"Surviving The Wilderness" - Pastor Raymond Woodward

want to turn to Deuteronomy chapter number eight and just take a little passage of Scripture and leave you with a couple of thoughts tonight in Deuteronomy chapter 8 is that the far end of the wilderness wandering and they've come all the way back around what should have taken them less than a week has taken them forty years and if you watch a map if you look at a map of the wilderness wanderings it looks like a plate of spaghetti it just goes all over everywhere they backtrack and they circle around for forty years and finally they come back to the same place that they were and Deuteronomy means second law and one more time before they get ready to go into the Promised Land Moses gives them the law one more time I want to tell it direct your attention chapter eight of Deuteronomy and verse one all the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swear under your father's and thou shall remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to Humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart whether thou wouldest keep his Commandments or no and he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna which thou knewest not neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know but Jesus quotes this later you'll remember here's the original that God might make you know that man does not live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord death man live your clothing wax not old upon thee neither did your foot swell these forty years forty years they walked and walked and walked and their feet didn't swell some of us could use that kind of miracle thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chasin ahthe his son so the LORD thy God chasing a thief therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God to walk in his ways and to fear him for the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land a land of Brooks of waters of fountains and depths a spring out of the valleys and Hills a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates a land of olive oil and honey a land wherein thou shall eat bread without scare sness thou shalt not lack anything in it a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou mayst dig brass when thou hast eaten an artful then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee would you lift up your hands and ask God to talk to us for the next 20-30 minutes and let's let's make that a sincere prayer would you pray with pastor Lord Jesus we made the effort to be here these precious people made an effort to get here and I ask that your anointing would rest on our foundations class on our children's ministry on our youth ministry and God I ask that it would rest in here I ask God that you would open our hearts to your word let your word penetrate let it instruct let it inspire and let it bless tonight and we'll thank you for it in Jesus name everybody say in Jesus name now there's a scripture in job chapter 23 jobs in the middle of his trial and a verse 8 of job 23 he says this you've read this before behold I go forward but God is not there I go backward but I I can't perceive him on the left hand I know he's working but I can't behold him he hides himself on the right hand that I cannot see him and here's job's confidence in the midst of what we would call a very dry time in his life a very dark time but God knows the way that I take and when he has tried me I shall come forth as gold I'd like to talk to us as Christians we are fellow travelers if you will on a journey living for God on a journey to heaven and everybody goes through what I'm about to describe but the first time you go through it as a new believer it totally throws you you can't imagine that the heights you've experienced in God and that the great feelings you had the first few times you came to the altar you can't imagine that they're gone or they're less or they're faded and and everybody's been there that's in this building tonight everybody has walked through a time when you reached out the way you had before and you lifted up your hands and you prayed and you worshiped and you were faithful and you read the Bible and you did all of that and you didn't feel much of anything everybody's had that kind of time or am i lyin how many have ever had that kind of time now the first time that happens you remember this some of you you've been serving God so long you don't even remember there's a devil you've been serving got a long time but but those of us that remember we remember the first couple of times that happened and the first couple of times that happened as a young believer or maybe as a young person growing up in the church when you first really got serious with God and and you remember getting serious with God and then you went to do whatever it was you were used to doing prayer or worship or whatever and it just didn't feel the same and immediately you thought something's wrong with me or something's wrong with my relationship with God and if you're a new believer or if you were away from God you've come back to church and and and the first couple of times that this happens it can really throw you and it never gets so familiar that it doesn't kind of worry you or occur to you and so sometimes our hearts cry is exactly like job's I'm looking I'm trying to go forward but I can't sense God leading me I look backward and I really can't see that God was with me yesterday it seemed like yesterday was bad too and I look at the left and I look at the right and I just can't find him anywhere and Jobe came to this after after all of his trial time he said but God knows the way that I take Jobe finally came to this I've got to trust God because I can't trust my feelings I've got to trust God because I can't trust what I'm seeing right now I've got to trust God because I can't perceive this