3ABN On the Road

Giants in the Land

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Justin Torossian

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR001031


01:01 Good evening, Witness.
01:04 How're you all doing this evening?
01:07 Are you happy to be here?
01:08 Yes. Amen, so am I.
01:10 Are you excited
01:11 to get into the word of God together tonight?
01:14 Yes. Amen.
01:17 Before we do, why don't we bow our heads together
01:19 for another word of prayer?
01:22 Our Father in heaven, thank You so much
01:25 for the privilege of being here in Your presence.
01:29 Lord, we have come, some from far, some from near.
01:34 But we have all come to hear a word from on high.
01:37 We pray that during this conference,
01:39 during this weekend that we would not just be inspired,
01:42 that we would not just be intellectually informed.
01:45 But that our hearts would be transformed.
01:49 We thank You in advance
01:50 for doing this, for You have promised
01:53 and because we have asked it in Jesus' precious name.
01:56 Amen.
02:00 Have you ever been driving
02:02 and you are on a multi hour long day trip
02:07 or may be a multi day trip,
02:09 and you have a little one in the car,
02:11 maybe you yourself were little.
02:13 And inevitably that question comes up.
02:18 Mummy, are we there yet? Daddy, are we there yet?
02:24 No, sweetheart, not yet.
02:26 How far are we? Well, about an hour away.
02:29 Five minutes later, Daddy, are we there yet?
02:33 No, sweetheart, not yet, we are not there yet.
02:38 Are we there yet?
02:40 If you've ever been on a long road trip,
02:43 you know that the longer the trip,
02:46 it's inevitable that the more
02:47 this question is going to be asked.
02:50 The more frequently it will come up.
02:52 Are we there yet?
02:55 I want you to imagine with me that
02:57 you're driving on a long road trip.
02:59 You're driving from Perth, the western end of Australia,
03:02 all the way to here in Queensland.
03:06 Now this is a long trip as I know.
03:11 And you are blessed.
03:12 How many people live here in Queensland,
03:13 by the way, can I see your hands.
03:15 Praise the Lord, you are blessed.
03:17 You know, this is a beautiful place.
03:19 I've heard that it's called God's country.
03:21 Amen. And I can see why?
03:24 But imagine with me that you're driving from Perth,
03:27 and you are coming here to Queensland,
03:28 to God's country.
03:30 And you are driving through the outback,
03:32 you're driving through the Nullarbor Plain.
03:35 And the trip just seems to drag on and on.
03:39 Your children have asked you many times, are we there yet?
03:43 You yourself wonder,
03:45 "Man, when are we finally going to arrive?
03:48 When are we gonna get there?" And then finally it happens.
03:52 After about four days, you finally arrive
03:57 on the border of Queensland's.
04:00 As you're approaching Queensland,
04:02 you see that big beautiful "Welcome to Queensland" sign.
04:07 But just below the sign,
04:10 you see that there is a police car.
04:12 You see that the lights are on
04:14 and you see that there is another police car
04:15 in the center of the road blocking the way.
04:19 You stop and roll down your windows,
04:21 the police officer walks over to you,
04:23 and you hear those words fall on your ears.
04:26 "I'm very sorry, but you're going to have to go back.
04:31 You cannot enter Queensland.
04:33 We're gonna have to turn you away."
04:35 You can't drive up to Darwin.
04:37 You can't drive down the coast to Sydney.
04:39 You can't even stop somewhere in the outback,
04:41 you need to go back to Perth.
04:44 The discouragement, the disappointment
04:47 that you can imagine feeling in that moment,
04:50 is just barely scratching the surface of the feelings
04:55 that were going on in the hearts and minds
04:58 of the main characters in our story,
05:00 where we find them today.
05:02 Well, I ask you to open your Bibles with me
05:04 to Deuteronomy Chapter 1.
05:06 The fifth book of the Bible, Deuteronomy Chapter 1.
05:13 Now we find the people in our story,
05:15 the children of Israel, not journeying to Queensland,
05:18 but journeying to the Kingsland.
05:20 They're journeying to the land of Canaan, the Promised Land.
05:24 The land that their king has Promised Land, promised them.
05:28 They are journeying to God's country.
05:31 Here they were on the border of the Promised Lands.
05:34 Here they were at the 'Welcome to Canaan sign,' if you will.
05:39 And as they were here, they remembered
05:43 that they had been here before.
05:46 Here in Deuteronomy Chapter 1,
05:47 we find that Moses is actually recounting the story.
05:52 You see, they were arriving
05:54 at the border of Queensland 38 years
05:56 after they had been turned away.
05:58 38 years after they had not been able to enter in.
06:02 38 years after they had to turn back
06:05 and go into the wilderness, the outback of the Middle East.
06:12 Deuteronomy 1:19,
06:14 Moses is recounting the story to the children of Israel.
06:19 The young ones or the ones
06:22 who were listening to him were young at the time.
06:25 And where we find the words, we are about to read together,
06:29 we see that the people listening were children
06:33 when the story that is being recounted took place.
