November 7, 2025 • 30 mins
Moses grinned as He sent twelve leaders into the Promised Land to bring back a report about how great and grand their new home would be. But when those twelve men returned after forty days of recon, all of them weren't so excited. Pick up your Bible or phone and turn to Numbers 14 to hear the story.
This episode is based on the God's Word for Life, Fall 2025 Adult Lesson Guide entitled, "The Wilderness Wanderings" (November 9, 2025).
Find an Apostolic church that preaches this glorious gospel and our response at UPCI.org
This episode is produced by the Pentecostal Resources Group and is hosted by LJ Harry. To order resources of the God's Word for Life curriculum, visit
PentecostalPublishing.com and PentecostalResourcesGroup.com.
Share your God's Word for Life stories with me at pphcurriculum@upci.org.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
A missionary spent a great deal of his life traveling
around the world, much of it fora missions agency.
He spoke of a time when hevisited and stayed for a while
in an extremely remote, forestedpart of India where people lived
very primitively.
He was interested in somethingcalled missiology, which partly
deals with how to take thegospel to other people groups.
(00:22):
A key concept in missiology islearning what impacts the
culture of that group you'retrying to reach and
understanding what matters tothem, understanding what they
value.
After being there for a whileand having many conversations
with people, this missionaryspoke with a chief elder.
Through a translator he askedthe question What are the five
worst things people can do?
(00:45):
He thought he already knew theanswer, he thought he would get
an answer like murder or assaultor some such heinous crime.
But when the chief elder listedhis top five worst offenses, the
first one was slander.
The missionary was taken aback,kind of rocked back on his heels
a little bit and asked thequestion really?
(01:07):
You would put slander ahead ofmurder?
And the elder wisely answered,Yes.
If you kill a man, you havekilled him.
He's gone.
If you slander him, you try todeceitfully destroy his
reputation, you have killed himwhile he yet lives.
When the children of Israelspoke a slanderous report
(01:29):
concerning the promised land,they were chipping away at the
reputation of the living God.
He had proven himself to themrepeatedly since they left
Egypt, and now that they were atthe brink of the promised land.
They were declaring him unableto deliver on his promise.
Their lack of faith caused themto miss what God had prepared
for them, and for many of themit became a death sentence.
(01:52):
We must speak faith and notdoubt about our God.
He can deliver.
He's already proven it.
Just look back at the Red Sea.
Look back at the plagues onEgypt.
When you face overwhelmingobstacles, do not slander the
God who has already shown He iswell able and willing to deliver
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you.
First question before we go tothe voiceover guy: do you speak
more about your problems or yourGod?
And while you merit on that one,let's hear from this guy.
SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
Welcome to God's Word for Life Lesson Companion
Podcast, brought to you by Wordof Flame Curriculum and the
Pentecostal Publishing House.
This podcast encourages adultdisciples to think deeply about
God's Word, further developtheir personal relationship with
Jesus Christ, and make a greatercommitment to the purpose and
plan of God for their lives.
(02:50):
Let's dive into today's lessonand explore what it means to
live out God's Word in ourlives.
SPEAKER_00 (02:56):
All right, everybody, put their pencils
down now that you've answeredthat first question.
I want to introduce myself.
My name is L.J.
Harry.
I'll be your proctor for thisexam.
I will also be your host forthis podcast.
And you're listening to theGod's Word for Life lesson
companion podcast.
Today's episode is entitled TheWilderness Wanderings, and it
comes from the book of Numbers,chapter 14, verses 30 through
(03:20):
31.
Doubtless you shall not comeinto the land concerning which I
swear to make you dwell therein,save Caleb, the son of Jefuna,
and Joshua the son of Nun, butyour little ones, which you said
would be a prey, them will Ibring in, and they shall know
the land which you havedespised.
(03:40):
If in your Bible reading youtypically skip over the book of
Numbers, not today, we are goingto look deeply at the Book of
Numbers and look deeply at whathappened to the children of
Israel and why many of themmissed on the promise God had
promised them.
They were ready, they wereexcited, they wanted to claim
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the promised land.
They had followed the cloud fromthe Red Sea to Mount Sinai, and
now they stood on the brink offulfilling a promise God had
given to Abraham hundreds ofyears earlier.
God instructed Moses to choose aleader from each tribe and send
them as spies into the land.
See if this starting lineupsounds familiar.
We have Shamua, Shaphat, Caleb,Egal, Oshea, Palti, Gadiel,
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Gadi, Amiel, Sether, Nabi, Guel,and Joshua.
Those are the twelve spies Mosessent into the promised land to
spy out the land.
But motive matters.
Moses sent them on areconnaissance mission to gather
information about the number andstrength of the people, the
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condition of the cities, theproductivity of the land.
But this was already their landby covenant promise, by their
covenant making, covenantkeeping God.
God was not telling them, I wantyou to go into the land and let
me know if you think I'm bigenough.
God was telling them, I want youto go in the land and look at
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your new home and be excitedabout where you're about to
live.
This was not go into the landand let me know about the giants
I don't know about.
This recon mission was all aboutgo into the land and then come
back and tell the rest of thepeople all about this beautiful,
too wonderful for words landthey're about to inherit.
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Because I made you a promise,and I keep my promises.
God knew all the facts before hesent them on the spy mission.
He knew the people were strong,the cities were fortified, he
knew the children of Anak livedthere.
God did not need the Israelitesto tell him the condition of the
promised land.
This was an exercise of faithfor Israel.
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After forty days they returnedto Israel and carried the bounty
of the land.
But these men could only see theobstacles.
The Bible says ten men broughtback a bad report.
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King James Version translates itan evil report, Numbers 13,
verse 32.
But according to many sources,the Hebrew word is even stronger
than evil.
It means a slanderous ordefamatory report.
With their account, with theirstory.
The spies were not just sharingtheir opinion, they were
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slandering and defaming theAlmighty God with their report.
Remember, the land alreadybelonged to Israel.
It was their promised land.
