SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a Ministry of Random Hard Wave Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Random Hardway, visit grandheartway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, worship team.
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate your leadership this morning.
SPEAKER_01: If you're just tuning in, I'm not Neil McClendon.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Jason Kraft.
SPEAKER_01: I have the privilege of being the lead pastor at a church called Messiah's House in Amarillo, Texas.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm honored to be here at Grand Parkway today for your live service.
SPEAKER_01: I have been friends with Pastor Neil for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: And I am honored that he and the elders would invite me to come and open up the Word of God with you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So let's get into it.
SPEAKER_01: Our main text this morning will be in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll be in the first chapter, Deuteronomy chapter one.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give you several other references for those of you who may be taking notes, but this will pretty much be where we camp this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I thought I'd get started by sharing this with you.
SPEAKER_01: Every day a woman stood on her porch and shouted, Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And every day the atheist next door yelled back, There is no Lord.
SPEAKER_01: One day she prayed, Lord, I'm hungry.
SPEAKER_01: Please send me groceries.
SPEAKER_01: The next morning she found a bag of food on the stairs.
SPEAKER_01: Praise the Lord, she shouted.
SPEAKER_01: I told you there was no Lord, her neighbor said, jumping from behind a bush.
SPEAKER_01: I bought those groceries.
SPEAKER_01: Well, praise the Lord, the woman said.
SPEAKER_01: He not only sent me groceries, but he made the devil pay for them.
SPEAKER_01: I trust that you're smiling, maybe even chuckling.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know how hard it is to tell a joke to a camera in an empty sanctuary?
SPEAKER_01: By faith, I hope that you found that uh at least humorous.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's an important time for us to keep our sense of humor.
SPEAKER_01: But I also share that just to make a point before we get into the word this morning, and that point is this I think it's important for us to know that God is big enough to use the devil.
SPEAKER_01: God is actually big enough to use the devil in such a way that he can use evil to provoke me to righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you grew up in church, I don't know, you know, um what your theological background may be if you even have one.
SPEAKER_01: But I would challenge all of us, no matter what camp you come from, to make room in your theology for the fact that God's big enough to use Satan.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be reading about the Israelites in this Old Testament passage.
SPEAKER_01: They would have never entered the promised land without the enemy on their tails.
SPEAKER_01: And we need to understand that Satan is no match for God, he's no real foe for God.
SPEAKER_01: It's nothing for our God to defeat the enemy, but he loves it when we as his people do it.
SPEAKER_01: And he calls us at time to rise up in our own authority.
SPEAKER_01: He calls, he causes us at time to work on our character in times like this.
SPEAKER_01: God's at work.
SPEAKER_01: We know that the enemy's at work right now.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to submit to you that God's at work as well.
SPEAKER_01: And I really believe that after all of the shaking that is going on, there will be an outpouring of God's spirit.
SPEAKER_01: The church will grow and the kingdom of God will be advanced.
SPEAKER_01: I I think we should be agreeing for a great revival across the land to come out of COVID-19.
SPEAKER_01: God is at work, church.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to remind us of that this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, enough of my opinion.
SPEAKER_01: Let's get into the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Deuteronomy chapter one.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna pick up in the middle of a chapter, so let me give you a little bit of context.
SPEAKER_01: When you read through the book of Deuteronomy, what you find is that it's a series of farewell speeches from Moses.
SPEAKER_01: Moses, who's 120 years old, uh, is passing the baton of leadership on, if you will, over to Joshua, who will lead a new generation into the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: And when we come into this first chapter, Moses is giving somewhat of what is basically a history lesson.
SPEAKER_01: He's reminding the Israelites of why the previous generation didn't get to enter the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: And so he wants them to understand where they've come from, but he also is preparing them so that they won't make some of the same mistakes that have been made by their forefathers.
SPEAKER_01: And so I think the words that he shares about Israel's rebellion actually will speak to us in a great way today.