situation properly if you've lived for God for any length of time you have visited that same spot that same situation that same season where sometimes you just have to square your shoulders and trust God that he's in charge and you're doing the will of God and as far as you know there's nothing between you and Jesus and you gotta let feelings kind of just stay in the background for a while anybody been there and you could be there tonight I don't know sometimes we go into those places and that's our hearts cry and we long to hear from God and all we hear is silence and we long to see God moved but we don't seem to perceive him and and in frustration here's what happens our mind you've got great memory all of us do for certain things and you can remember some time when you were at the altar and it just came like a wave and you felt so good and you can remember those worship services when you were just almost overcome with the presence of God and so then you get in one of these dry times in one of these wilderness times and you want to holler like God where are you because you're in the wilderness now if you're in the wilderness tonight or if you've been in the wilderness for a few weeks and you feel that feeling then let me tell you something right at the beginning tonight you're in great company because Moses and Joseph and David and job and many great men and women of God and even Jesus took a detour through the wilderness and the procession of travelers through the dead dry wilderness is very long and here's why the wilderness is actually a necessary season in the life of a child of God it can't be bypassed think with me everything in the Old Testament is to teach us New Testament believers a principle here's the principle there's only one route to the Promised Land and guess what that route goes through the wilderness to get to the promised land so if you're ever gonna be what God wants you to be or get where God wants you to get you're gonna have to walk through some wilderness wanderings sometimes now understanding this wilderness time or this dry time in your life or this dark time in your life or let's just describe it for what it is this no feeling time in your life it's absolutely crucial if you're gonna survive spiritually first chronicles 12 verse 32 says the children of Issachar they were men that had understanding of the times and they knew what Israel ought to do we need understanding of the times and the seasons in our living for God or we mess up we're thinking we should feel the same way all the time and that's just not true the writer of Ecclesiastes in chapter 3 verse 1 Solomon wrote these words to everything there is a season and there's a time to every purpose under the heaven God doesn't waste time God doesn't have frivolous time and God doesn't waste your time so if you're walking through a certain season that you don't understand I'm not talking about giving up on God and going back to the world and sin you know you're in trouble there but for all intents and purposes everything in you you're trying to do your best serve in God and it just doesn't feel right it just feels off the Bible tells me that even in times like that there's a season and there's a purpose to feeling the way that you feel or more specifically not feeling anything let me check one more time anybody better anybody been in a time when you just didn't feel right something just felt off in your relationship with God Oh anybody been at a time when you didn't feel anything you got in service look at that now see you think you're the only one but do that one more time and everybody look around some of you've been looking around since you got here so this is not gonna be a big stretch okay you see that everybody here has been through that kind of time everybody here has walked through a season when they came to church and pastor Jack was up here and he was shouting down and the preaching was good and music was going and people are out running and dancing and jumping and you're thinking like what am i God chopped liver let's do that hand thing again how many see that even some of the elders guys so everybody goes through this Luke chapter 12 verse 56 Jesus rebuked the multitudes and the leaders in Israel especially Luke 12:56 he said you hypocrites you can discern the face of the sky and of the earth how is it you don't desert the time jesus said you know what you're doing and he was talking about something a little different but here's the principle he said you know what you're doing you're looking for the wrong thing at the wrong time and sometimes we do that in living for God a farmer has to understand the purpose of the seasons if he's out looking for a crop in the spring he's going to be sorely disappointed and many Christians they behave without wisdom when they enter into a wilderness season because they're there searching for any escape route they get they get desperate and sometimes they prolong their time in the wilderness because living for God is kind of like going to school if you keep flunking the test God gives you the test over and over and over again now here's my point tonight I'm not gonna be long my problems the wilderness is not negative for people who are obeying God the wilderness is not negative God's purpose in leading Israel into the wilderness remember they had messed up they didn't want to go in they didn't believe the report of the two spies and and so they had messed up but God didn't put him in the wilderness for forty years only to punish them he put them in the wilderness to test and to train them and to prepare them by the time they got through 40 years of wilderness wandering you know what they were they were a warrior race they were ready to go in and take their promised land now the Israelites they perceived the wilderness as only punishment and so you know what they did they murmured