Uncharted Territory: Will We Be His People?

Uncharted Territory: Will We be His People?

Numbers 13:26–33

 The men went back to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for them and the whole community, and they showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They reported to Moses, “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey, and here is some of its fruit. 28 However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified.” 30 Then Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “Let’s go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!”31 But the men who had gone up with him responded, “We can’t attack the people because they are stronger than we are!” 32 So they gave a negative report…“The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size. 33 …To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”

Numbers 14:1–2

Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. 2 All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!

Philippians 2:14–16a… Do everything without grumbling and arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, 16 by holding firm to the word of life.

Opening Thought: God’s must embrace God’s if we want to have God’s .

Hebrews 3:7–11 (CSB)

WARNING AGAINST UNBELIEF

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: 

Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested me, tried me, and saw my works 10 for forty years. Therefore I was provoked to anger with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.” 11 So I swore in my anger,“They will not enter my rest.”,

1. We won’t experience God’s best if we forget His and .

Numbers 14:11

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise me? How long will they not trust in me despite all the signs I have performed among them?

 “According to developmental psychologists, if an object is removed from a baby’s field of view, it’s as if that object ceases to exist. That’s why peekaboo is so much fun with young children! They have not developed the understanding of object permanence. Simply put, out of sight, out of mind.”—Mark Batterson

Numbers 14:20-23

The Lord responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested. 21 Yet as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, 22 none of the men who have seen my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested me these ten times and did not obey me, 23 will ever see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have despised me will see it.

• The grace of God is real, but so is His .

2. We won’t experience God’s best if we continue in old of .

Numbers 20:1–11

The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord. 4 Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? 5 Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It’s not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink!” 6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting. They fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 The Lordspoke to Moses, 8 “Take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will yield its water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock.” 9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence just as he had commanded him. 10 Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?” 11 Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that abundant water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

• We must never take God’s voice for . He only says what He , and He means what He says.

Numbers 20:12But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”

• We need a healthy of God.

Proverbs 9:10–11

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 11 For by me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

Final Thought: God is always looking for a people who will be His. Will that be ?