SPEAKER_01: So, Deuteronomy chapter 1, verse 26, I'm in the NIV this morning.
SPEAKER_01: But you were unwilling to go up.
SPEAKER_01: You rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.
SPEAKER_01: You grumbled in your tents and said, The Lord hates us.
SPEAKER_01: So he brought us up out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.
SPEAKER_01: Where can we go?
SPEAKER_01: Our brothers have made us lose heart.
SPEAKER_01: They say the people are stronger and taller than we are, the cities are large with walls up to the sky.
SPEAKER_01: We even saw the Anakites there.
SPEAKER_01: And then I said to you, Do not be terrified, do not be afraid of them.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt before your very eyes, and in the desert.
SPEAKER_01: There you saw how the Lord your God carried you as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.
SPEAKER_01: In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey in fire by night, and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.
SPEAKER_01: And when the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore, not a man of this evil generation shall see shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers, except Caleb, son of Jehanna.
SPEAKER_01: He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.
SPEAKER_01: Because of you, the Lord became angry with me also, and said, You shall not enter it either.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go back to verse 32.
SPEAKER_01: This is our key verse.
SPEAKER_01: In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God.
SPEAKER_01: The title of the message this morning is Distrusting God.
SPEAKER_01: Distrusting God.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I thank you for your word this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you that God, it is alive.
SPEAKER_01: It is active.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you that though the grass withers and the flowers fade, your word endures forever.
SPEAKER_01: And God, I thank you that as we get in the scripture this morning, that we're not left just to our own ability to understand.
SPEAKER_01: But I thank you that we have you, Holy Spirit, who will bring us revelation, who will bring us enlightenment.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you that this is not a word that was just once spoken, but that it's a word that's being spoken right now.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray that, God, this would be a message, God, today, that would bring encouragement to us, that it would come with power, that it would come with the Holy Spirit, and that it would come with deep conviction, God.
SPEAKER_01: Move in our hearts and speak to us by your Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 56, verse 3 says, When I'm afraid, I will trust in you.
SPEAKER_01: I will trust in you, God.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's a very simple verse.
SPEAKER_01: We can all memorize it.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 56, verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: When I'm afraid, I will trust in you.
SPEAKER_01: I will trust in you.
SPEAKER_01: See, there's nothing wrong with us at times being afraid.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it's a very normal thing for us at times to feel fear, depending on what our circumstances are in the moment.
SPEAKER_01: It's not wrong for us to be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: The question is, is what do you do when you're afraid?
SPEAKER_01: The other night my wife and I were watching the news, and it was just one bad report after the other.
SPEAKER_01: And a commercial came on, and my wife looked at me and she said, I'm feeling a little anxious right now.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, You know what?
SPEAKER_01: Me too, let's turn this off.
SPEAKER_01: So we turned off the TV, and then uh with our surround sound, we just blasted worship music uh in our house.
SPEAKER_01: And we made uh a deliberate decision.
SPEAKER_01: When I'm afraid, I'll put my trust in God.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the psalmist said.
SPEAKER_01: See, it's not wrong necessarily to be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: The question is, is what do you do when you're afraid?
SPEAKER_01: The psalmist said, when I feel afraid, I'm gonna put my trust in God.
SPEAKER_01: It's a choice.
SPEAKER_01: That's the first thing I want you to catch today is that trusting God is a choice that we make out of our will.
SPEAKER_01: I have found in pastoring for over 15 years now that many people actually have a fundamental, and I'm talking about church people, actually have a fundamental distrust of God.
SPEAKER_01: We believe in God, we love God, but deep down there is a disconnect, there's a trust issue.
SPEAKER_01: We believe in a God that we don't actually trust.
SPEAKER_01: Just a couple of weeks ago, one of the guys on my staff called me and he said, Hey man, I am really struggling.
SPEAKER_01: I need to meet.
