Scripture: Numbers 13: 26 – 33, 1 Samuel 17: 1-51,
2016 how big will your God or the Lord be to you, how much are you looking forward to seeing what God is going to do this new year or I should say the Holy Spirit is going to do with the Lord directing.
Are we going to be like the Israelites were so many times that they relied on their own ability and run from the challenges before them. Or are we going to put our full trust in the Lord.
I haven’t heard anything but there might be some that are ringing their hands and saying we lost our pastor and the next guy might not be as good as pastor Bob. The next guy might want to make all kid of changes, I don’t like changes I like how things are or were.
I had a guy in one of my churches say to me I wish things where like they were in 1957 they were a lot better and things went beautiful. Lord was doing things and things were just better. I said you want things the same as they were in 1957? He said yea, I had a puzzle look on my face. He said the church was going good, people were coming, and people were getting saved. And there not today, why I asked, no answer came. He was saying I don’t like the changes that are being done. I don’t know if God is going to help us.
The Israelites were not sure if God would be with them.
In Numbers 13: 17-33
Here we have the report of the spy’s who went into exploring Canaan to see what the Lord had promise them.
Let me give you somewhat of a summary, Moses set 10 spies’ into the land of Canaan
That God had promised them, Moses wanted a report what is this land like, what will we be facing if we walk into the Land of Canaan?, so he sent Joshua and Caleb along with eight others for a report.
We read in verse 27 “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.” In verse 33 it says “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Let’s look at 1 Samuel 17: 1- 58(not going to read the whole thing)
I am going to tell you the store, but you should know it.
It is about a little boy and a big problem that he came across that to him was not a problem.
David
I The Problem They Saw
A. It looks good on the Surface but let’s look at the deeper picture.
What do they think is the bigger picture? The spy’s that went into Canaan and saw all the good thing that wait them, a land flowing with Milk and Honey, fruit that was so big that to carry a cluster of grapes that took two men to carry it on a pole. The land was fertile, there was a lot of promise to go into the Land God had promise them.
I means it was beautiful it was ripe for picking the land was what they wanted, it was what God had promise it would be, but there was a problem in their thinking. It looks good on the surface; it looks good when you first see it, the fruit that is huge, the grass is greener then the desert, but there was a problem.
David just a little guy, a boy shepherd taking care of his Fathers sheep. His brothers are in the army fighting for Israel, King Saul. David father Jesse had three sons on the front line of the battle of the Philistines. Jesse wanted to make sure that his three sons were alright. So he called David in and wanted him to take a ephah of grain (which is a bushel in measurement) and 10 loaves of bread to his brothers. Jesse was concern about his sons like most parents would be. Jesse taught his sons about God we know that because of David love for God.
David goes to the battle lines to see his brothers and while he is there he hears and see this Philistine man coming out and yelling at the top of his voice this
“Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.”
David is hearing this along with his brothers. Saul and his army is terrified they are scared to death of this guy.
B. The problem is too big to face
The Israelites in Numbers saw the men in Canaan as a big problem; they called themselves as grasshoppers against these guys, they must have been like the hulk.
The Army of Saul, the Army of Israel saw this Philistine man who stood 9 ft. tall with a deep voice. (Now he didn’t sound like a weak person) His height and his voice put a fear in these guys; they were shaking in their sandals no one wanted to fight him.
Are we like these Israelites? Things look to good to be true, the blessing that can be ours, the fruit that we can have, but there is the other picture that comes in
We see how big the enemy is we are like grasshoppers against it, the problem is too big for us to handle it bigger than I am, it scary, it could get ugly for me.
What is the problem God had promised the Israelites that He would give them the land flowing with Milk and honey. God had showed the Israelites that He was with them in the past but to them it wasn’t anything like this giant.
C. We are too small for this Problem
Numbers 13:28-33
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.”
1 Samuel 17:8-11
“Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.”
They were saying is: we can’t handle this, it too big for us. We are too small for this. Our God is not that big and they knew that was a lie, because God had been doing great things before them in their walk from Egypt.
We do the same thing, when a God promises us something and we begin to see what he has in store for us we often look and see the hidden problems that are really n problem for God.
Here is the situation: We know that God is in charge but there may be some that will say I don’t know about what is going to take place or what the future holds.
II. The Challenge is this: allowing God to be in control
A. See what God had is store
Numbers 14:6-9
6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
B. God can handle any problem no matter how big or difficult it may seem.
When God is in it the problems are never too big, but they may seem difficult or impossible.
The eight spies saw they didn’t have the ability to go in and take the Land God had showed them that was flowing with milk and honey, they saw a defeated Israel if they went in.
Joshua and Caleb saw and knew what God could do “If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.
What a promise, do you hear it? Listen to it again “and will give it to us.”
There is some condition here.
1 If the Lord is pleased with us.
How is the Lord pleased?
By trusting Him in His leading, can I tell you something? God is not going to speak to everyone the same way.
I remember in one of my pastorate a gentleman on the board when I said I believe God wants us to go in this direction, I had been praying about the direction and really believed it was the way we should go, I shared that with the board and he spoke up and said well God didn’t show me that and I don’t think we should.” I knew what God had in store but because of his objection we didn’t the church stopped growing.
Joshua and Caleb knew that God wanted the Israelites to have this land.
David (this boy) knew this giant was no match for God
“32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
David remembered what God did in the past for him, He defeated the lion and the bear. David said to King Saul who should of known what God could do, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.
I think I told you this before Bonnie in 2003 was told she had breast Cancer stage 2 she needed an operation to remove her breast and maybe chemo or radiation. I was worried a little, no I was worried a lot. That C word that no one wants to hear hit us. Bonnie said The Lord is my Shephard, Thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, will not fear. Bonnie had more faith then I did at that time.
How big was my God, why did He allow this to happen to us. I was saying this is too big for me to handle, this was my Goliath. I was thinking the worst. Bonnie was saying God has this with a smile.
We often look at negative thing more then the positive.
III The Challenge is this: How much are you going to trust God in 2016?
A. Joshua & Caleb trusted God from the beginning.
Caleb said “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.”
B. David said “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
This new year that is coming I don’t know what it will hold, I don’t know what lies ahead.
I don’t know who the new pastor will be but I do know that My God is in control of 2016. He is the one who will bring the Grace Church of the Nazarene through 2016.