06:37 Now Moses is reminding them of what had happened.
06:41 Verse 19, reading together, Deuteronomy Chapter 1,
06:44 I'll be reading out of the New King James Version.
06:47 Moses said, "So we departed from Horeb
06:50 and went through all that great
06:51 and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way
06:55 to the mountains of the Emirates, as the Lord,
06:58 our God had commanded us, then we came to Kadeshbarnea."
07:04 Moses says, we went through that
07:06 great and terrible wilderness.
07:10 You see, Moses wasn't just pointing them
07:12 back to the place they had been through,
07:15 prior to the first time of coming
07:16 up to the border of the Promised Land.
07:19 It wasn't just the general Sinai Peninsula,
07:22 where they were journeying.
07:23 Right before they got to the border
07:25 of the Promised Land the first time,
07:28 right before they got there,
07:29 they went through a terrible deserted wilderness.
07:33 It's called the wilderness of Paran.
07:36 If you go back and you study the story,
07:38 you find that the children of Israel were wandering
07:40 through this wilderness, this desolate wasteland.
07:44 To this day, the wilderness of Paran is a place
07:47 that no one would want to be stuck.
07:50 That Arabs call it et-Tih, the wandering.
07:54 It's a place with jagged black rocks and chalky soil.
07:59 It's a desert wasteland.
08:01 And it was the most difficult point
08:03 of their journey up until this moment.
08:08 You see, when they were there in the wilderness of Paran,
08:11 the Red Sea was to the south.
08:13 They had the wilderness of shore to the west.
08:16 To the east of them was Egypt.
08:18 And to the north was the land of Canaan.
08:21 This place was just south of their final destination,
08:26 the Promised Land.
08:28 Moses was reminding them,
08:30 as we find here that they had just come
08:32 through the worst part of the journey
08:34 and were about to enter into the land
08:37 that God had promised.
08:40 You know, it's an interesting parallel
08:41 to us today as spiritual Israelites,
08:44 that the worst part of the journey
08:46 is just before our destination.
08:47 Amen.
08:49 Now in verse 20, Moses continues on, he says,
08:52 "And I said to you, you have come
08:54 to the mountains of the Emirates,
08:56 which the Lord, our God is giving us.
08:59 Look, the Lord, your God has set the land before you.
09:03 Go up or rise up and posses it as the Lord,
09:07 God of your fathers has spoken to you.
09:10 Do not fear nor be discouraged."
09:16 Moses was recounting his words to the children of Israel.
09:20 He told them that He said go forward.
09:23 Now is the time to enter into the Promised Land.
09:25 God has promised us. We can move forward in faith.
09:31 But the story that Moses was recounting,
09:35 the story was so familiar,
09:37 it had no doubt played many times in their minds,
09:40 because they themselves had lived it.
09:44 They themselves remember
09:45 what happened on that fateful day.
09:49 Well, what did happen?
09:51 Moses told them to rise up, to move forward,
09:55 to go on into the Promised Land according to God's commands.
09:58 But what took place, verse 22,
10:02 "And every one of you came near to me and said,
10:05 "Let us send men before us
10:07 and let them search out the land for us.
10:09 And bring back word to us
10:11 of the way by which we should go up
10:13 and of the cities into which we shall come."'
10:17 So here the children of Israel, they say, "You know, Moses,
10:21 why don't we just send spies ahead of us?
10:23 Yeah, we know that God had said to go up,
10:26 we know that God had said we can concur.
10:29 But why don't we just send some spies into the Promised Land,
10:35 and they can tell us which way we should enter in,
10:38 they can tell us what it's like.
10:40 Why don't we just send some men on ahead of us?
10:45 Well, the Bible actually says in Numbers 13,
10:47 where this story is originally recorded,
10:50 that scouts were sent to spy out the Promised Lands.
10:54 And interestingly enough, there in Numbers 13,
10:57 it says that God approved of the plan.
11:00 But here as we read in the next verse,
11:02 verse 23, Moses recounts a story,
11:05 he says, "The plan pleased me well.
11:07 So I took 12 of your men, one man from each tribe.
11:12 So in Numbers 13, it tells us that God approved of the plan
11:15 and when we take it with this account,
11:18 we know that what took place was the people said,
11:20 "Moses, why don't we just send
11:22 some spies out to scope out the land for us."
11:25 Moses, said, "Well, it pleases me well.
11:28 Why not, sounds good to me.
11:30 I will take it to the Lord, and see if He approves."
11:33 And when he took it to the Lord,
11:35 God approved of the plan that they had asked for.
11:42 He'd approved the plan that they had desired.
11:46 You know, friends, we serve a courteous God,
11:48 isn't that right?
11:50 You know, the Lord, doesn't kick down the door
11:52 to our hearts, He knocks on them.
11:54 And sometimes, as we see in this example,
11:57 the Lord even grants and answers requests
12:01 that are not necessary.
12:03 God didn't need to allow them to send spies up.
12:06 They had the sure word of God.
12:09 They had His promise.