SPEAKER_01: And we set up a time for him to come into my office, and he came in and he sat down, and I could just tell he was unraveled, and I looked at him, I said, dude, what's going on with you?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, look, I want you to know I I fully trust God, but right now I'm just in panic mode.
SPEAKER_01: I keep having nightmares.
SPEAKER_01: I've seen myself getting COVID-19, and I'm gonna die, and I'm gonna leave my family behind.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I trust God, but I'm just in panic.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just stop you right there.
SPEAKER_01: Because those two things don't actually go together.
SPEAKER_01: There's what we need to understand is that there's a practical side of trust.
SPEAKER_01: There are certain ways that you can tell if you're trusting in God or not.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, Isaiah chapter 26, verse 3 says, you will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
SPEAKER_01: See, one of the byproducts of trusting God is that you have peace.
SPEAKER_01: So the very fact that you're saying you trust God, but you're living in panic, those two things are not running mates.
SPEAKER_01: They don't go together.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to submit to you, if you're not ultimately at peace today, because you've been keeping your mind focused, steadfast on God and on his word, you've been spending time with God.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not ultimately at peace right now, it's because at some level there's a breakdown in your trust of God.
SPEAKER_01: So, what I want to do is go back through this word, and I want to look at the Israelites who didn't trust God, and I want to show you why they didn't trust God, why Moses says they didn't get to enter the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give you several reasons.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I'm gonna give you six.
SPEAKER_01: I know you're probably used to three points.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you six, but I'm gonna go rather quickly.
SPEAKER_01: Six reasons why the Israelites struggled to trust God.
SPEAKER_01: I believe it'll speak to us this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Reason number one, they had a distorted view of God.
SPEAKER_01: They had a distorted view of God.
SPEAKER_01: They had a negative view of who God was.
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about trust, so let me define it.
SPEAKER_01: Trust, according to the dictionary, is assured reliance on the character, ability, and strength of someone.
SPEAKER_01: So we're talking about trusting God.
SPEAKER_01: Trusting God means that you have an assured reliance.
SPEAKER_01: You can count on him, you rely on his character, his ability, and his strength.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: I'm calling this sermon distrusting God.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that the word distrust is pretty strong.
SPEAKER_01: I almost called this mistrusting God, but as I thought about it and I looked up the word distrust, I thought it would, it was actually the word I wanted to use because to distrust someone is to doubt that you can rely on them or to be suspicious of them.
SPEAKER_01: And I have found that many people, even in the body of Christ, actually have that kind of view of God.
SPEAKER_01: It's like we really at some level are suspicious of God and we doubt his intentions for us.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to submit to you today that you will never ever really trust God if you don't believe that he is good.
SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 31, verse 19 says, How great is your goodness, O God, which you have stored up for those who ultimately trust you.
SPEAKER_01: God has goodness stored up for us as his people, but it is dependent upon us trusting him.
SPEAKER_01: This is a time, church, where we need to quit being anchored to that which is perishable, and we need to be anchoring ourselves in the goodness of God, trusting God, counting on who he is and his character and in his nature.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what Israel believed.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 27, it says, You grumbled in your tents, you said, the Lord hates us, and he brought us up out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.
SPEAKER_01: This, how ridiculous is this?
SPEAKER_01: This is what they actually believed about their God.
SPEAKER_01: They believed, first of all, he hates us.
SPEAKER_01: He hates us.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we're in this situation.
SPEAKER_01: He ultimately is gonna destroy us.
SPEAKER_01: That was a lie about God.
SPEAKER_01: What was the truth?
SPEAKER_01: The truth is that God loved them.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted to bless them.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the truth: he wasn't out to get them, he was out to give them something.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, come on.
SPEAKER_01: I better get an amen through the camera.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't out to get them, he was out to give them something.
SPEAKER_01: The word says, I don't know if you caught it, that he wanted them to see them like a father who carried his son.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he said.