It was not their hoped for orone day you might get it, land.
God promised them that land.
When he brought them out ofEgypt, he knew where he was
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bringing them.
God's purpose was simply to showthem the beauty and abundance he
had already prepared for them.
They were going to live incities they did not build, and
eat from vineyards they did notplant, but they only focused on
the enemy.
What an insult to God, the sameGod who had already brought them
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from their enemies through theRed Sea, and destroyed their
last enemy completely as theywatched the Egyptian slave
drivers wash up on the shore ofthe Red Sea?
How could they doubt that hewould once again deliver the
land he had promised them?
Next question.
What comes to mind when youthink of a slanderous report?
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How can slander hinder what Godwants to do?
Let me be very clear.
What we say does not diminishGod.
It just diminishes our faith inGod.
We can't make him any smaller,we can't make him any larger.
He already fills all time andspace.
He's already the beginning andthe ending, the first and the
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last, the Alpha and the Omega.
He's already the Almighty God.
You can say what you feel likeyou need to say, what you want
to say.
It does not diminish God.
It just begins to chip away atyour faith in God, to where you
start to wonder and question,does he care?
Does he know?
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Is he able?
Is he willing?
When you start to ask thosequestions, then you start to
wonder, is God really as greatas Scripture says he is?
Let me tell you, he is.
In fact, he's greater than wecan really imagine.
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Paul said it like this now untohim that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all we ask orthink according to the power
that worketh in us.
When God revealed himself toMoses, he revealed himself to
Moses as I am.
Whatever you need, Moses, if youneed a cloud to guide you by day
and fire to guide you by night,I am.
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If you need a healer when thewater is bitter, I am.
If you need a lawgiver to giveyou direction and boundaries and
guidelines by which you shouldlive your life and be in
covenant with me and withothers, I am.
If you need a warrior to rise upand fight the enemy you cannot
fight on your own, I am.
Whatever you need from me, I am.
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It's the same with us.
Whatever you need our God to be,he is healer, deliverer, savior,
redeemer.
He fights for us.
He stands with us, he goesbefore us, he leads us, he
provides for us, he protects us,he is I am.
But understand what Israel wasabout to understand,
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conversation matters.
We must be careful when we speakof our situations, our trials,
we're not slandering our God.
If God has promised us, it willcome to pass, his word is sure.
In fact, in Romans 3, theApostle Paul said, Let God be
true and every man a liar.
If eight billion people on thisplanet say God cannot do it, God
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can still do it.
It just diminishes our faith.
It does not diminish his power.
When we face an obstacle,magnify our God more than our
obstacle.
Victory begins with what we say,with our words, life and death,
they are indeed in the power ofthe tongue.
Ten men, ten spies, men you'veprobably never heard of before,
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spoke death into a camp ofthousands.
Not just because they believethemselves to be grasshoppers,
because that's how they saidwhen they came back.
They told the people they cameback.
Imagine that reunion as theycome back sullen.
They're carrying grapes onpoles.
They're so large.
But when the people of Israelsee them, they, hey, hey, hey,
what's it like?
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What's it look like?
What's how how how big is it?
How great is it?
How grand is it?
And they have frowns on theirfaces, and some have wiped their
tears where they've been crying,and they ask them, What, what?
And they said, Oh, oh, it's it'severything Moses told us God
told him it would be.
Yeah, it's huge, it's large,it's beautiful, but it's walled,
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it's fortified, it's filled withgiants.
In fact, we look likegrasshoppers to us, and we even
look like grasshoppers to them.
How do they know that?
They spoke defeat aboutthemselves, and they were
convinced the enemy saw them asdefeated.
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But they didn't know that.
They didn't know what the enemysaw them as.
They just saw themselves, and sothey thought the enemy would see
them in the same way.
The power of ten brought a deathsentence on thousands.
Our conversation matters.
But there were two men, thankGod for two men, Joshua and
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Caleb, who continued to havefaith in God to be their
strength.
Our faith in God overcomes ourfear, and our conversation has
consequences of good and bad.
I remember during the pandemicwe saw this t-shirt, we saw this
hashtag all over the place,faith over fear.
That's a great way to live.
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Faith in God over fear.
Choose today, no matter thecircumstances, no matter the
trial, no matter how you seeyourself, choose to speak about
the greatness of your God morethan about your enemy.
Those ten men's slanderousreport turned the hearts of the
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children of Israel, had aneffect on so many people.
They spent the night andmourning, crying, weeping,
grieving.
They grieved a loss before theyeven played the game.
But the next day, they went evena step further by rebelling
against God and Moses.
They even planned to return toEgypt.
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I want you to remember what Godhad brought them from.
Later on in Scripture, Godrefers to Egypt as the iron
smelting furnace of Egypt.
They were not members of aresort in Egypt.
They were slaves, slaving awayunder Egypt's blazing sun,
building treasure cities for aPharaoh they neither knew nor
(13:30):
loved.
But they thought going back wasbetter than going forward.
Moses and Aaron fell to theground because they understood
this wasn't just a statementmade in anger.
This was an act of rebellionagainst God.
God had faithfully provenhimself to be their deliverer.
He had led them by a pillar ofcloud by day, a pillar of fire
(13:50):
by night.
He had protected them fromenemies round about.
But the congregation's fear andanger were so inflamed they
conspired to stone Moses andJoshua to death.
That was all God could take.
Suddenly his glory appeared atthe tent of meeting before the
eyes of all of Israel, and Godwas ready to pronounce judgment
on his own people.
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Rebellion and rioting are twothings God will not tolerate.
And when the children of Israelrebelled and rioted, God
immediately showed up.
Be careful your lack of faith inthe God who has proven himself
already repeatedly does not leadto rebellion.
You will not know how God willwork it out.
I don't know how God will workit out.
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That's okay.
Remember, God does not alwayscall us to understand, but He
does always call us to trustHim.
Let's increase our faith dailyby remembering who our God is
and all He has done for us.
If you don't already do this, dothis.
