So last week, of course, if you were here, it was an amazing day because we had these eight baptisms, right?
That was such a great celebration.
Now, baptism, in some ways, it can feel like an end point, right?
Because for some people, it took like many, many years to get to this point, right?
Maybe someone invited them seven years ago to come here, and they didn't really like it, but they sometimes came back, and, you know, lots of prayer, maybe meeting up with people, and slowly they grow.
And, you know, after seven years, now finally they get baptized or something like that, right?
That's really, it feels like an end point.
They were on a sinking ship, and now they're in the lifeboat, and it's great.
Except, of course, as we all know, baptism is not the end point.
It's actually the beginning, right?
It's the beginning of your Christian life, which actually will come now.
And then for some of the people who got baptized, there will be another 60, 70 years of following Jesus because the thing is we're not there yet, right?
We want to be with Jesus, but it happens, well, unless he comes back earlier, comes after you die, which means the rest of your life you're going to be living as a Christian.
And the thing is that's not easy, right?
We still have sin, sinful nature, as we've just confessed, and we have the devil trying to tempt us, and we have the world pressurizing us, and we have all these distractions in our life,
and all these things that kind of stop us really living for Christ.
And so it's hard.
No one here, you ask them, and they say, ah, Christian life is so easy, so great, so wonderful.
I think all of us will have our stories and our things that make us, yeah, it's not easy to be a Christian.
Maybe you're here, you're not a Christian, you're, okay, it sounds great, Jesus, but, you know, the Christian life doesn't sound easy to me.
No, we need help, and the wonderful thing is that God gives us help, right, because we want to make it.
Well, God has given us books in the Bible, and particularly the book we're going to look at today, which is the book of Numbers.
Now, I don't know if you know the book of Numbers, if you've read, like, your whole Bible.
Most people don't get there because they stop in Leviticus.
But those that do, I don't think, it's one of my favorite books, actually, but not just because I like math.
It's, you know, numbers.
No, I think it's a misunderstood book.
Why is it misunderstood?
It's like this ugly duckling.
I mean, people look at it, and they think it's like a junk room, yeah, this kind of room where all the stuff you don't really need, but you want to keep, you dump it there.
And people see this list, you know, some great stories.
I mean, it is about a story.
It is about the people of Israel.
They've come out of Egypt.
It's their journey to the promised land.
But then all through, there are these laws and these lists and these instructions, and it feels like such a mess.
And people think, wow, what a junk room.
Actually, if you look more closely, it's not.
You know, everything is, you know, it tells a story.
And those laws and those lists, they make a point.
And, you know, when you see it, I think it's beautiful.
So, yeah, it's not a duck.
It's a beautiful swan, the ugly duckling.
That kind of idea.
That's how I see it.
That's partly why we're doing it in eight weeks.
So, it's a big book, but the best way to do it is just in big chunks.
I don't know.
You know those Lord of the Rings movies, right?
These really great epic movies.
Imagine watching it five minutes per week, right?
So, you turn on the movie for five minutes, and then you stop it.
And the week after, you watch another five minutes.
And then the week after, that would kill the book, right?
That could kill the movie.
That wouldn't work.
It's meant, you're meant to sit down for three hours and then watch the whole thing.
Same with this kind of book.
You need to take it in big chunks.
So, today we're going to do ten chapters.
So, we need to study it at a bit of a high level.
Just be ready for that.
But I think that is, I mean, ten chapters of Numbers is not like ten chapters of Romans.
Don't worry about that.
I think it's going to hang together.
But, yeah.
Although, even if it's beautiful, even if you, I mean, art can be beautiful.
But is it relevant?
I think that's a bigger question.
You know, this book, the book of Numbers, you know, it's really, you read it.
And it's from a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, right?
That's what it reads like.
Is this relevant?
Well, actually, it is.
And that's the first thing I want to tackle.
So, in a moment, we're going to have our scripture reading.
It's not actually going to be from Numbers, but about Numbers.
Because if you want to ask anyone, hey, what does the book of Numbers say to us?
Why don't we ask the Apostle Paul?