12:10 His promises that are guarantees for victory.
12:16 God had given them the commands.
12:19 God's word was all that they had.
12:22 But they didn't realize His word was all they needed.
12:26 His word was all they would need.
12:29 They weren't satisfied with God's word,
12:31 but they wanted man's word.
12:34 Friends, sad is the day
12:37 when the word of God is not enough for us.
12:40 Sad is the day when we seek the words of men,
12:44 when we go to our friends, when we go to the experts,
12:47 to the scholars, to the professors.
12:50 When we go to Google, before we go to our Bible.
12:54 The word of God is enough. Amen.
12:58 The word of God is enough. His commands are all promises.
13:03 And if He says go forward,
13:05 He will give you the victory to go forward.
13:08 He will give you the strength to go forward.
13:10 And He will guarantee you the victory.
13:12 God's word is all that we need.
13:15 Amen. Amen.
13:18 So they sent out scouts to spy out the lands.
13:23 Many of us are familiar with the story
13:25 and I encourage you to go read it,
13:27 re-read it after tonight.
13:29 So many lessons are there for us
13:30 that the Lord wants to teach us.
13:32 It's found in Numbers 13 and 14.
13:36 Now we remember that the children of Israel
13:38 sent out 12 spies into the land,
13:40 one from each tribe.
13:42 And as these spies went,
13:44 they stealthily ascended the mountains.
13:47 And I imagine that as they looked over
13:49 into the Promised Lands that their eyes got big.
13:53 They were looking into one of the most beautiful places
13:56 they had ever set their eyes upon.
13:59 They were looking into a place
14:00 where the grapes were the size of pomegranates,
14:04 where flowers just seemed to blanket the place.
14:08 They spent some time there,
14:10 40 days the Bible says and they came back.
14:13 You know the Bible actually says in Numbers 13:23
14:17 that the spies brought back a cluster of grapes
14:19 and you know how big it was?
14:21 It was so big that they had to have two men carry it.
14:26 They cut the cluster of grapes and they tied it to a pole.
14:30 And each man put it on his shoulder,
14:32 one end on each shoulder
14:33 and they carried this cluster of grapes out.
14:36 That's how fertile this land was.
14:39 It was a farmer's dream land.
14:42 It was the best place
14:43 that they could raise their flocks.
14:47 The green pastures were just the best place to possibly be.
14:54 The place that God had promised,
14:58 the Promised Land was incredible.
15:00 Imagine it wasn't too different than Queensland.
15:03 A place where plants just seem to grow by themselves.
15:07 A place where the coldest that it ever really gets
15:10 is around 15 degrees Celsius or 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
15:16 A paradise, the Promised Land was a place
15:19 where anyone would want to be.
15:24 But the report that came back was mixed.
15:28 You remember with me,
15:29 how many people of the 12 spies
15:32 brought back a positive report and said,
15:34 "We can conquer the land, it's a good land
15:36 and we can conquer, how many were there?
15:39 Two, that's right.
15:40 12 minus 2 that leaves how many
15:42 who brought back a negative report.
15:45 Ten.
15:46 There were ten spies
15:47 that brought back a negative report,
15:49 but Joshua and Caleb, Joshua and Caleb,
15:52 those men were giants of faith.
15:55 Amen.
15:56 Those men said, "God has promised
15:57 that we can be victorious, we can be victorious.
16:01 Let's go up, let's go up and possess the lands."
16:06 But the other ten, the other ten said
16:09 oh, it's a beautiful land, it's incredible,
16:13 the fruit is great.
16:14 Look at these grapes.
16:15 There are flowers everywhere, it's an incredible place to be.
16:19 But we cannot go up.
16:23 We cannot go up for there are giants in the lands.
16:28 Giants are in the lands.
16:33 This struck fear into the hearts of the Israelites.
16:37 Notice what Moses told them, he said to them years prior,
16:42 back to Deuteronomy 1:25,
16:51 excuse me, verse 26,
16:53 "Nevertheless you would not go up
16:55 but rebel against the commands of the Lord, your God.
16:58 And you complained in your tents and said
17:01 because the Lord hates us,
17:03 He has brought us out of the land of Egypt
17:05 to deliver us into the hand
17:06 of the Emirates to destroy us.
17:10 Where can we go up for our brethren
17:12 have discouraged our hearts saying
17:15 the people are greater and taller than we,
17:18 the cities are great and fortified up to heaven.
17:21 Moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there."
17:27 Now, friends, notice what Moses told them.
17:33 Notice what Moses told them in verse 25, he says,
17:38 "They also took some of the fruit of the land
17:40 in their hands and brought it down to us.
17:42 And they brought back word to us saying,
17:44 it is a good land
17:45 which the Lord our God is giving us.
17:49 Notice that Moses only repeats the report of Joshua and Caleb.
17:54 Moses didn't even mention
17:57 that he repeated the report of the spies.
18:00 And you know we as Christians can take a cue from Moses here.
18:05 Let me ask you numerically what outweighed the other,
18:09 the good news or the bad news.