and they complained and the Bible says they lusted after things that they didn't need and shouldn't have constantly they did that and so what should have been a brief one-week journey through the wilderness it became a lifetime experience some of them died in the wilderness they never get out of the wilderness because they handled it wrong so let me give you a couple of principles here and I'm praying this helps somebody and if it doesn't help you that's probably because you're not in the wilderness congratulations some of the rest of us we are right now and you might not be but the rest of us if you get too smug we'll throw something at you Luke chapter thank you for that amen Luke chapter 4 verse 1 if you've ever been in the wilderness you're in good company look at this Luke 4 verse 1 and Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan this is right after his baptism and he was led by the spirit wear into the wilderness sometimes when you go into the wilderness and it's a desert it's dry you don't feel anything you don't really sense that overwhelming sense of the presence of God sometimes you've actually been led by the spirit into the wilderness God's trying to teach you something and the wilderness here's what you got to know the wilderness may be a time when God corrects you but it's not a time when God disapproves of you Jesus was full of the Holy Ghost he's coming out of his baptism by John the Baptist it's a time of triumph in his life it's literally the launching of his ministry and yet he was led by the spirit into the wilderness and he was tempted but he came out victorious he was full of the Holy Ghost when he went into the wilderness and he was triumphant in the Holy Ghost when he came out of the wilderness now we read a passage in Deuteronomy and if you've still got that open Deuteronomy 8 I want to point out a couple of things in those verses because this is what God said to Israel and everything that happened to Israel it's a pattern for us in the New Testament Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 2 God said to Israel now remember they've come through the wilderness now Deuteronomy is the second law they're there after the 40 years and they're getting ready to go in and they're gonna have a great triumph and they're gonna take the promise that here's what God said thou shalt remember all the way somebody say all the way all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years God led you all the way he didn't just lead you when you felt good he didn't just lead you a few days he didn't just lead you half the time or a third of the time or even most of the time but all the way the Lord led you for 40 years so when you felt good God was leading you when you didn't feel good God was leading you when you had peace God was leading you but when the enemies were attacking you in the wilderness God was still leading you all the way God led you for 40 years why to Humble thee and to prove thee and to know what was in thine heart whether you would keep his Commandments or no you know what God wants to know about us whether we're really sold out to keep his Commandments regardless of how we feel and regardless of what everybody else does and God wants to know that about every single person there's a bunch of people today that they'll keep God's commandments if they're in a group like us and everybody around them is keeping God's commandments but they don't have enough intestinal fortitude to keep God's commandments and principles all by their little ol self but God's looking to see what's in your heart he wants to Humble you sometimes so he lets you walk in a place where you don't feel a lot and your heart is over washed and overwhelmed with a sense of his presence because God wants you to know something he wants you to know that you need him oh you need him every hour you need him and so sometimes the only way you know that you need God is when you can't feel him and that pushes you back into an altar and you cry out in prayer and you cry out to God and the feeling eventually comes back but what happens during that time you learn I can't do this on my own I'm not strong on my own I need the presence of God I need the sense that God is with me and so God said all the way I'm leading you don't you think I'm only leading you on your good days when you feel like skipping in the door and running up the aisle I'm leading you when you just got bad news I'm leading you when somebody's attacking your character I'm leading you all the way even when you don't feel like it and so the response of a child of God in the New Testament should be the response God was trying to teach Israel that every day that you come into the presence of God every day you worship God every day you put God first no matter what you're feeling or seeing or hearing or experiencing so can we try that for 30 seconds would you lift up your hands regardless of how you felt when you got here and would you just give God praise this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you no matter what you feel like what it looks like what news you just got or what you've been experiencing since Sunday this is the will of God for you to enter into his gates with Thanksgiving and into his courts with praise and be thankful unto Him and bless his name because he's always worthy whether you feel it or not that's what God teaches you in a wilderness season my goodness God said I want to humble you I want to prove you I want to know what's in your heart and most of all I want to know whether you're gonna keep my Commandments no matter how you feel the hymn writers of past generations they really got this they really did and some of the new songs do we sing a new one you give and take away you give and take away but my heart will choose to say blessed be your name and and that's a wonderful song but but the older