Numbers Study - 2025-05-21

Numbers Study - 2025-05-21

Episode description

An ongoing bible study on the book of Numbers. This week’s lesson is presented by Jesse Bonner.

Download transcript (.srt)
0:14

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

0:18

If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

0:24

Thank you for joining us today.

0:35

So I'm gonna need you guys prayer.

0:38

Me and my two brothers started a diet called the carnivore diet. If anyone's ever heard of it, it's great.

0:44

You only eat meat exclusively and some dairy and apparently it's really good for you.

0:49

But I overdid it and I ate way too much meat right before coming here.

0:52

So a little nauseous, but we're gonna make it through all right.

0:55

So pray for me when you think about it because you don't want to see it, right?

1:00

We made it through Leviticus. So give yourselves a round of applause.

1:05

Wasn't it better than you expected? You always hear like how awful Leviticus is and it was great.

1:11

So we're in Numbers and to do a little math. So Exodus was one year for the Israelites.

1:18

Leviticus was one month for the Israelites.

1:22

And then

1:24

Numbers is 28 or 38 years.

1:27

So if you do the math that it took us six months to get through one month of Bible time,

1:32

that means we're gonna be studying Numbers for 224 years.

1:36

So if that math pans out, we'll see.

1:39

I think we'll be studying it in heaven because I don't think we're gonna be doing it this long, but.

1:44

Anyway, so just wanted to go through a little bit of a high level of Numbers.

1:48

Before we really get into chapters one and two, we're not gonna read the entirety of the chapters. I feel like

1:55

really these chapters, it's a census. So it talks about the total numbers of people

2:02

in in Israel at that time. So for me when I read this, I see like, okay,

2:07

this is straightforward numbers of people, but what we see here is it's a fulfilled promise that we're gonna talk about and that's really the

2:14

significance of this. So in

2:17

Hebrew,

2:18

they don't call it Numbers. They actually call it in the wilderness because that's the first opening line of

2:24

Numbers. It says when the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness. And

2:29

Moses wrote this. It's a continuation of Exodus, then Leviticus and now into Numbers. And

2:36

like I said, Leviticus was one month. Now Numbers is 38 years. It was not supposed to be 38 years.

2:43

That first generation coming out of Egypt was supposed to inherit the Promised Land, but they disobeyed,

2:50

they didn't have faith in God, and they had to wander until the 40 years ended. The whole generation died and the new generation

2:57

went into the Promised Land. So

3:00

Numbers is broken up really into two sections, and that is chapters 1 through 10, which is

3:05

preparation for the journey. So it's gonna cover some, you know,

3:10

they're doing a census here, some rules, what to expect, I guess, and then

3:14

chapters 10 through 36 is the actual journey. And you'll see that rebellion, the punishment, and the preparation for the new generation

3:22

going in. And,

3:24

you know, Numbers is great. There's some crazy stuff that happens.

3:28

And I know a lot of pastors that will teach from the Old Testament love the stories in here.

3:33

So there's a lot of application and

3:35

pretty entertaining stories. And while I was reading this, it says that Moses wrote this book in around the

3:43

1400s BC. And

3:46

for a while there were a bunch of scholars that said, there's no way Moses wrote this.

3:51

This was actually written when they were in Babylon.

3:54

Hundreds and hundreds of years later, I think in the years like 4 to 500 BC.

3:59

So we're looking at like almost a thousand years later. And I love this because then this was debunked.

4:05

Like you can't go against God. If you go against Him,

4:07

you're gonna lose. And they actually discovered something called the silver

4:12

katathinom scrolls in 1979. You probably haven't heard of it, neither did I.

4:17

But the oldest Bible verse we have written verbatim was discovered on these silver scrolls.

4:24

And it was Numbers 6 24 through 26 that says, the Lord bless you and keep you.

4:29

The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

4:32

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

4:37

Isn't that a beautiful one? So that was discovered on these scrolls.