18:13 The bad news, ten spies brought back
18:14 a negative report compared to two.
18:17 But Moses didn't even acknowledge
18:19 the negative report.
18:21 He only focused on the good.
18:24 You know, friends,
18:25 we have been given as Christians
18:27 the good news of the gospel.
18:29 And God wants us to focus on the good news.
18:32 Amen.
18:34 Moses focused on the good and so should we.
18:37 And while it's appropriate to discuss
18:40 the signs of the times that we see around us,
18:42 and while it is necessary sometimes to share bad news
18:45 and negative things that have happened.
18:48 God does not want us to focus on the bad news.
18:52 The Lord doesn't want us to focus there.
18:54 He doesn't want us giving the devil's antics
18:56 more air time by posting them on Facebook.
19:00 He doesn't want us discussing them
19:02 over the dinner table.
19:04 He doesn't want us to glorify the enemy by talking about
19:08 what he is doing and shaking our heads and saying,
19:11 "Man, the devil is just really busy, isn't he?"
19:14 No. The devil is a defeated foe.
19:18 The devil is a conquered foe,
19:20 just like a serpent whose head is cut off,
19:23 whose body still thrashes around
19:25 after it is gone, after it is dead.
19:28 The devil is still trying to wreak havoc in this world.
19:32 But his head was crushed at Calvary.
19:35 Christ has defeated the enemy
19:37 and that is the good news of the gospel.
19:40 God wants us to focus on the good news.
19:44 Like Moses, let's focus on the good news.
19:49 Moses continued on.
19:54 Moses shared the positive report of Joshua and Caleb.
20:01 But in spite of the good report that was brought back,
20:05 in spite of the positive reports,
20:08 Sadly, right next to that welcome to Canaan sign,
20:13 the Israelites had to turn around
20:16 and they had to go back into the wilderness
20:19 for 38 long hard years.
20:25 Moses explains that they complained
20:29 in their tents, we know the story.
20:32 If you are not familiar with that,
20:33 I encourage you to read Numbers 13 and 14.
20:36 After the Israelites were told by God,
20:38 okay, if you're not gonna move forward in faith,
20:41 you need to wander in the wilderness
20:42 for another long time, 40 years.
20:47 They said "Oh, what have we done?
20:49 And they realized that they were gonna
20:50 have to go back into wilderness.
20:52 And the next morning
20:53 they marshaled their forces together
20:55 and they said no, no, no, we can go into the land.
20:57 We can conquer, we will fight.
21:00 Now the interesting thing is God never told them to fight.
21:03 He said He would fight for them and just as they were stubborn
21:07 in their rebellion by not going in,
21:10 now they were rebellious to God's word to return.
21:15 We know that they went and they were chased
21:16 down the mountains and ran with their tails
21:19 between their legs, so to speak.
21:21 They were conquered and faced
21:24 bitter discouragement and disappointments.
21:27 Why was it that they stopped?
21:31 Why was it that they did not go forward into the Promised Land?
21:34 Why did they not listen to the word of God?
21:37 The Bible tells us, it repeats their words in verse 28,
21:42 "The people are greater and taller than we,
21:45 the cities are great and fortified up to heaven.
21:49 Moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there."
21:56 You know, genetics are a funny thing.
22:00 I'm 6'4" roughly about A 192 centimeters,
22:07 I'm a little bit on the taller side,
22:09 I guess you could say.
22:10 But both of my parents actually come to my shoulder.
22:14 They're 5'2", But, you know,
22:17 I still look up to them and I always will.
22:19 My parents,
22:20 I may have passed them in physical stature,
22:23 but in strength of character I'm still trying to catch up.
22:27 But genetics are an interesting thing.
22:29 You see, my dad's side of the family, his dad's,
22:33 my dad's dad's side of the family are all very tall
22:36 and his mom's side are all on the shorter side.
22:39 So my dad's cousins, I met three of them
22:43 when I was a boy, I still remember.
22:45 And I met these brothers and they were huge,
22:48 I was shorter than I am now, but still I looked up at them,
22:52 I thought, man, these guys are giants.
22:55 They are huge.
22:57 They were a little taller than I am now.
22:59 They were bigger than me.
23:00 And I thought these guys are giants.
23:03 You know, my dad's grandfather on his dad's side was 6'8"
23:09 that's 201 centimeters.
23:13 Just over two meters, he was huge.
23:17 And by our standards today,
23:20 he may have seemed like a giant, right?
23:23 So you may wonder to yourself what were the giants like,
23:27 the family of giants in the Promised Lands.
23:31 How big where they?
23:32 Were these just 6'8", 6'10"
23:36 you know, 205 centimeter tall people?
23:40 How big were they?
23:42 Well, the Bible actually gives us insight
23:44 and answers our question.
23:46 Deuteronomy Chapter 3 tells us, Deuteronomy 3:11,
23:56 here the Bible talks about a king of Bashan named Og.
24:00 And Og, the king of Bashan who the Israelites conquered,
24:04 it gives us the size of his bed.