hymn writers we talked on Sunday about Fanny Crosby I don't know why I'm I'm into Fanny Crosby this week I think it's just because she died 99 years ago this week and I was reading a little bit about it but she wrote this incredible song and she took it from that verse put that verse back up there for me if you would just for a sec 8 and 2 of Deuteronomy see God said thou shalt remember everyone say all the way she wrote this little song all the way my Saviour leads me what have I to ask beside can I doubt his tender mercy who through life has been my guide heavenly peace the finest comfort here by faith in him to dwell and this line I just love for I know what err befall me Jesus do with all things well and then the last verse is this and I love this I'll spare you singing it tonight all the way my Saviour leads me oh the fullness of his love perfect rest to me is promised in my father's house above when my spirit clothed immortal wings its flights to realms of day this my song through endless ages Jesus led me all the way when we get to heaven and we look back the the another hymn writer said trials of the road will then seem as nothing as we sweep through that beautiful gate another hymn writer said some through the water some through the flood some through the fire but all through the blood some through great sorrow but god gives a song in the night season and all the day long all the way Jesus leads us not just when we feel good you've heard Pastor quote the scripture it's my favorite out of the book of lamentations and I think the reason it's my favorite is because it's the only positive verse in all of lamentations lamentations 3 Jeremiah is watching his beloved City Jerusalem being burned to the ground and everybody being killed and people taken away captive and its devastation and destruction and in the middle of 5 chapters in chapter 3 of lamentations verse 22 jeremiah looks up at the heavens and he catches the one shaft of sunlight that's coming down through the doom and the gloom and he says it's of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his Compassion's fail not they are new every morning even on the darkest day of my life they're new every morning great is thy faithfulness that's what you got to get ahold of when you're in a dry time when you're in a desert time when you're in a wilderness season god I could have been it could be worse somebody say it could be worse cuz you know what it could be worse you all look fairly healthy you might have some physical problems or some kind of diagnosis that you're worried about but you made it to the house of God tonight so just say that one more time it could be worse and so we're here and since we're here and it could be worse we're gonna praise God for what we have instead of concentrating and giving the devil credit for what we don't have and that's what Jeremiah caught a hold of it's of the Lord's mercies that he didn't let everything be consumed and so I'm gonna look up and I'm gonna say God your mercy even in this situation even in this wilderness even in this devastation your mercy is new every morning and I'm not too happy about what's happening to Jerusalem but God your faithfulness never fails great is thy faithfulness now the wilderness God doesn't set you on the Shelf when you go in a dry time we need to stop that craziness and Pentecost that if I'm not feeling something I can't do something we bought into that that's just unreal if I don't feel it I can't do it we buy into that in every kind of area in our spiritual life if I don't feel like pray and then I might as well not pray what a bunch of garbage is that who are you praying to you good luck you can't even fix a headache you're not praying to you so so your feelings have nothing to do with whether you should pray or not you're praying to God and the last time I checked God isn't affected by your head cold or your flu or your bad news or whatever so so stop not praying because you don't feel it now you know where I'm heading with this we don't worship sometimes because we just don't feel it who are you worshipping and who are you worshiping for it's not for you and so when we come into the house of God I know sometimes you come in here and you're thinking oh great here we go another one of those services everybody's out in the aisle running around here I said I can't feel nothing that's not even good grammar I can't feel nothing said it again because that's what you're thinking you're not thinking grammar you're thinking how bad you feel I'm not feeling nothing really messing up some people but you know what when you don't feel anything in the presence of God doesn't mean you're not in the presence of God when you don't feel anything in a church service doesn't mean you shouldn't participate in the church service you know what the devil is hoping that you will run your life by your feelings because if he can get you to run your life by your feelings you'll never get around to feeling good you'll never feel good long enough to consistently serve God you're gonna be on the roller coaster religious ride for the rest of your life what the devil hates most is somebody that he beats up on all week long and then they crawl into the house of God get their little bony hands in the air and go to worship of God the devil doesn't have a clue what to do with that he thinks he's standing there and he's got you on the ropes and he's knocked down your family and he's knocked down your finances and he's knocked down your emotions and he's just waiting for you to come in and just just cry all over everything and instead you come in and you start worshiping God even when you don't feel it see that's how you act in a wilderness time one more time would you just lift up your hands and would you begin to worship God somebody's in a wilderness time tonight somebody's going through one of