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Welcome morning, everyone. I’m glad you’re here. And just the day the Lord has made, isn’t it? You know, there was a Hispanic woman. And she had two children. The first son she had she named one. And her second son, she named the mall. But the problem is she only carried a picture of one. And so finally someone said to her, why do you only carry you have two sons? Why do you only carry a picture of your one son one. She said, when you have seen one, you’ve seen them all. That’s immerser joke. I love his jokes. Okay, don’t forget that we have discussions. fellowship time coming up. And it’s going to be a week from Friday. There’s a signup sheet out there. I really encourage you to sign up. We have a number of that have already done so, and it’s not going to be a frank answer, man, Bible Answer Man is going to be discussion. And I will, you know, possibly answer some questions you might have. But it’s just going to be a great time of fellowship, we’re going to bring something to share, meet downstairs and just have a wonderful discussion around the Word of God. And so we encourage you to do that a lot. A lot of times people have questions that they just never ask anyone about. And it’s not that I have all the answers, or Frank has all the answers. But the fact is, there might be others in the group that do have some answers for you. And so we encourage you to do that. Also, right after the second service. Today, we have our covered dish dinner, one of my favorite things, it’s just such a nice time of fellowship together, and we encourage you to make sure you come to that as well. And also, we still need workers for VBS Vacation Bible School is such a beautiful Ministry of outreach. And so what we would encourage you to do is to just sign up, there’s a whole thing out there on the bulletin board sign up, and that you might be able to help with VBS. Or you can just talk to my daughter in law, Nikki, and she might be able to help you with any areas that we have need. And I think that’s it. And so if you want to open your Bibles to Numbers, chapter 11 Numbers chapter 11, and I’m going to be covering verses one through 15. This morning and pastor Frank Jr. will be picking up on verse 16. Father we can be for you in Jesus name is there truly is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved. And I pray heavenly Father that you would be the one who would be ministering your word to each one of us this morning. Father, our desire is to know you and the power of your resurrection. And Lord, I pray that as we break open your word this morning, you’d reveal yourself to us in ways maybe we’ve never known before. And so Lord, use me Minister to these your precious people. And now come by your Holy Spirit, Lord, that we might know your presence, presence. And I asked this all in Christ Jesus name, Amen. And Amen. You know, this is a really interesting portion of Scripture, because we’re going to be looking at disgruntle complaining people. And disgruntled, disgruntled, complaining, people are neither happy nor content, never. Because they always want more. And that’s what we’re going to find here. What they have is never enough. They always want more. And we have to realize when we consider all that the Lord has done for us, why would we want more?
He’s given us eternal salvation. And it’s so interesting if you read any books about Christians in third world countries that are facing great persecution, they’re always so thankful for what they have and are never complaining by what they don’t have. And you and I have so much. You know, I was listening to in fact, the mark courts tip not tipped us off yet give you a little tip here. The Mark Kurtz told us that we needed to watch emulsified his update. He’s our guide when we go to Israel. And he is a believer in God lives in Israel. And he was sharing something that really hit me. He was taught now you all know about the corona virus is taking place in in China, it’s a virus in the ends of it has a shape of a crown and, and the Spanish for crown is Corona. And so that’s where the name comes from. And But anyway, there are these yellow jackets, the people who wear yellow jackets and they go in and they help those that are suffering from the corona virus and help them whatever ways they can. Now what’s interesting is in China, one of the worst persecution of Christians takes place they’re thrown into Some of them were put to death. Their their home churches are invaded and and they rip up their Bibles and burn them. I mean, it’s just a terrible place for Christians. But here’s the interesting thing. I’m not saying that this coronavirus is God’s judgment on China, but nevertheless, just great plague has come on China, and Christians in China are volunteering to put on the yellow jackets and help those that are suffering. And what’s happening is they’re sharing their faith openly and no one is saying a word. Because now the greatest concern they have is in putting Christianity down but, you know, not allowing this virus to become a pandemic. And so we have to realize that here you have people that if anyone could complain, they could. And yet they’re making the best of horrible situation in order to serve the Lord. To me. That was just such a blessing. Because Because one of the things we have to remember. And then and I’ve shared this with you a number of times, life is not about this life. It’s about the life to come. But we act as if life is all about this life. What do I need? What do I have? What should I get? It’s all about, but it’s always about the life to come. Because we have to understand if you live to be 95 years old, my mother in law’s 98. You live to be 98 years old. It’s but a breath compared to eternity. And so as we walk around here on Earth, it’s very, very temporary. Our footprints aren’t going to be permanent, they’re going to be lost very shortly after we die. And so what do we need to be preparing for heaven for that life to come? And so that’s one of the things that we have to take encouragement from when we look at this portion of Scripture, because so often, we make poor choices. says, trying to accumulate the things that trinkets in this world that we think will make us happy and they can’t do anything for our eternal soul that gives us true peace. So open your Bibles wine with me their numbers 11 starting with first one.
