Participants:
Series Code: SSOS
Program Code: SSOS190008B
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00:01 Welcome back...
00:02 before the break, we were taking a look 00:04 at the Table of Shewbread... 00:05 the bread of the Presence found in the Holy Place 00:08 of the sanctuary 00:10 and we looked in the Bible for other references of bread 00:13 and Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone 00:15 but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. " 00:19 That's a direct quote from Deuteronomy chapter 8 00:21 where God said, "I provided you manna 00:25 that you may know that man shall not live by bread alone 00:28 but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. 00:32 In other words, manna was a lesson 00:34 of not only our physical provision 00:37 but also the spiritual provision 00:40 that God has made for each one of us 00:42 and I want to take a few moments 00:43 to take a look at "Lessons from Manna. " 00:46 Lesson number 1, 00:48 "God provides for my spiritual nourishment 00:51 by making it accessible. " 00:53 Now, when the manna fell, 00:56 it was right outside of their tent. 00:59 They didn't have to go hunting for it, 01:03 they didn't have to forage it, 01:05 they didn't have to go out there and... and fight for it, 01:08 it was made in abundance 01:10 and it was very accessible to them. 01:13 Take a look at the screen here 01:15 in Exodus chapter 16 verses 14 and 15, 01:18 God is very merciful when He provided the manna, 01:20 "When the dew was gone, 01:22 thin flakes like frost on the ground 01:26 appeared on the desert floor. " 01:28 What a miracle when you think about it, 01:30 every day there was a... there was a divine miracle 01:34 that took place every single morning 01:36 because every day, God rained down manna with the dew, 01:41 it was like... it was with the dew like frost, 01:44 they would gather it every single day 01:46 like we said... they didn't have to hunt for it, 01:48 they didn't have to forage for it, 01:50 it was accessible and available to them... 01:53 it was right outside of their tent, 01:57 all they had to do was go and get it. 02:00 Now the Bible says in Romans chapter 10 verse 8, 02:03 "But what does it say? 'The word is near you 02:07 in your mouth and in your heart... ' 02:10 that is, the word of faith which we are preaching. " 02:14 You know, we live in this age 02:16 of phenomenal, mind-blowing accessibility 02:22 to he Word of God. 02:23 We can get the Word of God literally at our fingers... 02:26 fingertips on our phones. 02:28 There are wonderful Bible programs that you can go to 02:32 like Bible Gateway and Bible Hub 02:34 where with just a few clicks, you can look up references 02:37 and commentaries... 02:38 we live in an unprecedented age 02:43 where the Word of God is easily accessible. 02:47 All we have to do is go out there and get it 02:51 just like the heavenly manna was just outside of their tent, 02:54 all they had to do was gather it every single day 02:58 and that manna provided all the nutrition 03:01 to get them from Egypt to Canaan. 03:04 I pray that each one of us every day 03:06 get the heavenly manna, amen. 03:08 Get the Word of God and open it 03:10 because it is accessible, 03:11 it is near you and in your mouth and in your heart... " 03:15 Now the lesson from "Manna" 03:17 "God provides for my spiritual nourishment 03:19 by making it everything I need. " 03:23 The Israelites ate that manna 03:25 and the Bible says that it sustained them 03:28 during the duration of 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, 03:33 the Lord was very merciful, He provided for their needs 03:36 and it provided all the nutrition, 03:38 all the minerals... all the vitamins... 03:40 all the protein that was needed, 03:42 it was the food of angels that was provided for them 03:46 and they were not coming down with diseases and scurvy 03:49 and lack of nutrition... 03:51 their hair wasn't falling out, 03:52 the manna provided everything that they needed 03:56 for their physical sustenance. 