Keep a journal of the prayersGod has answered.
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Keep a journal of the times Godhas spoken to you and promised
you.
Keep a journal of all thewonderful works God has done in
your life.
And in those times when you feellike God is silent or even
absent, look back on thatjournal.
Look back on those you mightcall them memorial stones, and
look back at what God has doneand rejoice in who he is and
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what he will do.
If you don't journal, then openup the journal, open up the Word
of God, and just begin to walkthrough the Word of God and see
what God has done.
And know what he has donebefore.
He can and he will do it again,and he will do a new thing he
has never done, just because heis God and He knows no limit.
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Israel was so discouraged theywished they had died in Egypt
where at least they could havebeen buried.
They were convinced theCanaanites would kill them and
prey on their wives and on theirchildren.
Numbers 14, verse 3.
Then God shared his plan withMoses to destroy the entire
congregation and begin anew withMoses.
If Moses were in this forhimself, if he were leaving
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Israel for fame or theretirement package, he might
think, okay, they're going totalk about me, Moses, the father
of the faithful.
In fact, if God does start allover, he may even change the
name of the nation.
It might be the children ofMoses, not the children of
Israel.
They might be the Mosesites.
I know it doesn't really soundthe same, but work with me here.
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He could be the God of Moses,Eliezer, and Rehabiah, not the
God of Abraham, Isaac, andJacob.
If Moses were in it for himselfand for the retirement package,
Moses would have said, Greatplan, God, where do I sign?
But he wasn't.
Moses was not leading for hisname's sake.
He was leading for God's.
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So Moses interceded for God'speople who wanted to stone him.
What mercy.
They want to stone you, Moses,and you're going to pray for
them?
And Moses reminded God that ifyou destroy the nation of
Israel, the nations around uswill declare that destroying
them was the only reason youdelivered them from Egypt.
You wanted to destroy them, notlet Pharaoh destroy them.
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Moses also reminded God of hisgreat nature.
Lord, don't forget you're slowto anger.
You abound in steadfast love,and you forgive iniquity.
Don't forget who you are.
You have every right to destroyus, but don't forget you're
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merciful.
The ten spies had alreadyslandered God.
Moses did not want anothernation to follow in their
faithless footsteps.
Here's a question.
If God made you the same deal asHe made Moses, how would you
have responded?
I'll make it all about you,Moses.
It'll start over with you.
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What do you think?
How would you have responded?
The Israelites should have beenthankful for a godly leader who
stood between them and God'sjustifiable, justified anger.
God listened to Moses' plea, andI I believe he smiled.
He spared the nation, but therewere severe consequences for
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their slander.
The people, from the ages oftwenty years old and upward, who
saw God's glory, who saw thesigns he had performed to
deliver them from Egypt, broughtthem through the Red Sea, they
were sentenced to die while theywandered in the wilderness.
The only two who would be sparedwere the only two who believed,
Joshua and Caleb.
Hey, great news.
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We don't have to be in themajority to be the majority.
Again, if eight billion peoplesay God cannot, in one single
solitary, faith-filled voicespeaks up and says, Yes, God
can, that one voice and God makethe majority.
You don't have to be in themajority at your work or at your
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school in order for God to be onyour side.
God is not swayed by polls andby protests or by trends.
He is attracted to truth andfaith.
In an interesting twist, Goddecided their little ones they
thought would be prey.
In fact, they declared it.
Oh, if we go in the promisedland, they're going to prey on
our children, they're going totake our children, they're going
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to kill our children.
God told them, No, they won't.
I will fight for your children.
They will inherit and dwell inthe land you have rejected.
So forty years.
Forty years they wandered in thewilderness.
One year for each day the spiesspent in the promised land.
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The wilderness, which shouldhave been a temporary place,
became a permanent burialbecause of their slander.
Today we stand like the childrenof Israel before a great
promise.
But we cannot allow a lack offaith to destroy what God has
designed for us.
We have we are abundant withpromise.
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God has promised us so manygreat promises, the scripture
refers to them as exceeding ingreat and precious promises.
God has promised revival in thelast day he will pour out his
spirit upon all flesh.
God has promised, perhapspromised you, that he will bring
your lost son or daughter backto him, or he's promised he'll
bring your brother or sisterback to him, or he's promised
he's going to touch and healyour body, whether here or
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there.
God has promised he's going toprovide for you, take care of
you.
God has promised if you'veplanted that church, he will
bring people who are hungry tothat church so they can hear and
heed the word of God.
He's promised to lead us tohungry people and lead us to
people who are looking for himand lead hungry people to us.
God has promised us.
Don't forget what he's promised,and don't slander him because he
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has not brought to pass thatpromise yet.
Don't allow a lack of faith todestroy what God has already
promised.
We've got testimonies.
God has already delivered usfrom a life of destruction, a
life of misery, a life of nohope.
Do not forget God's mercy, God'smiracles, God's mighty hand that
has already worked for us.
If God has brought you out, thendeclare by the grace of God, I
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will never return.
We're not going back to Egypt.
The only way from this dayforward is forward.
Against the majority opinion,Joshua and Caleb never broke
covenant with God.
They never lost faith in hispower to give them the promised
land.
They never spoke or agreed withan evil report.
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And because of theirfaithfulness to God, God was
faithful to them, deliveringthem from death in the
wilderness and into a land fullof blessings and promise.
Don't allow an evil report toturn your faith to rebellion,
denying you the promises of God.
Caleb declared they were allwell able to overcome the
obstacles because it was theirpromised land because their God
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promised him.
Even when Caleb was eighty-fiveyears old, he was an
octogenarian plus five.
He was still ready to claim thepromised land God had promised
them.
The power of keeping covenantwith God is revealed as he keeps
covenant with you and keeps allhe has promised.
We need people like Joshua andCaleb in our lives.
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Who are those people for you?
And how can you be a Joshua orCaleb in somebody else's life?
Abraham received a covenantpromise and a land.