SPEAKER_01: I uh this is how I want you to know who I am.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a good father who will carry you, who has carried you, who has protected you.
SPEAKER_01: And they believed a lie about God.
SPEAKER_01: In 2006, Baylor University conducted a study to see how people view God.
SPEAKER_01: They interviewed over 1,700 people.
SPEAKER_01: I believe it was called the Four Gods, and they had four different categories.
SPEAKER_01: Here were the results.
SPEAKER_01: This was the the biggest percentage.
SPEAKER_01: 31% of those interviewed saw God as authoritarian, meaning he's angry and he's ready to judge the world at any moment.
SPEAKER_01: 23% saw God as benevolent, meaning he's loving and he's forgiving.
SPEAKER_01: 16% saw him as critical, meaning he has a judgmental view, but he's not actually going to intervene.
SPEAKER_01: And then 25%, this was the second largest group, 25% saw God as distant.
SPEAKER_01: He's the creator, he's ultimately in control, but he's really far away from man and doesn't really care about the day-to-day things going on with man.
SPEAKER_01: Church, 75% of those interviewed, listen, at a Baptist university, saw God in a negative light.
SPEAKER_01: They had a wrong view of God.
SPEAKER_01: And there are many people in the church today who still see God in these ways.
SPEAKER_01: There are many people right now, and part of it is preachers' faults.
SPEAKER_01: We've got preachers on TV telling us that, you know, God's judging the world right now.
SPEAKER_01: COVID-19 is from God, and he's judging us for our sin.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the message that the lost world gets.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, why would they want to come to a God they see that's that angry?
SPEAKER_01: Read the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: The word says, and I may get onto another message here, but the word says that all sin for all time was placed on Jesus, and the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 8, verse 3 says that in his flesh he became sin and condemned sin in his flesh.
SPEAKER_01: 1 John chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, he's the atoning sacrifice, not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world.
SPEAKER_01: I want to submit this to you.
SPEAKER_01: People are saying this might be the judgment of God.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, when the judgment of God happens, there'll be no doubt that it's him.
SPEAKER_01: We won't be just going, you know, we won't be sitting here going, is that God or is it not God?
SPEAKER_01: No, we'll know it's God.
SPEAKER_01: I want to say something to you here that I think is very important for us to remember.
SPEAKER_01: And it's very simple.
SPEAKER_01: This is my my theology, and uh, you know, I might I might I might not get invited back, but this is very simple.
SPEAKER_01: If it's bad, it's the devil.
SPEAKER_01: If it's good, it comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: He is the Father who gives us every good and perfect gift.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said Satan is the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
SPEAKER_01: He is the prince of the kingdom of the air.
SPEAKER_01: He is the ruler of this world.
SPEAKER_01: We live in a fallen world, church, where injustice happens every day and the enemy is allowed, like a roaring lion, looking for people that he might devour.
SPEAKER_01: He is allowed by God to move in this time.
SPEAKER_01: The good news today is that our God in this moment is a loving God.
SPEAKER_01: Now we're reading the Old Testament here, but remember this is before Jesus came and bore our sins.
SPEAKER_01: And and I just want us to understand this morning, if you don't get anything else, get this.
SPEAKER_01: That God really loves you.
SPEAKER_01: That he so loved the whole world that he sent his only begotten son.
SPEAKER_01: And if we will just place faith in him today, we can come into a love relationship with him and spend eternity with him.
SPEAKER_01: He's a good God.
SPEAKER_01: We need to have a right and proper view of our God.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, there is a judgment coming that is gonna happen, but today, 2 Corinthians 6, 1 and 2 says, is the day of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: This is the time of God's favor.
SPEAKER_01: We have an open door right now to know him in new ways.
SPEAKER_01: So, all right, reason number two that they struggled to trust God is they didn't agree with his plan.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't agree with his plan.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me at verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: This is what they said.
SPEAKER_01: Where can we go?