24:07 Now this king had a bed
24:08 that was massive, listen to this,
24:11 "Nine cubits is its length and four cubits is its width
24:15 according to the standard cubits.
24:18 To give you an idea of how big that is,
24:21 that bed was actually 13 feet long by 6 feet wide
24:27 or four meters by two meters wide.
24:32 This man was huge.
24:35 The giants in the Promised Land were giants.
24:39 They were huge.
24:41 This man in fact king Og, he had to have his bed
24:45 specially made, custom built for his size.
24:48 Not only that, the Bible says that
24:50 it was made of iron because he was so heavy.
24:54 Normal beds made of wood could not hold him up.
24:59 The giants in the Promised Lands
25:01 were huge.
25:03 They were giants.
25:05 It's no wonder that they struck fear
25:07 into the hearts of the Israelites.
25:12 And sadly, at the report of the spies,
25:16 because of their lack of faith in God's word,
25:21 they were turned away to wander
25:24 in the wilderness for 38 long hard years.
25:30 Now, friends, the real problem
25:32 that the Israelites faced was not external.
25:35 The real problem they faced was not those giants.
25:38 Turn with me to Hebrew Chapter 3,
25:40 the Bible gives us insight to what the real problem was.
25:44 Hebrews Chapter 3 reading in verse 19.
25:48 You see, the problem was not external but internal.
25:52 Not out there, but in here.
25:56 Here Paul giving us insight into what took place,
25:59 summarizes it beautifully, he says,
26:01 "So we see that they could not enter in
26:05 because of unbelief."
26:10 The reason that Israelites turned around,
26:13 the reason that they had to turn around
26:16 and wander through the wilderness
26:18 was because of their unbelief.
26:22 Back to Deuteronomy Chapter 1,
26:24 here Moses continues to recount the story to them,
26:27 the story that they know so well,
26:29 the story that they've been over in their minds.
26:32 The stories that they remember
26:34 from when they were just children
26:37 and watched it happen.
26:39 Moses says that he himself as they started to lose faith,
26:44 as they started to complain,
26:46 he himself tried to instill faith in them.
26:49 He tried to help them conquer their unbelief
26:52 and look at what he did.
26:54 He pointed them back to what God had done.
26:57 And before we read in verse 29 and continue the story,
27:00 I want to say something about faith and unbelief.
27:03 You know, God will never, we are told,
27:06 He will never completely remove all room for doubts.
27:11 If you really want to doubt, you'll find a way.
27:16 But adversely, God always gives us
27:19 sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith.
27:23 God will always give us enough evidence upon which
27:26 to base a solid belief in His word.
27:30 And we can choose to believe or we can choose to doubt.
27:36 Heard a story sometime ago of a man
27:38 who was sitting on an airplane
27:40 and he was reading his Bible, he was a new Christian.
27:44 And as he was sitting next to someone,
27:48 this man who was sitting next to him looked over
27:50 and he saw him reading his Bible, he said,
27:51 "Ah, don't tell me you believe that book, do you?"
27:55 And the new Christian said, "Well, yeah, and he said,
27:58 you know, it's pretty amazing
27:59 I just read a story about a miracle.
28:01 A miracle where God was leading
28:04 the Israelites through the wilderness
28:06 and He parted the Red Sea so they could walk through."
28:09 And this man sitting next to him says,
28:11 "Ah, you don't believe that, do you?
28:13 Don't you know, it wasn't the Red Sea,
28:15 it was the Sea of Reeds and it's only six inches deep."
28:19 New Christian said, "Oh, okay."
28:22 Went back to reading his Bible, a few minutes later,
28:26 "Wow, this is amazing."
28:30 His neighbor kind of Disgruntled, said, "What now?"
28:33 And he said, "Oh, God just drowned
28:35 the entire Egyptian army in 6 inches of water."
28:40 Friends, we can find miracles where we look for them.
28:43 Amen.
28:47 You know, Moses wanted to point the Israelites,
28:50 the children of Israel back to what God had done for them.
28:54 He wanted to instill faith in their hearts.
28:57 Look what he says in verse 29,
28:59 "Then I said to you, do not be terrified
29:02 or afraid of them, the Lord your God
29:05 who goes before you, He will fight for you.
29:09 According to all he did for you and Egypt before your eyes."
29:13 He said, "Don't you remember what happened in Egypt?"
29:16 Remember when God struck
29:18 the Egyptians with all of those plague,
29:20 so that pharaoh would let God's people go.
29:23 So that He would let you go, don't you remember Egypt
29:25 where He turned the Nile River to blood?
29:28 Where He caused frogs to flood the land,
29:30 lice, where the firstborn,
29:36 was stricken by the angel of death.
29:38 Don't you remember how God delivered you?
29:40 And Moses continues on, look at verse 30,
29:44 excuse me, verse 31, "And in the wilderness
29:46 where you saw how the Lord,
29:48 your God had carried you as a man carries his son,
29:52 in all the way that you went until you came to this place."
29:57 Now when the Bible says that God carried the Israelites,
30:02 you know, what does that really mean?
