Youth Week - What To Do In The Desert

this morning i was given a schedule a program of service if you will but if it's your first time in a apostolic church or pentecostal church or this church if this is your first sunday let me just tell you're in good company this is my first sunday too i'm excited to be here thankful to be here and you know we believe that god is here to move and so we're not necessarily interested in just going through a list of things to do and then leaving we we prepare things but the point of our preparation is to prepare for god so when god comes in we say this is this is the intent of why we're here so anytime god comes in we kind of just step out of the way and say god if you intend to to speak if you intend to move so i just want to encourage someone again if it's your first time here you may feel emotions and i believe that that is god speaking to you god can speak through your emotions god can speak through his word there's many ways that god desires to reach out and and be in our midst and so i just want to encourage you that god is moving and that he's not done yet can anybody testify to that presence of god that familiar presence of god that sweeps into this place i'm so glad to be here today i'm thankful for this opportunity uh brother wilford i appreciate you your leadership your ministry brother brad delong brother peter can you give it up for your leadership so thankful for wonderful men of god that you have leading this congregation speaking in and i'm thankful that my wife is here with me today and i've got my two daughters claire and elise they're here and so i'm excited about that we call them our two tiny tornadoes and uh my sweet girls are here with me today i'm gonna jump right in the word of god we're gonna be reading in exodus old testament and let me just say that i believe that well god has placed on my heart today it's vitally important for everyone but i believe it could be urgent for several and this week is youth week and so let me just kind of set the stage of what i hope to do i hope to speak to the students this morning but i don't want to just speak to students and all the adults in the room just kind of shut off and so because i believe the word of god can transcend age it speaks to all of us and so let me just say as i maybe i direct some things to the students and adults if you want to just preach with me if i say something that you've seen to be true in your life could you just give me a little amen maybe that just for the recognition of the students like yep i've been there i've seen that we're going to read together exodus chapter 14 and verse 4. i'm reading the new living translation this morning and a familiar passage of scripture we're going to jump in at this verse and this is god talking to moses he says and once again i will harden pharaoh's heart and he will chase after you i have planned this in order to display my glory through pharaoh and his whole army after this the egyptians will know that i am the lord so the israelites camped there as they were told this passage picks up right when the israelites have been freed from egyptian bondage and we see this kind of turn of events and so my title this morning is what to do in the desert what to do in the desert you can be seated this morning i think many of us you may be tired of hearing about the circumstances we face through covet and different things but i've heard many people describe the past couple of years in their life personally or their life on their job or even in a church as kind of a desert season if you will a wilderness season an interesting season a difficult season and and i what i want to do this morning is i want to take you on a journey with the israelites the people of god if you give me just a moment's time i want to kind of give you a bird's eye view what's happening in this time around this passage you may be like me one thing that i do many times and i want to try to help myself and train myself not to do this so much is i like to zero in on just one little aspect of a story or zero in on one verse and sometimes i forget the larger picture unfolding and happening and so this morning i don't want to alarm you but i'm just gonna let you know right now i'm gonna preach through three books of the bible because that is okay that's not not the duration it's not gonna make it any longer but i'm just gonna i want to take us on a journey with the israelite people because we see that the israelites if you're not familiar are very much paralleled with us they're god's people in the old testament much like we are god's people now and so i believe that as i kind of share the story of the israelites you will find yourself we will find ourselves in this story and learn some things from it is that okay so kind of quickly look at some of the other chapters exodus chapter 6 if you were to flip back a couple pages in your bible and read it this is where god promises moses that he'll deliver the israelites exodus chapter 7 moses and aaron go to pharaoh this is the story where a staff turns into a serpent we see a plague of water into blood god is beginning to to do things on behalf of the israelites to get them out of this land of bondage exodus chapter 8 we see a plague of frogs a plague of gnats my wife's least favorite a plague of flies exodus chapter nine a plague against their livestock a plague of boils a plague of hail exodus chapter 10 a plague of darkness and a plague of locusts exodus chapter 12 is the first passover the angel of death visits egypt and exodus 12 29 the lord struck down all the firstborn sons of egypt god is wreaking havoc on the people of egypt on behalf of the israelites showing his almighty power finally in exodus chapter 12 31 pharaoh tells moses look take your people and go the egyptians even urged them to get out before they all died now this is miraculous incredible if you read this you study this you understand that israel has been in bondage for 430 years 430 years but now they have been miraculously freed by the power of god and we read this story we read about these amazing things that god did these amazing things that he did on the behalf of the israelites and so i just want to tell someone that the same god that delivered the israelites in the old testament is the exact same god that we are worshiping here today that we are singing praises to in fact can anybody testify in your life that you have been delivered by that same miraculous power am i in a room full of people that have seen the delivering power of god at work in your life amen i'm excited this morning because as i read these scriptures as i read these things i understand that god you are the same god if you've