SPEAKER_01: I found that kind of funny considering that we're in a shelter and place time.
SPEAKER_01: Where can we go?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I woke up this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I may move from the bedroom to the living room.
SPEAKER_01: If it's a real crazy day, I might end up in the kitchen.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, many of us feel like this, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's like we're just kind of stuck.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's how the Israelites felt.
SPEAKER_01: They were like, where can we go?
SPEAKER_01: They felt stuck.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't like where God had placed them, they didn't like God's plan.
SPEAKER_01: And notice where it started.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 26, it's uh 27, it says, You grumbled in your tents.
SPEAKER_01: You grumbled.
SPEAKER_01: It's that's how it starts.
SPEAKER_01: See, again, there's a practical side to trusting God.
SPEAKER_01: There are things you can look at that will tell you whether or not you're trusting God.
SPEAKER_01: Another thing that you can look at is what kind of words are coming out of my mouth?
SPEAKER_01: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 31, verse 14, the psalmist said, But I trust in you, O Lord, I say you are my God.
SPEAKER_01: See, he says, I trust in you and I say you are my God.
SPEAKER_01: What you say verifies whether or not you really trust God or not.
SPEAKER_01: And this would probably be a good question for some of us to talk about in our homes today, is you what kind of words, what kind of tone even am I using when I'm talking right now at the house?
SPEAKER_01: Am I prone to grumble?
SPEAKER_01: Am I complaining?
SPEAKER_01: Or is his praise on my lips?
SPEAKER_01: Am I speaking out the word of God?
SPEAKER_01: Am I putting my trust in him?
SPEAKER_01: Or am I just griping and complaining?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's actually a sign of distrust.
SPEAKER_01: Distrust.
SPEAKER_01: And so it starts in our homes.
SPEAKER_01: Reason number three.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't trust God because they had been betrayed.
SPEAKER_01: They'd been betrayed.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me again at verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: Where can we go?
SPEAKER_01: Our brothers have made us lose heart.
SPEAKER_01: They're referring to the 12 spies.
SPEAKER_01: You remember they took, they took one spy from each tribe and they sent them over into the promised land to survey the land and come back and give a report.
SPEAKER_01: When the 12 spies came back, 10 out of the 12 gave what the Bible calls an evil report.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, not just a bad report, it was evil because it was hostile to God and his word.
SPEAKER_01: They had unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't trust God.
SPEAKER_01: Only two came back with a good report saying we can take the land, we can conquer the giants that are in the land.
SPEAKER_01: But these ten spies came back and they promoted fear.
SPEAKER_01: There was fear mongering among God's people.
SPEAKER_01: And it spread like a wildfire.
SPEAKER_01: If you think leadership is not important, think about this.
SPEAKER_01: Ten unbelieving spies led the whole nation of Israel into the wilderness and caused them to miss the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: Leadership is very, very important.
SPEAKER_01: They had been betrayed by people they should have been able to trust.
SPEAKER_01: I find in counseling and ministering to people that many of us have an issue with God because we've been betrayed by somebody in our lives that we should have been able to trust.
SPEAKER_01: And it causes us to see God again in a negative way.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just, you know, give you my own example.
SPEAKER_01: I grew up in a home with a dad who was an addict and he was abusive.
SPEAKER_01: When I was 10 years old, my mom divorced him, and I only saw him a couple of more times before he died.
SPEAKER_01: So I didn't have much of a relationship with him, and the relationship I did have was not what it should have been, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And as a result, even after I got saved when I was 15 years old, for the longest time I struggled to see God as a father.
SPEAKER_01: The way I'm built, I saw God as like the general commander of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: He just gives commands and I'm in his, you know, I'm in his marching orders, I'm in the Lord's army, and I just do what he says.
SPEAKER_01: And this is kind of our relationship.
SPEAKER_01: There's no father thing really to it, you know.
SPEAKER_01: I in fact, I remember hearing people, and maybe maybe this will relate to some of you, I would hear people say things like, you know, they would call God daddy.