those parts of your journey where you don't feel much would you just worship God anyway worship God in spite of it when you can't worship God because of it gracias amor oka Daedalus your summer stopped reaching for an emotion and instead reach past emotion and reach for Jesus because Jesus is there regardless of what your emotions are doing right now Jesus is there regardless to receive your worship no matter what you feel like right now you might be in a deep dark wilderness but Jesus is not in a deep dark wilderness he's still on the throne he's still in control of heaven and he's still in control of you I worship you Jesus I worship you Jesus now here's why the devil wants to knock you out and here's why the devil doesn't want to you to understand your wilderness is because when Israel was in the wilderness everything that happened to Israel was written for an example for us when Israel was in the the wilderness they defeated the amorite s-- in numbers 21 they were in the wilderness they defeated the Midianites in numbers 31 they were in the wilderness they defeated the people of bation in numbers 21 they were in the wilderness they were wandering in the wilderness and they're still defeating enemies all over the place God's purpose in having them in the wilderness wasn't for them to be experiencing defeat it was for them to defend their position while they were in the wilderness and they emerged stronger just because God isn't giving you the miracle that you've been praying for doesn't mean he's not working on your behalf we get fixated on one certain answer to prayer and if we don't get that answer to prayer we forget all the other answers to prayer that God has given us just because God didn't give you that miracle yet doesn't mean he didn't give you a miracle this week just because God didn't answer that prayer yet doesn't mean he hasn't answered any prayers for you this week don't let your personal situation don't let what the devil is throwing in your face don't let that beat up your faith to where you come and you think you can't get anything at church you can get a blessing at church in the middle of your darkest situation and it might not even change your emotion but you can still get a blessing worshiping God if somebody wrote this down and I've never checked all the numbers I'm not enough of a mathematician to check all the numbers but I've seen it multiple times and somebody calculated this they called it the biggest mathematical miracle in the world in the wilderness we have three million Israelites wandering in the desert that takes 1,500 tons of food every day to feed three million people 1,500 tons of food that's like two freight trains each a mile long it takes 4,000 tons of firewood daily and that's a few more freight trains and it would take for 3 million people it would take 11 million gallons of water every day to sustain them in that heat and in that wilderness that's a freight train with tank cars that's 1,800 miles long now if they were in across the Red Sea in one night and you might not believe that but I believe it because the Bible says it and if they were to cross the Red Sea in one night that would require God spreading the sea three miles wide so they could walk 5000 abreast if you're going to get three million people that see in just one night and as they traveled for 40 years every night because they get up every morning and they walk when God said to walk and so every night they stopped and set up camp it would take a campground 2/3 the size of Rhode Island every night just to sustain 3 million people in all those tents and they were fourteen thousand six hundred and ten days in transit forty years of wandering in the wilderness and you can say if you want well they were in the wilderness God didn't do anything for them they were in the wilderness look at that God did powerful miracles of provision every single day they were in the wilderness and guess what God's doing stuff in the background of your life even when you don't feel anything God's doing stuff in the background of your family even when it looks like you're in reverse gear and those kids or that spouse is getting further and further away from God don't concentrate on what you see and what you hear and what you feel don't concentrate on that concentrate on this all the way my Savior is leading me all the way my Savior is providing for me and the wilderness has a purpose and this season in my life has a purpose man would you just let's just worship God for a minute I'm almost finished Nicola Hester sambar OpenMic Saba see we're still doing it you're still waiting for the feeling to kick in and and maybe we should have some music and then the feeling would kick in stop waiting for the feeling to kick in and just praise God in the middle of no feeling just praise God in the middle of no direction praise God in the middle of what you think is no provision because I guarantee you don't have no provision you just don't have the provision that you think you need but God is with you God's fighting for you God's walking with you and all the way your Savior is leading you even in the wilderness even when you can't see him or hearing or feeling gods with you in Jesus name hallelujah now here's why we don't like the wilderness one more verse out of Deuteronomy 8 this time verse 3 we read it but maybe you missed this Deuteronomy 8 verse 3 says God humble thee we already got that part and he suffered thee to hunger or we say hunger and fed thee with manna everyone say fed now what's God trying to teach us well he's trying to teach us the end of that verse the part Jesus quoted when he was in the wilderness teaching us that man doesn't live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord that's how we live so that's what God's trying to teach us how does God teach you not to rely on all your earthly stuff and