The Israelites received thepromised land in a detailed
document explaining how toremain in covenant with God, the
Ten Commandments.
In the handbook on thePentateuch, Dr.
(22:32):
Chris Paris reveals God gaveboth apodictic, which were
prohibitive, and casuistic,conditional, laws in the Ten
Commandments to the people.
The prohibitive laws areabsolute, while the conditional
laws regard conditionalsituations.
God had repeatedly experiencedthe inconsistency of sinful
humanity.
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Therefore, the Pentateuch gavethe Israelites a detailed plan
to remain in covenant with God.
Just before Moses died, hedelivered the people in written
form and in a public address,the book of Deuteronomy, the
last message, repeating the lawsto help them live in covenant
with God while living in theprosperity of the promised land.
Deuteronomy literally meanssecond law, Deuterone, second,
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Nami Law.
It was God giving them the lawone more time so they would not
forget who He is and what He hasdone, and what they are called
to do in this covenant.
If we have obeyed God's plan ofsalvation according to Acts 2,
verse 38, we are blessed to havethe supernatural help of
Almighty God, His Holy Spiritwalking with us as we walk in
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covenant with him.
The laws from the Old Testamentwere written only on tables of
stone, but now have been writtenon our hearts.
When we say yes to God's Spirit,we declare the Lord will be our
God.
We enter new covenant with Him,but we must learn from the
children of Israel and not allowa lack of faith to cause us to
rebel against God.
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We must have the spirit ofJoshua and Caleb and determine
we will live according to God'splan so we can be God's covenant
people.
And with that, we wrap this up.
One Saturday morning a ministerwas busily trying to prepare his
sermon under difficultconditions.
Ho ho, I have been there manytimes.
(24:19):
It was a rainy day.
His young son was restless andbored with a little to do.
So finally, in desperation, theminister picked up an old
magazine and thumbed through ituntil he came to a brightly
colored picture.
It showed a map of the world.
He tore the page from themagazine, ripped it into little
pieces, and scattered the scrapsall over the living room floor,
and he said, Son, if you can putthis page together, I'll give
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you a dollar.
The minister hoped thatchallenge would take his son
most of the morning, but tenminutes later.
Wonder what he wants.
What if he just needs some help?
He heard a knock on the door.
His son was done.
He had completed the puzzle.
Oh well that was short lived.
The minister was still staringat a blank screen and a blinking
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cursor, trying to figure outwhat am I going to preach to
these people tomorrow?
But he got up and he walked overto where his son was, and he was
amazed.
He really had finished theproject so soon.
The pieces of paper neatlyarranged and the map of the
world back in order.
And he asked the question, Son,how did you get that done so
fast?
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And the son sagely said, Oh,that was easy.
On the other side was a pictureof a man.
So I just put a piece of paperon the bottom, put the picture
of the man together, put a pieceof paper on top, and then turned
it all over.
And I figured if I get theperson right, the world would be
right.
His dad smiled, handed him adollar, and told his son, You uh
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you earned that dollar, but youalso gave me my sermon for
tomorrow.
If a person is right, his worldwill be right.
And he went back to the blankscreen and blinking cursor and
started typing away for what hewould preach that Sunday.
The Old Testament covenant was agreat document to guide the
behavior of Israel in theirrelationship with God and with
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others.
But as wonderful and detailed asit was, it could not accomplish
what it was created to do.
But why not?
Because humanity was not right.
Humans needed more than a law,they needed transformation.
They needed to be changed.
We need to be changed from theinside out so we could learn to
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obey the covenant laws of God.
When God rewrote the laws underthe hearts of humanity through
the infilling of His HolySpirit, new people, new
creations were born.
These new people were right.
The law of God was written onour hearts, and now we're able
to live right through hisspirit.
When we allow God's covenant tolead our lives, we want to be in
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right relationship with God andeach other.
Instead of focusing on puttingthe world together right, let's
focus on getting ourselves incovenant with God right.
As that young boy so wiselysaid, if a person is right, his
world will be right.
One last question.
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What needs to be made right inyour life in order for your
world to also be right?
Let's pray for God to increaseour faith so we trust in Him to
lead us to what He has promisedus, and then pray for God to
cover our mouths so we willspeak by faith instead of
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speaking slanderous reportsabout our Almighty God.
Lord Jesus, we love you today.
Increase our faith.
Increase our faith that you areable, you are willing to keep
what you've promised.
You will never fail to keep yourpromise, never failed one word
of all your great promises.
Help us, Lord, I pray, cover ourmouth if you must.
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Help us, Lord, to speak onlyfaith and not slander about who
you are and what you will do,even in moments we don't
understand or we don't know howyou're going to do it.
Help us still to speak faith.
We know you're able.
We know you're willing.
We know you are still God.
Help us today, Jesus, increaseour faith, and help us, Lord, to
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speak only faith concerning whoyou are and what you're able to
do.
In the name of Jesus Christ wepray.
Amen.
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(28:36):
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(28:59):
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resources for your walk with Godand your relationship with Him
and with others, so we can livein covenant with God and with
our neighbors.
Next week, we go into anothersegment of the Bible.
It's a segment we call Judgesand Kings.
(29:42):
We've gone from the Exodus, andnow we're going deeper into the
Bible as we journey from Genesisto Revelation, and our next
week's episode is calledCrossing the Jordan River.
I'm looking forward to sharingthat with you next week, and
always look forward to learningand living out God's Word for
life.
SPEAKER_01 (30:00):
Thank you for listening to God's Word for Life
Lesson Companion Podcast, wheretogether we explore what it
means to live out God's Word inour lives.
If you haven't yet, make sure tosubscribe to this podcast.
And if you are looking for otherBible study tools and resources
to encourage you in your walkwith God, visit us today at
Pentecostal Publishing.com.
A missionary spent a great deal of his life traveling
around the world, much of it fora missions agency.
He spoke of a time when hevisited and stayed for a while
in an extremely remote, forestedpart of India where people lived
very primitively.