He'll probably have something to say about that, right?
So, the Apostle Paul talks about the book of Numbers.
And that's the reading we're going to hear.
But before that, why don't I pray that God would speak to us as we're going to come to his word together.
Our Father, thank you.
Yeah, that you are the speaking God.
All through this book, the Lord spoke, the Lord spoke.
And you speak to us today.
Pray that you would speak as we, yeah, listen to scripture read, as Albert reads it.
And then as I try to talk about these chapters and explain it.
Please, would you speak to each of our hearts?
Would you encourage us?
Would you strengthen us?
Would you give us faith?
Would you show us your grace and power and glory?
And would we come away changed?
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Albert.
Good morning, Watermark.
Today's scripture reading is taken from 1 Corinthians 10, chapter 10, verses 1 to 13.
If you're still looking for a Bible to follow along, you can grab one from the front of the stage or in the back of the room.
Our passage is on page 900 of the Church Bible.
Hear then God's word to us today.
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.
For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.
Do not be idolaters as some of them were.
As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day.
We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.
Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.
Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.
But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of the escape that you might be able to endure it.
Let us believe and respond to God's true and living word.
Great. Thanks, Albert. Great. Famous passage.
But you can hear it's about the book of Numbers, right?
I guess people then, they knew the story, right?
The people of Israel, God's people in the Old Testament, they had been enslaved in Egypt for a long time, and God had rescued them, right?
Then they passed through the Red Sea, and then they were in the wilderness, and they traveled through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land.
God fed them with manna from heaven.
He brought water from the rock.
That story.
And what is Paul saying?
He says, actually, their journey is our journey.
Their journey is our journey, right?
Because he says, well, they were basically living a Christian life because they were baptized.
You know, when they kind of passed through the sea at the start of their journey, after they had just come out of Egypt, that's like their baptism, right?
Well, they were baptized into Moses in the clouds and in the sea.
Then on their journey, they were sustained, a bit like the Lord's Supper with spiritual food and drink, and God was with them, right?
The clouds, the Holy Spirit, and they were on their journey.
And he says, well, this is your journey as Christians.
There's something to think about, right?
What is your start of the Christian life?
It's coming out of Egypt, coming out of slavery.
Maybe people think that, okay, when I'm not a Christian, I'm free.
Actually, the Bible says we're enslaved, right?
So enslaved to sin, the devil, the world.
But God has freed us, and then we get baptized, we go through the Red Sea, and we travel.
And so their journey is our journey.
But the thing is, as Paul says, well, most of them didn't make it.
That's the issue.
And so here is a book.
And did you notice that he says this is for us?
All right, verse 6.
Now, these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.
Or verse 11.
What does it say?
Now, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction.
On the end of the ages has come.
Did you notice that?
Paul says the book of Numbers, it was written down for us, for our instructions.
So that we, who live now, so that we, well, that we can make it.
Because their journey wasn't very successful, but we can do it better.
It's partly a very negative example.
Lots of don't be like them.
Don't be immoral like they did.
Don't be idolaters like they did.
Don't grumble like they did.
Because they didn't make it.
But no, they, that's their journey.
They, they were on their way to the promised land, but they didn't make it.
You have the same journey.
Well, I hope you can make it.
It's not just Paul.
Jude does the same thing.
Hebrews does the same thing.
Psalm 78.
Name it 95.
Lots of Psalms.
You know, all of them say, don't be like these people.
Because you have the same journey, but you can make it.
And so numbers is God's gift from God to us to help us live the Christian life.
I mean, it's quite, I don't know how you think of the Christian life.
So Paul says it's like going through the wilderness.
All right.
Which is, is not great.
I mean, walking through a desert.
Many of us, we don't even want to come outside now.
We just sit in our air conditioned car, right?
That's how we travel around Hong Kong.
Can you imagine walking through the desert, through the wilderness?
The image is, is hard.
Well, that is, yeah, that's the Christian life.
It's going to be hard.
And so we need help.
And that brings us, yeah, to these 10 chapters, 10 chapters.
And we're not going to read it because that would take 57 minutes.
Apparently.