Now when the people complained, listen to this, it displeased the Lord, for the Lord heard it. And when it says For the Lord hurted, it doesn’t mean like if you look at it as he in the original context, in the Hebrew, when it says, The Lord heard it, it doesn’t mean like to let us walk, come on go What was that? I can. The Lord heard it in the sense that he hears everything. He knows everything. He hears everything. So the Lord heard it, and his anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp and keep that in mind outskirts of the camp. We’re going to talk about that in a moment. Then the people cried to cry it out tomorrow. is and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. So he called the name of the place tabo. Right. And in the Hebrew that means fire. Obviously that’s why he named it that, because the fire of the Lord burned among them. Then the mixed multitude who are among them yielded to the into intense craving. We can never allow ourselves to yield to intense craving. So the children of Israel also wept again and said, who will give us me to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, to cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic. But now, our whole bean is dried up. You can just hear them whining and complaining, can’t you? There is nothing at all, except this manner before our eyes. They forgot to mention here of course, their slavery in Egypt the whip of the taskmasters to call today cry out to God. Isn’t it amazing how we can forget all the difficulties and all the harshness of the flesh? When the craving rises up in us, it’s amazing. Verse seven, now, where am I? Okay? Now the manna was like coriander seed, and his color was like the color of the DeLeon, which is an amber color, but delima is an amber looking color. And the people went out and gathered it grounded on millstones, or they beat it in the mortar, and cooked it in pans and made cakes of it. And its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. Now to me, what else would you want? Right and that sounds good. And when the dew fell on the camp and the night demanda fell on it, then Moses heard the people weeping throughout the the families, everyone at the door of his tent. Can you imagine all sitting We don’t want me we want me in front and pastor Frank Jr. We’ll get into that in the next portion. And the anger the Lord was greatly aroused. Moses also was displeased. So Moses said to the Lord, now Moses starts going into a whining, fit, fit. Why have you afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in your eyes? And that you have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people did I begat them, that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom, as the Guardian carries the nursing child to the land which you swore to their fathers? Where am I to get meat for all these people? For the weep all over me saying, Give us meat that we may eat? Am I able to bear all these people alone because the burden is too heavy for me. He’s whining. If you treat me like this, please kill me here. And now. That’s pretty drastic. And if I I have found favor in your sight and do not let me see my wretchedness. But first off, we want to look at the fact that the anger of the Lord was aroused because the people complained. We have to understand that the Lord’s anger was not aroused because the people didn’t have enough or they didn’t have what they need it. The Lord’s anger was aroused because they had everything they needed, and they want it more. That’s why his anger was aroused. understand what I’m saying. Now, disgruntled complaining people, I believe, do more harm to ministry than even an unbeliever wanting more than what we need is always the fodder for complaining and for being disgruntled. It always says now God gave them understand everything they needed, as he does us. He gave them everything. They had shelter. They had food. They even had a cloud that gave them shade by day and a pillar of fire that gave them light and heat by night. He gave him everything that they needed.
