August 7, 2025 • 44 mins
An ongoing bible study on the book of Numbers. This week’s lesson is presented by Jesse Bonner.
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(00:14):
Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
(00:35):
I got a couple testimonies and a funny story. I kind of just want to tell this story.
I told my wife, I was like, it doesn't have anything to do with tonight, but it just happened.
So I was replacing a toilet in our upstairs bathroom because it's like an older house and the toilet's probably from the 70s.
So you just, you know, you got to change those when you buy it.
(00:56):
Anyway, so you got to get the water out of the toilet with like a shop vac.
And I wasn't thinking, and I had already vacuumed stuff outside like two months before, like muddy leaves and stuff, like out of this one area by the shed.
So it sat in there for like two months and it got all moldy and stuff.
I'm like, well, I'm going to be sucking up the water. It'll wash it out.
So I didn't realize when I put it back together, I shoved the shop vac tube in the upper part.
(01:23):
So it was going to go in reverse.
So as soon as I plugged it into the wall, I'm holding this long tube and it just starts going like, and it's like, I'm reaching for the button.
It's spraying out across the wall, leaving this dark brown moldy line across our entire wall.
And it smelled like disgusting.
So that quick toilet swap job turned into like an hour of cleanup before I could even start the toilet.
(01:49):
And anyway, so always check your shop vac before you plug it in.
Yeah. Two testimonies.
So anybody know Forrest Frank? He's like a Christian musician.
Yeah. So he like, I just heard, Maria just showed me this yesterday.
So two weeks ago, he was skateboarding. He's a young guy. He's probably like late twenties.
(02:12):
Skateboarding with his son fell off, hit his lower back on a sidewalk curb and he fractured two of his vertebrae in his back.
So he was in the hospital. It's really dangerous and all.
So he's sharing a testimony that he woke up in the morning, forgot to put his brace on, picked up his kid and was going about his entire morning and realized he had no pain in his back.
(02:35):
So he's like, I think I'm healed. And he got an x-ray and sure enough, there's no signs of a fracture in his vertebrae anymore.
So everyone was praying for him, which is awesome. So God is healing. Another one. This is a little more personal.
Some friends of ours in Nashville, they had some issues getting pregnant for a while and they had their first daughter through IVF.
(02:58):
And then finally, like they had one last embryo is going to be a boy. They're really hopeful.
And this is about a year and a half ago and it didn't work out. They didn't get pregnant.
And then she just texted Maria or saw the post just yesterday that she got pregnant naturally and they're having a boy.
So so amazing. Yeah, so great. Yeah, that's great.
(03:22):
So anyway, God is doing a lot of stuff, right? And I'm just excited to be a part of it.
So let's pray and then we're going to jump into Numbers 10.
Lord, we thank you that you are just so so close, God, and you know us so well and you know our life.
(03:44):
And we thank you, Lord, that you direct us on your path for us, God, that everyone's path is different, Lord.
But it all leads to you and it leads to the blessing of knowing you, God, and being conformed into the image of your son to be made like you.
And I just pray that tonight with all these notes and things that I've written down, God, I pray that you would speak and you would make it make sense, Lord,
(04:11):
and that your word we know does not return void. It is going to do something in us tonight.
And I just pray that you would speak and that we would be encouraged by your word and everything you want to say tonight.
So we love you in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're going to be hitting Numbers 10.
Has everybody been having a good time with Numbers? You liking it?
(04:32):
Well, the journey part of it actually starts tonight. So we've been having more law.
You thought you were out of Leviticus, but the first 10 chapters have been more law.
So we're about to go into the actual journey, which is exciting.
Let me flip over here. Yeah, Numbers 10.
(04:52):
So the title of my message tonight is God's direction. God's direction.
And before we get into this, one thing I want to point out is that the direction of his direction matters.
Like where he is leading you, what he's leading you from, what he's leading you to matters a lot.
(05:14):
And before we even want to get into how he guides and directs us, I just want to focus on for a minute where he's leading the Israelites out of and where he's leading them to.
So they are coming out of slavery and they're going to the Promised Land.
They're going from oppression, depression, like nothing.
(05:35):
They don't even have autonomy over their own bodies.
They have to work and slave away for just a ruthless nation of Egypt.
They've been brought out and they're not left in the wilderness, but God is bringing them now to the Promised Land.
And this says something profound about who God is. He doesn't want to leave you in slavery.
He wants to bring you to freedom and he wants to bring you to blessing.
(05:58):
And so in Jeremiah 2911, a lot of you guys know this verse.
He says this to Israel later on in their history. He says,
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and the future.
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.
(06:22):
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Again, that's Jeremiah 2911 through 13.
So he is leading them to blessing.
God's direction for your life is towards blessing.
And lots of times people immediately get a little freaked out.
They're like, Oh, blessing. This sounds too good to be true. This is prosperity, right?
(06:44):
But it's like we see here that yes, there is blessing for Israel, right?
Physical blessing. They get a nation. They get these cities, the land flowing, milk and honey.
But the best blessing they're getting during this time is God himself.
The greatest blessing of all in your life is to know God and to realize you are his people.
(07:07):
We are his people, right? And that now we have access.
We can seek him and we can find him. We can come and pray to him and he will listen to us.
The greatest blessing is God himself. And we even see that with the priests, right?
All the other tribes of Israel got land. And of course they got God, but they got land.
But it says for the priests, their blessing and their inheritance was not land, but it was God.
(07:32):
And it was the ministry and the ministering to God.
There is a special blessing for Christians beyond just the earthly blessings, and that is him.
And so we know from slavery to the promised land and all through the Bible.
My dad taught on this a couple weeks ago that this is not just about Israel,
(07:53):
but this was a picture also for Christians as a whole because we're coming out of slavery to sin, our Egypt, right?
We were dead in our sins. We couldn't do anything to please God.
And then God called us out, exiled us out.
And then he is teaching us and growing us through this journey of life to get to the promised land.
(08:13):
And that promised land, like we see in Hebrews 4, is entering the rest.
The fact that we now have peace with God, not through striving, right?
Not through doing everything we have to do to get on God's good side,
but it was peace with God through the ministry of Jesus on the cross.
That he died for us and he completely removed our sins, so now we enter the rest.
(08:36):
That is the promised land, salvation.
So I want to hit on that again, that it is not just earthly blessings in this life.
Like we know God, I mean, how many stories do you have that God has blessed you?
Like tangibly, right?
But we know that that is not the entirety of our blessing, right?
(08:56):
Like this whole life is not just about having a comfortable life.
And James 1, 2 through 4 makes it really clear that there is a blessing beyond nice circumstances.
It says, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
(09:18):
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
So he wants you to be blessed inside.
And that really does take priority over being blessed outside.
Like God cares about the external blessings.
(09:39):
Even in the Lord's Prayer, he's asked, like, give us today our daily bread.
Like he cares about our needs.
But above that, he cares about our inner blessing, a trust in him, and being conformed into his image.
And yes, he will use trials.
And if you come out lacking nothing, if I come out of a trial lacking nothing spiritually,
(10:01):
I would go through that trial a hundred times to get that.
I don't want to sit in the comfortable area of life, never having my faith tested,
never persevering, and lacking so much.
Like, I want the real thing.
I want true faith.
And we also, one more just to hammer that idea home.
Romans 8, 38.
For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
(10:24):
to those who are called according to his purpose.
So on this journey, we see so many trials for Israel through the Egypt before the Promised Land.
So do we have so many trials and tribulations,
but it's all part of God's plan in order to do the true blessing within us.
Amen.
So let's jump into Numbers 10.
(10:47):
So we hit that, you know, where they're coming from, where they're going to,
and now we're going to talk about how does God direct.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, we're going to stop.
So we see the first way that God is directing is the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
(11:10):
the Lord spoke, the Lord shared his word with Moses.
So Moses received the scriptures.
He received God's direction, the customs, traditions, holidays,
laws, everything and anything that had to do with what it looks like to be God's people
and what God is like.
(11:30):
He received so much.
It says he spoke to God face to face like a friend.