I don't think you want that.
I don't know.
It's God's holy words.
No, I know.
I understand that.
But why do we start with 10 chapters?
Why don't we just start the book with the journey?
Well, that's because this is an epic buildup for an epic journey.
An epic buildup.
Right?
If they would just, I mean, this is such an important journey, right?
This is God's people.
And he's been promising to them.
And he's brought them out of Egypt.
And now they're going to receive everything they were promised in the land.
This is such a big, epic journey.
And, you know, we need some buildup for that, right?
I mean, you watch the Olympics.
And there's, I don't know, the 400-meter hurdles final.
And when you watch that, do you kind of start it and immediately they race?
No, right?
Because you get interviews with the people.
And you get highlights from the previous race.
And you get commentators predicting who's going to win.
And you can see them warming up and those kind of things.
Right?
You get all that, you know, because this is such a big race that they, you know, they build it up.
And so it's the same thing here.
We get 10 chapters of buildup so that by the time we hit chapter 11, right, it has just a lot more impact.
Next week is chapter 11.
And particularly numbers has this interplay, right?
We constantly alternate between, I don't know, laws and lists and stuff and stories.
And that's like a dialogue, right?
In the laws and the lists, who speaks?
Well, it's, of course, God who speaks.
But then in the stories, it's the people who speak.
So it's like a dialogue.
Which means that in these 10 chapters, the focus is on God.
Right?
That's the big focus today.
About 30 times throughout these chapters, and the Lord spoke, and the Lord spoke, and the Lord spoke, and the Lord spoke.
This is all about God and what he is like and what he is doing.
And that gives this huge buildup so that when they, yeah, when they start the 400 meter final, well, we've had all this buildup.
So, why don't we look at that then?
Let's look at these 10 chapters and kind of what does it tell us.
So, in your Bibles come to Numbers chapter 1.
So, that's page 101.
If you have the church Bibles, page 101, Numbers chapter 1.
Fourth book of the Bible, after Leviticus, before Deuteronomy.
What kind of things do we see here?
I want to draw out four things.
So, the first thing that I think we, how the book actually starts, I think is with God's faithfulness.
God's faithfulness.
So, chapter 1, you know, this is where the book gets its name almost because you get all these numbers.
Because it starts with, right, a census.
One verse 1, the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tent of meeting on the first day of the second month.
In the second year after they've come out of the land of Egypt saying, take a census of all the congregation.
And so, these are the people who are going to do it.
And then, most of the chapter is just this list of people.
Like, verse 20.
The people of Reuben, Israel's firstborn, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from 20 years old and upwards, all who were able to go to war.
Those listed in the tribe of Reuben were 46,500.
And then we get a tribe of Simeon, and that's 59,300.
And so on, through 12 tribes.
And then, well, the total, one verse 44.
These are those who were listed, who Moses and Aaron listed with the help of the chiefs of Israel, 12 men.
Verse 46.
All those listed were 603,550.
The math checks out.
But what do you do with such a long list of numbers?
I mean, one thing it really says is that these are really huge numbers.
Right?
So, this is 600,000 men, 20 years old and upwards.
I guess the same number of women and then kids.
So, this is a group of 2 million people.
That's a big crowd, isn't it?
I mean, when we met them in Genesis and they went down to Egypt, there were 70 families.
And now there are 600,000 people.
I mean, some people think this is crazy, unrealistic.
It's not.
430 years, exponential growth, large families.
It checks out.
But 2 million people.
What does that tell you?
It tells you something about God's faithfulness.
Because what are these people about?
Well, God promised one time, 600 years before this, to a man named Abraham.
Right?
He appeared to Abraham and said, hey, I'm going to bless you and I'm going to make you a great nation and give you a land.
And a huge nation.
Right?
Genesis 15.
And God brought Abraham outside and said, look towards heaven and number the stars if you're able to number them.
Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be.
You're going to be a huge group of people, a huge nation.
Abraham had only one son.
And then 200 years later, they were, you know, 70 men plus their families.
Now there's six.
Now there are 2 million people.
Right?
So God has been faithful.