instead rely on the word that he's speaking to you how does he teach you that there's how he teaches you in the top three lines number one he lets you hunger and number two he feeds you now that's crazy how does God let me hunger and feed me at the same time he does it by not letting you have what you want but still giving you what you need that's what he did for Israel Israel wanted leeks and garlic's and onions and all the stuff they'd eaten in Egypt not even thinking that to have that they'd have to go back to Egypt and they would be slaves again in about 15 seconds so so that was a ridiculous want and God didn't give him what they wanted but every morning they went out of their tent flap and they stepped out on the ground and it was covered with manna that sustained them for 40 years so they had everything they needed to survive God met their needs but he didn't meet their wants if you're in a time in your Christian life when you're you're doing okay you're surviving but it's not very pleasant you don't have everything you want to have from God you could probably if I got you to stand right now off top of your head you could list one two three four five prayers that haven't been answered yet so you don't have what you want but could you just be honest for a minute right now to sustain you right now to provide for you you don't have everything you want but how many could say but you know what really I have all that I need I'm surviving The Devil's at bay God's victorious and I'm gonna be okay I might not have everything I want but I really I've got everything I need to keep serving God well congratulations you're in that period where God's allowing you to hunger for more but he's feeding you everything you need I don't have everything I want but I do have everything that I need you know what God's teaching you right there at the bottom he's teaching you you're not gonna rely on feelings you're not gonna rely on getting all your desires met you're not gonna rely on having everything that you think you want but you're gonna learn that out of the mouth of God there's always preceding a word and if you'll get a hold of his word you don't need all the rest of that stuff if you'll get a hold of his word and you'll stand on his word you'll be able to get through the low times that dry times the sad times the bad times the crisis times the disaster times because there's a word that's proceeding constantly out of the mouth of the Lord and we don't live by getting everything we want we live by having everything we need oh that's worth more than that I wish you just lift up a praise to God I don't care really what you feel like that's not an insult but it really doesn't matter what we feel like if we're living off of the Word of God out of the mouth of God proceedeth it just keeps coming it proceeds and then it proceeds again it comes once and then it comes again it comes today and then it comes tomorrow morning it comes tomorrow night and then it comes on Friday morning it comes Friday night and then it comes on Saturday and then on Sunday there's a word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God and if you will anchor yourself to the word instead of your feelings you can make it through anything I wish you just turn that up just a bit I wish you just turn that up a notch and give God thanks because all the way God's leading you and it's not just on the good days and it's not just on the feeling days and it's not just in the worship services where you're excited beyond measure God's leading you all the way you're valuable to God and he can teach you something in the middle of your wilderness I worship you Jesus I worship you Jesus I worship you Jesus Ryan come on back now here's our problem this is our problem this is your problem somebody say this is my problem mm-hmm you don't believe me or you would have said that somebody say this is my problem this is my problem Israel never missed one meal God gave them everything they needed they never went hungry but it was manna for breakfast and manna for dinner and manna for coffee break and manna for supper and manna for bedtime snack and every time they talked about it he'd say to her what's for breakfast and she'd say man some of you can't even take potato salad twice in a week manna for breakfast manna for dinner man it was manna you know what manna means right the first morning that manna fell on the the grass it was like do but you could eat it it was manna the Hebrew word manna means what is it that's what they called it so for 40 years every meal they had what is it some of you been there you got to witness right now their clothes never wore out their shoes never wore out their feet never swelled some of you consider that a major miracle but after 40 years their wardrobe was a little outdated never worn out but it looked like something great-grandpa wore and the scenery here we thought about the scenery in a wilderness every morning manna every day sand every noontime manna get up and walk in the afternoon sand dinner at night supper manna every evening you went to bed looking at a sunset over a beautiful beautiful field of sand so they never had what they wanted for 40 years but they always had what they needed God provided every single day folks your wilderness isn't for nothing that's how God teaches us to rely on his word think with me when your flesh gets only what it needs and not what it wants I'm not talking about food anymore that's just the old testament lesson that gives us the New Testament principle when you've prayed and you've prayed and you've prayed and it doesn't seem like the answer will ever come and yet you come to church and you're faithful and you serve God what you're doing in that moment of your life for God is that although God hasn't come through in your way of thinking although God hasn't given you the direction you're