And we see it's the word and it's the spirit of God.
It's God himself speaking his word.
And we have not just the word of God, but we have the spirit of God as believers.
People who are not saved can read this and get it 100% wrong.
(11:54):
They can take the exact opposite meaning of the word,
but we have the author of the word revealing the word to us.
So when we read it, we can understand the true meaning behind it.
And I can't tell you how many times, like, I have had direction in my life
so clearly because of the word of God and the Holy Spirit of God.
(12:16):
As I read it, he reveals things.
I must have read it a thousand times before and I read it today
and it means this for this specific circumstance.
So we see that Moses is receiving the word of God
and every single thing they did is because of what God said to do.
It's so, like, word for word.
Do this, they do it.
(12:36):
And of course, they disobey a lot, you'll see.
But what they were supposed to do is God's word.
So he speaks to us through his word and he speaks to us
and reveals it in our hearts through the spirit.
A couple verses, you guys, if you want to write them down,
I love these.
2 Timothy 3,
All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
(12:58):
correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God
may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
To even go through this journey of life,
we desperately need the scripture, that God breathe the word.
And then also Hebrews 4, 12, we just heard this two Sundays ago,
for the word of God is alive and active,
sharper than any double-edged sword.
(13:19):
It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit,
joints and marrow.
It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
So it equips you to do this life.
It separates the things out of your life that shouldn't be there
and even reveals where your heart is off, not just your actions.
The word of God, don't you guys love it?
(13:40):
Like, I would be nowhere in life without it.
And not that I'm anywhere right now, but you know what I mean?
Like, I need His word every single day.
And this isn't really even, this next point isn't even a fleshed-out point
that I really planned, but, you know, Moses was a leader, right?
And sometimes, nowadays, it's very important to not lose sight of the fact
(14:07):
that we need to have respect for leaders in the church, right?
Like, it's so easy to be like, oh, they're just one of us.
The pastors, the elders, like, I know what's right and wrong.
It's like, we see so many stories.
Numbers 12, you're going to read that?
People said the same exact thing in Numbers 12,
and God brought down judgment.
It's like, no, Moses was chosen.
(14:29):
So there's a certain level of respect that is very healthy to have in the church
for elders that God's appointed and pastors and people teaching the word.
And we know there's more responsibility for people who teach,
a harsher judgment for teachers when they fail from God
because they are teaching the word and are held to a higher standard.
(14:51):
So to wrap that up, God speaks through His word and through His Spirit
directly to Moses, but also today directly to us.
And it's crucial that we read the word
and we pray that His Spirit would reveal the meaning to our hearts.
All right, the trumpets, let's read that.
Verse 2 through 10.
(15:13):
Make two silver trumpets for yourself.
You shall make them of hammered work.
You shall use them for calling the congregation
and for directing the movement of the camps.
When they blow both of them, all the congregations shall gather before you
at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
But if they blow only one, then the leaders and the heads of the divisions
(15:34):
of Israel shall gather to you.
And when you sound the advance, the camps that lie on the east side
shall then begin their journey.
Then you shall sound the advance the second time.
Then the camps that lie on the south side shall begin their journey,
and they shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys.
And when the assembly is to be gathered together,
(15:54):
you shall blow but not sound the advance.
The sons of Aaron the priest shall blow the trumpets,
and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generation.
When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you,
then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets,
and you will be remembered before the Lord your God,
(16:15):
and you will be saved from the enemies.
And in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts,
at the beginning of your months, you shall bow,
you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings
and over the sacrifice of your peace offerings,
and they shall be a memorial to you before God.
I am the Lord your God.
(16:35):
Anybody remember in elementary school
when every kid would come home with an instrument?
Like, it was instrument day. Did they still do that?
But I just remember it's like,
kids are coming home with violas and basses and trumpets,
and if Bo ever chooses the trumpet as his instrument,
I'll be very upset, because they are the most loudest things ever,
(17:00):
and I'm pretty sure I remember, it might have been like Jake or Morgan,
or maybe it was just a neighbor, it was that loud,
but one of the kids had a trumpet,
and they only played it for like a week,
but I remember like being outside,
and I could hear them practicing inside from like two or three houses away.
It was just like insanely loud,
(17:23):
but I like how God is using the trumpet here as direction, right?
The trumpets say to do this, the trumpets say to do that,
and what I see behind this is that trumpets are loud,
but trumpets are really good at getting your attention, right?
Like, every single alarm system, everything today,
(17:43):
can be traced back to back in the day,
the guards when someone was starting to go after your city would blow the trumpet.
Now we have alarm systems in our houses, like, they're good at getting your attention, right?
And we see here that God told Moses and told the people to use these
in order to direct and to call the people,
(18:04):
and it's very easy to get people's attention using trumpets,
and God is also very good at getting our attention.
Now, sometimes we are deaf, we don't listen, we don't care,
and he's a kind God, he lets us make mistakes,
and then he's like, yeah, I remember all the way back then when I was sounding the trumpet
and you weren't listening, you wouldn't be in this mess, right?
(18:26):
But God is also very organized.
We see, like, he's telling people to come, he's sending people out,
there's so much organization around God and around these trumpets,
and we know that God both communicates clearly to his people,
and he doesn't contradict himself, there's not one trumpet blowing,
(18:47):
and another one's like, hey, no, stay where you are.
There's one message, right?
And we know the message that is all through the word, that Jesus Christ is Lord,
and he is the way, the truth, and the life, amen.
And we see here that, like, in 1 Corinthians,
for God is not the author of confusion but of peace,
as in all the churches of the saints.
(19:07):
He's not a confusing God, he's a clear God,
and he directs his people clearly.
So if we have a lot of confusion in our lives,
if we never truly know what choice to make
and we teeter back and forth all the time,
I would say that is an indicator that maybe we're not actually listening to God
(19:27):
or maybe allowing other people to influence our decisions
or just not even talking to God whatsoever about it,
because he says, like we read before,
if you seek him, you will find him when you seek him with your whole heart.
He is not the author of confusion but of peace and direction and clarity.
Another thing that I notice here is these trumpets are blowing all the time.
(19:51):
Like we see, for going out, for coming in,
for going to war, for times of gladness,
at all times these trumpets are blowing.
They're probably hearing it every single day.
But I love that because God's direction is all the time.
Like in the morning, coming in, right,
we come into the presence of God
(20:11):
and worship him and he directs us,
and then we go out about our day, right?
And when we come into times of trial
and testing of our faith like a war,
the trumpets blow and we know what to do
and we know that God will save us from our enemies.
And then, in our times of gladness, when everything's going great,
(20:33):
God's still there.
God's still speaking and directing.
And over the burnt offerings, the peace offerings, our worship,
he's still there.
The God who guides us and are coming in is guiding us
and are going out.
The times of war he's guiding us
and the times of peace he's guiding us.
At all times, he is guiding and directing us.
(21:00):
Let's read verse 11 through 13 here.
Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month.
In the second year, that the cloud was taken up
from above the tabernacle of the testimony.
And the children of Israel set out
from the wilderness of Sinai on their journey.
(21:21):
And the cloud settled in the wilderness of Piran.
So they started out for the first time,
according to the command of the Lord
by the hand of Moses.
I don't know about you, but I almost get like
goosebumps every time I think about the pillar of cloud
just rising up and going.
(21:42):
Isn't that unbelievable?
Like all, the entire journey for the forty years,
the pillar of cloud would go out from the ark
in the tabernacle and then just start going.
And it's not even like,
hey, we know where we're going right now.
We know how long it's going to be.
It's just the cloud's moving.
Let's go.
(22:03):
And they'd blast the trumpets and they'd start going.
They'd pack up.
And then it stops.
It could be like we read in chapter nine.
It could be a day.
It could be a month.
It could be years.
Sitting still, or suddenly they start moving.
And the pillar of cloud really is seen,
it's the presence of God.
(22:24):
Where the presence of God goes, we should go.
To be in the will of God is to be following right behind him.
And this pillar of cloud was really a huge,
the reading about this was a big moment in my life.