He has fulfilled, well, part A of his promise.
Right?
And kind of part B because they have God with them.
They're blessed.
Right?
And that gives you kind of confidence in number three.
Right?
If someone, okay, there's a, you have to pay a deposit in three parts and you've paid part one.
Well, you're going to pay part two and three as well.
Right?
God's, this should give us confidence in God's faithfulness.
Isn't it the same with us Christians?
Right?
Why do we have such confidence in the future?
Well, because of what God has already done in the past.
Right?
Romans 8.32.
Great verse.
He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all.
How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?
Right?
God already gave up his son.
He gave up Jesus.
He's going to do the rest as well.
Right?
That's, that motivates me because yeah, if God has already done like the biggest deposit,
right?
His son, he can do the rest.
I mean, if God has already made him into this huge nation, he's going to bring them to the land.
God's people in God's place under God's rule.
It's going to happen.
But then what does God do?
And then in chapters one to four, basically God orders his people.
Order.
When I, I don't mean God tells them to do things.
No, he, he puts everything in order.
Right?
These chapters where you get the tribes, these 12 tribes, actually they're in order and they're in groups.
And there you get the Levites and they're in a certain order.
I mean, you can see it.
Actually, you can look at this picture.
This is kind of what you get to build up.
So there's these three tribes on the, on the east and three in the west and three in the north and three in the south.
And then within that, you have the, the priests and the Levites in three different groups and the tabernacle.
And that's kind of all described.
And these guys go here.
And I mean, you can see it from the titles, right?
The, the heading above chapter two, it's actually useful arrangement of the camp.
The sons of Aaron, chapter three.
Look at the headings.
Duties of the Levites.
Chapter four.
Duties of the Coifieds, Gershonites and Merorites.
Right?
Everything is kind of organized.
Everything is put in order because this was just a huge group of slaves.
This was just like 2 million slaves coming out of Egypt, but they need to travel through the desert.
They need to conquer the promised land.
Right?
If you see an army, that's not just a crowd of soldiers, right?
They have their divisions and they have their leaders and they have, you know, everyone has their role and everything is kind of organized so that they are effective.
And that is basically what God is doing.
He's making them into an ordered army.
Right?
Of course, it's a special kind of army because it's got these circles of kind of holiness.
Right?
God is in the middle at the center.
And then you've got the priests and Levites around it.
And then you've got the tribes and outside is the world.
You kind of kind of go from profane to holy.
That kind of order because, of course, God should be at the center.
Right?
That's how things should be.
God at the center of everything.
But God is, yeah, he's kind of put everything in place.
Everything is in order.
Everything is arranged so that he can dwell with them.
And so that they are ready for what they're going to do.
And now they're like this.
And when they travel, well, these guys go first.
And then these guys.
And then those guys.
And it is all organized.
Of course, not just arranged.
Second, God consecrates his people.
He sanctifies them.
He makes them holy.
Because, of course, God is holy.
What does holy mean?
Set apart.
So the people need to be set apart.
And so chapters 5 to 8 is all about holiness.
And we get the same movement.
You start with the tribes.
And then you move in.
So chapters 5 and 6 is all about, yeah, making the people holy.
So we get laws about, well, what to deal with unclean people.
And then what do you see?
Verse 5, confession and restitution.
And you can see all the headings.
A test for adultery.
Chapter 6, the Nazarite vow.
It's all about holiness.
Holiness.
All about consecration.
Which is holiness means, yeah, consecrated.
Now, these are laws.
And just to say, I want to say that these are laws of grace.
I don't know how you see laws.
Sometimes we have this idea that the Old Testament law, it's just there to condemn us.
To show us our sin and to drive us to Christ.
Of course, hey, in the very big storyline of the Bible, that's the case.
But I don't think that's the function here.
These instructions are grace.
They are help.
I mean, imagine I invite you to our house for dinner.
And so I tell you, okay, at the MTR station, turn left and then cross the footbridge and then go right.
Do you think I'm being very demanding and oppressive?
And I'm ordering you around.
No, I'm not, right?
I'm enabling you to come to dinner.
