Giants Grasshoppers and Grapes
Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ
Numbers 13:26 - 14,4
June 24, 2001
A young man goes into a drug store to buy 3 boxes of chocolate. The pharmacist says what size small medium or large "Well," he said, "I’ve been seeing this girl for a while and she’s really Beautiful. I want the chocolate because I think tonight’s "the" night. We’re having dinner with her parents, and then we’re going out. If she lets me hold her hand I’m going to give her the small box if she let’s me kiss her on the cheek I’m going to giver her the medium box and if she lets me kiss her on the lips I’m going to give her the big box. The young man makes his purchase and leaves. Later that evening, he sits down to dinner with his girlfriend and her parents. He asks if he might give the blessing, and they agree. He begins the prayer, but continues praying for several minutes. The girl leans over and says, "You never told me that you were such a religious person." He leans over to her and says, "You never told me that your father is a pharmacist."
Fortuneteller, gazing into crystal ball, to frog: You are going to meet a beautiful young woman. From the moment she sets eyes on you she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you. She will be compelled to get close to you--you’ll fascinate her." Frog: "Where am I? At a singles club?" Fortuneteller: "Biology class."
Someone has said that I don’t know what the future holds but I know who holds the future
What about you who is holding your future? Who are you commited to
“ I would swim the deepest ocean for you, climb the highest mountain for you, brave the fiercest jungle for you, and I’ll be over tomorrow night if it doesn’t rain.”
Trust in God
Joke about a man who fell off a cliff.
Num. 13:26 -14:4
Pray
1. The Prosperous Promises of God
God Gave them a snapshot of their Blessing
God shows them a great Opportunity/ The Promise of God
A. God wanted to bless them
God’s promise to Abraham brought them out of egypt.
God Had planned some wonderful things for these people, and they either could not see or did not like, what God was doing.
God’s purpose was to deliver His people then to bring them right out into the Land of Cannan, But because of their lack of faith in God and His ability to bring forth His promise they were denied the Blessing.
B. God wanted them to be a blessing
God had chosen Israel, His intention was to Bless the world through them. He wanted to set them up in Cannan as a Model Nation with God as their Head. So that the rest of the world could see the rewards of following God
He sent Jesus to us for the same reason he wants to Bless others through you.
The Israelites refused to be that Blessing they thought they would be happier by doing what they wanted instead of doing what God wanted.
The Challenge is to use your life and the gifts he has given you for his glory.
2. The pessimism of the People
The people respond with a Great Opposition
A. Why the People were so negative
a. They looked at the size of the enemy rather than the sufficiency of God.
David and Goliath
b. They began looking at their own ability rather than the strength of God. Annanias & Saphira
c. The took their eyes off of God.
Peter sank
After this the Israelites are sent back into the wilderness for another 38 years, and the word that describes them the best is the word "wander" To move about without a Goal or purpose. Because of their unfaithfulness to God they were sent back to the desert.
How many of us have spent some of our lives wandering.
Some of us came to God pretty early in Life. We knew God and Loved Him. But Life Got busy. Life started coming at us from all directions and God Kind of got lost in the shuffle. Others of us knew in our hearts knew we needed to stay with God, but we believed we could make it on our own, We wandered from one experience to another thinking that someday all the pieces of out lives would fit together and make some kind of sense. But instead of Getting better they Got worse. The further we moved away from God, the further we moved away from contentment and peace. Still others simply rebel against God and all he stands for. We don’t want any part of Him until we find out that without Hun everything ends up empty and without much worth.
Interestingly enough Like the Israelites we have even blamed God for our problems that we brought on ourselves. And 0 the time it is God’s intention to Bless us and fill our lives with Ms promises.
What is it that Causes us to wander around in the wilderness?
Whenever I hear people say “I’m not growing”, I have to wonder “are you wandering in circles or climbing the hill to the cross?
Because when see what our lives could be, the refining fire of God is viewed as a crematorium and the negative attitude comes back we say things like
Boy that looks Good but there are giants in the land and the cities are fortified and we look like bugs
Why would God Lead us oft of Slavery just to die It would be better for us to go Back
3. The Posative Persistance of a few
A. They trusted in God
Because of what they went through together
There is no situation I can get into that God cannot get me out. Some years ago when I was learning to fly, my instructor told me to put the plane into a steep and extended dive. I was totally unprepared for what was about to happen. After a brief time the engine stalled, and the plane began to plunge out-of-control. It soon became evident that the instructor was not going to help me at all. After a few seconds, which seemed like eternity, my mind began to function again. I quickly corrected the situation.
Immediately I turned to the instructor and began to vent my fearful frustrations on him. He very calmly said to me, "There is no position you can get this airplane into that I cannot get you out of. If you want to learn to fly, go up there and do it again." At that moment God seemed to be saying to me, "Remember this. As you serve Me, there is no situation you can get yourself into that I cannot get you out of. If you trust me, you will be all right." That lesson has been proven true in my ministry many times over the years.
B. The understood that God had a plan
they didn’t know what it was But they knew He had a plan
C. They knew that God had to bring them out before He could bring them in
While some were saying it would be better for us to have stayed
in Egypt
God’s people were saying you cannot receive His Blessing until you have been delivered from Bondage.
Years ago, Monroe Parker was traveling through South Alabama on one of those hot, sultry Alabama days. He stopped at a watermelon stand, picked out a watermelon, and asked the proprietor how much it cost. "It’s $1.10," he replied. Parker dug into his pocket, found only a bill and said, "All I have is a dollar."
"That’s ok," the proprietor said, "I’ll trust you for it."
"Well, that’s mighty nice of you," Parker responded, and picking up the watermelon, started to leave.
"Hey, where are you going?" the man behind the counter demanded.
"I’m going outside to eat my watermelon." "But you forgot to give me the dollar!"
"You said you would trust me for it," Parker called back.
"Yeah, but I meant I would trust you for the dime!"
"Mack," Parker replied, "You were’t going to trust me at all. You were just going to take a ten-cent gamble on my integrity!"
Haddon Robinson.
Do you trust God Completely or do you just trust him with the small things