never been delivered that's a very strong word it's a very heavy word but if you've never received the holy spirit if you've never been baptized in jesus name that promise is here today for you and you can receive that same delivering and freeing power if we keep reading in exodus 13 they get out of egypt and the bible says that they were led with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night wouldn't that be awesome you know what god i'm not going to put on google maps just give me a pillar of cloud right in front of me just show me where to go it'd be pretty cool exodus chapter 14 our key text god tells moses that he's going to harden pharaoh's heart or he's going to change his mind and that they're going to pursue the israelites he said but i've planned this so camp here so the people see the egyptians bearing down them with 600 chariots they're afraid moses says watch what god is going to do he god parts the red sea through moses they walk through on dry ground and that same sea swallows up the egyptians and the bible says not a single one survived this is wild this is crazy the stuff that god is doing is unbelievable exodus chapter 15 contains a song written by moses and the people and together they're thanking him for his deliverance but then later in this chapter i want you to look what we see exodus 15 verse 24 then the people complained and turned against moses what are we going to drink they demanded so moses cried out to the lord for help the lord showed him a piece of wood moses threw it into the water this made the water good to drink it was there at mara that the lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him he said if you listen carefully the voice of the lord your god if you do what is right in his sight obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees i will not make you suffer any of the diseases i sent on the egyptians for i am the lord who heals you here god gives the people a little bit a little test in their wilderness but it gives them a promise by reminding the people if you listen to my voice if you do what i say you will not suffer i am the god who heals you yet here we see another miraculous reminder of god's power now this is an interesting contrast to what we've just seen and it's the beginning of a pattern that's going to begin to unfold in their desert season in their wilderness season exodus 16 if you read a whole chapter guess what you see yes another incredible miraculous move of god but it also contains complaining whining disobedience this chapter starts by explaining they were continuing into the journey in their wilderness it was the 15th day of the second month verse 2 of exodus 16 reads like this thereto the whole community of israel complained about moses and aaron and look look look how their language begins to escalate they say if only god if only the lord had killed us back in egypt they moaned there we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted but now you've brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death they're talking about egypt the land of bondage they've been freed from and now they're asking to go back god says look fine i'm just gonna rain food from the heavens for you is that is that gonna work it's like i'm gonna rain food on you he rains down quail from the sky and then manna which the bible describes as light as snowflakes and flavored like honey i mean pretty sweet deal but then he says he says look just gather what you need don't try to take too much they don't listen right it rots while they try to hoard it in their tents all this kind of stuff and he's like look just listen to me but no matter what and as i read this you you begin to see and i'm kind of just thinking you know what is happening in the lives of the people of israel but the truth is the desert makes you do crazy things a desert season will make you distrust when you find yourself in a wilderness season you will begin to distrust the things you should trust the most as you get into a wilderness season in your life things begin to look a little bit different our confidence begins to fade our bravado begins to fade but look in exodus chapter 17 i'll give you one guess what we find yes wonderful things but more disobedience they keep moving and camp in a place where again there's little water they say moses why'd you bring us out here and moses says god what am i going to what am i going to do and god says strike a rock and water will come out for them to drink this is exodus chapter 17 and verse 7 moses named that place massa which means test and marabo which means arguing because the people of israel argued with moses and tested the lord by saying is the lord here with us or not so first they're frustrated then they're talking about how good egypt is now they're questioning god's presence just taking you on a little journey as we go the the amalekites some other people attacking the same chapter israel defeats them in an amazing battle this is the time where as long as moses hands were held up by aaron and her joshua and the army had the victory it's amazing any single one of these stories i could stop and preach because it's that incredible but i'm reading these stories back to back to back because they just keep happening god just keeps doing amazing amazing things exodus 19 just kind of speeding through here god speaks to moses on a mountaintop he says moses you know i'm powerful you saw what i did to the egyptians but if you obey me keep my covenant i will make this nation a special treasure among all people god is just sowing promise after promise he's showing purpose he's sowing a future he's sowing declarations and identity into the people of israel so moses tells the people they say this sounds great moses we will do it we'll do everything god asks god brings moses upon a mountain and speaks to him that people see lightning and thunder and god's power if we keep on reading exodus 24 god calls moses to come up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone on which god had inscribed the commandments moses tells the people he goes up to the mountain the glory of the lord appeared upon the mountain summit like a consuming fire moses disappeared into the clouds as he climbed higher he remained there for 40 days and 40 nights from exodus 24 to 32 god is just giving them the literal plans on what to do and how to live wouldn't that be nice god just pouring knowledge and future planning into his people finally we get to exodus chapter 32 a pivotal chapter exodus 32 verse 1 when the people saw how long it was taking moses to come back down the mountain they gathered around aaron look at the progression of their conversation come on they said make