03:58 Exodus chapter 16 verse 35, 04:00 "The Israelites ate manna forty years, 04:03 until they came to the land that was settled; 04:05 they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan. " 04:10 Every single day it fell on the Israelites 04:15 and they were able to gather it. 04:16 In comparison, John chapter 6 verse 63 says, 04:20 "The words I have spoken to you... 04:22 they are full of Spirit... they are life. " 04:26 That is the heavenly manna... 04:28 the Word of God is everything that we need 04:32 for our spiritual sustenance to keep us alive 04:36 and to thrive and grow in Jesus Christ. 04:39 It is available... it is accessible... 04:41 it is made there for us to provide for our spiritual needs 04:47 and our spiritual growth. 04:48 Here's another lesson from "Manna" 04:51 "I take advantage of God's spiritual nourishment 04:54 by gathering it early. " 04:57 Now, this is an important lesson from "Manna" 05:01 because when the manna fell, the Bible indicates 05:05 that it did not stay there the whole day. 05:08 It fell with the dew but when the sun got hot 05:12 the manna began to melt. 05:15 Now, look at this text in Scripture 05:17 in Exodus chapter 16 verse 21, "When the sun grew hot, 05:21 it... the manna melted away. " 05:24 Now, there's an important lesson in this 05:27 because the Bible and our devotional life... 05:30 I find in my own experience 05:32 that if I do not get my heavenly manna from God 05:36 early in the morning, 05:37 there is this tendency where the cares of this life 05:43 and all of the appointments and the stresses thereof 05:48 seem to just come in and crowd out that time. 05:52 If I don't get my heavenly manna early, 05:54 my phone starts going off and buzzing... 05:56 I start getting e-mails and texts and all these things 05:59 and then, the child starts crying 06:03 and all of these things start to come in 06:05 and crowd out the devotional time... 06:07 an important lesson to get the manna early... 06:10 to get it first thing in the morning 06:12 because before the day starts to crowd out your life 06:17 we need to get our morning manna first... 06:20 important lesson from Scripture, 06:22 Dr. Leslie Hardinge makes this commentary, 06:24 "Manna melted with the rising of the sun, 06:27 and it was then gone forever. 06:30 We, too, must make gathering the heavenly Fare 06:34 the first task. 06:35 The dawn is best, for noon is opportunity lost. 06:40 The day's hectic activities will overwhelm the life 06:44 unnourished by this celestial Bread. " 06:49 I want to encourage you 06:50 to get your manna early in the morning, 06:52 set your alarm clock... 06:54 I have one individual that I know of... 06:55 what she does is say, before she goes to bed she says, 06:59 "Lord, get me up in the morning... " 07:01 and every single time, the Lord gets her up... 07:04 it's as though the heavenly angel, I believe, comes and... 07:07 and rustles her and gets her up in the morning, 07:10 God wants to spend time with you 07:12 and she's able to spend time in God's Word 07:15 when she prays this prayer, 07:16 why don't you try and say, 07:18 "Lord, I want to spend time with You in the morning, 07:21 get me up when You desire to spend time with me... " 07:24 to get that heavenly manna from God. 07:27 Psalm 5 verse 3 says, "In the morning, O Lord, 07:31 You will hear my voice; 07:33 in the morning I will order my prayer to You. " 07:37 First thing in the morning, spend your time with God, 07:40 get that heavenly manna... that nourishment 07:43 because as the sun rises, that manna will melt 07:47 and that's an opportunity that is lost. 07:49 Moving on, another lesson from "Manna" 07:52 "I take advantage of God's spiritual nourishment 07:56 by gathering it daily. " 07:58 There's a prayer... the Lord's Prayer... 08:02 and it says, "Give us this day our daily bread. " 08:07 Now, this is not only a reference to physical bread, 08:13 but I believe that it's also a reference 08:15 to spiritual bread as well. 08:18 In other words, God wants us to get our spiritual bread daily 08:23 and in the same way, in our physical experience 08:26 you cannot eat for the entire year, 08:29 now, sometimes I wish for the sake of efficiency 08:31 that I could just eat 08:32 and not have to eat for the rest of the day, 08:34 but according to the way that our bodies are made, 08:38 you can't eat for the whole week or the whole month 08:41 or the whole year, 08:43 you have to eat daily. 