I'm helping you.
That's why these instructions are here.
And so God is enabling them to be holy.
He is giving them laws so that they can be his people.
Right?
Note the positive purpose.
Like 5 verse 3.
It's because the Lord dwells there.
Or most famous, at the end of chapter 6, there's the blessing.
You probably have heard that, right?
I guess if people preach from numbers, they always preach from these verses.
End of chapter 6, verse 24.
Great verses, but that's the result of these two chapters of consecration, right?
God has made them holy.
And as the result, they can now receive his blessing.
They can be in a relationship with him.
That's wonderful.
They have his blessing.
Chapter 7, again, the tribes bring all kinds of stuff for the Levites,
like carts and other animals for sacrifice and all this kind of stuff.
Very repetitive chapter.
One Bible translation just almost left this chapter out.
They just summarized 70 verses by saying,
and the other tribes did the same.
I can't believe it.
But at the end of the 11-minute reading, 7 verse 89,
look at the result of all the stuff that they've given.
7 verse 89,
and when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord,
he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat
that was on the ark of the testimony,
from between the two cherubim, and it spoke to him.
What?
Now they, because the tabernacle was operating,
you know, Moses could hear from God,
and they could have God's words,
and he could tell the people what God wanted
and what God was doing, right?
You know, they have his blessing,
they have his words,
all because God has consecrated everything.
Chapter 8, they, well, you can see it,
cleansing the Levites, the lambs, etc.
Yeah, consecration.
Again, as Christians, it is the same for us.
We need that,
although thankfully we don't have any laws to keep
because, of course, they could lose it.
What is it for us?
Of course, as we all know, Jesus, right?
Jesus died, and he consecrated us.
1 Corinthians 6,
this is what Paul says,
but you were washed,
you were sanctified, consecrated,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and by the Spirit of our God.
Jesus did this.
Jesus, he died for us,
and in that he washed us,
he cleansed us,
and we were,
and he set us apart.
We were now, you know,
we used to be in the world,
and now we're God's holy people,
and we belong to him,
and we're holy,
and so we can have his blessing,
and he can speak to us, right?
Everything, all through Jesus.
And so then we go on,
well, the people are ordered,
and then they're consecrated,
and then chapters 9 and 10,
basically they're setting off.
And chapter 9,
they celebrate the Passover,
which is really appropriate, right?
When they came out of Egypt,
just before they went out,
just before their journey,
they had the Passover,
and same here,
just before their journey,
they have the Passover,
and then second half of chapter 9
is about the cloud covering the tabernacle,
right?
How the cloud would go before them,
and stop, and go,
and that is how they would travel.
chapter 10,
they make silver trumpets,
so that they can actually start going,
right?
They blow the trumpet,
and they go,
and then from verse 11,
well, the cloud moves,
and they blow the trumpets,
and they go,
and slowly,
you know,
the first group of tribes go,
and then the first group of Levites go,
and the second group of tribes go,
and the second group of Levites,
and you get this long description
of how they're all slowly starting to go,
and Moses,
he's just so excited,
at 10 verse 29,
he talks to his father-in-law,
and says,
oh,
this is going to be so great,
come with us,
you know,
this is going to be wonderful,
and they start traveling,
10 verse 35,
and whenever the ark set out,
Moses said,
arise,
oh Lord,
let your enemies be scattered,
and let those who hate you flee before you,
and it's kind of,
oh,
after 10 chapters,
they're going,
finally,
and this is going to be so great,
right,
that's the idea,
I hope this gives you kind of a feeling,
for these 10 chapters,
right,
God arranges everything,
consecrates everything,
and that they slowly start their journey,
everything is in place,
and now we have this ordered holy people,
with everything they need,
on the way to the promised land,
what a journey this is going to be,
right,
look,
so look forward to chapter 11,
right,
but what,
what should we go away with this,
okay,
that's interesting,
I can see that it's not random,
okay,
there's some order,
what is this,
well,
it's a,
I guess,
like I said before,