us some gods who can lead us we don't know what happened to this fellow moses who brought us here from the land of egypt so aaron said take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters bring them to me all the people took the gold rings from their ears brought them to aaron took the gold he molted it down and molded into the shape of a calf when the people saw it look at this they exclaimed oh israel these are the gods that brought you out of the land of egypt aaron saw how excited the people were so he built an altar in front of the calf then he announced tomorrow will be a festival to the lord the people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burn offerings and peace offerings after this they celebrated with feasting and drinking and they indulged in pagan revelry now let me just recap in case you nodded off during that segment let me just recap all the things i just said in a spitfire fashion look at what god did supernatural signs plagues in egypt to get them out a pillar of cloud a pillar of fire parting the red sea swallowing up the egyptians turning the bitter water sweet to drink quail and man are raining from the sky water out of a rock the amazing defeat of the amalekites god's mighty power on the mountain speaking god taking most of the mountaintop like a consuming fire i'm sorry for the translation team that's a lot but look at all those things what this is why i've taken the time to read all those things because after i get to this point and i see the people of israel first they're frustrated then they talk about egypt how great it was then they ask is god even here with us and then finally this pivotal moment in exodus 32 that completely turn their back on god and make their own god and say look this is the god that brought us brought us out of egypt now i don't know about you but reading this reading everything god did i asked this question how how in the world could that happen you're telling me if i saw a literal pillar of fire that god rained down from the sky i would doubt him just a few chapters later we like to say bro if you did one of those things for me god i would be good for life that's how we act if i said i'm hungry and god was like fine cheeseburgers boom be like okay this is great but here's here's the truth here's the truth and the people of israel and here's the truth in our life because we go through wilderness seasons so how can we in our wilderness seasons begin to doubt god why do we in our desert seasons begin to doubt god's presence been around church a lot i've seen a lot of great moves of god seeing a lot of wonderful things so how do i how do you maybe it's just me how do i in a desert season in a wilderness season turn my back on god the people of israel absolutely 100 turn their back on god and but here's the reality here's why here's the contrast i want to share two things with you this morning i've got two things i want you to understand as i study this i came to the realization that brought such clarity to the entire plight of the israelite people and resonates so strongly in me and my life and i believe many people in this room because we are in this story here's why what god meant as preparation the israelites saw as punishment what god meant as preparation the israelites only saw as punishment what god designed orchestrated and laid out as preparation for the people of israel they never saw as such can i tell somebody that many times your deliverance will look like a desert many times the deliverance that comes in your life will not present itself like a promised land but much more like a wilderness in fact god even told them he said there's a more direct route to the promised land he said but i'm afraid if i take you that way and you encounter a battle too quickly you'll turn around and go back to egypt he said i've got to take you through the desert that way when you come to the promised land you'll be able to receive it but no matter what god did they only saw their desert as a punishment they saw through everything through the lens of being punished by god so because they saw punishment it didn't matter what god did and we can come to a wonderful church like this hear amazing preaching hear wonderful teaching hear the principles of god feel the presence of god but if we have convinced ourselves that the circumstances in our life are god's punishment upon us we will walk in these doors hear the word of god and walk out these doors absolutely unchanged never absorbing never receiving let's rewind in our key text we see that god allows the egyptians to pursue them in chapter 14 and he tells moses i planned this this is my plan for my glory but i you know what's crazy to me if you think about it how unbelievable would it be if we believe that god just delivered the people of israel we're free we're free and they're walking into the wilderness and they're in front of a sea and i imagine the bible says 600 cherries that had to make some noise if you have 600 chariots bearing down on you that's got to make some noise can you imagine the fear and the people of israel when they realized that they were in front of an impossible ocean and the enemy they just got away from their past was following them i believe that's where many people find themselves maybe today you feel like what's in front of you looks like an ocean that you can't cross and every time you look in the rearview mirror your past seems to be chasing you following you it's like no matter what you do you just can't seem to get away from those problems these are delivered people these are freed people these are people that shouldn't be in bondage and yet they're still bound in some way i believe many of them by fear and i believe there are people in this room students we sometimes in my life i would mistakenly think that when i had an experience with god when i received the holy ghost when i came and prayed when i came to church that would change everything else outside of this place and we've been talking about this week but here's why i love this portion of the story and i don't want you to be frustrated in your life because i want us to look at the people of israel because i believe many of us are weary in our spirit because we feel like no matter what we do our past is just chasing us those same problems just keep pursuing us they just seem to be bearing down on us and the fear of what's in front of us combined with our enemy chasing us puts us in a very difficult position in our faith with god but here's why god allowed the egyptians to chase the israelites and here's why i believe god allows for us to still deal sometimes with the things of our past because god said if you trust me i'm going to part