He was interested in somethingcalled missiology, which partly
deals with how to take thegospel to other people groups.
(00:22):
A key concept in missiology islearning what impacts the
culture of that group you'retrying to reach and
understanding what matters tothem, understanding what they
value.
After being there for a whileand having many conversations
with people, this missionaryspoke with a chief elder.
Through a translator he askedthe question What are the five
worst things people can do?
(00:45):
He thought he already knew theanswer, he thought he would get
an answer like murder or assaultor some such heinous crime.
But when the chief elder listedhis top five worst offenses, the
first one was slander.
The missionary was taken aback,kind of rocked back on his heels
a little bit and asked thequestion really?
(01:07):
You would put slander ahead ofmurder?
And the elder wisely answered,Yes.
If you kill a man, you havekilled him.
He's gone.
If you slander him, you try todeceitfully destroy his
reputation, you have killed himwhile he yet lives.
When the children of Israelspoke a slanderous report
(01:29):
concerning the promised land,they were chipping away at the
reputation of the living God.
He had proven himself to themrepeatedly since they left
Egypt, and now that they were atthe brink of the promised land.
They were declaring him unableto deliver on his promise.
Their lack of faith caused themto miss what God had prepared
for them, and for many of themit became a death sentence.
(01:52):
We must speak faith and notdoubt about our God.
He can deliver.
He's already proven it.
Just look back at the Red Sea.
Look back at the plagues onEgypt.
When you face overwhelmingobstacles, do not slander the
God who has already shown He iswell able and willing to deliver
(02:13):
you.
First question before we go tothe voiceover guy: do you speak
more about your problems or yourGod?
And while you merit on that one,let's hear from this guy.
SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
Welcome to God's Word for Life Lesson Companion
Podcast, brought to you by Wordof Flame Curriculum and the
Pentecostal Publishing House.
This podcast encourages adultdisciples to think deeply about
God's Word, further developtheir personal relationship with
Jesus Christ, and make a greatercommitment to the purpose and
plan of God for their lives.
(02:50):
Let's dive into today's lessonand explore what it means to
live out God's Word in ourlives.
SPEAKER_00 (02:56):
All right, everybody, put their pencils
down now that you've answeredthat first question.
I want to introduce myself.
My name is L.J.
Harry.
I'll be your proctor for thisexam.
I will also be your host forthis podcast.
And you're listening to theGod's Word for Life lesson
companion podcast.
Today's episode is entitled TheWilderness Wanderings, and it
comes from the book of Numbers,chapter 14, verses 30 through
(03:20):
31.
Doubtless you shall not comeinto the land concerning which I
swear to make you dwell therein,save Caleb, the son of Jefuna,
and Joshua the son of Nun, butyour little ones, which you said
would be a prey, them will Ibring in, and they shall know
the land which you havedespised.
(03:40):
If in your Bible reading youtypically skip over the book of
Numbers, not today, we are goingto look deeply at the Book of
Numbers and look deeply at whathappened to the children of
Israel and why many of themmissed on the promise God had
promised them.
They were ready, they wereexcited, they wanted to claim
(04:01):
the promised land.
They had followed the cloud fromthe Red Sea to Mount Sinai, and
now they stood on the brink offulfilling a promise God had
given to Abraham hundreds ofyears earlier.
God instructed Moses to choose aleader from each tribe and send
them as spies into the land.
See if this starting lineupsounds familiar.
We have Shamua, Shaphat, Caleb,Egal, Oshea, Palti, Gadiel,
(04:30):
Gadi, Amiel, Sether, Nabi, Guel,and Joshua.
Those are the twelve spies Mosessent into the promised land to
spy out the land.
But motive matters.
Moses sent them on areconnaissance mission to gather
information about the number andstrength of the people, the
(04:52):
condition of the cities, theproductivity of the land.
But this was already their landby covenant promise, by their
covenant making, covenantkeeping God.
God was not telling them, I wantyou to go into the land and let
me know if you think I'm bigenough.
God was telling them, I want youto go in the land and look at
(05:14):
your new home and be excitedabout where you're about to
live.
This was not go into the landand let me know about the giants
I don't know about.
This recon mission was all aboutgo into the land and then come
back and tell the rest of thepeople all about this beautiful,
too wonderful for words landthey're about to inherit.
(05:36):
Because I made you a promise,and I keep my promises.
God knew all the facts before hesent them on the spy mission.
He knew the people were strong,the cities were fortified, he
knew the children of Anak livedthere.
God did not need the Israelitesto tell him the condition of the
promised land.
This was an exercise of faithfor Israel.
(05:58):
After forty days they returnedto Israel and carried the bounty
of the land.
But these men could only see theobstacles.
The Bible says ten men broughtback a bad report.
(06:20):
King James Version translates itan evil report, Numbers 13,
verse 32.
But according to many sources,the Hebrew word is even stronger
than evil.
It means a slanderous ordefamatory report.
With their account, with theirstory.
The spies were not just sharingtheir opinion, they were
(06:42):
slandering and defaming theAlmighty God with their report.
Remember, the land alreadybelonged to Israel.
It was their promised land.
It was not their hoped for orone day you might get it, land.
God promised them that land.
When he brought them out ofEgypt, he knew where he was
(07:05):
bringing them.
God's purpose was simply to showthem the beauty and abundance he
had already prepared for them.
They were going to live incities they did not build, and
eat from vineyards they did notplant, but they only focused on
the enemy.
What an insult to God, the sameGod who had already brought them
(07:25):
from their enemies through theRed Sea, and destroyed their
last enemy completely as theywatched the Egyptian slave
drivers wash up on the shore ofthe Red Sea?
How could they doubt that hewould once again deliver the
land he had promised them?
Next question.
What comes to mind when youthink of a slanderous report?
(07:48):
How can slander hinder what Godwants to do?
Let me be very clear.
What we say does not diminishGod.
It just diminishes our faith inGod.
We can't make him any smaller,we can't make him any larger.
He already fills all time andspace.
