Vision Sunday: Possessing God's Blessings

8 February 2009

Deut 1:6-8

Deuteronomy is not a book people would usually think of drawing upon for inspiration. But it was written by Moses: perhaps the greatest Old Testament figure – a miracle-worker, a dynamic leader, a law-giver, a brilliant organiser, a prophet, a trail-breaker. The book was endorsed by Jesus. There are up to 100 quotations from or references to Deuteronomy in the New Testament.

Read Deut. 1:6-8

They were in a great place – the very mountain of God. But God told them they had stayed there long enough. It was time to get up and go. Because here was a promise of something better – a new land with new mountains. It was already theirs – but to possess it they had to leave where they were. They had been there long enough!

1. We've stayed here long enough

Horeb was a miraculous place:

I imagine people might have said – ‘Why should we move on? Here is where the presence of God is to be found!’

‘God has provided manna for us here’ (Ex 16:13) – but you’ve stayed here long enough
‘We have miraculous clear, fresh water to drink’ (Ex 17:6) – but you’ve stayed here long enough
‘The presence of God is here’ (Ex 19:20) – but you’ve stayed here long enough
‘Our leaders saw God’s the ground beneath God’s footsteps like brilliant sapphire’ (Ex 24:10) – but you’ve stayed here long enough
‘The law was given to us here on tablets of stone’ (Ex 24:12) – OK, but you’ve stayed here long enough
‘We saw the glory of God here’ (Ex 24:16) – sure, you did, but you’ve stayed here long enough
‘Fire burned on the mountain top’ – yes, it was wonderful, but you’ve stayed here long enough
‘Moses face shone like the sun’ (Ex 34:29) – true, but you’ve stayed here long enough
‘We made a covenant here with God’ (Ex 34) – yes, but you’ve stayed here long enough

The truth was that most of those things were no longer happening. They were actually in the desert! It was harsh, hot, barren. Huge rocks lie everywhere; the mountains are rugged and forbidding; the grass is sparse; the trees are few; the temperatures sour during the day and plummet at night…

It was time to move on to new heights, new blessings, new environment. In reality, from the desert to the Promised Land. There was new hill country to conquer and possess (6)

So what about your life?

Well, my prayer life is good – although I suppose it could be better. Then you’ve stayed there long enough.
Praying in the spirit? – well, I do it sometimes… You’ve stayed there long enough.
Bible study is OK – couple of times a week. That’s all? You’ve stayed there long enough.
Witnessing – occasionally, maybe… You’ve stayed there long enough.
Family life – we get on OK, I guess. You’ve stayed there long enough.
Health – I’ve kind of got used to it now. You’ve stayed there long enough.
Marriage is OK. As good as most people. Not terrific, but, you know you kind of accept things… You’ve stayed there long enough.
Mission vision – Well, I wouldn’t say it was great… Then you’ve stayed there long enough.
Victory over sin – OK, I guess, although I have to admit… You’ve stayed there long enough.
Fullness of the Holy Spirit – oh well, I kind of coast along… Then you’ve stayed there long enough.

All these might be good. We can become very comfortable. Have we stayed there long enough? It’s time to move on.

Story of a teacher who asked a student who was lounging in his seat, ‘Are you comfortable, son?’ The boy answered, ‘Yes, thank you, sir'. The teacher shouted, ‘Well don’t be!’

Someone said the preacher’s job is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable!

Do you remember what it used to be like when you first became a believer, or first shared your faith, or were baptised, or prayer in a new prayer language, or broke through in victory over some temptation – exciting, invigorating, even thrilling. Like the Israelites with their fire, glory, sapphire, miracles… But now you’re living on the memories. You’re trying to hang on to them. But there are new heights to conquer. There is new hill country to possess. You’ve been there long enough!

What about your church?
We might think that where we are is great! But maybe it could be much greater. Think about the following areas. Where could we do better?

missions program
worship services
prayer life
youth work
team of pastors
preaching
giving

Have you stayed there long enough! Is it time to go?

‘The good is the enemy of the best’. When things are bad we know they need fixing – when they are all right we tend to leave them as they are.

We have a great church – honestly, I don’t understand why every Christian in Sydney doesn’t want to come here on Sunday mornings – but it’s still nowhere near what it could be. We haven’t yet begun to see what God can do in this place.

We are part of Wesley Mission – the best thing we can do for the mission is build a great church ‘.

More people
More money
More resources
More impact

We dare not settle down – we must move on.
Otherwise the best of the blessing of God will not be ours.