This happened a few years ago.
(22:46):
We were in Nashville.
And we had been doing music for a few years
and God was really in it.
And we saw a bunch of testimonies
and there was some success there.
And we toured the whole country
and got to meet all these awesome people.
And it was so much fun.
It was like a dream come true.
And near the end of, I think it was 2019,
(23:09):
things started changing.
And we weren't really loving it as much anymore
because we were leaving our families so much.
But we're so invested still.
And we're like, we have to do this.
Then a few decisions were basically made for us.
Our label dropped us.
We weren't signed anymore.
And then that's a ton more work on our shoulders
(23:29):
and we're praying about it.
And we can't give up.
We can't let this go.
We have to keep pressing for it.
But I love that God directs even when we want the other thing.
And I read, you can see right here,
right down here I have some notes in Numbers 9.
(23:50):
And I remember it was probably like 1 a.m.
And I'm all stressed out.
And laying there, actually we had the Christmas tree out.
In Nashville.
And I'm reading Numbers 9 where it says,
the cloud would camp.
And they would camp.
And as soon as the cloud moved, they would move.
Whether it was a day, a month, or a year, three years.
(24:11):
They followed wherever the presence of God went in the cloud.
And I felt so clearly, God say,
my presence is moving, are you coming with me?
And I just pictured,
man, I can't leave my tents just pitched here
when you're not here anymore.
I can't keep trying to keep this thing going
(24:32):
if you're not in it.
Like I want to be where you are, God.
And that took a lot of hard conversations.
We had to fire people.
We were having these business relationships for years.
But the whole time I just had so much peace
because I knew God's moving and I'm following.
Like literally the cloud.
I could like picture it.
(24:54):
And there was blessing in it.
Was it a trial?
Of course.
But I learned something far greater than
if everything worked out perfectly, right?
Because it led me towards lacking nothing.
I still lack a lot.
But it did something in me.
I trusted God more.
And I could look at his plan above what I wanted.
And of course, even just the normal blessings,
(25:15):
it's like, I'm home every day now.
We used to have to travel four days a week
to like barely get by.
And even when we would like get more successful,
every Christian band is on the road like four days a week
to pay the bills and make their living.
And now we're home every day.
We have other jobs.
We can work from home.
We're with our families, our kids.
It's like the greatest blessing ever.
(25:37):
And, you know, I just I love God.
And I'm so thankful that he leads and he guides
that his presence will guide you if you're paying attention.
Like he will guide you.
Huh?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that was the other.
Yeah.
That was the other thing.
So when we finally told our booking agents, we're like,
(25:59):
yeah, we think we're going to come off the road.
It's like two months later, the pandemic hit.
And we already had like job things lined up.
So we were okay.
But yeah, God really looked out for us.
Yeah.
So I want to from here, verse 14,
all the way down to verse 28 is basically all the tribes.
(26:21):
We read this before, I think in chapter one,
all the tribes and the order that they leave and march out.
I just want to point out one thing.
Judah is first.
They're on the east side.
There's a lot of cool symbolism there.
Jesus comes from the tribe of Judah.
Judah is leading the pack.
Jesus leads.
He's the head of the body, right?
He leads the body of Christ.
(26:43):
And yeah, I'll stop there.
But Judah, yeah, Judah led the entire tribe,
all the Israelites through the wilderness.
And Jesus is of the tribe of Judah, leading his people.
Yeah.
All right.
So verse 29.
(27:04):
Now, Moses said to Hobab, love that name,
third son on the way right there, Hobab,
the son of Ruel, the Midianite, Moses, his father-in-law.
So this is Moses' brother-in-law.
We are setting out, Moses said,
we are setting out for the place of which the Lord said,
I will give it to you.
Come with us and we will treat you well,
(27:25):
for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.
And he said to him, I will not go,
but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives.
So Moses said, please do not leave.
And as much as you know how,
we are to camp in the wilderness and you can be our eyes.
And if you shall be, and it shall be,
if you go with us, indeed it shall be,
(27:46):
that whatever good the Lord will do to us,
the same we will do to you.
So they departed.
Yeah, stop there.
So this is really interesting because you have
the word of God directing Moses,
and you have the trumpets directing the people
when and where to move,
(28:07):
and you have the cloud by day leading them,
and then Moses asks for his brother-in-law
to help with the direction.
Now I'm not directing where they're going to go,
but when they get there,
to point out all the intel of the desert,
because he knows the desert well.
And he's like, you know, basically,
(28:29):
what commentaries are saying is like,
when the Lord stops to camp,
you, Hobab, can you tell us like,
a good place to find water,
what we could eat that's, you know, safe,
things to be avoiding, that's dangerous,
like, you know, basically a guide through the wilderness.
And, you know, you might on one side be like,
that's not very spiritual.
Couldn't you trust the Lord to like,
(28:50):
tell you all these things?
And like, you could,
but you notice God isn't angry here.
God didn't like send a plague
because Moses is one of little faith.
So it shows that actually this was part of God's plan.
God wanted to use Hobab
to also give the intel to the people.
And that's something that we need to be really aware of,
(29:11):
because God wants to use people in your life.
He's not always going to 100% of the time
strictly talk to you one way.
He's going to speak through his word.
He's going to speak through the peace of his presence.
And nothing will contradict itself.
The word's not going to tell you one thing
and then this peace of the presence, another.
It's all going to be confirming each other.
(29:32):
But then he also uses the body of Christ
to speak encouragement, direction, truth into your life.
And Hobab, I just like saying that name,
is used in a really instrumental way over the next 40 years.
And actually we see some of his descendants
like in the times of the judges and all of this.
(29:53):
So he stuck with Israel
and became a part of their people.
But an example of this, you know that joke
where this guy is like in a flooding house.
I'm not going to tell the whole thing because you know it.
But this guy's house is flooding
and he's praying, Lord, save me.
And he wants God to physically save him.
And then a boat goes by and like, hop in.
(30:14):
He's like, no, I'm waiting for the Lord.
And then five or six things go by.
Suddenly a helicopter's flying, dropping a rope.
Like, come on.
He said, no, I'm praying the Lord is going to save me.
And then he drowns and he got to heaven
and he's like, why didn't you save me, God?
He's like, I sent the boat.
I sent the raft.
I sent the helicopter.
God uses people.
Like, there are miracles like we talked about
(30:35):
in the beginning, but God also uses people
and the body of Christ to direct
and to do things in our lives
because we are the body of Christ.
He's the head.
We're the body.
And he moves us in the spirit to go do
and speak and move on his behalf.
It's part of his design.
(30:56):
So an example of this, it just happened.
I have a lot of examples tonight.
I hope you guys like it.
So Maria met up with a friend a few weeks ago.
I'm just going to call her name Emily
because I don't want to give away any information.
So Maria met with this girl, Emily,
and she, Maria had a dream that Emily was pregnant.
(31:16):
So she went up to Emily and she's like,
hey, like, I had a dream you were pregnant.
And, you know, Emily didn't say anything.
She, you know, she wasn't like, yeah, I'm pregnant.
She's like, oh, that's so funny.
That's crazy.
And that was it.
Then the next time they hung out,
Maria brought up how one of her other friends,
so she's telling Emily, one of her other friends
(31:36):
had some pregnancy complications.
And an OB was like, yeah, you're miscarrying.
So she's like, oh, this is awful.
So she went to a different OB.
And they're like, they checked her out.
And she's like, you're not miscarrying.
Everything's fine.
The baby's healthy.
And she felt like so happy and like so much peace
because she knew the baby's healthy.
Meanwhile, Maria's friend Emily,
(31:59):
who she's telling the story to,
is having the same exact complication,
filled with fear she's miscarrying,
and she felt like it was God speaking directly to her,
like, don't be afraid.
I'm with you and your baby's okay.
So she goes to the same OB that the other girl went to
and they checked her out,
and the baby's totally healthy and fine.
(32:19):
And then finally, the third time they hang out,
Emily finally told Maria, hey,
I was pregnant when you had that dream I just found out,
and I was having the same exact health complication
as your other friend, and the baby's fine, just like her.