He's already the beginning andthe ending, the first and the
(08:09):
last, the Alpha and the Omega.
He's already the Almighty God.
You can say what you feel likeyou need to say, what you want
to say.
It does not diminish God.
It just begins to chip away atyour faith in God, to where you
start to wonder and question,does he care?
Does he know?
(08:29):
Is he able?
Is he willing?
When you start to ask thosequestions, then you start to
wonder, is God really as greatas Scripture says he is?
Let me tell you, he is.
In fact, he's greater than wecan really imagine.
(08:50):
Paul said it like this now untohim that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all we ask orthink according to the power
that worketh in us.
When God revealed himself toMoses, he revealed himself to
Moses as I am.
Whatever you need, Moses, if youneed a cloud to guide you by day
and fire to guide you by night,I am.
(09:11):
If you need a healer when thewater is bitter, I am.
If you need a lawgiver to giveyou direction and boundaries and
guidelines by which you shouldlive your life and be in
covenant with me and withothers, I am.
If you need a warrior to rise upand fight the enemy you cannot
fight on your own, I am.
Whatever you need from me, I am.
(09:33):
It's the same with us.
Whatever you need our God to be,he is healer, deliverer, savior,
redeemer.
He fights for us.
He stands with us, he goesbefore us, he leads us, he
provides for us, he protects us,he is I am.
But understand what Israel wasabout to understand,
(09:55):
conversation matters.
We must be careful when we speakof our situations, our trials,
we're not slandering our God.
If God has promised us, it willcome to pass, his word is sure.
In fact, in Romans 3, theApostle Paul said, Let God be
true and every man a liar.
If eight billion people on thisplanet say God cannot do it, God
(10:19):
can still do it.
It just diminishes our faith.
It does not diminish his power.
When we face an obstacle,magnify our God more than our
obstacle.
Victory begins with what we say,with our words, life and death,
they are indeed in the power ofthe tongue.
Ten men, ten spies, men you'veprobably never heard of before,
(10:43):
spoke death into a camp ofthousands.
Not just because they believethemselves to be grasshoppers,
because that's how they saidwhen they came back.
They told the people they cameback.
Imagine that reunion as theycome back sullen.
They're carrying grapes onpoles.
They're so large.
But when the people of Israelsee them, they, hey, hey, hey,
what's it like?
(11:04):
What's it look like?
What's how how how big is it?
How great is it?
How grand is it?
And they have frowns on theirfaces, and some have wiped their
tears where they've been crying,and they ask them, What, what?
And they said, Oh, oh, it's it'severything Moses told us God
told him it would be.
Yeah, it's huge, it's large,it's beautiful, but it's walled,
(11:25):
it's fortified, it's filled withgiants.
In fact, we look likegrasshoppers to us, and we even
look like grasshoppers to them.
How do they know that?
They spoke defeat aboutthemselves, and they were
convinced the enemy saw them asdefeated.
(11:46):
But they didn't know that.
They didn't know what the enemysaw them as.
They just saw themselves, and sothey thought the enemy would see
them in the same way.
The power of ten brought a deathsentence on thousands.
Our conversation matters.
But there were two men, thankGod for two men, Joshua and
(12:07):
Caleb, who continued to havefaith in God to be their
strength.
Our faith in God overcomes ourfear, and our conversation has
consequences of good and bad.
I remember during the pandemicwe saw this t-shirt, we saw this
hashtag all over the place,faith over fear.
That's a great way to live.
(12:28):
Faith in God over fear.
Choose today, no matter thecircumstances, no matter the
trial, no matter how you seeyourself, choose to speak about
the greatness of your God morethan about your enemy.
Those ten men's slanderousreport turned the hearts of the
(12:48):
children of Israel, had aneffect on so many people.
They spent the night andmourning, crying, weeping,
grieving.
They grieved a loss before theyeven played the game.
But the next day, they went evena step further by rebelling
against God and Moses.
They even planned to return toEgypt.
(13:09):
I want you to remember what Godhad brought them from.
Later on in Scripture, Godrefers to Egypt as the iron
smelting furnace of Egypt.
They were not members of aresort in Egypt.
They were slaves, slaving awayunder Egypt's blazing sun,
building treasure cities for aPharaoh they neither knew nor
(13:30):
loved.
But they thought going back wasbetter than going forward.
Moses and Aaron fell to theground because they understood
this wasn't just a statementmade in anger.
This was an act of rebellionagainst God.
God had faithfully provenhimself to be their deliverer.
He had led them by a pillar ofcloud by day, a pillar of fire
(13:50):
by night.
He had protected them fromenemies round about.
But the congregation's fear andanger were so inflamed they
conspired to stone Moses andJoshua to death.
That was all God could take.
Suddenly his glory appeared atthe tent of meeting before the
eyes of all of Israel, and Godwas ready to pronounce judgment
on his own people.
(14:11):
Rebellion and rioting are twothings God will not tolerate.
And when the children of Israelrebelled and rioted, God
immediately showed up.
Be careful your lack of faith inthe God who has proven himself
already repeatedly does not leadto rebellion.
You will not know how God willwork it out.
I don't know how God will workit out.
(14:32):
That's okay.
Remember, God does not alwayscall us to understand, but He
does always call us to trustHim.
Let's increase our faith dailyby remembering who our God is
and all He has done for us.
If you don't already do this, dothis.
Keep a journal of the prayersGod has answered.
(14:54):
Keep a journal of the times Godhas spoken to you and promised
you.
Keep a journal of all thewonderful works God has done in
your life.
And in those times when you feellike God is silent or even
absent, look back on thatjournal.
Look back on those you mightcall them memorial stones, and
look back at what God has doneand rejoice in who he is and
(15:16):
what he will do.
If you don't journal, then openup the journal, open up the Word
of God, and just begin to walkthrough the Word of God and see
what God has done.
And know what he has donebefore.
He can and he will do it again,and he will do a new thing he
has never done, just because heis God and He knows no limit.