In Matthew 611, it says, Give us today, our daily bread. And so we have to understand, if God gives us our daily bread, what else do we have to complain about? And I love in Proverbs 2728 says, death and destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man. There’s always something else we want. And that, my friends is a trap. We have to pray that the Lord would give us the satisfaction of what he has given us and to not complain and desire to want more. Now understand if we’re not satisfied With God’s provision with what he has given us, and we desire all these things of the flesh, all it’s going to do is pull us down. It’s just going to pull us down. You know, scripture actually warns, he warns, it warns us, it warns all believers, that when we carry around in this life, a desire for more than he has already provided, we’re going to not only be discontent, but we’re going to grumble, and it doesn’t stay with just us, it spreads to those around us. And so that’s the reason that our attitude needs to be right. And but so many people, oh, you know, they want to complain and grumble and and and if you try to tell them no, just be happy, just just be content with what God has given you all then you’re being legalistic. And so they want to just complain and cry and grumble When difficulty comes their way, because of their attitude, then they cry out to God. Just like the children here. No, we don’t have meat to eat. We don’t have meat to eat. And God says, Okay, I’ll give you some judgment to those rebels on the outside of the camp. And then, oh, god, protect us. How often do we do that? Oh God, I need this. Oh, God, I need that. And then when difficulty comes our way, because of our appetites, oh, God help me. We need to learn to be satisfied with everything that the Lord has given us. The thing is, to me is so amazing, is when we finally do cry out to God. Oh, God help me I’ll be he listens. Isn’t it amazing? What a loving God we had. You know, I think if someone was complaining about the way I did everything, and then when they cried out for my help, I’d say well, you got what you got. That’s what you deserve. But the Lord isn’t that way he listens. Because the thing we have to understand is the problem is that when troublemakers, complain, it doesn’t stay just with them. It spreads out among the people. It’s amazing how complaining can be almost like a pandemic itself. It’s just like a virus. It just flows through other people when we allow ourselves to fall to that. And this is why we should avoid the but people now you’re wondering what are the but people well, here we go. I love the Lord, but I love all that God has given me. But I love the teaching of the word, but I really love you. But and anytime we add a but to anything we’re saying, what we’re saying is I’m dissatisfied. And and we’re complaining shouldn’t ever be I love you, but it’s I love you. It’s never I’m thankful for what God has given me. But it’s just I’m thankful to what the Lord has given me. We have to remove. I’m not trying to be funny, we have to remove all those big butts. Just joking. We have to remove all those butts from our heart and from our life, because it’s our attitude you understand. Now, it’s interesting that the rabble It was a mixed multitude that are mentioned here are those that were outside the camp complaining, they pulled themselves away from the camp. When it says outside the camp, it says in the Hebrew means removed from the camp. And so when God’s fire, you know, fell, it actually fell on those that were walking away, moving away from him, turn from him, and we’re moving away from the rest of the body. That’s why it specifically says those in the outskirts are those who, who had moved away. Now. Here’s the thing that happens. You have people that confess how holiness, but freely indulge in the things of the flesh. They want to they want to be considered mature, that seldom pray or study the Word. They want to be considered spiritual. And yet your Converse that conversation is completely worldly.