30:04 What does it mean that God carried the Israelites?
30:09 I want to share something with you
30:10 that might give you a little bit
30:11 deeper of a perspective of what God really had to do
30:16 to provide for the children of Israel
30:18 while they were wandering in the wilderness.
30:21 You know, we know that
30:22 there were about two million Israelites,
30:24 the Bible tells us in Exodus 12:37,
30:27 that there where 600,000 men.
30:30 So if you do the math,
30:31 there were at least two million Israelites.
30:34 Now a number of years ago the Quartermaster
30:37 General of the United States Army
30:39 was asked a question, he was asked,
30:42 "What would it take to provide for the needs
30:45 of two million people in the wilderness?"
30:49 Listen to his answer,
30:51 "When it came to food, it's reported
30:53 that Moses would have had to have received
30:56 1,500 tons of food each day or 1.36 million kilograms.
31:04 Bringing that much food each day
31:06 would take two freight trains,
31:07 each a mile long or a kilometer and half
31:11 to bring the food.
31:13 To have just enough firewood
31:15 for every one to cook a little bit,
31:17 they would need 4,000 tons
31:19 or 3.6 million kilograms of wood every day.
31:24 And they were in transit for 40 years.
31:28 If they only had enough water to drink
31:30 and wash a few dishes,
31:32 it would take 11 million gallons of water
31:35 or about 41,639,000 liters every day.
31:40 And a freight train with the tank cart
31:42 1,800 miles long or nearly 2,900 kilometers."
31:48 That's more than half way
31:49 across the continent of Australia.
31:52 Each time they camped, they would need a space
31:55 two thirds the size of the State of Rhode Islands,
31:58 or 1,200 square kilometers.
32:02 Most amazing to me
32:03 is that they had to get across the Red Sea.
32:07 The Bible tells us that they made it across in one night.
32:11 Now if they went on a narrow path
32:13 and you know, because of Hollywood's pictures
32:17 and because of story books and picture books from
32:20 when we were children, we have this mental picture of
32:21 when the Israelites were going through the Red Sea, right?
32:24 We have this picture where,
32:26 you know, the sea split and it was may be
32:27 as wide as this isle down the center here.
32:30 And you see walls very high on each side,
32:34 but in reality if they had gone double file,
32:38 two people side by side with two million of them.
32:42 It would have been in a line 800 miles long
32:46 or 1,200 kilometers long.
32:48 And it would have required
32:49 35 days and nights for them to get through.
32:52 But remember, the Bible says
32:54 that all two million of them made it through in one night.
32:58 So in order for this to happen,
33:00 there would have needed to be a space in the Red Sea
33:03 3 miles wide or nearly 5 kilometers wide,
33:07 so the Israelites could march 5,000 people across
33:11 and make it across in one night.
33:14 Friends, the way that God provided for the Israelites
33:16 in the wilderness was miraculous.
33:19 It was incredible.
33:20 Moses was pointing them back to this.
33:22 He was pointing them to the path
33:24 to give them faith in the present.
33:26 He was pointing them to the past to say,
33:29 "Don't you believe that God can take care of a few giants?
33:33 Don't tell God how big these giants are, tell these giants
33:37 and show these giants how big your God is?"
33:40 Your God is a giant.
33:43 Moses pointed them back to the past
33:45 to give them faith
33:47 to move forward in the future.
33:51 Friends, we can look to our past as a people.
33:55 We can look to our past as individuals
33:58 to gain faith and encouragement
34:01 for what God is wanting to do in our lives.
34:05 I love the following quotes
34:09 from Christian Experience and Teachings, page 204.
34:12 It says, "We have nothing to fear for the future except
34:16 we shall forget the way that the Lord has lead us
34:19 and His teaching in our past history."
34:23 They were afraid of those giants,
34:25 but they had nothing to fear.
34:29 Friends, as we wander
34:30 in the wilderness of this world's,
34:32 we have nothing to fear.
34:34 When we look at our past and see how God has lead,
34:37 we remember that we have every reason
34:40 to be giants of faith.
34:42 We have every reason to take God and His word.
34:46 Do you fear for our church?
34:49 Do you fear for our church
34:50 when you think of the giants that are looming?
34:53 These giant issues that we face,
34:55 enormous issues like theistic evolution
34:57 or disagreement in styles of worship.
35:01 Giant issues like spiritualism entering our church
35:04 under the guise of new types of prayer and meditation.
35:08 My brother, my sister,
35:12 Jesus our commander has promised us the victory.
35:17 God will purify and unite His church.
35:20 This is God's church and He will carry it forward
35:25 to His soon second coming.
35:28 Maybe you fear for yourself.
35:33 You fear as you face giants in your own life,
35:36 personal giants that seem insurmountable.
35:39 Giants of addiction maybe,
35:42 where the chains of addiction are holding you tight.
35:45 Friends, Jesus has promised to break those chains.
35:49 Jesus has promised the victory.
35:52 Maybe you're facing a giant of depression,
35:55 a giant of discouragement
35:56 and you don't know if you can conquer.