(15:37):
Israel was so discouraged theywished they had died in Egypt
where at least they could havebeen buried.
They were convinced theCanaanites would kill them and
prey on their wives and on theirchildren.
Numbers 14, verse 3.
Then God shared his plan withMoses to destroy the entire
congregation and begin anew withMoses.
If Moses were in this forhimself, if he were leaving
(15:59):
Israel for fame or theretirement package, he might
think, okay, they're going totalk about me, Moses, the father
of the faithful.
In fact, if God does start allover, he may even change the
name of the nation.
It might be the children ofMoses, not the children of
Israel.
They might be the Mosesites.
I know it doesn't really soundthe same, but work with me here.
(16:22):
He could be the God of Moses,Eliezer, and Rehabiah, not the
God of Abraham, Isaac, andJacob.
If Moses were in it for himselfand for the retirement package,
Moses would have said, Greatplan, God, where do I sign?
But he wasn't.
Moses was not leading for hisname's sake.
He was leading for God's.
(16:44):
So Moses interceded for God'speople who wanted to stone him.
What mercy.
They want to stone you, Moses,and you're going to pray for
them?
And Moses reminded God that ifyou destroy the nation of
Israel, the nations around uswill declare that destroying
them was the only reason youdelivered them from Egypt.
You wanted to destroy them, notlet Pharaoh destroy them.
(17:06):
Moses also reminded God of hisgreat nature.
Lord, don't forget you're slowto anger.
You abound in steadfast love,and you forgive iniquity.
Don't forget who you are.
You have every right to destroyus, but don't forget you're
(17:26):
merciful.
The ten spies had alreadyslandered God.
Moses did not want anothernation to follow in their
faithless footsteps.
Here's a question.
If God made you the same deal asHe made Moses, how would you
have responded?
I'll make it all about you,Moses.
It'll start over with you.
(17:47):
What do you think?
How would you have responded?
The Israelites should have beenthankful for a godly leader who
stood between them and God'sjustifiable, justified anger.
God listened to Moses' plea, andI I believe he smiled.
He spared the nation, but therewere severe consequences for
(18:09):
their slander.
The people, from the ages oftwenty years old and upward, who
saw God's glory, who saw thesigns he had performed to
deliver them from Egypt, broughtthem through the Red Sea, they
were sentenced to die while theywandered in the wilderness.
The only two who would be sparedwere the only two who believed,
Joshua and Caleb.
Hey, great news.
(18:30):
We don't have to be in themajority to be the majority.
Again, if eight billion peoplesay God cannot, in one single
solitary, faith-filled voicespeaks up and says, Yes, God
can, that one voice and God makethe majority.
You don't have to be in themajority at your work or at your
(18:51):
school in order for God to be onyour side.
God is not swayed by polls andby protests or by trends.
He is attracted to truth andfaith.
In an interesting twist, Goddecided their little ones they
thought would be prey.
In fact, they declared it.
Oh, if we go in the promisedland, they're going to prey on
our children, they're going totake our children, they're going
(19:13):
to kill our children.
God told them, No, they won't.
I will fight for your children.
They will inherit and dwell inthe land you have rejected.
So forty years.
Forty years they wandered in thewilderness.
One year for each day the spiesspent in the promised land.
(19:35):
The wilderness, which shouldhave been a temporary place,
became a permanent burialbecause of their slander.
Today we stand like the childrenof Israel before a great
promise.
But we cannot allow a lack offaith to destroy what God has
designed for us.
We have we are abundant withpromise.
(19:56):
God has promised us so manygreat promises, the scripture
refers to them as exceeding ingreat and precious promises.
God has promised revival in thelast day he will pour out his
spirit upon all flesh.
God has promised, perhapspromised you, that he will bring
your lost son or daughter backto him, or he's promised he'll
bring your brother or sisterback to him, or he's promised
he's going to touch and healyour body, whether here or
(20:19):
there.
God has promised he's going toprovide for you, take care of
you.
God has promised if you'veplanted that church, he will
bring people who are hungry tothat church so they can hear and
heed the word of God.
He's promised to lead us tohungry people and lead us to
people who are looking for himand lead hungry people to us.
God has promised us.
Don't forget what he's promised,and don't slander him because he
(20:43):
has not brought to pass thatpromise yet.
Don't allow a lack of faith todestroy what God has already
promised.
We've got testimonies.
God has already delivered usfrom a life of destruction, a
life of misery, a life of nohope.
Do not forget God's mercy, God'smiracles, God's mighty hand that
has already worked for us.
If God has brought you out, thendeclare by the grace of God, I
(21:07):
will never return.
We're not going back to Egypt.
The only way from this dayforward is forward.
Against the majority opinion,Joshua and Caleb never broke
covenant with God.
They never lost faith in hispower to give them the promised
land.
They never spoke or agreed withan evil report.
(21:28):
And because of theirfaithfulness to God, God was
faithful to them, deliveringthem from death in the
wilderness and into a land fullof blessings and promise.
Don't allow an evil report toturn your faith to rebellion,
denying you the promises of God.
Caleb declared they were allwell able to overcome the
obstacles because it was theirpromised land because their God
(21:50):
promised him.
Even when Caleb was eighty-fiveyears old, he was an
octogenarian plus five.
He was still ready to claim thepromised land God had promised
them.
The power of keeping covenantwith God is revealed as he keeps
covenant with you and keeps allhe has promised.
We need people like Joshua andCaleb in our lives.
(22:11):
Who are those people for you?
And how can you be a Joshua orCaleb in somebody else's life?
Abraham received a covenantpromise and a land.
The Israelites received thepromised land in a detailed
document explaining how toremain in covenant with God, the
Ten Commandments.
In the handbook on thePentateuch, Dr.
(22:32):
Chris Paris reveals God gaveboth apodictic, which were
prohibitive, and casuistic,conditional, laws in the Ten
Commandments to the people.
The prohibitive laws areabsolute, while the conditional
laws regard conditionalsituations.