seeking the answer you need he's given you everything you're still surviving that family member isn't saved yet that prayer is an answer yet that miracle didn't happen yet but if you go to bed tonight and you look back over the day remember Sunday one day at a time and you look back over the day you'll find out that why you mate might not have had everything you wanted you made it you had everything that's the wilderness Israel was hungry because God for a time just put what they desired over here and all they had was what they needed not what they wanted now here's the danger of the wilderness okay and I'm just gonna give you this and we're gonna be done Psalm 106 verse 13 Israel eventually got kind of bitter about this and there was a whole generation that didn't handle the wilderness right here's what Psalm 106 verse 13 says they soon forgot his works they waited not for his counsel but they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and they tempted God in the desert they complained they murmured they grumbled and so here's what God eventually did for them this is not what you want God to do for you and he gave them their request but he sent leanness into their soul God said okay if you're gonna complain and grumble and if you're gonna scheme and plot to get your way and to get what you want then I'll let you happen that's a dangerous place to be spiritually where we scheme and we maneuver and we plot and we plan and we grab and we grasp because we've determined in our mind that that's what I need and we go after it and God said okay Israel I'll give you your request but by being full here there's going to be leanness inside you'll be full of material things you'll be full of everything you wanted but to get what you want instead of what I want eventually it sends a leanness into your soul and what's hungry is not out here in what's hungry is inside there are people that are happy only as long as they're getting their way and when they enter the dry times and here's what God lets you walk through the dry times here's why God lets people good people like you folks faithful people like you folks here's why God lets you walk through wilderness times because God wants to know the motive of your heart now he already really knows does that he's God so what's his purpose and letting you walk through the wilderness what's his purpose and letting you encounter dry times and hard times and difficult situations he doesn't really need to know the motive of your heart he's already known and he's gone you need to know the motive of your heart are you only serving God in the good times when it's easy are you only serving God when you got something that you think's he's worthy of praise for or do you just serve God period you just serve God regardless God wants you to know what's in your heart and so he lets us walk through dry times and here's how you know that your focus is on you instead of on God here's how you know you're kind of serving God but for you is if you go through a dry time you go through a time when you're not getting your need met and the complaining starts and every time the complaining starts you've mixed up a want and a need last scripture and I'm done and we'll pray in the home Philippians chapter 4 I read this again just last week freshest book I told you about this book when I get home from Italy in the fall because this is the book that Paul wrote from that jail cell in Rome Philippians 4 verse 11 not that I speak in respect of want now Paul you're in a jail cell you're awaiting trial you're gonna be killed and yet you don't have any once Paul you should have once come on you should want to get out of prison you should want people to defend you instead of attacking you you shouldn't want your brethren to come to your rescue and to plead your case instead of what Paul actually recorded somewhere else that no one stood with them at his trial and everybody forsook him just protect protect in themselves Paul you should have once but Paul said no I'm not speaking in respect of want for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I don't have everything that my flesh wants but I've learned to override my flesh with my spirit and say I have everything I want I know both how to be abased to be put down to be mocked to be mistreated and misused and I know how to abound I know how to handle success I know Hamlet how to handle the ministry Paul said I know how to handle all of the the great things God's done through me I know how to be abased put down and I know how to upbeat to abound I know how to be put up I either either way everywhere and in all things I am instructed God teaches me watch this God teaches me whether I'm full or whether I'm hungry whether I have everything that I think I should or whether I really have a lot of longings and unanswered questions and difficult situations I know how to handle fullness and I know how to handle hunger I know both how to abound how to have plenty how to have more than I need but you know what else I know how to suffer need I know how to go through situations where I look around and it seems like you ever been here everybody else is blessed everybody else's kids are healthy everybody else's marriage is peaceful everybody else's finance are abundant and and I know how to abound I've been in good times but you know what I know how to suffer need now now this is what's shocking this week quote this next part almost always out of context we almost always quote this next part as though it was some super spiritual verse we almost always quote this next part as though it was some verse that you use in the middle of a church service when everybody's swinging from the chandeliers but it's not it was written from a deep dark dank dirty jail cell next verse I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me he wasn't talking about working