So it was all these things that God was using Maria,
the body of Christ, to speak encouragement and direction,
(32:40):
where to go, you know, to have faith, all of that.
So God uses the Hobabs, the Maria's,
the you's and the me, right?
So God uses us in amazing ways for direction,
encouragement, and to do his will.
All right, and then finally,
(33:01):
let's hop down to verse 33.
So they departed from the mountain of the Lord
on a journey of three days,
and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them
for the three days journey to search out
a resting place for them.
And the cloud of the Lord was above them by day
when they went out from the camp.
(33:22):
And so it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said,
Rise up, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered,
and let those who hate you flee before you.
And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord,
to the many thousands of Israel.
The ark went before them with the presence of God
in the cloud.
(33:43):
The ark was ahead of them everywhere they went.
And the ark has so much symbolism
when it comes to Jesus and what he's done for us.
You know, the ark actually is where the presence of God
rested in the holy place, in the holy of holies.
And then Jesus, obviously, God incarnate.
(34:05):
The full, everything about who God is, is Jesus,
and he was here in the flesh among us.
And inside of the ark was so many proofs of testimonies, right?
We saw the manna that sustained them through their entire journey
that came from heaven, and Jesus is the bread of life.
Jesus says, I am the manna in John
(34:27):
that is truly sustaining you.
And then the Ten Commandments were in there as well.
Jesus is the word of God.
And then Aaron's staff, which budded,
and that was a miracle to show that Aaron was chosen as the priest.
And Jesus is our true high priest who is chosen by God to do,
(34:47):
to reconcile us to himself.
And of course, we also see the mercy seat on top.
So it's the two cherubim angels facing each other
and the day of atonement when the sins of the people
were atoned for with the sin offering.
The blood was on it.
And we know, of course, that Jesus is the true atoning sacrifice
(35:10):
for a sin, for remissions of sins.
So as this went before the people,
they had every one of those memories in their head
that God is providing for us, God is directing us,
and these priests are chosen by God
to bring peace through the sacrifice.
And the blood I see sprinkled on there
(35:32):
shows that my sins aren't being held against me.
And so many scholars point out how this is just like Jesus.
This is a picture of Jesus going before us.
And Hebrews 12 too says that we are fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith.
(35:52):
For the joy set before him, he endured the cross.
Scoring at shame, he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
So Jesus is our example and the pioneer of our faith.
He's the one who goes before us.
And if we truly want direction in life, it all comes down to him.
(36:15):
You can't have God's direction without him.
He is God.
You need to actually have peace with God
before you can have God's direction.
We need to have our salvation.
We need to have our sins forgiven.
But we have to truly and personally know him
and be in relationship with him.
And that's what he's done for us on the cross.
(36:35):
And it's still, you know, every single day.
It's amazing.
It's been thousands of years
and people are still moved by the Holy Spirit
to give their lives to Jesus.
Amen.
And I love ending with the ark
because Jesus is the guide,
the one directing the people, right?
(36:57):
It's a picture of Jesus directing the people
through the wilderness and the trumpets
and everything happening, right?
And we know Jesus is coming back.
We know he's coming back.
And what does he come back with?
1 Thessalonians 4, 16.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven
with a loud command, the voice of the archangel
(37:20):
and with the trumpet call of God.
And the dead in Christ will rise first.
And after that, we who are still alive
and are left will be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore, encourage one another with these words.
This is just proof that the word of God is timeless
(37:43):
and the God of the Old Testament
is the God of the New Testament.
That God said,
blow these trumpets for directing people.
And then when Jesus comes back,
the trumpets, the true trumpets in heaven are blowing
and calling the people back to himself.
Just like in Egypt, I mean, in the wilderness,
they would blow the trumpets
(38:04):
and the people would come together.
Here, the trumpets are blowing and the church of God,
those that have died and those that are still alive
all come together, generations and generations of believers,
coming together and meeting the Lord in the air.
Isn't that amazing?
So God's direction is crucial for us individually,
(38:27):
for our church here in Lansdale,
for the church, the global church.
We need his direction and we're living in crazy times
and I really would not be surprised
if we hear those trumpets while we're still alive.
Like that, I really feel like that's going to happen.
So one thing I just want to be praying for
is direction.
(38:49):
Like how do we live effectively
and spirit-filled lives on earth
without getting caught up in the things of this life?
And only God can do that
and it really does come down to fixing our eyes on Jesus
like it said in that Hebrews verse,
we need to be focused on him daily.
And I'm like, everyone here can relate to each other
(39:14):
that it's easy for our minds to start wandering,
getting too busy and distracted
and then like time can go by and we realize like,
hey, I'm not feeling that the direction of God is clearly.
I'm not feeling the touch of the Holy Spirit.
I'm not feeling sharpened and alive in the Spirit
and it really comes down to we need to focus on him.
(39:35):
We need to seek him with our whole heart
and we also need to have that moment of coming in
like the trumpets would blow,
the people would come together
before they would be sent out.
And we need that moment really like in the morning
first thing, but every single day,
like living a life of coming together with God
to hear from him and to be filled by him
(39:57):
before ever going out into this world.
And if we're doing that,
we will live powerful, effective, spirit-filled lives
and we will see revival.
We will see thousands and people getting saved.
Like there's amazing testimonies.
The Welsh Revival,
(40:17):
I just listened to a YouTube video documentary on it
and just a few people getting filled with the Spirit
and not giving up until they saw God do something amazing.
They were seeking his guidance
and then he spoke to them and then the Spirit poured out.
And there was so such a great outpouring
that the police didn't know what to do anymore
(40:39):
because crime dropped so far.
They didn't have anything to do.
And so when they were thinking
of what other jobs the police could do,
they're like, well, we're all set actually
because all of our police departments
also are gospel choirs,
so we're going and singing at all the churches.
So they were busy with their gospel tours,
the whole police department,
because there was no crime to enforce,
(41:01):
no law to enforce.
And it's so crazy.
That was less than a hundred years ago, I think.
I think it was like 1901, so a little over a hundred years ago.
That wasn't that long ago, and it can happen again.
And it really comes down to just simple, simple,
101 Christianity, and that is come to God,
(41:23):
in spirit and truth, seek him,
have nothing hidden, worship him truly,
and he will speak, he will guide, he will direct,
and you will just see the testimonies
lining up constantly.
And people will get saved,
and we'll see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
So I want to just pray over this before we hit the questions.
(41:45):
I do, we can put them up in a minute,
but I just want to pray for us.
And even, honestly, during the prayer conversation time,
if we could just have a little bit more prayer too in it,
I think that would be great.
Just a little more, like I know we pray so much,
but just an extended time tonight
of praying for direction and for his spirit to be poured out.
(42:08):
Let's get specific here in our hearts,
like personally in our lives, and also in our church.
I want to see this church grow and expand
at an even more rapid rate,
and I know God wants to do that too, so let's pray.
Lord God, we thank you so much
that you are not the author of confusion, God,
(42:31):
but of peace, that you speak clearly and effectively
to your people, and we can trust you,
and we know that you will never contradict yourself, God.
And I pray that we would have a renewed desire
to come to you every morning
and to seek you with our whole hearts, God,
holding nothing back,
(42:52):
and I know, Lord, you will show yourself to us.
That's a promise.
And I just pray, God,
that your voice would be the thing we want most.
I pray above any success, any notoriety,
any comfort in this life, God.
I pray that we would desperately seek you
(43:13):
and want to know your voice.
That when you speak, God, we would move immediately,
like that cloud by day traveling, Lord.
I pray that the slightest movement
of your presence and your spirit
would just draw us in, God.
Our conversations, our relationships, our choices, God,
(43:34):
I pray that they would be in line with you.
And when you're moving, Lord, we're moving,
and when you wait, we wait.
And we just love you.
We lift you up, God, and you are holy.
You're amazing.
You're beautiful, God, and we love you so much.
We thank you for your presence.
We thank you for your Holy Spirit.
We thank you for Jesus.