08:45 Daily nutrition physically is... is necessary 08:48 and I'm afraid that there are some Christians 08:51 that are spiritually eating only once a week. 08:56 They're eating just when they come to church, 08:59 spiritually and they're hoping that that spiritual nourishment, 09:04 that bread will last them the whole time, 09:06 but we're told that we need daily sustenance. 09:09 Now, I began a practice about year ago, 09:13 where I started to fast. 09:15 Now, I tell my congregation, 09:17 this is "descriptive not prescriptive" 09:21 fasting is something between you and God 09:24 and I participated in this fast just for personal benefit 09:29 and for health reasons... intermittent fasting... 09:32 you can look it up, there are benefits 09:33 and disclaimer please, 09:35 consult with your medical provider 09:36 before doing any sort of fasting, 09:38 but, fasting, I found is... is a fascinating thing 09:43 because as I fast, there is this keen awareness 09:48 of dependency upon food. 09:51 There are times all I can think about 09:54 during that 24-hour fast... is food 09:57 and it shows me my dependency and my need 10:02 upon physical food for sustenance, 10:06 How much more in our spiritual life 10:10 are we dependent upon the Word of God? 10:14 I want to read this quotation from D.L. Moody, 10:17 "A man can no more take any supply of grace for the future 10:22 than he can eat enough today to last him 10:25 for the next six months. 10:26 Nor can he inhale sufficient air into his lungs 10:30 with one breath to sustain life for a week to come, 10:33 we are permitted to draw upon God's store of grace 10:37 from day to day as we need it. " 10:41 We need daily manna, we can't eat for the whole year, 10:45 we can't eat for the whole month, 10:46 we are daily dependent upon the Word of God 10:49 and this is where our daily devotions 10:51 come into our Christian experience. 10:53 Notice the second compartment of the sanctuary, 10:57 there is bread that is there, 10:59 in other words, you come into the courtyard, 11:01 you accept Jesus as your Savior, 11:04 you are baptized... 11:06 and then God brings you to the Table for spiritual sustenance. 11:12 In other words, in the Courtyard, 11:14 you become alive 11:16 and then God says, "I want you to thrive while you are alive" 11:21 and this is our daily bread. 11:23 I pray that you get up in the morning, by the grace of God, 11:27 and spend time in His Word, 11:30 we can actually pray to God and say, 11:32 "Lord, create in me a deeper desire for you, 11:36 give me a distaste for the things of this world, 11:41 give me a distaste for the things that are in media, 11:45 in secular society 11:46 and give me a taste for the heavenly manna, 11:50 we don't have to fabricate it, 11:51 it's not something that we need to conjure up, 11:54 but we can ask God to give us a desire for His Word 12:00 to receive spiritual sustenance and spiritual nourishment. 12:06 Man does not live by bread alone, 12:08 but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. 12:13 Jesus is our heavenly manna. 12:15 Jesus said, "Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness 12:18 and they died, 12:19 I am the living bread that came out of heaven: 12:22 if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever: 12:25 and the bread also which I give for the life of the world 12:28 is my flesh. " 12:31 Now, the disciples and the people around Him assumed 12:34 that he was talking about cannibalism 12:35 but later on in John chapter 6, we're told that Jesus said, 12:40 "The words that I speak unto you, 12:43 they are Spirit... they are life. " 12:46 In other words, Jesus compares the heavenly manna 12:50 to the Word of God. 12:53 Won't you feed on the Word of God today? 12:55 You've been born again... you've been walking with Jesus 12:58 but you need strength which is Jesus who is the bread of life, 13:02 ask God to create in you 13:05 a deeper desire for Him and His Word 13:08 and He will get you up in the morning 13:11 to get that heavenly manna... 13:12 to live by every word that proceeds 13:16 out of the mouth of God... 13:17 to be sustained spiritually... 13:19 to grow up in Christ after you have been born again. 13:23 Join us again next time as we continue in our study 13:27 of the sanctuary, salvation and our Savior. |
Revised 2019-10-07