SPEAKER_01: And that just always bothered me.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, that's just irreverent.
SPEAKER_01: I just had such a negative taste in my mouth, you know, a bad taste for even the word daddy, and I just thought that's irreverent.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't until years after I went through a lot of healing and got a lot of ministry that I could really relate to what Romans 8 says when it says that we received the spirit of adoption by which we cry out, Abba, Father, Daddy.
SPEAKER_01: Again, even God said, I carried you like a father carries his son.
SPEAKER_01: Because I had such a negative experience with my earthly dad, I had a real negative view of God as a heavenly father.
SPEAKER_01: And again, it's hard to trust God sometimes when you've been betrayed by somebody else that should, you should have been able to trust.
SPEAKER_01: I see this in church all the time.
SPEAKER_01: People will will come, you you see what happened with Moses?
SPEAKER_01: They wouldn't even listen to Moses.
SPEAKER_01: Moses says to them, don't be afraid, don't be terrified.
SPEAKER_01: They wouldn't listen to their leader either.
SPEAKER_01: I see this in the church all the time.
SPEAKER_01: People will come to our church.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you come to Grand Parkway from another church where you got hurt by somebody in leadership, and you find it hard to trust Pastor Neil and the elders here at this church because of your experience at the last church.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a common thing that I see, especially as it connects to God.
SPEAKER_01: And we a lot of us need some real healing, and a lot of us need to really get in the Word of God and understand who our God is.
SPEAKER_01: And so they struggled to trust God because they had been betrayed.
SPEAKER_01: Reason number four, fear.
SPEAKER_01: Fear.
SPEAKER_01: Notice again, verse 29, Moses says, do not be terrified, do not be afraid of them.
SPEAKER_01: Fear started ruling over their thinking.
SPEAKER_01: When these spies gave this evil report, I want you to put yourself there.
SPEAKER_01: Ten spies come back and they give this report about these giants who are living in the land.
SPEAKER_01: And immediately what happened for most of the Israelites were what-if questions started happening.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what's gonna happen to us if we go over there?
SPEAKER_01: What about this?
SPEAKER_01: What if?
SPEAKER_01: See, this is how fear operates.
SPEAKER_01: Fear always kind of revolves around what-if questions.
SPEAKER_01: And then that leads to vain imaginations.
SPEAKER_01: And then if we don't repent soon, it can lead us to what the Bible calls a full-blown stronghold.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4 and 5 says, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So, real quickly here, let me just define what I mean by stronghold.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give you a physical definition that will help you understand a spiritual definition.
SPEAKER_01: Physically speaking, a stronghold is a place where an army can go rest, so that from there they can go out and do exploits.
SPEAKER_01: Spiritually speaking, strongholds are thought patterns where the enemy can rest and from there go out and do exploits in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: It's a place where we've given access to the enemy, if you will, to rest in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And from there, he steals from us.
SPEAKER_01: He destroys things in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: He ultimately wants to kill us, if you just want to be honest about it.
SPEAKER_01: But all of it is based on a lie.
SPEAKER_01: This is what happens here with the Israelites.
SPEAKER_01: Fear set in.
SPEAKER_01: Now, real quickly, let me tell you how this process works.
SPEAKER_01: Strongholds start with a thought based on a lie.
SPEAKER_01: They believed a lie.
SPEAKER_01: They believed several lies.
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't, if you don't repent, then that thought can become what's called a high thing.
SPEAKER_01: A high thing is when you begin to exalt the lie above the truth.
SPEAKER_01: And then if you don't repent, it leads to imagination, which is just simply reasonings that are hostile to God and his word.
SPEAKER_01: And then that becomes how you see your world, and you begin to live in a full-blown stronghold.
SPEAKER_01: And what I'm talking about is serious.
SPEAKER_01: You have to remember we're in a war, and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
SPEAKER_01: We're talking spiritual warfare here.