the waters for you and i'm going to let you walk through on dry ground but that exact same thing that is going to be safety for you is the exact same thing that i'm going to use to destroy your enemy once and for all so god parted the waters for the israelites but he closed the waters around the egyptians what am i trying to say i believe that if you just trust god and keep moving forward that at the right time god is going to close up that water behind you god is going to destroy your enemies god is going to destroy the things that you struggle with but what do you have to do you got to trust god you can't be paralyzed and stay on the shore you've got to walk through what god has called you to walk through because god will make a way for you and at the appointed time god will make a way for your enemy never to follow you again you got to understand that because if they wouldn't have stepped through the enemy would have gotten them so what you may be walking through may seem to be a little impossible and it may seem like your enemy's even chasing you right into your promise but just trust me at the right time god will close those waters up god will make a way out for you and make the end of your enemy sure in your eyes i've been letting it chase you so that i can destroy it what once held someone bondage in your bound in your past will never follow you again i believe that today just like god swallowed up the egyptians in the depths of the sea i believe that he can swallow up the things that you've been struggling with the cycle of thought processes and things that you've been going through but all weekend i've been speaking to our our students about the fact that it's not only a moment in god and a feeling that we have but it's a commitment to make the decision and so the decision the israelites had to make was to wake up and keep walking into a wilderness you've got to wake up and keep walking into what seems like a desert it seems like you may not be making any progress but god hasn't made made you to know the end from the beginning what has he called us to do he's called you to wake up and keep walking by faith day after day they didn't see where the wilderness was taking them but they had to make a decision to keep walking but time and time again the israelites did not receive what god wanted them to receive because instead of god's preparation they saw god's punishment let me tell somebody today you are not being punished by god hear me i'm not saying it's not difficult i'm not minimizing what you're going through i'm not minimizing the pain i'm not saying oh it's not that bad it's okay no i'm saying it is painful it is difficult but it's not punishment god is not punishing you god is preparing you there are things even that god didn't bring into your life but he can use them for his glory the bible doesn't say that all things are good the bible says all things work together for good so there are things that you're going to experience in life that are not in god's plan that are not in god's design for you but god can use every single thing that you go through to help you grow through it because god's got a plan for you so god is not punishing you with your circumstances god is using them to prepare you for what he has in store i need somebody to understand that today god made it as preparation but they only saw punishment again this is crazy to me they they even asked to go back to egypt they asked to go back to bondage when i read that i just think how in the world would you you knew what it was like why would you go back you were whipped and flogged and forced to to create bricks every day you were forced to do all these terrible things why would you want to go back but i realized this when you have an improper perspective when you see what god is doing as punishment and not preparation you may just desire bondage why because even bondage brings its own twisted sort of comfort the familiar what we know in some ways it's easy it's predictable it's planned is it painful yeah but i'm used to it this is just the way i live this is comfortable but god has called us to come out of that there are many times when we look back and we desire those things which we came out of not because god's not good not because god's not able not because god's not working but simply because i'm refusing to see what god is trying to do we see this come to a head in chapter 32 to the extreme that they completely turned their back on god because they thought they were being punished in the desert and if you look carefully it's not even because things were bad it's not because god wasn't doing what he said he would do it's not because god wasn't going was going back on his word no do you know why they ultimately turned away from god it's pretty simple something we do they turned their back on god because it was taking too long the promises of god the things they wanted were taking too long if you don't trust the plans of god fully the first thing to go is the timeline of god these people knew the promises they knew exactly what was going on they saw the mountain they saw moses go up it wasn't a mystery but because because they saw punishment instead of preparation they took the timeline into their own hands and ruined everything someone needs to hear this today we used to sing the song when i was growing up my church he's an on-time god yes he is anybody know that song on time god yes he is he may not come when you want him but he'll be there right on time he's an on-time god i said this to our students but i want to reiterate this today because this is so apparent in the people of israel they wanted the promises they wanted they even wanted to worship but they wanted to do it their way but the truth is this you cannot separate the plan of god from the process of god many of us want the plans of god to come to pass in our life we want the promises now but we don't want to go through the process that it takes to get there but someone needs to understand i've got to put myself back in god's timeline because if i want god's promises in my life i've got to go through god's processes i know that's not exciting i know that's not invigorating but that's the truth of our life that god has made promises to you but he's got a process that we have to go through to receive what he has for us and now let me be clear i'm not saying it's by our works it's not by saying if i do this set of things all of a sudden i'm good enough for god no what god desires is obedience it's not about my merit it's not about my goodness because i'm nothing the bible says my righteousness is as filthy rags but what does god want he wants faithfulness he wants us to follow him he wants us to