decided to follow. Jesus wasn't just to get out of jail to get out of hell, free card. It was because we believe in what God is doing and we want to be a part of it. So, that leaves a question. What does it mean to be faithful people? And we could do sermons and sermons and sermons on that, but let me focus on a couple of things that I learned from this story about what it takes to be faithful to you. First thing is, it being faithful to God means focusing on our assignment and leaving the big picture, too. God has asked the church has told the church to take on the biggest picture issues, that our world faces, the biggest possible things that could be confined to the things that the world continuously try silicon. It feels Raven won't bother taking on. We are called to spread the gospel to every person in the world. We are called to build the king of and every place we are called to feed the hungry to care for the poor as you all these huge, big picture thing and I don't know about you but I can totally relate to the story of the Israelites of looking at the whole big picture and saying I could do that. I can't solve world hunger and letting that realization keep me from doing anything about Hunger. Cuz I I might be able to feed through the 3 people in front of me, but that's not going to take on world hunger. That's just a Band-Aid. That's just a short-term thing. That's not going to and I look at how hard the big picture is on a wild. There's no point in trying. I get intimidated by what it would take to do this big thing that God calls me to do in my life. Maybe he's got me journey into a particular place in my spiritual life. And I think I can't get there from here in reality. He's not ask me to get there from here right now. He's asked me to take this step in that direction, but I think I can't get there. So I'm not even to step in that direction. And that can can shatter Our Fate that can keep us from going where God is leading us because ultimately God's the one with the big picture. God is the one who takes on the big picture and he uses us. And the steps that we take, he's not calling on you to end world hunger. He was calling on you, maybe to feed the people in front of you is not calling on you to bring a nationwide Revival yourself, but he's calling you to bring the gospel to the people. You encounter to the people puts in front of you.

He's calling you to be exactly like Christ. Ultimately. That's the big picture. But today he might be calling you just to be a little bit more patient with your family. To be a little bit more diligent in your prayers. As we focus on the step in front of us. God can use us to Compass, a big picture that is on his agenda.

The other thing that we learn about faith uniting, this is really important for us in order to really understand what faith is. There's a misnomer, there's a mistaken idea. We have that faith means sticking your fingers in your ears ignoring any reason or evidence and just sticking to what you've decided no matter what The lalalalala. I'm not listening. I'm not listening. I believe this lalalalala and that's kind of what we think of his face. And often times people talk about faith being the opposite of reason or of of evidence that kind of thing. And we might say, yeah. Well did the Israelites should have just stuck their fingers in the air as they told them to send in sending spies to gather intelligence, right? This the Israelites, what happened here was not that they let reason and rational thinking overwhelm their commitment to God. It was, if they let anxiety and fear overwhelm the, most rational conclusion, they could come. Cuz remember they saw all these cities and all these these opponent. But they also saw The Parting of the Red Sea. They also saw the plagues of Egypt. They also saw the presence of God on the mountain by the presence of God in their Camp everyday the rational conclusion for these people based on the evidence. They had was that God could take care of pain and no problem. That's the rational conclusion. When you actually look at all the facts in light of what they knew, but instead they let momentary fear anxiety, overwhelm what they knew so that they weren't even thinking about what they knew about God, when they, when they panicked and when they rebelled, they weren't thinking clearly they were thinking emotionally in the moment. Faithfulness, choosing what, you know, to be true over, what you feel in the moment. That's what it means to be faithful. It is entirely reasonable and correct to believe in God. I would never tell you that being a Christian means believing in God and rationally. It is entirely rational and accurate to believe in God to trust in Jesus Christ, but there will be moments when it doesn't feel like it to you because you let your because your emotions have gotten worked up in the moment you panic. Faith means choosing what, you know, to be true over, what you're afraid of, or what your emotions, that catch that catch you out in that moment. This is something that c.s. Lewis said really well in Mere Christianity. Faith is the art of holding onto things. Your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods, unless you tell your moods where they get off. You can never be either a sound Christian, or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dealer in to and fro with its beliefs, really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion.

Faith means that we hold what we know and we we interpret everything that's going on around us the challenges that we face in terms of what we know was that they knew the power of God that they've seen through Miracles and through. They they need the presence of God and the promises of God that all these things, reveal to them in front of them, with their very eyes, and they should have interpreted what the obstacles in front of them in light of what they knew about God. And they didn't. Now as Christians today, none of us were there for any of those things. So we, so what do we hold on to? What is the fact that we hold on to, that helps us interpret the world around us. Hope all gives us a very clear idea in Galatians. Chapter 2. Paul says this, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. He's saying, my life is over, and everything, that's left in me is dedicated to Jesus, which is a huge commitment, a very difficult commitment to take on, and he tells us what motivates and drives that commitment. The life. I now live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Paul trust in God and he gives his life to Jesus Christ, because Jesus is the son of God, who loves him and gave himself for him. That fact the fact that the Son of God loves him and gave himself for him, is the central fact and Paul's life that that he uses to make decisions. Can I do this? Can I not do this? Is this worth it? Or is it not worth it to remind himself that the Son of God loved him and gave himself for him. So we trust in Jesus Christ because he loves us and gave himself for us. Every day, we can be reminded of that. When we, when we look around, we say, I don't know if I'm going to be able to pay my bills this month. But the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. I don't know if I can keep my family together another month or the Son of God loves me and gave himself for me. I don't know what direction our country is going in for the Son of, God loves me and gave himself for me. I'm afraid of this thing or that thing, whatever you're afraid of, you can take that fear and she put it in the light of who Jesus is and what he did. He is the Son of God and he loves you and he gave himself for you. He doesn't do that lightly. He doesn't waste that if he gave himself for you, that means he is going to be faithful to you. He has a purpose for you. And he can be depended on. And so when we view every obstacle, our lives with that understanding that Jesus Christ loves us and gave himself for us. That is what helps us to be faithful to him. Helps us to deal with the anxiety. The other fear be able to decide to do the things God has called us to do, even when we don't feel like it. Cuz he loves us and he gave himself for us.