36:00 Jesus says, walk with me, and you will overcome.
36:04 Friend, whatever giant you find yourself
36:07 facing this evening, Christ our commander
36:10 has already guaranteed you the victory.
36:13 We simply need to look at how He has led us in the past
36:17 and take courage for the future.
36:20 Like the Israelites, when it boils down to it,
36:22 it's not these external giants that are really the problem.
36:27 It's not these things that are external
36:29 that are really the issue.
36:33 The greatest thing preventing us
36:35 from entering into the heavenly
36:37 Promised Lands is the giants of self.
36:44 The only thing preventing God's people from perfectly
36:47 reflecting his character to the world,
36:49 His character of selfless love, is self.
36:54 If you really think about it,
36:56 every other sin falls under this heading.
37:00 Self is at the core, self is the problem.
37:04 Alexander the Great,
37:06 he conquered the entire world, the then known world,
37:11 and he died at the age of 33 in drunkenness.
37:15 Alexander the Great could not conquer self.
37:21 Jesus said, "What does it profit a man,
37:24 if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul."
37:28 This literally happened with Alexander the Great.
37:32 And, friends, the same battle that he fights
37:35 is the battle that we fight.
37:37 The same war that he waged needed to wage.
37:41 The battle that he lost is the battle
37:42 that Jesus promises you the victory in.
37:45 You see all of the world's wars,
37:49 all of the world's battles, military history pales
37:53 in comparison to the battle of self.
37:57 It is the greatest battle ever fought.
38:00 You see, the Israelites put on literal armor
38:03 and they went to wage a physical war.
38:06 But we are told that we battle not against flesh and blood.
38:10 We do not battle against flesh and blood.
38:14 But in the end
38:16 against spiritual wickedness in high places
38:19 and those forces are contending for our hearts.
38:23 They are playing on
38:24 and taking advantage of our selfish tendencies.
38:28 It's like they have an inside agent
38:30 and that inside agent is self.
38:33 But, friends, when Christ comes to live in our hearts,
38:37 He can give us victory over self.
38:40 And, you know, just like the Israelites
38:42 put on physical armor,
38:43 we are told to put on the whole armor of God,
38:46 the spiritual armor, amen.
38:48 And we know that as Satan
38:50 launches his fiery arrows at us,
38:53 his fiery arrows of unbelief in our direction,
38:56 we can hold high the shield of faith.
38:59 And when Satan tries to corrupt our hearts,
39:02 it stands no chance when we have
39:04 on the breastplate of righteousness.
39:07 Friends, when we put on the armor of God,
39:09 we have nothing to fear.
39:11 We need not turn tail and run.
39:13 But we can move forward in faith
39:16 and move on into victory.
39:18 But the key word there is forward.
39:20 If you look at Ephesians 6, and examine the armor of God,
39:25 you'll notice that there is no armor for the back.
39:30 There is no armor for the back,
39:32 because we are never to turn around and run.
39:35 We are never to retreat in the battle against self,
39:39 in the battle against the devil and his angels.
39:42 Friends, the Israelites said,
39:43 "Oh, no, there are giants in the land.
39:46 There are giants in the land."
39:48 But God wants a people
39:50 that strikes fear into the hearts
39:52 of the devil and his angels.
39:54 And they say, there are giants in the land,
39:57 there are spiritual giants in the land.
40:01 They have died to self.
40:03 They are reflecting Jesus' character.
40:07 There are giants in the lands.
40:10 God wants us to be giants of faith.
40:14 He needs us to be giants of faith.
40:16 He needs men and women who will strike fear
40:20 into the heart of the enemy of souls.
40:22 He needs men and women who are giants of faith.
40:26 Men and women who are sensitive and kind.
40:28 Men and women
40:29 who put the needs of others before themselves.
40:33 God needs men and women
40:35 who will put their Bibles before their breakfast.
40:38 Who will spend more time in prayer
40:40 than the time they spend on their hair.
40:43 God needs a people
40:45 who will perfectly reflect His character
40:48 because he is living in their hearts.
40:51 Friends, this is the only way.
40:54 This is the only way we can be giants of faith.
40:58 Is if Jesus, the giant of giants,
41:01 is living in our hearts.
41:03 And then, we can finally go home.
41:08 Not to Queensland but to the Kingsland.
41:11 We can go home to God's country,
41:14 to the heavenly Promised Lands.
41:17 Friends, this is God's desire, He needs giants in the land.
41:23 There's a little boy who was with his father
41:29 and as many little boys and little girls do,
41:32 he asked the question, he said, "Daddy, how tall am I?"
41:38 He said, "Well, son, you're, you're getting taller now,
41:41 you're about 5 feet about 150 centimeters."
41:46 He nodded, he started thinking again.
41:49 He said, "Daddy, how tall are you?"
41:52 He said, "Oh, I'm about 6 feet,
41:54 you know I'm, I'm about 184 centimeters."
41:59 He nodded, his brow furrowed a bit
42:01 as he was thinking and he said,
42:03 "Daddy how tall is Jesus?"