thing we have to understand is it’s an old fashioned euphemism we’ve heard in the church over the years. We need to walk our talk. You know, so many of us talk our walk. But we need to walk our talk. God has given us so much why can’t we just be satisfied and pleased with what he’s given us? You know, here’s, here’s the point. We should be satisfied with what the word has given us, whether it be much or little. And the reason I say that is we think the only people are not having enough saying, Oh, God, I wish I had board. But there are sometimes Christians who have a real blessing from God and they think I don’t deserve to have all that I Have, hey, what has God given you? be satisfied with it. If he’s giving you much, praise the Lord, if he’s giving you a little, praise the Lord, because the only thing that matters is the life to come. We can’t live as I mentioned earlier, as if life is about this life, so about the life to come the very quickly maybe more quickly than we think we’re going to be with the Lord. It’s an amazing thing. Now the food from God that He gave them the man it was not boring. It tasted great. And when it talks about grinding it and using the motor motor and it means that you can make it into anything. I mean, people could take this man it and make it into anything. They made man and bread. They made manicotti. That’s an old Steve Greenstein, any of you who remember Steve green But you understand the point I’m making, it really was everything that they needed. It was a miracle food supply by god that was perfectly nutritional and and gave them all the strength they had to have. And we can understand this the complaining, right? How many of us have started eating healthy and we feel great. You know, we’re cutting out the sugar and all the carbs and we’re eating more protein and more green vegetables, and we’re eating right and we’re feeling really, really good. We’re feeling healthy because we’re eating right. God is giving us everything we need in the food we’re eating. And then we start complaining to one another. Oh, remember when we used to sit around the table with the fried chicken and, and the French fries. Remember the big bowls of ice cream with all the wonderful toppings the m&m that crushed up each bar in the you know and the whipped cream and the curious of all I’m using it as kind of a joke but is an attitude oftentimes that we have in life. You know, we’re feeling good because of our walk with the Lord and everything that God has given us. And then we start desiring more things to the flesh, other things. And it brings us to that attitude of feeling sorry for ourselves. And I don’t want to be part of the mixed multitude that are complaining to the Lord. Because to us, brothers and sisters, this manner is a picture of Christ being everything we need, not only for this life, but for the life to come. I mean, think about it. He is everything we need, as we walk through this life, but also for the life to come. Turn with me to the gospel of john, chapter six, verse 14, and I’m going to start with part of verse 49 and verse 15. The Gospel of john chapter six, go to verse 49.
JOHN 4649 your forefathers he’s talking about the portion we’re reading right now. your forefathers eight manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which you may eat and not die. And the bread from heaven is Jesus Christ. When you eat of him, you’ll never die. And so we have to understand it’s never a matter of us having our stomachs filled is having our spirit filled. It’s never a matter of of what we haven’t, don’t have. It’s a matter of our fellowship, your relationship with Almighty God. It’s such a an amazing thing how easy it is for us to be distracted by the flesh. And then when we find ourselves operating in the spirit section peace and joy we have, you know, like you could sit in front of your TV at night, and turn on the news, and be distracted and discouraged and disappointed and angry and frustrated. Or you could put on worship music in your soul and spirit just sings to the Lord. It’s just an awesome thing. When you finally make that decision to turn away from what the flesh is calling you to, to what God is calling you to, and what a blessing it is. You know, it’s a funny thing, when you’ve had a night of victory, how you want to share it. I mean, last night was one of those nights for me, I sat down and I listened to the entire book of Revelation and my wireless headphones and then I went upstairs and via and I put on our smart TVs smarter than us. And you just go go to all your favorite worship songs you can hear the original artists are watching original artists perform. It’s such a blessing, isn’t it? The Because the flesh is never satisfied, and the spirit just rejoices in whatever, you know, we have in our relationship with the Lord. It’s just an amazing thing. Now, to me, it’s so amazing that Jesus is all we need. And yet we desire the things of this world in the flesh, even though the things of this world in the flesh bring destruction. Because I don’t know if you realize this, whenever you’re not satisfied, it’s someone else’s fault. Did you know that it’s someone else’s fault? It’s the government’s fault. It’s your spouse’s fault. It’s your friend’s fault. It’s your employer. It’s always someone else’s fault. If you don’t have it, you need someone else’s fault. And the problem you have with that is you’re just going to be frustrated. Because the reality is we have everything we need. We’re still saved. We’re born again of the Spirit. We’re going to heaven.