pursue him and if we do that he'll take care of the rest maybe the reason you're messed up in your mind in your spirit in your life is not because god has changed or even changed his mind about you or changed his plans concerning you maybe you just didn't want to wait you weren't satisfied with god's timeline students and young adults hear me in this because this is so difficult because our world has taught you that you can have anything you want right now but some things especially some god things take time we keep going back to our bad habits because we're not patient enough to wait on god to come through when we exhibit good habits we keep going back to that bad relationship because we don't see the immediate benefits of what god has for us by listening to the preached word of god we keep sacrificing our relationship with god our consecration for validation we sacrifice our holiness we want to be validated by the world more than god let me tell somebody this stop sacrificing what's right for what's right now the enemy wants to tell you can have everything you want and you can have it right now but god says no there's some things you're just going to have to wait on in fact it's not popular but the truth is this world is not my home if i want to see everything that god has for me i may not see it until we get into the next life and that's not fun and we don't really preach about that as much as we used to but i need to understand that this world is not my home i was not made for this world i was made for a world beyond this one god help me keep my perspective right lord you're not punishing me god you're preparing me for a future that you have laid out i'm trying to wake somebody up today and tell you that your desert isn't punishment it's preparation for the future that god has for you but my caution is if i don't use this time properly i won't be ready for the blessing that god wants to bring because the people saw everything happening as punishment and not preparation for their future they refused to wait on god but he's not punishing you he's preparing you he's not punishing you he's preparing you so what's the difference maker between preparation and punishment why did they see punishment and not preparation why do we see things this way and and how can we avoid it the missing ingredient so simple to say so hard to really live out faith it's faith faith that god knows what he's doing you see faith keeps you dedicated to the course faith is so important because we can't see exactly where god is taking us we have to have faith you know in other areas of life preparation is easy to understand and respond to accordingly because we can see and know the outcome a player on a basketball team understands this team comes to practice coach begins barking orders everyone on the baseline we're going to run suicides if you never played basketball you don't know what that is it's just really terrible if you played basketball that word struck fear into your heart it's just lots of running okay just trust me lots and lots of terrible running we're going to run drills now if a player sees this as punishment it's going to affect the way he views every single exercise right he's going to do the bare minimum he's going to just barely get by but the driven athlete knows that at the end of the week there's a game at the end of the season there's a championship if he knows the goal if he knows where he's going he's not going to see those things as punishment because he knows that their preparation on top of that even things that feel like punishment he embraces why because he knows that it's strengthening him so all of a sudden he's not begging to leave practice he's begging to stay when everyone else is done if he can just catch a glimpse of the preparation that it's doing in his life he can say you know what coach what else do you got do you got so can i run some more jewels is there anything else that i can do what am i saying for us i think somebody came into this place and if we were to say that the enemy of your soul if the devil was a physical person you were having a conversation with maybe the conversation would go something like this oh will you please stop tormenting me will you just leave me alone will you stop bothering me maybe you came into this place with the perspective the enemy has just been bothering me all week he's been bugging me he's been beating me down i've been frustrated but if i understand this principle of preparation and not punishment i believe someone's perspective can be shifted and maybe you can walk out of this place you can wake up tomorrow morning and say you know what devil why don't you do your worst because you think that you're punishing me but no matter what you do god can use every situation to prepare me and strengthen me so you're not gonna bother me you're not gonna bug me why because i'm moving forward at what god has for me it's preparation not punishment one time i heard brother tf tenney an elder he said one day i woke up and there was an i felt an evil presence an evil spirit at the foot of my bed and he said i realized it was a devil and i said oh it's just you and i went back to sleep humorous but you know what maybe that's the kind of tenacity that we need and it comes from a perspective the enemy's got no power in our life except for the power that we give that's what i've been trying to tell our students this week so we need to shift our mind say you know what the enemy's got no power to destroy the work of god in my life in fact the only thing he can do is try to sow discord and sow the wheat among the tear oh so tears among the wheat he can't stop what god is doing he can just try to confuse what god is trying to do so someone if you could just get your perspective god i know it's painful but you're preparing me god i may not like this season of life i'm going through but it's not your punishment upon me god let me see the preparation that you're putting into my life that's the way we want to see god working first corinthians 9 25 all athletes are disciplined in their training they do it to win a prize that will fade away but we do it for an eternal prize you know i believe someone needs to open up the filing cabinet of your memory and begin relabeling some things i bet anybody in here if you've lived a little time you got a a pretty big folder if you will marked pain i think someone today needs to rip that label off and rewrite that label to preparation because there may be some things you've been dragging around in your life some painful things but because you have an improper perspective about it all you see is pain that's all you know it has this is pain i don't know why i don't like it i