God had repeatedly experiencedthe inconsistency of sinful
humanity.
(22:52):
Therefore, the Pentateuch gavethe Israelites a detailed plan
to remain in covenant with God.
Just before Moses died, hedelivered the people in written
form and in a public address,the book of Deuteronomy, the
last message, repeating the lawsto help them live in covenant
with God while living in theprosperity of the promised land.
Deuteronomy literally meanssecond law, Deuterone, second,
(23:16):
Nami Law.
It was God giving them the lawone more time so they would not
forget who He is and what He hasdone, and what they are called
to do in this covenant.
If we have obeyed God's plan ofsalvation according to Acts 2,
verse 38, we are blessed to havethe supernatural help of
Almighty God, His Holy Spiritwalking with us as we walk in
(23:37):
covenant with him.
The laws from the Old Testamentwere written only on tables of
stone, but now have been writtenon our hearts.
When we say yes to God's Spirit,we declare the Lord will be our
God.
We enter new covenant with Him,but we must learn from the
children of Israel and not allowa lack of faith to cause us to
rebel against God.
(23:57):
We must have the spirit ofJoshua and Caleb and determine
we will live according to God'splan so we can be God's covenant
people.
And with that, we wrap this up.
One Saturday morning a ministerwas busily trying to prepare his
sermon under difficultconditions.
Ho ho, I have been there manytimes.
(24:19):
It was a rainy day.
His young son was restless andbored with a little to do.
So finally, in desperation, theminister picked up an old
magazine and thumbed through ituntil he came to a brightly
colored picture.
It showed a map of the world.
He tore the page from themagazine, ripped it into little
pieces, and scattered the scrapsall over the living room floor,
and he said, Son, if you can putthis page together, I'll give
(24:41):
you a dollar.
The minister hoped thatchallenge would take his son
most of the morning, but tenminutes later.
Wonder what he wants.
What if he just needs some help?
He heard a knock on the door.
His son was done.
He had completed the puzzle.
Oh well that was short lived.
The minister was still staringat a blank screen and a blinking
(25:03):
cursor, trying to figure outwhat am I going to preach to
these people tomorrow?
But he got up and he walked overto where his son was, and he was
amazed.
He really had finished theproject so soon.
The pieces of paper neatlyarranged and the map of the
world back in order.
And he asked the question, Son,how did you get that done so
fast?
(25:24):
And the son sagely said, Oh,that was easy.
On the other side was a pictureof a man.
So I just put a piece of paperon the bottom, put the picture
of the man together, put a pieceof paper on top, and then turned
it all over.
And I figured if I get theperson right, the world would be
right.
His dad smiled, handed him adollar, and told his son, You uh
(25:49):
you earned that dollar, but youalso gave me my sermon for
tomorrow.
If a person is right, his worldwill be right.
And he went back to the blankscreen and blinking cursor and
started typing away for what hewould preach that Sunday.
The Old Testament covenant was agreat document to guide the
behavior of Israel in theirrelationship with God and with
(26:10):
others.
But as wonderful and detailed asit was, it could not accomplish
what it was created to do.
But why not?
Because humanity was not right.
Humans needed more than a law,they needed transformation.
They needed to be changed.
We need to be changed from theinside out so we could learn to
(26:30):
obey the covenant laws of God.
When God rewrote the laws underthe hearts of humanity through
the infilling of His HolySpirit, new people, new
creations were born.
These new people were right.
The law of God was written onour hearts, and now we're able
to live right through hisspirit.
When we allow God's covenant tolead our lives, we want to be in
(26:50):
right relationship with God andeach other.
Instead of focusing on puttingthe world together right, let's
focus on getting ourselves incovenant with God right.
As that young boy so wiselysaid, if a person is right, his
world will be right.
One last question.
(27:11):
What needs to be made right inyour life in order for your
world to also be right?
Let's pray for God to increaseour faith so we trust in Him to
lead us to what He has promisedus, and then pray for God to
cover our mouths so we willspeak by faith instead of
(27:31):
speaking slanderous reportsabout our Almighty God.
Lord Jesus, we love you today.
Increase our faith.
Increase our faith that you areable, you are willing to keep
what you've promised.
You will never fail to keep yourpromise, never failed one word
of all your great promises.
Help us, Lord, I pray, cover ourmouth if you must.
(27:54):
Help us, Lord, to speak onlyfaith and not slander about who
you are and what you will do,even in moments we don't
understand or we don't know howyou're going to do it.
Help us still to speak faith.
We know you're able.
We know you're willing.
We know you are still God.
Help us today, Jesus, increaseour faith, and help us, Lord, to
(28:14):
speak only faith concerning whoyou are and what you're able to
do.
In the name of Jesus Christ wepray.
Amen.
Thank you, God's Word for Lifelisteners.
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(28:36):
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If you're looking for anapostolic church, go to
upci.org, type in your zip orpostal code, or go to
globalmissions.com and you'llfind a missionary nearby you can
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(28:59):
of those, email me at GWFL atupci.org.
That stands for God's Word forLife at UPCI.org.
And I'll help you find a church.
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(29:19):
You'll find great resources fromGod's Word for Life as well as
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resources for your walk with Godand your relationship with Him
and with others, so we can livein covenant with God and with
our neighbors.
Next week, we go into anothersegment of the Bible.
It's a segment we call Judgesand Kings.
(29:42):
We've gone from the Exodus, andnow we're going deeper into the
Bible as we journey from Genesisto Revelation, and our next
week's episode is calledCrossing the Jordan River.
I'm looking forward to sharingthat with you next week, and
always look forward to learningand living out God's Word for
life.
SPEAKER_01 (30:00):
Thank you for listening to God's Word for Life
Lesson Companion Podcast, wheretogether we explore what it
means to live out God's Word inour lives.
If you haven't yet, make sure tosubscribe to this podcast.
And if you are looking for otherBible study tools and resources
to encourage you in your walkwith God, visit us today at
Pentecostal Publishing.com.
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