That trumpet could sound right now, hallelujah. Quickly, Lord Jesus, and we can be gone from here. And when we’re gone from here, we’re going, I guarantee if we’re not going to be saying, oh, the leaks that we had, and we sat by the fires of Egypt, and we’re not going to be thinking any of that we’re going to be before the throne of God and singing hallelujah. You know, you want to read in Revelation, and cind, chapter six, and the end of five and beginning the six sons, and is the great multitude from every nation time, and we’re all before God singing praises to him. I mean, how amazing is that going to be? You know, some people and especially young people say, You mean, all we’re going to do is just be praising the Lord for all eternity. Yep. And it’s going to be wonderful. ever noticed. We’re trying to find the balance of extremes. You know, you get up in the morn. Morning, it’s freezing in here. So for us, we have a whistle, you get the wood stove really cooking, then it’s like, oh my gosh, I’m so hot, you know. And we’re always going from one extreme to another trying to find a balance. But when we’re with the Lord, it’s going to be complete balance in our relationship with him, complete peace, complete joy. I mean, read about that throne standing before the throne, just praising God of the 24 hours of 40 living creatures and thousands upon thousands of angels. And we’re going to be among that number praising God. So amazing to me, the joy that we have set before us. Now let me see where I left off here. I got so into it, I forgot where I was. Okay, way down here. So we have to understand when we read here, it talks about Moses complaining and that’s it. encouraging to me that Moses complained, you might be thinking, well, Pastor, why is that encouraging to you that Moses complained, because it tells me in Exodus 3311. So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to a friend. So here you have Moses, the friend of God is he’s called the friend of God in the Bible. And he spoke with the Lord face to face his one man, you know, talks with a brother or a friend. That’s the kind of intimate relationship he had with God, and yet we find him faltering. In fact, he wasn’t even able to enter into the promised land with the rest of the children of Israel, because he faltered. Remember that people started complaining again, you know, we need water. And the Lord told him speak to the rock, and water will flow out for the people. And instead, Moses struct iraq three times and said, shall we Well, it wasn’t me it was just God. And so for that problem that he had there and taking his eyes off of the Lord and putting it on himself, he wasn’t able to enter into the promised land with the people. And yet he was a friend of God. I don’t think there’s anyone that we can find in Scripture that it had a closer relationship with God than Moses. So what does it speak to us? It’s encouraging. Because while we are found in the flesh, guess what brothers and sisters, you’re not going to be perfect. You’re going to make mistakes, you’re probably going to complain, I know probably none of you ever complain, but you’re probably going to complain, you’re probably going to be dissatisfied, you’re probably going to grumble, feel sorry for yourself. But it’s okay.
Because you have a loving relationship with your God. And he understands the frailty of our flesh. As a matter of fact, he came to this world World in the flesh, not only to die for us, but Scripture tells us that he understands all of our feelings. He understands all of our shortcomings all of our temptations, though he never sinned, he was he was here in the flesh, he understands. So when we cry out to our God, we’re crying out to one who understands. And so you should never be discouraged with yourself because you’re not perfect. Because, well, I made this mistake and I made that mistake. Well, all you have to do is confess your wrongdoing, and he’ll forgive you, he’ll purify you, and he lifts you up and he’ll carry you along in a wonderful, loving relationship with himself. What a wonderful God we serve. That’s the kind of God we have. And that’s the reason it’s so important for you and I to never judge ourselves too harshly. Now, it’s okay to judge others harshly. That’s what we do, isn’t it? But We should never judge ourselves too harshly either. You know, Pastor Frank Jr, talks about those times of self loathing, you know, you’re laying in bed three o’clock the morning you wake up. And I understand that because I have more years to sell flows than Frank does. But I know those times, but then I always think of the fact that the Lord knows my frame. He knows my weaknesses. He knows my shortcomings, and he loves me, anyway. And so we have to realize it’s always the attitude of our heart. Our faith isn’t perfect, our performance isn’t perfect, but the attitude of our heart is Jesus, I love you. I want to obey you. I want to follow you closely. And I love in Ecclesiastes, the Solomon gives the summation of all of his thoughts about the Lord. He says this. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments. For this is man’s all Wow, what a beautiful conclusion. For all of us, here God, love him serve Him and understand that he is patient with us wishing for none to perish. If we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive us and purify us. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His son purifies us from Austin. This is the God we serve, loving, forgiving, encouraging God. And so my encouragement to you brothers and sisters, is, let’s try to move away from our complaining and our grumbling because it hurts no one more than it does us. You know, my father used to say, it doesn’t do any good to complain. He said because 50% of the people you complain to don’t care and the other 50% are glad. So it doesn’t do any good to come. plane, the best thing to do is to just praise God for what we do have. You know what I’m saying? Father, we come before you in Jesus name and how thankful we are for what we do have. You’ve given us eternal life, you’ve given us the promise of heaven. And you’ve given us one another to fellowship with and to love. And so I pray heavenly Father, that great contentment would fall upon us. And I ask this in Jesus name, Amen. And Amen. And speaking of contentment, we’re going to be sharing in the Lord’s table. And what a beautiful gift. This is from God, understand this is a gift from God. The Lord’s Table is. He said, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, do it in remembrance of me. That’s why we have that on our communion table. Because what we have to remember is, he died that we might live. We have to remember he’s coming back. We have to remember There’s going to be a time that he’s going to share communion, not only with the 12 disciples, but with all of us.