SPEAKER_01: And right now, many people are living in strongholds, especially the stronghold of fear, where there it's an emotional stronghold where people have fear, depression, despair that's ruling over them.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us have been launched into physical strongholds, addictions, things that are keeping us in bondage.
SPEAKER_01: But the good news this morning, we sang about it, is Galatians 5 1.
SPEAKER_01: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
SPEAKER_01: It's not God's will for us to ever live in any form of a stronghold.
SPEAKER_01: He is to be our stronghold and our strong tower.
SPEAKER_01: We run to him and we are safe.
SPEAKER_01: We're not to give ourselves to these other things because what happens is we run to them and they begin to control us.
SPEAKER_01: And so this morning, if you're living in a stronghold of fear, I want you to know that God wants to set you free today.
SPEAKER_01: He wants you to come into a place of peace.
SPEAKER_01: And it starts by simply beginning to trust in him with all of your heart, your soul, and your mind.
SPEAKER_01: Reason number five, they struggle to trust God.
SPEAKER_01: They were forgetful.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says in verse 30.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert.
SPEAKER_01: He's reminding them of what they've already seen God do.
SPEAKER_01: But they forgot the testimony of the Lord and his faithfulness to them.
SPEAKER_01: They forgot the miracles, they forgot the provision.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to submit to you, it's much easier to trust God for the future when you choose to dwell on what he's done in your past.
SPEAKER_01: Look back.
SPEAKER_01: Can't you see surely goodness and mercy have followed you all the days of your life?
SPEAKER_01: Right now, if you're struggling financially, I want you to look back and intentionally try to remember where you've seen God show up in the area of provision in your past.
SPEAKER_01: Think back to his faithfulness and how he's provided it every turn.
SPEAKER_01: And then today, put your trust in him and say, God, I'm trusting you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trusting you in this moment because you've always been faithful.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to forget.
SPEAKER_01: The same God who said, keep my commandments, said, keep my testimonies.
SPEAKER_01: It's important for us to remember what God has done.
SPEAKER_01: And then last but not least, I told you I was going to go through these rather quickly.
SPEAKER_01: This is about as quick as I go.
SPEAKER_01: So, last one, reason six, that they struggled to trust God, and the reasons we struggle to trust God is this.
SPEAKER_01: We have control issues.
SPEAKER_01: We have control issues, and I want to use Moses here as an example.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 37.
SPEAKER_01: Moses is speaking, he says, Because of you, the Lord became angry with me also, and said, You shall not enter it either.
SPEAKER_01: I find that very interesting because there's a real reason that Moses didn't get to enter the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: You may remember it.
SPEAKER_01: There are two different accounts in the scripture in the Old Testament where God brought forth water out of a rock to provide for his people in the desert.
SPEAKER_01: One is found in Exodus chapter 17, where God speaks to Moses and he says, I want you to take your staff and I want you to strike the rock and water will pour out.
SPEAKER_01: Crazy cool miracle.
SPEAKER_01: And then again, it happens in Numbers chapter 20, but when you read that account, God speaks to Moses and he says, I want you to speak to the rock.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, I want you to strike the rock again.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I want you to speak to the rock and water will come out.
SPEAKER_01: And then Moses and Aaron walk up and they're frustrated.
SPEAKER_01: Moses is frustrated, and I don't blame him, but he frustrated and he says, Must we pour water out of this rock for you?
SPEAKER_01: That's a pride issue.
SPEAKER_01: Must we pour water out of this rock?
SPEAKER_01: And instead of speaking to the rock, he strikes the rock twice.
SPEAKER_01: He went back to what he had seen God do before.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, the consequence, I don't know if you've ever read this, the consequence is huge.
SPEAKER_01: And God actually says to him, Because you didn't honor me as holy, because you didn't trust me.