right,
this is all about God speaking,
the focus is on God,
and what he has done,
I guess,
he has put everything in place,
right,
which I guess means that,
this is what we should go away with,
that God has given us,
everything we need,
for the journey,
he's given us,
everything we need,
for the journey,
right,
these people,
they have everything they need,
they have a great number of soldiers,
they're organized,
they have God's word,
they have God's blessing,
they're consecrated,
right,
they have the leaders they need,
they have God's presence with them,
they have the trumpets,
they've got everything they need,
I mean,
it's quite daunting,
right,
to travel through the desert,
they've got everything they need,
I don't know how you,
you know,
you know these kind of survival shows on TV,
right,
where they take some people,
and they dump them in the jungle,
and then,
okay,
well,
the host will go to the next village,
and okay,
let's see if you survive,
right,
if you can make it,
and win the prize,
by getting out of the jungle,
on your own,
that's not here,
right,
it's not that,
he just dumps them in the wilderness,
okay,
I'll see you in Canaan,
that's not it,
he gives them everything they need,
and so that they can make it,
it's like,
of course,
it's still a,
they're still in the jungle,
in some way,
right,
it's still like this survival show,
but now,
you're not on your own,
you have a cooker,
and a tent,
and a torch,
and a knife,
and food,
and a tent,
and a jeep,
and you know,
they've got everything they need,
for the journey,
and it's the same for us,
right,
it's not like you become a Christian,
great,
and God says,
fantastic,
just keep trusting me your whole life,
and I'll see you in heaven,
that would be pretty hard,
that would be pretty daunting,
but again,
that's not the life we have,
right,
God has given us as Christians,
everything we need,
for the Christian life,
I mean,
first of all,
Jesus,
right,
in Jesus,
we have righteousness,
and holiness,
and adoption,
and sanctification,
and cleansing,
and washing,
we have everything sorted,
in a way,
right,
and not because of anything,
we've done,
just purely,
for his grace,
we have all those things,
we've got the Holy Spirit,
who is inside us,
who is giving us a new heart,
who is changing us,
who's given us the power,
of the resurrection,
right,
it's all there,
through our union with Jesus,
we have all that,
we have God's word,
to guide us,
right,
we have God actually speaking to us,
when you pick this up,
through Jesus,
we have access in prayer,
you can pray,
you can talk to God,
anytime,
it's not,
see you in Canaan,
no,
talk anytime,
we have,
well,
all these organized people,
we have the church communities,
to support us,
right,
you're not on your own,
you have all these people,
with spiritual gifts,
and different roles,
and leaders,
and all of this,
to support you,
right,
you have everything,
and so the Christian life,
is not a survival show,
you've got everything,
you need,
right,
as you go,
you become a Christian,
you go on this journey,
actually God has put everything,
in place that you need,
that's one,
I don't know,
what you think about living,
as a Christian,
what are your fears,
and your worries,
are you worried,
that you don't know,
what to do,
well,
you've got God's word,
are you afraid,
that God won't help you,
you can pray,
right,
are you afraid,
that you'll be alone,
you've got a church community,
right,
are you afraid,
that you,
lack power,
well,
the Holy Spirit is in you,
are you afraid,
that when you sin,
it's all messed up,
well,
you've got Jesus,
before the throne,
interceding for you,
right,
pleading his precious blood,
you've got all the things,
you need,
and this,
because,
after all,
this is not a survival show,
in a survival show,
the point is that,
only one person makes it,
and the rest gives up,
God doesn't want,
well,
all except one to make it,
he wants all of us,
to make it,
and so he is with us,
and he's given us,
everything we need,
everything for the journey,
and so,
yeah,
together with him,
it means we can do it,
right,
I mean,
how does that make you respond,
I think it should give us,
faith,
right,
it should give us,
trust in God,
it should give us,
confidence,
faith,
that's what we've called,
this series,
faith in the wilderness,
yes,
we're in the wilderness,
but we can have faith,
if you know,
God is,
giving you everything,
and he's with you,
and maybe this week at work,
or at home,
or your family,
you're facing this really tough situation,
now some people think,