don't want it but if you can now maybe someone that's on the other side you can testify yeah you know it was painful but now that i've made it through i can see what god was doing in me even though it was a difficult time i can see the preparation it brought into my life someone needs to re-label some things in your life from pain to preparation there's some things that you're struggling with now not because they're current but because you don't know what to do with them in your past i'm telling you what to do it's a perspective shift not pain but preparation i'm not saying it's painful what i'm saying is it has a purpose it's preparation so we jump back to exodus 32. people turn away from god moses comes down the mountain he sees this he breaks the tablets he's got to go again and correct the people we go through the book of leviticus you can read it's all about instruction all about instruction the book of numbers they keep moving through the wilderness complaining the entire way we come to another pivotal chapter number 13. they finally made it here they are this journey they've been journeying for numbers 13 the lord now said to moses send out men to explore the land of canaan the land i'm giving to the israelites send one leader from each of the 12 ancestral tribes they send 12 people the men go and scout the land they come back and bring a report they say it's incredible flowing with milk and honey people are huge there are people from all nations even giants verse 30 if we skip down but caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before moses let's go at once and take the land he said we can certainly conquer it here's a man that has used this season correctly that has been prepared by god and here we are but the other men who explored the land with him disagreed we can't go up against them they're stronger than we are so they spread this bad report about the land among the israelites the land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there all the people we saw were huge we even saw giants there the descendants of enoch next to them we felt like grasshoppers and that's what they thought too numbers 14 the new living translation puts titles above different sections and the title here is simply the people rebel here we are the consequence of their perspective numbers 14 verse 1 then the whole community began weeping aloud and they cried all night their voices rose in a great course of protest against moses and aaron if only we had died in egypt or even here in the wilderness they complained why is the lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder wouldn't it be better for us to return to egypt then they plotted amongst themselves let's choose a new leader and go back to egypt again i read this and it's it's almost unbelievable but this is the truth and this is why i bring this to us because students if if we at the stage in your life at 15 at 16 if you get an improper perspective has the potential to shift the course of your mind and your life and all of a sudden you'll begin interpreting everything through this improper perspective about god everything to the wrong lens and and so we see here the people of israel god promised them this land it was a promise but yet because they've been so skewed in their mind they felt like the life they were called to live was punishment oh mom dad why i can't do this why can't we do that why can't i do this you just won't let me i can't my friends like to if that is the perspective that we consume constantly in our life instead of seeing preparation not punishment let me just kind of pause right to our students there are things that you don't fully see and understand i'm not i'm not trying to talk down to you but there are things that your parents are trying to guide you through and let me just i know you got great parents but sometimes they can't say things in the perfect way sometimes they may make a misstep and maybe not describe something perfectly to you in a perfect way that makes sense but but i want to tell you that your parents the people in your life the adults that you trust in your life are trying to prepare you for the next phase of your life they're trying to guide you in a way but yet you have the ability to make your own choice you have the ability to make up your own mind but hear the story the reason i have taken so much time to read this is because i want to highlight what happens when someone gets their mind set on an improper perspective so now in the face of the literal promises of god they can't see it god even said the land i am giving to the israelites yet they look at it and say we can't take it we can't do it why because they've spent this entire wilderness this entire desert going against the things of god pushing back on the things of god because it's uncomfortable because there's some things you're asking me to do that i don't like there's some things that i have to kind of reject my selfish desires i want to go back to to the potted meat in egypt i want to go back to the selfish comforts of egypt instead of being stretched out here in the wilderness somebody you're going through a wilderness season and it's pushing you to the limit and you either see that and you get frustrated at god because you think that he's punishing you or you can just bear this season because god is preparing you but they see this and here we see the consequence of their action and that brought me to a second realization the second thing i want to share with you today how can they look at the land of promise what they've been preparing for what god has promised them what they've been journeying for how can they look at it now and think there's no way to conquer it this is what i realized since they saw punishment instead of preparation they saw their desert as a sentence instead of a season they saw the desert that they traversed as god sentenced over them instead of just a season of their life and this is something a principle that i believe is so so deep and profound even in my own life and something that we need to understand if they would have understood that the desert was god's preparation they would have realized it was just a season of their life but since they perceived the desert as their punishment they resigned themselves to the fact that it was also their sentence if they could have only seen it as a season of life they could have learned the lessons that it offered they would have taken advantage of that season they would have realized it's not permanent i'm not sentenced this for the rest of my life i will have what god has promised me but instead of preparation they saw punishment so instead of a season of life they saw a life sentence and