2. Plans for this year

The WIC theme for 2009 is Prayer and Care

For three months all LIFE groups will be focusing on the same themes
Also Kingdom Kids
Also YP

Prayer

Can we lift our 10/5 program (praying with the spirit at least ten minutes a day for five days a week) to a 10/7 program?
Monthly day of prayer and fasting
Saturday night prayer meetings
Prayer Diary for every member
We are not trying to put people under pressure here. Prayer should never be a grinding duty – although we should not only pray when we feel like it, either. But we do want to enhance and increase our prayerfulness and our effectiveness in prayer.

Stephen ministry

Stephen ministry will be introduced this year
Caring not counselling
Training to begin
More people to go to the US to train as leaders

People Helping Seminar

20-21 March
Free
Register today
Make arrangements now to attend

Missions

Missions Month in June
Annual pastoral visit to missionaries

Creative arts

New Creative Arts and Drama groups are being formed
Christmas Show

Jesus All About Life

September/October city-wide campaign
Series of special services etc at WIC
Wesley Mission special events

30th anniversary

Anniversary services in November
Guest speaker Rev Dr Tony Chi
Other guests as well
Celebration dinner
Coffee table book, DVD etc

Thank you Lord Sunday

$150K goal?

3 Let's deal with the dangers

One of the saddest verses in the Bible:

Deuteronomy 1:2
2 It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.

Deuteronomy 2:14
Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.

It took eleven days to go 200 kms but thirty-eight years to go 150 kms.
What a tragedy — 38 years for nothing!

Deut 1:26-32 gives us seven reasons for failure:

Unwillingness (26)
Unwillingness held them back from success. Following the Lord is a matter of choice. We need to build disciplines into our lives.

Rebellion (26)
Rebellion is worse than witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:22-23). What God wants from us most of all is obedience!

Grumbling (27)
Grumbling is actually an expression of unbelief. It is rejecting the facts that:

God is love
God is good
God is faithful

and believing that things are not going well. Read Philippians 2:14

Discouragement (28)
Discouragement is a major problem. It is easy to become discouraged and feel like giving up. Marriage breakdown, retrenchment, poor exam results, personal conflict, drop in share prices, sickness, bereavement – these all happen to all of us.

Fear (27-29)
Fear is major problem. Fear of :

failure — everyone who attempts anything runs the risk of failure. Races are normally won by just one person: the rest all fail to win
inability — we may feel inadequate but maybe we can work with someone else or get training. Our adequacy comes from God. See 2 Cor 3:4-6.
financial stress — always with us!
betrayal — even Jesus was betrayed

Read Josh 1:7-9

Lack of Trust (29-32)
God will meet our needs.

Half-heartedness (1:36)
Caleb alone entered the land with Joshus because he was whole-hearted in his approach. See also Num 14:24; Joshua 14:9-14

We need to be enthusiastic and excited about our lives, our faith, our church.

4. So have we been here long enough?

Are we content where we are? Are we going to hold back for lack of will, rebellion, grumbling etc?

Or are we going to press on to claim the promised land?

In Deuteronomy there are 53 references to possessing the land. E.g. 1:8; 1:21; 3:18; 12:1. See also Joshua 1:3.

Since God's blessings are already ours, we claim them and make them ours.

So let’s come down from the mountain. We have stayed here long. Let’s grab the moment. Let’s step out by faith into new territory.

Will you join in an act of dedication to this end?

5. Something to think or talk about

Read Deut 1: 1-36; Josh 1:3

Biblical
1. Using a Bible Atlas, compare the distances between Horeb and Kadesh and Kadesh and Jericho (1:2; 2:14). Why did the second stage take so long? (Num 13:26-14:35). What lessons can we learn from this? (At least two.)
2. What was different about Caleb? (1:34-36).
3. What did God do to encourage the people of Israel? (1:21; 29-31).

Personal and practical
4. The people were unwilling to go ahead (26, NIV). Why is the will so important?
5. What is ‘rebellion’? Why is it like witchcraft/divination? (1 Sam 15:23)
6. Why is murmuring/grumbling a sin? (27)
7. How did the spies discourage the people? (28 – ‘made our hearts melt’, ESV). How did Joshua encourage them? (Joshua 1:1-9) What sort of things discourage you? How do you deal with them?
8. What sort of things make you afraid? (29) How do you deal with them?
9. Why didn’t the Israelites trust the Lord? (32) What causes you to doubt and how do you deal with it? (Heb 13:5-6)
10. How do you overcome half-heartedness? (36) What practical things can you do to foster enthusiasm?
11. “You’ve stayed here long enough” (6) Identify some areas in your life where you need to move on.

Christian Life