4:40

That's from the year 700 BC, prior to the exile age.

4:45

So we know for sure that this is definitely from Moses's time.

4:50

He wrote it and this theory is totally wrong.

4:52

So this was written at the time that we believe it to be written.

4:57

Alright, so

4:58

let's see what we can get out of chapters 1 through 2.

5:03

It's actually, there's a lot packed in here

5:06

because of the importance of this promise fulfilled.

5:08

But let's read just chapter 1 verses 1 through 3.

5:12

Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai

5:15

in the tabernacle of meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year.

5:20

So this is the second year, like we said, on the second month in the wilderness.

5:24

And the Lord says,

5:26

take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel by their families,

5:31

by their father's houses, according to the numbers of the names of every male individual,

5:36

from 20 years old and above, all who are able to go to war in Israel.

5:40

You and Aaron shall number them by their armies.

5:44

So here we see that they are going to number the people.

5:48

And the reason they're actually able to do this is because already there was organization

5:53

by Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, who said,

5:58

look, this is too much work for you to manage all the people.

6:01

Put people below you in charge of the thousands and the hundreds and the tens.

6:05

So now you have people who are in charge of ten people and a family,

6:09

and so they count the names and return those numbers to the next stage, up to the next stage,

6:15

so they could actually take a census pretty accurately and quickly.

6:18

So this isn't just like Moses going through these crazy amounts of people

6:22

and trying to add them up.

6:24

He had all these people coming to him, and they totaled it up.

6:26

This number, which is amazing, you'll see in verse 45, we jump there.

6:34

So it says,

6:36

so all who were numbered of the children of Israel by their father's houses,

6:40

from 20 years old and above, all who were able to go to war in Israel,

6:45

all who were numbered were 603,550.

6:51

That's just men over the age of 20 who could go to war.

6:55

There's possibly some people that weren't capable of going to war

6:58

that were not counted in that number,

7:01

and in addition to that, scholars say, based on the factors of children and females

7:07

and people not able to go to war,

7:08

we'd be looking at somewhere between 2 to 2.5 million people going into the wilderness.

7:15

Isn't that incredible?

7:16

So I went to chat GPT, and I'm like, okay.

7:19

If we had normal people with large families,

7:22

because think about these people having like 10, 12 kids or something,

7:25

and I put in all the numbers,

7:27

and it turned out this number that's actually like,

7:30

yes, this number is feasible,

7:32

especially if there's heavy group identity,

7:34

which there is the people of God,

7:36

and also spiritual blessing, you can't take God out of this.

7:40

He blessed the families, and they were doing great.

7:42

So there's literally over 2 million people,

7:45

and chat GPT even agrees with me, no.

7:49

But why does this matter, right?

7:52

You might be wondering, okay, cool.

7:53

A lot of people came out, and now we numbered them.

7:57

This seems pretty dry.

7:58

Well, the reason this is so important is because God keeps his promises.

8:05

God made massive, incredible promises over this very chapter,

8:11

430 years before.

8:14

So let's turn to Genesis 12.

8:22

Verse 1 through 3.

8:26

Now the Lord had said to Abram,

8:29

who would later be renamed Abraham,

8:33

get out of your country from your family and from your father's house

8:36

to a land that I will show you.

8:39

I will make you a great nation.

8:42

I will bless you and make your name great,

8:45

and you shall be a blessing.

8:46

I will bless those who bless you,

8:48

and I will curse those who curse you,

8:50

and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

8:55

He said to Abraham, I will make you a great nation.

8:59

Now Abraham was already 75 years old when he got this word from the Lord.

9:04

And he believed him, but then he struggled,

9:07

but then he believed him and struggled, but still believed.

9:10

And it actually took another 25 years until his son came Isaac.

9:16

So he was 100 years old when he had this promise son

9:19

that was then going to turn into two and a half million people.