because of their disobedience and refusal of god's promises by their own hand it did in fact become their sentence we see the response of god at the end of numbers 14 you can read it yourself for sake of time he basically says fine since you have no faith you've taken faith out of the equation you've complained against me you don't think i can do it you don't think you can take the land he says everyone from this generation 20 and up will wander the wilderness for the rest of your life you will not enter and occupy the land i swore to give to you the only exceptions look at this the only exceptions will be caleb and joshua the two spies who said we can take the land was there anything special about caleb and joshua no were they stronger no were they better no what was the difference their perspective they went through the exact same circumstances everyone else went through they went through the exact same trial the only difference was their perspective we get so caught up on what's happening and how someone else got it better and i've got it worse and i'm struggling and they're doing good and we attribute that to god but yet what i see here is that everybody struggled through the wilderness everyone had to go through that process together but the thing god looked for was a right perspective it wasn't oh you're more blessed than anyone else or oh you're better no they simply had the right perspective but what scares me about this and why i bring this to to us today was what was meant to be a season what was meant to be preparation turned into exactly what they accused god of it being punishment and a sentence not because of what god did not because of god's plan in spite of it because they refused to listen to god and follow after him in a difficult season they were punished by their own hand because of their refusal to listen to god someone needs to understand this today and i'm coming to a close the desert that you find yourself in god can use it for his glory whatever situation you find yourself in i'm not here to tell you that it's no big deal no you may be facing an unbelievably painful and difficult circumstance and i'm here to say i understand that it's difficult and guess what i wish i could say that god was going to take you out of every situation i wish i could say god will remove you from every painful situation but i don't see that in scripture what i am here to tell you is that if you will trust god through the situation god will use it for his glory and your promises that god has promises for you that god has made promises to you but you may have to go through the desert to get to where god wants you to be i'm not preaching a prosperity gospel that if you clap your hands and you put five bucks in the offering god's gonna rain blessings on you i wish that it was that simple because that would feed my flesh i would love that no what am i saying yes i am saying you do reap what you sow that if you sow blessing into the kingdom of god you will be blessed but what i'm saying is that sometimes the deliverance in your life requires you to walk through a desert season to receive what god has for you but if we get our perspective twisted in that season we will see it as god punishing us instead of god preparing us and if we see punishment then we find people that say you know what this is just my life this is just the way things are you know what i deserve this i you know i i haven't been good it's i get it god i understand why i'm going through this i deserve this but i'm trying to wake somebody out of that slumber today to say god's not punishing you god's preparing you and that thing that you're going through is not a sentence over your life it's just a season that you got to walk through but every season that has a beginning date has an ending date and i believe that somebody's coming out of their desert season even today because your perspective is shifting can you stand with me today god's not punishing you with a sentence he's preparing you for a season you may be going through a desert in your life but i want to tell you it's just a season and i believe someone may be coming out of that season to see what god has in store for you and this is what what's different about about what i want to do today because in my life i know many times i have seen i have desired that god i i want you to deliver me i want you to help me and i have equated the will of god and the work of god to be things getting better like if i had my way it'd be okay i pray about the situation god you see the difficult thing on my job and then tomorrow i go and that person's different that's in my mind what i see as getting me out of the situation but the situation we're talking about is not even a situation of deliverance for the people of israel they were already delivered they were out of bondage we're talking about what happens next and so many times in our life i think i feel like the people of israel the required thing is not a change in my circumstances it's a change in my perspective and that's what i'm that's what i'm talking about today students there's things in your life things that you can view one of two ways there's a lot of things living for god trying to follow after god that if you get stuck in your mind everything you will hear and see in this book everything will look like a bunch of legalistic rules and that's what the world wants to say this book right here is intolerant this book right here is hateful to people this book right here is just meant to cage you in and if you have an improper perspective you can read the whole bible that way and you can pull out of these pages those kinds of things not because the word of god is any of those things but because if i see the people of israel even in the face of god's promises him saying i'm giving you this land they said we can't take it why because they had their minds were so dead set on seeing what god was doing as punishment and not preparation and so my challenge to you and i know this is a big concept and a life goal is that when we see the things of god we have conversations about our life about who we are about our identity in god about who god has called us to be about how we've been called the bible says we're called to be different called to be separate called to be a light what do those things mean i want to tell you that god is preparing you to be a difference maker in your world to bring other people to christ to be a person that can walk into a situation and someone say what's different about you and you can say it's not me it's god someone that's struggling with an addiction maybe at fourteen 15 you can walk over put your arm around a friend and say i know that you keep turning