(43:57):
In Jesus' holy name, amen.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His Word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Live Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!
(44:24):
God bless!
Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
(00:35):
I got a couple testimonies and a funny story. I kind of just want to tell this story.
I told my wife, I was like, it doesn't have anything to do with tonight, but it just happened.
So I was replacing a toilet in our upstairs bathroom because it's like an older house and the toilet's probably from the 70s.
So you just, you know, you got to change those when you buy it.
(00:56):
Anyway, so you got to get the water out of the toilet with like a shop vac.
And I wasn't thinking, and I had already vacuumed stuff outside like two months before, like muddy leaves and stuff, like out of this one area by the shed.
So it sat in there for like two months and it got all moldy and stuff.
I'm like, well, I'm going to be sucking up the water. It'll wash it out.
So I didn't realize when I put it back together, I shoved the shop vac tube in the upper part.
(01:23):
So it was going to go in reverse.
So as soon as I plugged it into the wall, I'm holding this long tube and it just starts going like, and it's like, I'm reaching for the button.
It's spraying out across the wall, leaving this dark brown moldy line across our entire wall.
And it smelled like disgusting.
So that quick toilet swap job turned into like an hour of cleanup before I could even start the toilet.
(01:49):
And anyway, so always check your shop vac before you plug it in.
Yeah. Two testimonies.
So anybody know Forrest Frank? He's like a Christian musician.
Yeah. So he like, I just heard, Maria just showed me this yesterday.
So two weeks ago, he was skateboarding. He's a young guy. He's probably like late twenties.
(02:12):
Skateboarding with his son fell off, hit his lower back on a sidewalk curb and he fractured two of his vertebrae in his back.
So he was in the hospital. It's really dangerous and all.
So he's sharing a testimony that he woke up in the morning, forgot to put his brace on, picked up his kid and was going about his entire morning and realized he had no pain in his back.
(02:35):
So he's like, I think I'm healed. And he got an x-ray and sure enough, there's no signs of a fracture in his vertebrae anymore.
So everyone was praying for him, which is awesome. So God is healing. Another one. This is a little more personal.
Some friends of ours in Nashville, they had some issues getting pregnant for a while and they had their first daughter through IVF.
(02:58):
And then finally, like they had one last embryo is going to be a boy. They're really hopeful.
And this is about a year and a half ago and it didn't work out. They didn't get pregnant.
And then she just texted Maria or saw the post just yesterday that she got pregnant naturally and they're having a boy.
So so amazing. Yeah, so great. Yeah, that's great.
(03:22):
So anyway, God is doing a lot of stuff, right? And I'm just excited to be a part of it.
So let's pray and then we're going to jump into Numbers 10.
Lord, we thank you that you are just so so close, God, and you know us so well and you know our life.
(03:44):
And we thank you, Lord, that you direct us on your path for us, God, that everyone's path is different, Lord.
But it all leads to you and it leads to the blessing of knowing you, God, and being conformed into the image of your son to be made like you.
And I just pray that tonight with all these notes and things that I've written down, God, I pray that you would speak and you would make it make sense, Lord,
(04:11):
and that your word we know does not return void. It is going to do something in us tonight.
And I just pray that you would speak and that we would be encouraged by your word and everything you want to say tonight.
So we love you in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're going to be hitting Numbers 10.
Has everybody been having a good time with Numbers? You liking it?
(04:32):
Well, the journey part of it actually starts tonight. So we've been having more law.
You thought you were out of Leviticus, but the first 10 chapters have been more law.
So we're about to go into the actual journey, which is exciting.
Let me flip over here. Yeah, Numbers 10.
(04:52):
So the title of my message tonight is God's direction. God's direction.
And before we get into this, one thing I want to point out is that the direction of his direction matters.
Like where he is leading you, what he's leading you from, what he's leading you to matters a lot.
(05:14):
And before we even want to get into how he guides and directs us, I just want to focus on for a minute where he's leading the Israelites out of and where he's leading them to.
So they are coming out of slavery and they're going to the Promised Land.
They're going from oppression, depression, like nothing.
(05:35):
They don't even have autonomy over their own bodies.
They have to work and slave away for just a ruthless nation of Egypt.
They've been brought out and they're not left in the wilderness, but God is bringing them now to the Promised Land.
And this says something profound about who God is. He doesn't want to leave you in slavery.
He wants to bring you to freedom and he wants to bring you to blessing.
(05:58):
And so in Jeremiah 2911, a lot of you guys know this verse.
He says this to Israel later on in their history. He says,
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and the future.
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.
(06:22):
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Again, that's Jeremiah 2911 through 13.
So he is leading them to blessing.
God's direction for your life is towards blessing.
And lots of times people immediately get a little freaked out.
They're like, Oh, blessing. This sounds too good to be true. This is prosperity, right?
(06:44):
But it's like we see here that yes, there is blessing for Israel, right?
Physical blessing. They get a nation. They get these cities, the land flowing, milk and honey.
But the best blessing they're getting during this time is God himself.
The greatest blessing of all in your life is to know God and to realize you are his people.
(07:07):
We are his people, right? And that now we have access.
We can seek him and we can find him. We can come and pray to him and he will listen to us.
The greatest blessing is God himself. And we even see that with the priests, right?
All the other tribes of Israel got land. And of course they got God, but they got land.
But it says for the priests, their blessing and their inheritance was not land, but it was God.
(07:32):
And it was the ministry and the ministering to God.
There is a special blessing for Christians beyond just the earthly blessings, and that is him.
And so we know from slavery to the promised land and all through the Bible.
My dad taught on this a couple weeks ago that this is not just about Israel,
(07:53):
but this was a picture also for Christians as a whole because we're coming out of slavery to sin, our Egypt, right?
We were dead in our sins. We couldn't do anything to please God.
And then God called us out, exiled us out.
And then he is teaching us and growing us through this journey of life to get to the promised land.
(08:13):
And that promised land, like we see in Hebrews 4, is entering the rest.
The fact that we now have peace with God, not through striving, right?
Not through doing everything we have to do to get on God's good side,
but it was peace with God through the ministry of Jesus on the cross.
That he died for us and he completely removed our sins, so now we enter the rest.
(08:36):
That is the promised land, salvation.
So I want to hit on that again, that it is not just earthly blessings in this life.
Like we know God, I mean, how many stories do you have that God has blessed you?
Like tangibly, right?
But we know that that is not the entirety of our blessing, right?
(08:56):
Like this whole life is not just about having a comfortable life.
And James 1, 2 through 4 makes it really clear that there is a blessing beyond nice circumstances.
It says, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
(09:18):
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
So he wants you to be blessed inside.
And that really does take priority over being blessed outside.
Like God cares about the external blessings.
(09:39):
Even in the Lord's Prayer, he's asked, like, give us today our daily bread.
Like he cares about our needs.
But above that, he cares about our inner blessing, a trust in him, and being conformed into his image.
And yes, he will use trials.
And if you come out lacking nothing, if I come out of a trial lacking nothing spiritually,
(10:01):
I would go through that trial a hundred times to get that.
I don't want to sit in the comfortable area of life, never having my faith tested,
never persevering, and lacking so much.
Like, I want the real thing.
I want true faith.
And we also, one more just to hammer that idea home.
Romans 8, 38.
For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
(10:24):
to those who are called according to his purpose.
So on this journey, we see so many trials for Israel through the Egypt before the Promised Land.
So do we have so many trials and tribulations,
but it's all part of God's plan in order to do the true blessing within us.
Amen.
So let's jump into Numbers 10.
(10:47):
So we hit that, you know, where they're coming from, where they're going to,
and now we're going to talk about how does God direct.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, we're going to stop.
So we see the first way that God is directing is the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
(11:10):
the Lord spoke, the Lord shared his word with Moses.
So Moses received the scriptures.
He received God's direction, the customs, traditions, holidays,
laws, everything and anything that had to do with what it looks like to be God's people
and what God is like.
(11:30):
He received so much.
It says he spoke to God face to face like a friend.
And we see it's the word and it's the spirit of God.
It's God himself speaking his word.
