Grace World Outreach Church
Pastor Daniel K Norris
Greetings from Grace World
Thank you for joining us today at Grace World. Whether you are joining us in person or watching online, we are so glad you are here! It's our prayer that you discover life in all its fullness.
If you have a prayer request, you can send that to us here at https://www.graceworldag.org/prayer-requests
Every week we place these request on the altar of the church and our entire team lifts up each request by name.
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Exceedingly Abundantly
Israel’s Journey Of Faith
Text: Ex 3, Num 13, Heb 3
Exodus 3:7–8 (ESV)
7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come downto deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…
Flowing - gushing forth in abundance
with milk - the necessities of life
and honey - the blessings of life
Numbers 13:26–14:4 (NKJV)
26 Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.28 Neverthelessthe people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
They were unwilling to take the land… why?
Hebrews 3:19 (ESV) So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
UNBELIEF - is expressed in the NT by two greek words, apistia and apeitheia. Apistia is unbelief as a state of mind, and apeitheia as an expression of unbelief (Our actions follow our thinking). Together they signify a lack of faith and trust that result in disobedience, rebellion, and stubbornness in every case
Likely you count unbelief as a small issue. For God it is THE ISSUE.
Rom 14:23 AMP “For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin"
Therefore we must conquer the GIANT of UNBELIEF
Israels Unbelief was Fueled by three things…
1) A FEAR-FILLED IMAGINATION
“We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”
What they SAW filled their minds with fear!
What you put before your eyes fuels your faith or your fears
What thoughts are terrorizing your imagination?
2) A CHORUS OF INTIMIDATION
32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.
Unbelief is fueled not only by what I put before my eyes, but also what I put before my ears.
Ro 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Who is speaking the gospel of fear in your ear?
3) AN IDENTITY SHAPED BY INSECURITY
33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
What the SAW before them shaped what the SAW within them.
It is an insult to the character and nature of God to doubt His promises when your past is filled with parted seas and drowned enemies!
Their Giant Wasn’t In The Land… Their Giant Was In Their Head
Joshua and Caleb’s Giant Slaying Lesson for Us
1) Fill Your Imagination with stories of FAITH not FEAR
- Able to exceedingly abundantly more than you ask or imagine
- What you put before your mind is key!
- What are you imagining? Are you thinking like a grasshopper or a giant slayer?
2) Surround Yourself with voices that LIFT don’t LOWER
- Who is bending your ear?
- Who are the circle of friends around you that life you up?
3) Shape Your Identity with what God has Said not what You See
- Repent for Low Level Thinking
- Refocus your eyes and ears in His Word
- Renew your mind... a change in thinking changes your direction