miracles I can do all things sir he wasn't doctor he wasn't talking about preaching to the masses and Paul had done that but that's not what he was talking about he wasn't talking about being an apostle or having supernatural gifts Paul had all that but that's not what he's talking about in that verse and we quote that verse as though it's like a Sunday night preacher verse but it's not just a Sunday night preaching verse that's a Tuesday afternoon or a Thursday morning or a Wednesday night verse when you're in the middle of a dry season and you don't understand why God's allowed your spirit to feel locked up in jail Paul said guess what I can be full or I can suffer hunger I can amount or I can suffer need I can have friends or I can have enemies I can have people cheering me on or people mocking it doesn't matter I can get through anything because it's not my strength I'm not living on what I've got I'm living on what God's giving that's how I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me what do you do when you're in a wilderness two things keep walking somebody say keep walking it will get better it will feel better at some point it might not be tomorrow it might not be Sunday it might not be next week but it will get better at some point if you just keep walking with God second thing you do don't look at you look at him because if you look at you and if you look at your life and if you look at your situation and if you look at your circumstance that's gonna be enough at times sometimes it's gonna be great but at times your circumstance is gonna be enough to knock the wind out of your sails and to knock your feet out from under you but don't look at you look at him keep walking somebody say keep walking and somebody to look at him because when you look at him there's no failure in him when you look at him there's no lack in him when you look at him you keep your eyes toward the prize instead of on your circumstance one more time regardless I don't care how we feel regardless of how we feel would you lift up your hands at the end of this little Bible study and when you begin to worship God one more time before we leave here I wish you'd worship God just despite the devil who's been telling you it's down and it's out and and it's not gonna be good and it's never gonna turn around I wish you I wish somebody thank you I wish somebody stand to your feet and just give God praise right now and say devil it doesn't matter what you say I'm gonna keep on walking and I'm gonna keep my eyes on Jesus I don't feel great but my god is great I don't feel awesome but my god is awesome I don't feel like I'm in victory right now my emotions tell me I'm close to defeat I don't feel like I'm in victory but I know who the victor is and he's on my side and I'm on his side love you Jesus God visit us right now God visit us right now God visit us right now so the inner hast Osama esto de llama a rock on a daily basis Sunday rebel adalaj Osama sha-la-la-la sto koruba iesson and the Sun through the flood singing like a big quiet Sun through the fire but all great sorrow but target is a song the died season with a hand raised one time the flower go through the fire but great start but God I saw the light season you're standing beside something where it's appropriate would you just connect with them right now let's pray before we go Lord Jesus to thank you for the faithful saints of God that are here in this room tonight thank you God for people that give and love and worship and serve and they do all of that and they're so faithful god it wouldn't take a gift of the Spirit we know through the law of averages that there are several people in this building right now that they're walking through a valley they're walking through a wilderness time through a dry time and god they're not feeling very much and for some of them it's really throwing them it's really confusing them it's really depressing them and I pray for them right now I pray what you pray for Peter that their faith would fail not I pray God that their faith would come out of this time stronger than ever pray God they'd learn to just keep on walking regardless of how it feels and I pray that in the middle of what the devil meant for evil god you'd turn it around and use it for good help everybody in this building to learn to keep their eyes fixed on you in the middle of whatever life throws it I pray Jesus that you'd lift up the broken and that you'd bind up the hurting I pray God for someone that is really really really struggling and even a simple thought like this was like water to their wilderness tonight I pray God that you did courage them in the Lord they might not have anything to be occurs about in their circumstance but Lord God let them encourage themselves in you tonight and we give you the praise for it and we give you the glory in spite of anything that's going on because to you belongs glory you get glory on the good days and the bad days you get glory and the good times and in the bad times because we live to glorify your name and God I thank you for people that are faithful even when they walk through a wilderness be a blessing be a covering everybody in this room I pray in Jesus name everybody said amen thank you for being in Bible study tonight I pray that it minister do you love you folks very much Saturday night a great great prayer service of missionary service with the Addington's you're gonna love meet these wonderful missionaries

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 25,683

Rating: 4.8363638 out of 5

Keywords: raymond, woodward, ccc, capital, community, church, preaching, bible, study, sermon, apostolic, pentecostal, upc, upci, united, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, The, God, That, Provides

Id: hsfdQ2DMV4s

Length: 55min 57sec (3357 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 27 2014