SPEAKER_01: God literally says, Because you didn't trust me, because you didn't trust me.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, because you took matters into your own hands and you relied on an old way because of something you saw in the past, you didn't trust me, you didn't honor me as holy, you don't get to enter the promised land either.
SPEAKER_01: It was a control issue.
SPEAKER_01: Now, listen, church, we're in a time where we need patience.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a reason that patience is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And when we're waiting on God, if we grow impatient, impatience is actually a form of unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: And it will it will drive us or tempt us to do one of two things.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, it will cause us to lose heart, give up on God, or number two, take matters into our own hands, which is never a good idea.
SPEAKER_01: There's a way that seems right to a man.
SPEAKER_01: In the end, it leads to destruction.
SPEAKER_01: So it's never a good idea.
SPEAKER_01: See, we need to put our trust in God.
SPEAKER_01: And trusting God today means having and obeying today's word.
SPEAKER_01: It is a lack of trust to assume that God will do it the same way he did it last time.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I just feel God on that.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna say it again.
SPEAKER_01: Trusting God means having and obeying today's word.
SPEAKER_01: It requires intimacy with God.
SPEAKER_01: It requires us to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: It is a lack of trust to assume that God will do it the same way he did it before.
SPEAKER_01: We need to hear God today, in this moment, and be obedient and do what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Moses went back to an old way rather than doing what God said to do in the moment.
SPEAKER_01: And so, my question for you in closing today is this do you believe in a God that you don't actually trust?
SPEAKER_01: That you don't actually trust.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I want to do.
SPEAKER_01: I I I want to close out.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna invite Lindsay to come back up and I want to pray, and I actually want to give what I would call an invitation, um, but in two different ways.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is this I I want to pray for people that may be struggling with strongholds this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I spent a lot of time on the stronghold of fear in particular here because that was what kept them from entering the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: But I realize in the day that we're living in, it's very tempting for us to give in to our fears and let fear rule over us rather than putting our trust in God.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just want to give you a moment right there.
SPEAKER_01: If you feel like you're living in a stronghold of fear, I want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: I also want to just pray for people who are living in any form of bondage, any stronghold, whether it's emotional or physical, I want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: And you know who you are.
SPEAKER_01: So right there, right now, if that's you in your heart, I want you to just agree with me and receive this.
SPEAKER_01: Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you that you came to set captives free.
SPEAKER_01: And God, we may be sheltered into our homes, but God, we can be free right in the midst of that environment.
SPEAKER_01: We can be completely free because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
SPEAKER_01: So we know freedom is not the absence of something, God, but it's your presence.
SPEAKER_01: It's the presence of someone, your presence that makes us free.
SPEAKER_01: So I just yield to you in this moment, God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trusting you in this moment for supernatural miracles to happen and for people to be freed up today in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And then I want to just invite people that may have never really trusted in Jesus for salvation.
SPEAKER_01: I want to give you an opportunity today to surrender your life to his Lordship.
SPEAKER_01: It's more than just a prayer, but it's a yielding of your heart and your life to say, I want to follow Jesus all the days of my life.
SPEAKER_01: If that's never really happened for you, I want you to just pray this prayer with me today.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, just repeat this after me.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I know that I am a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: I confess that to you, and I ask you to forgive me of all my sins.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, you are the Lord, and I want you to be Lord of my life.
SPEAKER_01: Come and fill me today with your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: I want to live for you.
SPEAKER_01: And I thank you for this salvation that is a free gift.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you prayed that prayer today, we would love.
SPEAKER_01: The body of Christ, Grand Parkway, would love to know about it.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love to hear from you.
SPEAKER_01: Please contact the church and let us know about it so that we can celebrate and follow up with you.
SPEAKER_01: Church, it's been an honor for me to open up the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: I look forward maybe to sometime coming back when we can actually physically meet.
SPEAKER_01: But in the meantime, I trust God for what He's spoken today.
SPEAKER_01: And may it go deep into your heart and into your life.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you.