things are tough,
God has abandoned me,
no,
that's not the case,
right,
you're in the wilderness,
that's the Christian life,
it is going to be tough,
but then if you think,
okay,
I'm all on my own here,
then I guess what you'll do,
you'll give in,
right,
you'll give up,
what if you know,
that God's given you everything,
what do you know,
what if you know,
he's with you,
then you can hold on,
right,
then you can reach out to people,
you can pray,
you can say,
no,
I've got promises,
I've got the power,
right,
through Jesus,
through the spirit,
so I,
and you will keep going,
you will keep having faith,
that's the idea,
right,
if you,
if you know,
God has given you everything,
it gives you faith,
I hope we're going to see a lot of that,
in the coming weeks,
but of course,
the second thing,
not just faith,
I hope we will follow,
right,
all the things that,
that God says,
that he,
I mean,
these people follow,
I mean,
we get a lot of God spoke,
but also,
all through these chapters,
and the people did so,
and Moses and Aaron did so,
and the leaders did so,
and the people did so,
they did it,
which kind of makes sense,
right,
again,
if you're going to my house for dinner,
and I tell you,
you know,
go left,
cross the footbridge,
go right,
the sensible,
you would do that,
right,
you follow the instructions,
that makes sense,
same with the Christian life,
God has given us everything,
and the obvious thing,
is to use it,
God has given you,
Jesus,
so you want to grow in him,
and you want to know him,
and you want to hold on to him,
he's given you the spirit,
so you want to learn to walk by the spirit,
right,
he's given you God's word,
so you want to,
his word,
so you want to read it,
right,
he's given you access to prayer,
so you pray,
he's given you a church community,
so,
you know,
join a community group,
and,
you know,
come on Sundays,
and build relationships,
makes sense,
right,
again,
imagine the jungle show,
and actually,
this is a good show,
and you've got your jeep,
and your tent,
and your cooker,
and your food,
and you just leave them,
and you're just trying,
with your bare hands,
catch an animal,
and make a hut,
that's stupid,
right,
if you have everything,
use it,
God has given you all these things,
you can do it,
do it,
well,
use it,
yeah,
and the best thing,
time to do that,
actually,
is now,
right,
I mean,
he is preparing them,
he's given them all of this,
before the journey,
of course,
in some ways,
we're already on the journey,
but,
I mean,
it's good to get to know the gospel better now,
so that when things are tough at work,
you can hold on to it,
you can remind yourself,
right,
it's good to build relationships,
with the church community,
now,
so that,
when you're really in a tough situation,
you can reach out to people,
and ask for help,
and ask for prayer,
and ask for support,
right,
you,
to use it later,
better,
do it now,
I think that's,
that makes sense,
right,
if God has given us everything,
but I think you get the point,
and again,
this is only the start of the book,
but again,
God,
God is on your side,
he is for you,
he's given you everything you need,
for the Christian life,
I hope you,
that leaves you encouraged,
right,
the Christian life is hard,
but God's given you everything,
he wants you to make it,
he wants you to be there,
he gives you his son,
he gave you his spirit,
that's two thirds of the trinity,
right,
you know,
you've got everything,
and so,
let's do it,
why don't we pray,
father,
thank you for your grace,
as we see this,
the Christian life is hard,
just a little journey was hard,
but,
by your grace,
you gave them everything,
they needed,
they had your presence,
they had your word,
they had your blessing,
they had holiness,
they had order,
they had everything,
and just like,
yeah,
you gave this,
you gave all this to us,
thank you for giving your son,
thank you for giving your spirit,
thank you for giving us each other,
thank you for,
the means of grace,
the words,
the prayer,
Lord's Supper,
everything we need,
Lord,
make it,
would it make us trust you,
you know what we're going to face this week,
we don't know yet,
they didn't know,
whether there would be an army attacking them,
or what,
they might face,
but they could rely on you,
they had everything,
and so do we,
so,
give us faith,
help us to,
use what you've given us,
now,
and,
when things are tough,
and would you bring us through,
thank you that,
you want us to be with you,
you are with us in this,
and you want to bring us home,
so,
would we trust you,
in Jesus name,
Amen.