And we have not just the word of God, but we have the spirit of God as believers.
People who are not saved can read this and get it 100% wrong.
(11:54):
They can take the exact opposite meaning of the word,
but we have the author of the word revealing the word to us.
So when we read it, we can understand the true meaning behind it.
And I can't tell you how many times, like, I have had direction in my life
so clearly because of the word of God and the Holy Spirit of God.
(12:16):
As I read it, he reveals things.
I must have read it a thousand times before and I read it today
and it means this for this specific circumstance.
So we see that Moses is receiving the word of God
and every single thing they did is because of what God said to do.
It's so, like, word for word.
Do this, they do it.
(12:36):
And of course, they disobey a lot, you'll see.
But what they were supposed to do is God's word.
So he speaks to us through his word and he speaks to us
and reveals it in our hearts through the spirit.
A couple verses, you guys, if you want to write them down,
I love these.
2 Timothy 3,
All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
(12:58):
correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God
may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
To even go through this journey of life,
we desperately need the scripture, that God breathe the word.
And then also Hebrews 4, 12, we just heard this two Sundays ago,
for the word of God is alive and active,
sharper than any double-edged sword.
(13:19):
It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit,
joints and marrow.
It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
So it equips you to do this life.
It separates the things out of your life that shouldn't be there
and even reveals where your heart is off, not just your actions.
The word of God, don't you guys love it?
(13:40):
Like, I would be nowhere in life without it.
And not that I'm anywhere right now, but you know what I mean?
Like, I need His word every single day.
And this isn't really even, this next point isn't even a fleshed-out point
that I really planned, but, you know, Moses was a leader, right?
And sometimes, nowadays, it's very important to not lose sight of the fact
(14:07):
that we need to have respect for leaders in the church, right?
Like, it's so easy to be like, oh, they're just one of us.
The pastors, the elders, like, I know what's right and wrong.
It's like, we see so many stories.
Numbers 12, you're going to read that?
People said the same exact thing in Numbers 12,
and God brought down judgment.
It's like, no, Moses was chosen.
(14:29):
So there's a certain level of respect that is very healthy to have in the church
for elders that God's appointed and pastors and people teaching the word.
And we know there's more responsibility for people who teach,
a harsher judgment for teachers when they fail from God
because they are teaching the word and are held to a higher standard.
(14:51):
So to wrap that up, God speaks through His word and through His Spirit
directly to Moses, but also today directly to us.
And it's crucial that we read the word
and we pray that His Spirit would reveal the meaning to our hearts.
All right, the trumpets, let's read that.
Verse 2 through 10.
(15:13):
Make two silver trumpets for yourself.
You shall make them of hammered work.
You shall use them for calling the congregation
and for directing the movement of the camps.
When they blow both of them, all the congregations shall gather before you
at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
But if they blow only one, then the leaders and the heads of the divisions
(15:34):
of Israel shall gather to you.
And when you sound the advance, the camps that lie on the east side
shall then begin their journey.
Then you shall sound the advance the second time.
Then the camps that lie on the south side shall begin their journey,
and they shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys.
And when the assembly is to be gathered together,
(15:54):
you shall blow but not sound the advance.
The sons of Aaron the priest shall blow the trumpets,
and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generation.
When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you,
then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets,
and you will be remembered before the Lord your God,
(16:15):
and you will be saved from the enemies.
And in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts,
at the beginning of your months, you shall bow,
you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings
and over the sacrifice of your peace offerings,
and they shall be a memorial to you before God.
I am the Lord your God.
(16:35):
Anybody remember in elementary school
when every kid would come home with an instrument?
Like, it was instrument day. Did they still do that?
But I just remember it's like,
kids are coming home with violas and basses and trumpets,
and if Bo ever chooses the trumpet as his instrument,
I'll be very upset, because they are the most loudest things ever,
(17:00):
and I'm pretty sure I remember, it might have been like Jake or Morgan,
or maybe it was just a neighbor, it was that loud,
but one of the kids had a trumpet,
and they only played it for like a week,
but I remember like being outside,
and I could hear them practicing inside from like two or three houses away.
It was just like insanely loud,
(17:23):
but I like how God is using the trumpet here as direction, right?
The trumpets say to do this, the trumpets say to do that,
and what I see behind this is that trumpets are loud,
but trumpets are really good at getting your attention, right?
Like, every single alarm system, everything today,
(17:43):
can be traced back to back in the day,
the guards when someone was starting to go after your city would blow the trumpet.
Now we have alarm systems in our houses, like, they're good at getting your attention, right?
And we see here that God told Moses and told the people to use these
in order to direct and to call the people,
(18:04):
and it's very easy to get people's attention using trumpets,
and God is also very good at getting our attention.
Now, sometimes we are deaf, we don't listen, we don't care,
and he's a kind God, he lets us make mistakes,
and then he's like, yeah, I remember all the way back then when I was sounding the trumpet
and you weren't listening, you wouldn't be in this mess, right?
(18:26):
But God is also very organized.
We see, like, he's telling people to come, he's sending people out,
there's so much organization around God and around these trumpets,
and we know that God both communicates clearly to his people,
and he doesn't contradict himself, there's not one trumpet blowing,
(18:47):
and another one's like, hey, no, stay where you are.
There's one message, right?
And we know the message that is all through the word, that Jesus Christ is Lord,
and he is the way, the truth, and the life, amen.
And we see here that, like, in 1 Corinthians,
for God is not the author of confusion but of peace,
as in all the churches of the saints.
(19:07):
He's not a confusing God, he's a clear God,
and he directs his people clearly.
So if we have a lot of confusion in our lives,
if we never truly know what choice to make
and we teeter back and forth all the time,
I would say that is an indicator that maybe we're not actually listening to God
(19:27):
or maybe allowing other people to influence our decisions
or just not even talking to God whatsoever about it,
because he says, like we read before,
if you seek him, you will find him when you seek him with your whole heart.
He is not the author of confusion but of peace and direction and clarity.
Another thing that I notice here is these trumpets are blowing all the time.
(19:51):
Like we see, for going out, for coming in,
for going to war, for times of gladness,
at all times these trumpets are blowing.
They're probably hearing it every single day.
But I love that because God's direction is all the time.
Like in the morning, coming in, right,
we come into the presence of God
(20:11):
and worship him and he directs us,
and then we go out about our day, right?
And when we come into times of trial
and testing of our faith like a war,
the trumpets blow and we know what to do
and we know that God will save us from our enemies.
And then, in our times of gladness, when everything's going great,
(20:33):
God's still there.
God's still speaking and directing.
And over the burnt offerings, the peace offerings, our worship,
he's still there.
The God who guides us and are coming in is guiding us
and are going out.
The times of war he's guiding us
and the times of peace he's guiding us.
At all times, he is guiding and directing us.
(21:00):
Let's read verse 11 through 13 here.
Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month.
In the second year, that the cloud was taken up
from above the tabernacle of the testimony.
And the children of Israel set out
from the wilderness of Sinai on their journey.
(21:21):
And the cloud settled in the wilderness of Piran.
So they started out for the first time,
according to the command of the Lord
by the hand of Moses.
I don't know about you, but I almost get like
goosebumps every time I think about the pillar of cloud
just rising up and going.
(21:42):
Isn't that unbelievable?
Like all, the entire journey for the forty years,
the pillar of cloud would go out from the ark
in the tabernacle and then just start going.
And it's not even like,
hey, we know where we're going right now.
We know how long it's going to be.
It's just the cloud's moving.
Let's go.
(22:03):
And they'd blast the trumpets and they'd start going.
They'd pack up.
And then it stops.
It could be like we read in chapter nine.
It could be a day.
It could be a month.
It could be years.
Sitting still, or suddenly they start moving.
And the pillar of cloud really is seen,
it's the presence of God.
(22:24):
Where the presence of God goes, we should go.
To be in the will of God is to be following right behind him.
And this pillar of cloud was really a huge,
the reading about this was a big moment in my life.
This happened a few years ago.
(22:46):
We were in Nashville.
