The Promise

Slide #1

Video- Check the Box (the skit guys)

-How does a person live a satisfied life? -How does a person live a fulfilled life?

-How does a person live a God centered life?

I think all these questions can be easily answered with one simple word… willingness!

Being willing is not popular…and not easily obtained…it is rarely found in our society…but to live the picture perfect life…one must learn its meaning.

Slide #2

Deuteronomy 6:1-3. (Read)4

“These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you.

You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy,

2 and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the LORD your God as long as you live.

If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life.

3 Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.”(NLT)

Prayer

From generation to generation…people have flirted with the opportunity to enter into their very own Promise Land and claim the inheritance that God has laid aside for them.

God’s will… always has been for a man & woman… boy or girl alike to live their lives reaching the age of accountability.

At that age…admit that they are sinners…ask God to forgive them…then live a God Honoring Lifestyle

But because we are an unwilling people…still today people find themselves falling into a dangerous situation…flirting with God’s will for their lives.

It’s a situation the Israelites faced many times due to their disobedience towards God.

The Promise Land daily passes people by… and as a result…they never get to see God’s promise fulfilled in their life.

Last Sunday morning we learned about the importance of people being committed towards God and their ministries for Him.

We also were reminded that…we not only serve a God who is compassionate…but we serve a God who loves us more than we can ever imagine.

God has always provided a Promise to those who try to faithfully seek Him.

Slide #3

Turn in your Bibles to the book of Numbers chapter 13.

In Numbers Ch. 13 we find Moses following God’s instructions for his life by…choosing 12 leaders.

And sharing with them God’s plans for their future as well.

Moses was a great Biblical leader…when I think of Moses I like to think of him as… always found having a one on one with God…

He would spend much time in prayer seeking out the direction that God had prepared for his life to follow.

The most important goal in Moses life was to please God by being obedient.

Read Numbers 13:1-3; 17-20… (READ)

With God’s direction…Moses hand-picked 12 men….

One from each of the 12 Ancestral tribes of Israel…they were to enter into the Promise Land and go on a spy mission.

Moses shared with the men of the importance of them not bringing attention to themselves as they surveyed the land.

In verse 20 we read where Moses encouraged the 12 men to “Be of good courage” that they should “Enter the Land Boldly”.

They should enter it with confidence…and do not forget that it is God who was guiding them on their journey.

So for the next 40 days…theses 12 men traveled around 500 miles surveying the land of Canaan.

I remind you that Canaan was the land that God had already promised to the descendants of Abram… clear back in the book of Genesis chapter 12:7...

Slide #4

In Genesis 12:7…God shared With Abram “I am going to give this land to your offspring”. …

It was a land that would produce unbelievably sized clusters of grapes.

It was a land that would be filled with pomegranates’ and figs…

There would be large cities…established homes stocked with more food than ever thought imaginable…”A land flowing with milk and honey”.

This Promised Land was exactly what God had promised Abram it would be…and all that the Israelites had to do was cross over the Jordon River and enter into it!... …(it would be ripe for the picking)

But before the people could enter into it…we read that there were a few stipulations keeping them from entering it.

First they must first stop doubting that God was God...and second… they had to be willing to obey His commandments that He had prepared for them to live by. (Live by the law…simple…we all could do that right?)

For the Israelites this was a win…win situation.

This was the Willie Wonka Golden Ticket.

How good is God??? How great can He be???

The Promise land was not only a land “Flowing with milk and Honey” but a land that was filled with sweet pomegranates’ and figs…vineyards…olive trees…and beauty beyond imagination.