to weed every single time you're stressed but there's something better there's something that can get you out of what you're struggling with why because you're being prepared for what god has in store and you will go through seasons and let me speak to someone right now maybe you're walking through a difficult season in your life and you've resigned yourself to believe that it's god's sentence over you i'm declaring today that it's not god's sentence over your life it's just a season but maybe the thing that will call you out of that season is not a change in circumstances but like the two spies that said we can do it it was their perspective that was the catalyst for their entrance into god's promises so maybe today you need a shift of perspective and i want to zero in on pain because i think that's one that we struggle with because this is our prayer many times our prayer with pain emotional pain physical pain pain financial pain pain of our past broken relations broken lives this is our prayer god take this pain away i don't want it i'm not saying it's a bad prayer but what do we do if god doesn't answer it that way if we come and pray pray pray pray and nothing happens is our faith faltered do we grow weary of praying do we look at the promise of god and say that's not a real promise because i prayed and nothing happened in the desert they got frustrated because they saw punishment i believe that sometimes you need to shift your perspective maybe the only thing if you want to hear one thing i say today maybe it's this maybe you need to be challenged to stop praying god take this pain away and begin praying the difficult prayer god show me your glory through this pain god i understand this may be a this pain may be a desert maybe a wilderness that you've called me to walk through and if so if you desire to take it from me i'll receive that but god if this is my desert what to do in the desert ask god god how can your glory be shown god what is your design god what do you want to do with this pain like i said you may have pain from your past and you've been dragging it around you've been frustrated it's been like a weight in your life but today i believe god is calling to shift your perspective to say god how can you use this pain for my glory and for my promise in in my life and your glory god so this is what i want to pray and i know this is a unique especially for a youth week but i feel like that's kind of been my approach this entire week i felt called to messages that i that i believe challenge and and do something a little bit different than my normal mo for a youth week if i can be honest with you but i believe god wants to deal with our perspective today so at this time we have alters again if it's your first time here there's nothing particularly special physically about this altar but while we come to altars one reason is very simple we say you know what god i identify that you have spoken to me today that your word has pierced my heart you have said some things that that i that are right to my life and so i want to take a step in my life to walk after what you've said and one way is to say physically god i want to come down to this altar and and as i kind of kneel at this altar god i submit my life and my mind and my heart to you to change and so today i believe there needs to be some perspective change and i'm challenging you elder in this church i'm challenging a 30-year perspective change i'm challenging something you've had in your mind for 30 or 40 years i'm saying that god is not going to change it maybe but god wants to change your perspective and if you can change that perspective i believe god can begin a new work maybe something you've been so frustrated about for years but even today god wants to begin a new work in you and students and young adults maybe you're new to god maybe you're new to your walk with god and maybe your mindset is man christianity is just a bunch of rules and it's a bunch of boxes i want to argue that if you shift your perspective you can see that yes god has called us to follow him and do some things but these things are preparation for what god has in store because god made us to live for more than just pursuing money and dying one day there's so much more this life that's more fulfilling so now i want to open these altars would we come and respond to the word of god could we come and and maybe lay our minds at this altar and say god shift my perspective maybe you want to kneel right where you are in your seat maybe you simply want to bow your head but i encourage you today because whatever's happening in your mind i don't know what it is i don't know your circumstances i don't know your life but i do know that god desires to speak to you in a special way god desires to shift your perspective because i believe the season that you've been walking through god is going to call you out of it but maybe the catalyst to you coming out of a difficult season is not a change in your circumstances when you leave this place but it's a change in your perspective about what god is doing can we pray in this place can we pray can we seek god do you would you mind tarrying a moment again if if this is a new environment a new context for you i understand that my prayer would just be that you would open up your heart and say god would you speak to me i don't know your circumstances but i believe that god wants to move in your life wherever you find yourself can we pray church let's spend some time and shift our perspective god you're not punishing me god you're preparing me you're not punishing me oh god you're preparing me god i'm not serving a sentence of my mistakes god i'm not serving a life sentence for what has happened to me god i'm not serving a life sentence of what someone said to me god i don't want to serve a life sentence for what someone did to me it's just a season and you're bringing me out of it god you're releasing me from some pain you're releasing me from some things in the name of jesus let's see god's face now i've come to me you hear i'm better right here better right now i give you all my my fears in you i put my hope in you i put my faith in you for your glory your pain is not pointless god is using it for his glory god is bringing you out of this season you're not serving a sentence from what has happened to you in the name of jesus oh god i've got pain but how do you want to use it i've got pain but how can you get glory from it lord come to me thank you jesus give me a proper perspective o god give me a proper perspective o lord yes that's it it may not be my circumstances that change it may be me god change me o lord let me see you working let me see you move your spirit lord