And we had been doing music for a few years
and God was really in it.
And we saw a bunch of testimonies
and there was some success there.
And we toured the whole country
and got to meet all these awesome people.
And it was so much fun.
It was like a dream come true.
And near the end of, I think it was 2019,
(23:09):
things started changing.
And we weren't really loving it as much anymore
because we were leaving our families so much.
But we're so invested still.
And we're like, we have to do this.
Then a few decisions were basically made for us.
Our label dropped us.
We weren't signed anymore.
And then that's a ton more work on our shoulders
(23:29):
and we're praying about it.
And we can't give up.
We can't let this go.
We have to keep pressing for it.
But I love that God directs even when we want the other thing.
And I read, you can see right here,
right down here I have some notes in Numbers 9.
(23:50):
And I remember it was probably like 1 a.m.
And I'm all stressed out.
And laying there, actually we had the Christmas tree out.
In Nashville.
And I'm reading Numbers 9 where it says,
the cloud would camp.
And they would camp.
And as soon as the cloud moved, they would move.
Whether it was a day, a month, or a year, three years.
(24:11):
They followed wherever the presence of God went in the cloud.
And I felt so clearly, God say,
my presence is moving, are you coming with me?
And I just pictured,
man, I can't leave my tents just pitched here
when you're not here anymore.
I can't keep trying to keep this thing going
(24:32):
if you're not in it.
Like I want to be where you are, God.
And that took a lot of hard conversations.
We had to fire people.
We were having these business relationships for years.
But the whole time I just had so much peace
because I knew God's moving and I'm following.
Like literally the cloud.
I could like picture it.
(24:54):
And there was blessing in it.
Was it a trial?
Of course.
But I learned something far greater than
if everything worked out perfectly, right?
Because it led me towards lacking nothing.
I still lack a lot.
But it did something in me.
I trusted God more.
And I could look at his plan above what I wanted.
And of course, even just the normal blessings,
(25:15):
it's like, I'm home every day now.
We used to have to travel four days a week
to like barely get by.
And even when we would like get more successful,
every Christian band is on the road like four days a week
to pay the bills and make their living.
And now we're home every day.
We have other jobs.
We can work from home.
We're with our families, our kids.
It's like the greatest blessing ever.
(25:37):
And, you know, I just I love God.
And I'm so thankful that he leads and he guides
that his presence will guide you if you're paying attention.
Like he will guide you.
Huh?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that was the other.
Yeah.
That was the other thing.
So when we finally told our booking agents, we're like,
(25:59):
yeah, we think we're going to come off the road.
It's like two months later, the pandemic hit.
And we already had like job things lined up.
So we were okay.
But yeah, God really looked out for us.
Yeah.
So I want to from here, verse 14,
all the way down to verse 28 is basically all the tribes.
(26:21):
We read this before, I think in chapter one,
all the tribes and the order that they leave and march out.
I just want to point out one thing.
Judah is first.
They're on the east side.
There's a lot of cool symbolism there.
Jesus comes from the tribe of Judah.
Judah is leading the pack.
Jesus leads.
He's the head of the body, right?
He leads the body of Christ.
(26:43):
And yeah, I'll stop there.
But Judah, yeah, Judah led the entire tribe,
all the Israelites through the wilderness.
And Jesus is of the tribe of Judah, leading his people.
Yeah.
All right.
So verse 29.
(27:04):
Now, Moses said to Hobab, love that name,
third son on the way right there, Hobab,
the son of Ruel, the Midianite, Moses, his father-in-law.
So this is Moses' brother-in-law.
We are setting out, Moses said,
we are setting out for the place of which the Lord said,
I will give it to you.
Come with us and we will treat you well,
(27:25):
for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.
And he said to him, I will not go,
but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives.
So Moses said, please do not leave.
And as much as you know how,
we are to camp in the wilderness and you can be our eyes.
And if you shall be, and it shall be,
if you go with us, indeed it shall be,
(27:46):
that whatever good the Lord will do to us,
the same we will do to you.
So they departed.
Yeah, stop there.
So this is really interesting because you have
the word of God directing Moses,
and you have the trumpets directing the people
when and where to move,
(28:07):
and you have the cloud by day leading them,
and then Moses asks for his brother-in-law
to help with the direction.
Now I'm not directing where they're going to go,
but when they get there,
to point out all the intel of the desert,
because he knows the desert well.
And he's like, you know, basically,
(28:29):
what commentaries are saying is like,
when the Lord stops to camp,
you, Hobab, can you tell us like,
a good place to find water,
what we could eat that's, you know, safe,
things to be avoiding, that's dangerous,
like, you know, basically a guide through the wilderness.
And, you know, you might on one side be like,
that's not very spiritual.
Couldn't you trust the Lord to like,
(28:50):
tell you all these things?
And like, you could,
but you notice God isn't angry here.
God didn't like send a plague
because Moses is one of little faith.
So it shows that actually this was part of God's plan.
God wanted to use Hobab
to also give the intel to the people.
And that's something that we need to be really aware of,
(29:11):
because God wants to use people in your life.
He's not always going to 100% of the time
strictly talk to you one way.
He's going to speak through his word.
He's going to speak through the peace of his presence.
And nothing will contradict itself.
The word's not going to tell you one thing
and then this peace of the presence, another.
It's all going to be confirming each other.
(29:32):
But then he also uses the body of Christ
to speak encouragement, direction, truth into your life.
And Hobab, I just like saying that name,
is used in a really instrumental way over the next 40 years.
And actually we see some of his descendants
like in the times of the judges and all of this.
(29:53):
So he stuck with Israel
and became a part of their people.
But an example of this, you know that joke
where this guy is like in a flooding house.
I'm not going to tell the whole thing because you know it.
But this guy's house is flooding
and he's praying, Lord, save me.
And he wants God to physically save him.
And then a boat goes by and like, hop in.
(30:14):
He's like, no, I'm waiting for the Lord.
And then five or six things go by.
Suddenly a helicopter's flying, dropping a rope.
Like, come on.
He said, no, I'm praying the Lord is going to save me.
And then he drowns and he got to heaven
and he's like, why didn't you save me, God?
He's like, I sent the boat.
I sent the raft.
I sent the helicopter.
God uses people.
Like, there are miracles like we talked about
(30:35):
in the beginning, but God also uses people
and the body of Christ to direct
and to do things in our lives
because we are the body of Christ.
He's the head.
We're the body.
And he moves us in the spirit to go do
and speak and move on his behalf.
It's part of his design.
(30:56):
So an example of this, it just happened.
I have a lot of examples tonight.
I hope you guys like it.
So Maria met up with a friend a few weeks ago.
I'm just going to call her name Emily
because I don't want to give away any information.
So Maria met with this girl, Emily,
and she, Maria had a dream that Emily was pregnant.
(31:16):
So she went up to Emily and she's like,
hey, like, I had a dream you were pregnant.
And, you know, Emily didn't say anything.
She, you know, she wasn't like, yeah, I'm pregnant.
She's like, oh, that's so funny.
That's crazy.
And that was it.
Then the next time they hung out,
Maria brought up how one of her other friends,
so she's telling Emily, one of her other friends
(31:36):
had some pregnancy complications.
And an OB was like, yeah, you're miscarrying.
So she's like, oh, this is awful.
So she went to a different OB.
And they're like, they checked her out.
And she's like, you're not miscarrying.
Everything's fine.
The baby's healthy.
And she felt like so happy and like so much peace
because she knew the baby's healthy.
Meanwhile, Maria's friend Emily,
(31:59):
who she's telling the story to,
is having the same exact complication,
filled with fear she's miscarrying,
and she felt like it was God speaking directly to her,
like, don't be afraid.
I'm with you and your baby's okay.
So she goes to the same OB that the other girl went to
and they checked her out,
and the baby's totally healthy and fine.
(32:19):
And then finally, the third time they hang out,
Emily finally told Maria, hey,
I was pregnant when you had that dream I just found out,
and I was having the same exact health complication
as your other friend, and the baby's fine, just like her.