Scripture tells us that he’s going to share communion with us in heaven. I can’t even imagine that. I can’t even imagine. How is that going to work? Well, I don’t think in our little pea human brains, we can figure it out. God’s omnipresent and he’s omnipotent, and he’s omniscient, so he can do whatever he wants, he can be everywhere at one time. So when he shares community with us, in my own personal feeling, he’s going to share it with each one of us personally. Wow. That’s the God we serve. And because of His love, and because he knows how easy it is for us to forget, he’s given us this sacrament, to remind us of the salvation that we have and the promises we have in him. I mean, one day, and one day very soon, we’re going to be with the Lord. Father, I pray as we share this communion together, that it would bless us, it would encourage us, and help us to walk with you. Father, I pray that the distractions of this world and the temptations of life would just fall off us like rain off of a rubber coat, and that we would just feel just immense joy in your presence, and that the things of this world would pale in comparison. And so Father, I pray that you would prepare the hearts of each one, as we share in this communion this morning, that they would be thankful for the fact that you, you allowed your body to be beaten and broken and you shed your blood, for no other reason than love, that we might be able to come back into full communion and relationship with you. And so prepare our hearts and give us Lord just give us a spirit of confession and repentance I pray in Jesus name, amen and amen brothers.
You know, I love it that our Lord was always given examples. He’s giving illustrations, because illustrations help us to understand. And when they were in the upper room, it was the week of unleavened bread. And so all the bread they would be eating would be just like this unleavened bread, what we call matzah. But he took the bread and he broke it as an illustration, saying, My body’s going to be broken for you, my bloods going to be shed, because I love you. And that’s something that we always have to remember. No matter what difficulties no matter what challenges life brings us. Jesus Christ died for you, personally. He knew your name before the foundations of the world were laid. When he hung on that cross in pain and agony, taking the sin of the world upon himself. He knew you by name. That’s the God we serve. You know, I think sometimes we think of when he took the sin of the world upon himself did it was just some kind of euphemism. It wasn’t every filthy sin you’ve ever committed. He felt it was on him. The agony, the only time he cried out, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He was quoting the 22nd. Psalm jomi time he cried out, because he knew every one of our sins. And therefore when he died in that cross, as a propitiation, every one of our sins was forgiven. Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He takes our sin from us as far as the east is from the west, and he remembers them no more. And sometimes, most often, in fact, all of us, we require that need that From the Lord every day, don’t wait. Take my sin from me as far as the east is from the west, and remember it no more. This is why when we share communion, we can eat and drink and be so thankful to our God.
Father, I thank you for this sacrament, this reminder of all that you have done for each one of us. And I pray, Lord, that You would truly cause this communion this sacrament to nourish our souls and spirit and heart and help us Lord, to walk more closely with you I pray in Jesus, Yeshua his name, amen, and amen. God bless you, my friends.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai