Going Around In Circles

Scripture: Deuteronomy 2:1 – 9

Title: “GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES”

Introduction: Thanksgiving is much, much more than eating turkey and being together with family and friends. Our get-togethers and our meals are only reminders of the great achievements of our forefathers who settled this great country.

I’m very thankful for the blessings of family and friends and all the other comforts we too often take for granted.

But I hope that our thankfulness will inspire us to think further than just being off from our jobs for a few days and getting to spend some time off at home.

We are a product of a handful of people who had a dream that reached much further than anyone else was willing to dream.

Insurmountable odds were overcome so that we could be here today enjoying this, another “Thanksgiving.”

Columbus faced basically the same problems that Moses faced as they pursued their dreams. – FEAR: Fear of the “Unknown” prevents the vast majority of people from ever seeing their dreams fulfilled. – POPULAR OPINION: It was believed in the days that Columbus lived that the world was FLAT! (If a ship sailed too far out from shore it would fall off the edge of the known world) – “What’s wrong with staying right where we are?” – “We’ve got everything we need right here.” – “We are doing all right the way things are.” – We’ve never seen it done on this fashion before. Mk. 2:12

Let me tell you a story about the “Little Goldfish.” – When his owner decided to clean his bowl he placed him in a much larger container. – With all that space he was still going around in the same little circle he had been accustomed to. – Training Fleas: Put a lid on it! : The lid has been taken off! : Use the Potential you have.

God has given us PROMISES that go BEYOND our present CIRCUMSTANCES!

I. GOD’S PROMISES.

1. Before we talk about God’s promises let me share a Scripture with you. – In Titus 1:2 “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” – You can depend on every promise God has made in His Word because, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” 2 Cor. 1:20

2. God had promised Abraham & the people of God the land of Canaan as their possession. – Gen. 15:18 “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:” – Here again in Deut. 1:8 Moses is restating the promise to the Israelites, “Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD swear unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.”

II. THE JOURNEY.

1. In Deut. 2:3 we hear Moses saying, “Ye have compassed this mountain LONG ENOUGH: turn you northward.”

2. God had called His people to POSSESS THE LAND!

3. At this point in time the Israelites had been WANDERING around in the Wilderness for most of the FORTY YEARS of their Journey.

4. A Journey that should have ONLY taken ELEVEN days had wound up lasting 40 years. – Deut. 1:2 “(There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)”

5. It isn’t very difficult to RECOGNIZE a PROBLEM exists here in this SITUATION. – An ELEVEN-day Journey taking FORTY YEARS!

III. GOD’S SECOND BEST.

1. The Israelites had been walking around on territory the Lord had given to the descendants of ESAU, Jacob’s BROTHER.

2. Too many Christians spend the life dwelling in the territory that someone else owns.

3. Churches existing on TRANSFER GROWTH.

4. Too many Christians have only a Testimony from the PAST.

5. It appears that Israel would have been CONTENT to stay where they were and not take POSSESSION of their INHERITANCE.

IV. TIME FOR A NEW DIRECTION.

1. “You have been here long enough!”

2. Their DISOBEDIENCE had cause enough DELAY.

3. “You have sat around in your tents and complained long enough.” Deut. 1:27

4. Activity with no results.

5. Being TIRED without ACCOMPLISHMENT.

6. God was telling them that their INHERITANCE was AWAITING them.

V. THE CALL OF GOD.

1. God was calling His people to “POSSESS THE LAND.”

2. The “Promise Land” is YOURS, but you must POSSESS it!

3. OBEDIENCE means PROGRESS.

CONCLUSION: Procrastination has been the cause of untold millions of people not going to heaven.

Procrastination has taken the place of OBEDIENCE more times than we can imagine.

How many things have you been putting off that you should really take care of today?

Take possession of God’s Promises now!