So it was all these things that God was using Maria,
the body of Christ, to speak encouragement and direction,
(32:40):
where to go, you know, to have faith, all of that.
So God uses the Hobabs, the Maria's,
the you's and the me, right?
So God uses us in amazing ways for direction,
encouragement, and to do his will.
All right, and then finally,
(33:01):
let's hop down to verse 33.
So they departed from the mountain of the Lord
on a journey of three days,
and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them
for the three days journey to search out
a resting place for them.
And the cloud of the Lord was above them by day
when they went out from the camp.
(33:22):
And so it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said,
Rise up, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered,
and let those who hate you flee before you.
And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord,
to the many thousands of Israel.
The ark went before them with the presence of God
in the cloud.
(33:43):
The ark was ahead of them everywhere they went.
And the ark has so much symbolism
when it comes to Jesus and what he's done for us.
You know, the ark actually is where the presence of God
rested in the holy place, in the holy of holies.
And then Jesus, obviously, God incarnate.
(34:05):
The full, everything about who God is, is Jesus,
and he was here in the flesh among us.
And inside of the ark was so many proofs of testimonies, right?
We saw the manna that sustained them through their entire journey
that came from heaven, and Jesus is the bread of life.
Jesus says, I am the manna in John
(34:27):
that is truly sustaining you.
And then the Ten Commandments were in there as well.
Jesus is the word of God.
And then Aaron's staff, which budded,
and that was a miracle to show that Aaron was chosen as the priest.
And Jesus is our true high priest who is chosen by God to do,
(34:47):
to reconcile us to himself.
And of course, we also see the mercy seat on top.
So it's the two cherubim angels facing each other
and the day of atonement when the sins of the people
were atoned for with the sin offering.
The blood was on it.
And we know, of course, that Jesus is the true atoning sacrifice
(35:10):
for a sin, for remissions of sins.
So as this went before the people,
they had every one of those memories in their head
that God is providing for us, God is directing us,
and these priests are chosen by God
to bring peace through the sacrifice.
And the blood I see sprinkled on there
(35:32):
shows that my sins aren't being held against me.
And so many scholars point out how this is just like Jesus.
This is a picture of Jesus going before us.
And Hebrews 12 too says that we are fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith.
(35:52):
For the joy set before him, he endured the cross.
Scoring at shame, he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
So Jesus is our example and the pioneer of our faith.
He's the one who goes before us.
And if we truly want direction in life, it all comes down to him.
(36:15):
You can't have God's direction without him.
He is God.
You need to actually have peace with God
before you can have God's direction.
We need to have our salvation.
We need to have our sins forgiven.
But we have to truly and personally know him
and be in relationship with him.
And that's what he's done for us on the cross.
(36:35):
And it's still, you know, every single day.
It's amazing.
It's been thousands of years
and people are still moved by the Holy Spirit
to give their lives to Jesus.
Amen.
And I love ending with the ark
because Jesus is the guide,
the one directing the people, right?
(36:57):
It's a picture of Jesus directing the people
through the wilderness and the trumpets
and everything happening, right?
And we know Jesus is coming back.
We know he's coming back.
And what does he come back with?
1 Thessalonians 4, 16.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven
with a loud command, the voice of the archangel
(37:20):
and with the trumpet call of God.
And the dead in Christ will rise first.
And after that, we who are still alive
and are left will be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore, encourage one another with these words.
This is just proof that the word of God is timeless
(37:43):
and the God of the Old Testament
is the God of the New Testament.
That God said,
blow these trumpets for directing people.
And then when Jesus comes back,
the trumpets, the true trumpets in heaven are blowing
and calling the people back to himself.
Just like in Egypt, I mean, in the wilderness,
they would blow the trumpets
(38:04):
and the people would come together.
Here, the trumpets are blowing and the church of God,
those that have died and those that are still alive
all come together, generations and generations of believers,
coming together and meeting the Lord in the air.
Isn't that amazing?
So God's direction is crucial for us individually,
(38:27):
for our church here in Lansdale,
for the church, the global church.
We need his direction and we're living in crazy times
and I really would not be surprised
if we hear those trumpets while we're still alive.
Like that, I really feel like that's going to happen.
So one thing I just want to be praying for
is direction.
(38:49):
Like how do we live effectively
and spirit-filled lives on earth
without getting caught up in the things of this life?
And only God can do that
and it really does come down to fixing our eyes on Jesus
like it said in that Hebrews verse,
we need to be focused on him daily.
And I'm like, everyone here can relate to each other
(39:14):
that it's easy for our minds to start wandering,
getting too busy and distracted
and then like time can go by and we realize like,
hey, I'm not feeling that the direction of God is clearly.
I'm not feeling the touch of the Holy Spirit.
I'm not feeling sharpened and alive in the Spirit
and it really comes down to we need to focus on him.
(39:35):
We need to seek him with our whole heart
and we also need to have that moment of coming in
like the trumpets would blow,
the people would come together
before they would be sent out.
And we need that moment really like in the morning
first thing, but every single day,
like living a life of coming together with God
to hear from him and to be filled by him
(39:57):
before ever going out into this world.
And if we're doing that,
we will live powerful, effective, spirit-filled lives
and we will see revival.
We will see thousands and people getting saved.
Like there's amazing testimonies.
The Welsh Revival,
(40:17):
I just listened to a YouTube video documentary on it
and just a few people getting filled with the Spirit
and not giving up until they saw God do something amazing.
They were seeking his guidance
and then he spoke to them and then the Spirit poured out.
And there was so such a great outpouring
that the police didn't know what to do anymore
(40:39):
because crime dropped so far.
They didn't have anything to do.
And so when they were thinking
of what other jobs the police could do,
they're like, well, we're all set actually
because all of our police departments
also are gospel choirs,
so we're going and singing at all the churches.
So they were busy with their gospel tours,
the whole police department,
because there was no crime to enforce,
(41:01):
no law to enforce.
And it's so crazy.
That was less than a hundred years ago, I think.
I think it was like 1901, so a little over a hundred years ago.
That wasn't that long ago, and it can happen again.
And it really comes down to just simple, simple,
101 Christianity, and that is come to God,
(41:23):
in spirit and truth, seek him,
have nothing hidden, worship him truly,
and he will speak, he will guide, he will direct,
and you will just see the testimonies
lining up constantly.
And people will get saved,
and we'll see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
So I want to just pray over this before we hit the questions.
(41:45):
I do, we can put them up in a minute,
but I just want to pray for us.
And even, honestly, during the prayer conversation time,
if we could just have a little bit more prayer too in it,
I think that would be great.
Just a little more, like I know we pray so much,
but just an extended time tonight
of praying for direction and for his spirit to be poured out.
(42:08):
Let's get specific here in our hearts,
like personally in our lives, and also in our church.
I want to see this church grow and expand
at an even more rapid rate,
and I know God wants to do that too, so let's pray.
Lord God, we thank you so much
that you are not the author of confusion, God,
(42:31):
but of peace, that you speak clearly and effectively
to your people, and we can trust you,
and we know that you will never contradict yourself, God.
And I pray that we would have a renewed desire
to come to you every morning
and to seek you with our whole hearts, God,
holding nothing back,
(42:52):
and I know, Lord, you will show yourself to us.
That's a promise.
And I just pray, God,
that your voice would be the thing we want most.
I pray above any success, any notoriety,
any comfort in this life, God.
I pray that we would desperately seek you
(43:13):
and want to know your voice.
That when you speak, God, we would move immediately,
like that cloud by day traveling, Lord.
I pray that the slightest movement
of your presence and your spirit
would just draw us in, God.
Our conversations, our relationships, our choices, God,
(43:34):
I pray that they would be in line with you.
And when you're moving, Lord, we're moving,
and when you wait, we wait.
And we just love you.
We lift you up, God, and you are holy.
You're amazing.
You're beautiful, God, and we love you so much.
We thank you for your presence.
We thank you for your Holy Spirit.
We thank you for Jesus.
(43:57):
In Jesus' holy name, amen.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His Word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Live Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!
(44:24):
God bless!
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