42:06 And his dad said, "Oh, I don't know."
42:09 You know Jesus-- but he must have been tall.
42:12 May be, you know, 205 centimeters,
42:14 Jesus must have been very tall?
42:16 Oh, yes.
42:18 Little boy thought
42:21 and he thought and then he said,
42:24 "Daddy, I ask Jesus to live in my heart everyday.
42:29 If Jesus is living in my heart
42:32 that means He must always be sticking out."
42:37 And, friends, if Jesus is living in our hearts,
42:42 people won't see us, they will see Him.
42:46 To be a giant of faith means to have
42:49 Jesus dwelling in your heart by faith.
42:53 This is the only way
42:55 that we can finish our journey through this wilderness.
42:58 This is the only way that we can go home.
43:02 Tonight if you're thinking, Lord,
43:04 I want to be a spiritual giant for You.
43:07 I want to rise up to a higher standard.
43:10 I want to enter into heaven.
43:12 I want to be a spiritual giant, But, Lord, I can't.
43:17 Then, you're right, you can't on your own,
43:21 but Jesus can in you.
43:24 And He has promised to do so in you,
43:27 if you simply surrender yourself to Him.
43:32 You surrender yourself and say,
43:33 "Lord, take self off the throne of my heart
43:37 and set yourself there as King."
43:41 Jesus will make you into the spiritual giant
43:44 that He is calling you to be.
43:47 We may be weak but He is strong.
43:51 We may lack wisdom, but He is all knowing.
43:56 Friends, we may lack power, but Christ is all powerful
44:01 and He will raise us up to be the giants
44:04 that he needs in this land.
44:08 The question is will you let him?
44:13 Will you allow Jesus to enter your hearts?
44:19 Will you allow Jesus to raise you to higher standards?
44:23 Will you allow him to help you crucify self
44:27 and to put yourself last and Jesus first
44:30 and others second?
44:32 Friends, Jesus does not just want you
44:34 to bring your sins to Him.
44:37 He wants you to bring yourself to Him.
44:41 Have you done that?
44:44 As you look back over your life,
44:47 if you're honest with yourself,
44:49 does Jesus have part of your heart?
44:53 Or does He have all of you?
44:57 Have you given yourself completely?
44:59 Everything you have and everything you are
45:04 for Jesus to make you a spiritual giant?
45:10 Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
45:13 Your heart, does the Spirit control.
45:19 You can only be blessed
45:22 And find peace and sweet rest
45:27 As you yield Him your body and soul
45:35 Friends, have you given everything to Jesus tonight?
45:42 Tonight, do you want to say, Lord, here is all of me.
45:47 Here I am, everything that I am,
45:51 everything that I have.
45:54 Please, Lord, raise me up to be the spiritual giant
45:58 that I cannot be on my own.
46:01 Enter into my heart and take self off of the throne
46:03 and make yourself King.
46:06 If that's your desire tonight,
46:09 I'd like to invite you to stand,
46:13 not standing for a man,
46:14 but standing as a sign to heaven.
46:16 Lord, I'm giving you full permission
46:19 to enter into my life in a brand new way.
46:23 This weekend, I want to rise higher.
46:27 This weekend, I long to draw closer to you, Lord.
46:32 I want the prayer of John the Baptist to be my prayer.
46:38 I must decrease and He must increase.
46:42 Amen, amen.
46:46 The Lord needs giants in the lands, giants of faith.
46:52 We've been wandering in the wilderness
46:53 of this world long enough and it's time to go home.
46:57 Amen. It's time to go home.
47:00 Friends, we are bound for the Promised Land.
47:03 Amen.
47:04 We are bound for the Promised Lands.
47:07 On Jordan's stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye
47:11 to Canaan's fair and happy land,
47:14 where my possessions lie.
47:16 Let's sing with all of our heart.
47:17 Let's sing like giants together.
47:19 Amen?
47:32 On Jordan's stormy banks I stand
47:37 And cast a wishful eye
47:43 To Canaan's fair and happy land
47:49 Where my possessions lie
47:53 Sing like the giant one
47:54 I am bound for the Promised Land
48:00 I am bound for the Promised Land
48:06 O who will come and go with me?
48:11 I am bound for the Promised Land
48:15 Do you believe it, let's sing the chorus again.
48:18 I am bound for the Promised Land
48:23 I am bound for the Promised Land
48:29 O who will come and go with me?
48:35 I am bound for the Promised Land
48:42 Our Father, God, thank You
48:44 that indeed we are bound for the Promised Lands.
48:48 Christ, the forerunner has already entered there
48:50 and we thank You that soon He will return to take us home.
48:56 Lord, raise us up to be giants in these lands.
49:01 Help us to win in this greatest battle
49:04 that has ever been fought, the battle against self.
49:07 We pray that you'd be king of our hearts.
49:11 Thank You for Your promise of victory.
49:14 And we thank You in Jesus' precious name.
49:17 Amen.


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Revised 2014-12-17