The Wilderness

Scripture

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.

~Matthew 4:1

Quote

“Most people don’t mind obstacles, as long as they don’t get in the way.”

~Chip Ingram

Sasquatch

You cannot move [on foot] from Mount Sinai to the Promise Land without going through a wilderness. When Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. God lead them to the wilderness to get them away for Egypt [world] and unto Himself. In the wilderness, they had freedom to worship and sacrifice; plus it was a spiritual boot camp.

God lead Jesus into the wilderness just as He lead ancient Israel. God leads every believer into the wilderness but He does not intend for us to stay in the wilderness.  The wilderness is a place of solitude, a place where God miraculously provides by His amazing grace. Moses spent two thirds of his life in the wilderness, John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, and David wrote some of his best Psalms while in the wilderness.The wilderness is a good place to learn but not a good place to live. God’s design is not simply to lead us to the wilderness but to lead us through the wilderness. Only the rebellious stay in the wilderness. The Christian life is never stagnant–it is a constant moving onward and upward.

• I guess we were down last night but I had a ball. We finished the book of James and will begin with I Peter next Wednesday. The kids loved the Pizza. The van children all got to take a pizza home.
• We have more test this morning and then we plan to visit hospitals. Joe David and Rob Jackson are leaving for North Carolina, a DISCIPLSHIP MEETING. Joe David will be back Saturday night.
• Pray for Patrick [Fuzz] Dobbins and Tom Bennich. Fuzz is in DMH and Tom is in HH.

From Slavery To Independence

SCRIPTURE

“When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”

~Exodus 13:17, NLT

QUOTE

Independence toward God has in it the seed of real tragedy. Be dependence upon Him has in it the possibility of real independence.

~Clovis Chappell

God could have lead the Israelites up the coast through Philistia which would have been a 10-14 day trip but He intentionally lead them into the wilderness. He wanted to separate them from the world and unto Himself for a time of instruction, training and worship. He wanted to teach them to live by faith so He carried them to a place where He was the only means of survival. Of course He came through with water from the Rock and Manna from heaven. His purpose was to teach them to be totally dependent upon Him. True independence comes when we learn to be totally dependent upon Christ our Savior and Lord. In Egypt [A type of the world] the Israelites were slaves but by rebelling against God they slipped back into a slavery of a different sort; they became slaves to sin. Eventually it cost them their freedom and their land.

• TODAY WE PRAY FOR TEACHERS.
• Winter Bible Study going good: great crowd last night {Only at Sardis Springs}. Bro. Charles and I talked about it last night, they had over 100 in the adult bible study on a Monday Night. I don’t know of one other SBC that does Winter Bible Study, do you? They had a death in their church family {related}: a forty year old mother. She had a bad heart attack. There are people hurting everywhere. We did get some good news from Grand Bay, Bernard’s daughter came through surgery well and they pronounced her cancer free, PTL.
• I am going to do a TOP TEN some day on why Mothers refuse to spell their children’s name correctly and then get ticked when you misspell it. Thank goodness there is only one way to spell Jack is American English: No Jaque is for the Frenchies and Jax is wax with a J, not Jack. A mother told me once that her child’s name was Bailey. I said good, it is about time some one named a kid after me. She said, “No really, her name is spelled Baleigh.” Give me a break!
• Paste from Keri Callahan FACEBOOK PAGE. “Thank you so much to everyone who is still praying and texting and messaging and everyone who has visited and sent stuff. I am extremely blessed to have such wonderful people surround me during this hard time. With that said, yes it’s still hard. I am home, but it hasn’t gotten much better or easier. I’m just honestly ready for all this to be over. I don’t understand why this is happening but it is. I don’t believe I am bein…g punished by God for anything I’ve done; He just sees it in my best interest and his glory for me to go through this, as hard as it may be. People keep telling me I am strong, but I can guarantee you I’m not. I am so weak, but my God is strong. I can’t focus on the WHY bc that won’t get me anywhere; I have to focus on the WHO and the HOPE, which is Jesus Christ. He is literally the only thing getting me through this. I pray God’s light shines through me as much as possible for his glory in the end. It’s not about me.”

  “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” -2 Corinthians 12:9

  

Miracles

SCRIPTURE

Thus the Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle.

~Exodus 13:18, NLT

QUOTE

Do you believe in miracles?

~Al Michaels [1980 Winter Olympics]

The Soviet Union won the Olympic Hockey championship from 1954 to 1980. They were all professional soldiers/hockey players. They practiced 365 days a year but were on the army payroll which of course made them illegal because in those days Olympians were supposed to be amateurs {O for the good old days}. In 1979 the Soviet team beat the NHL all stars. The 1980 US Hockey teams was made up of college kids in their teens and twenties. No one gave them a chance.

There is a greater miracle recorded in the Old Testament. Moses lead 2,000,000 plus Israelites through a wilderness that is hard on rattle snakes. I want you to get a picture of this in your mind. Marching in columns with 50 per row, the Israelites were spread over 25 miles. If you had put them in box cars, it would have taken 200 trains all pulling 100 cars. To top that, God forced them to spend 40 years in the wilderness due to their disobedience and during that time, they ate 9 billion gallons of manna. No one died from the trip. No one died of starvation or heat exhaustion: they died from disobedience, otherwise Moses would have lead this horde through a snake infested wilderness into a land of promise. Miracles happen all the time, we simply don’t recognize them. No one in history; no one living today can explain how Moses and the Israelites survived other than giving God the glory for a miracle.

• Today we pray for those having TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS. I think Kane has a chemo treatment today at 11:00.
• Tom Bennich coming Sunday. Mission Offering goes to Disaster Relief. Johnny Burnett is our rep.
• GOLDEN GIRLS Saturday.
• The group below had a name: Can you tell me their name without Google?

Name this Country Music Super Group

Forty/Forty

Pray For MY HOPE

SCRIPTURE

“Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins.”

~Numbers 14:34, NLT

QUOTE

No sin is small. It is against an infinite God, and may have consequences immeasurable. No grain of sand is small in the mechanism of a watch.

~Jeremy Taylor

COMMENTARY

The unfaithful spies spend 40 days searching out the land but they brought back an evil report and destroyed the faith and courage of the Israelites. For this sin, they were given 40 years in the wilderness of wandering. We always seem to reap more than we sow. One sin can have enormous consequences. Adam and Eve committed one sin and we are still reaping the consequences. The Jews said at the trial of Jesus, “Let His blood be on us and our children.” This one sin by one generation has affected every generation of Jews since.

EXTRA

• Forgot to do phone message yesterday but most Matthews read the blog…we meet at 8:15 and you get your DVD
• Baptism this morning at the end of the worship celebration
• Cook Out this evening at 5:00
• REVIVAL with Wade Morris begins next Sunday morning [November 3]
• Friday was an eventful day in our neighborhood: Mrs. Elizabeth Smith passed away and Ray Edwards was taken to DGH in the night. Ray is better. The Smith family will receive friends tonight at Lawrence County Funeral Home and the COLS is on Monday
• Thanks for your prayers: We made 24 visits and got 3 commitments to the Thursday night party. I will be inviting my Cambodian friends today.