9:24

So let's turn to Genesis 15 now,

9:27

because this promise is again confirmed.

9:33

Verse 1.

9:34

After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision,

9:37

saying, do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield,

9:40

your exceedingly great reward.

9:43

But Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me

9:47

seeing I go childless?

9:49

And the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus.

9:52

Then Abram said, look, you have given me no offspring.

9:55

Indeed, one born in my house is my heir.

9:58

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying,

10:00

this one shall not be your heir,

10:02

but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.

10:06

And he brought him outside and said,

10:08

look now to award heaven and count the stars.

10:11

If you are able to number them, and he said to him,

10:15

so shall your descendants be, and he believed in the Lord

10:18

and he accounted it to him for righteousness.

10:23

It goes on to say that he was going to give him also the land of Canaan

10:27

and that these people would actually be slaves

10:30

in a foreign land in the land of Egypt

10:33

and it would be 400 years.

10:35

Now, if you have questions about the 400 years

10:38

because they were actually only enslaved for 215,

10:41

well, that actually adds up that Ishmael,

10:44

the son of Hagar in Egyptian at the age of five,

10:47

started persecuting Isaac, the chosen son.

10:51

And so God is saying at that time in this foreign land,

10:55

even at the persecution when Isaac was a kid,

10:58

this is the beginning of the 400 years of persecution.

11:01

But this promise is being fulfilled right here.

11:05

Now they're coming out of the strongest country

11:09

at that time, this nation of Egypt.

11:11

Super evil, super strong, nobody can beat them.

11:14

And the Lord does these crazy plagues

11:19

and just shows his power and his wrath

11:21

and takes them out of there.

11:23

And he also makes two and a half million people thrive

11:27

in the wilderness and he's taking them there

11:30

to the promised land, to Canaan now.

11:32

He's giving it to them, he's confirming it

11:34

and he's equipping them and he even calls them

11:36

before they've ever fought a war,

11:39

he calls them their armies.

11:41

Aren't you glad that God sees the good in you

11:43

before you ever even see it?

11:45

Like he can see the destiny that's on you,

11:48

he can see what he's called you to,

11:50

even when you don't believe it yourself.

11:51

And here he is, he's calling these people armies

11:54

and he's preparing and equipping them

11:56

to do the very thing that he's called them to do,

11:59

that he's promised 430 years before.

12:04

Now, the last part of the promise that we first read was,

12:10

in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

12:14

So we don't see that right here, how this is happening.

12:21

But Galatians 3 16 says,

12:24

now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made.

12:28

He does not say and to seeds as of many,

12:30

but as of one to your seed, who is Christ?

12:35

This promise was not only fulfilled 400 years later,

12:39

but we're looking at what is that 1800 years later

12:44

when Jesus is born is the final fulfillment of this promise

12:49

because the seed who is Jesus,

12:51

a descendant of Abraham is now blessing

12:54

all the nations of the world through salvation,

12:57

which is by his death on the cross.

13:00

And this doesn't, this isn't free, right?

13:04

This actually comes at great cost.

13:07

And let's take a look right here in,

13:11

actually let's finish Galatians 3, it says,

13:13

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,

13:16

having become a curse for us.

13:18

And the blessing of Abraham

13:20

might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus

13:23

that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

13:28

Abraham, the father of the faith, right?

13:31

He believed and it was counted to him as righteousness

13:33

before the law ever came.

13:35

Faith made you righteous.

13:37

Then the law came and that was to guide them

13:40

to realize they need a savior.

13:42

But here he is, he realizes,

13:46

and I believe he probably captured part of it.

13:48

He didn't even know the full thing,

13:49

but one day Jesus would come from him.

13:52

He would save all the nations of the world

13:54

and actually give us his spirit,

13:56

the greatest fulfilled promise of all.

13:59

But this does come at a cost, right?

14:02

At the end of Genesis 15,

14:06

when we saw this whole,

14:08

like when he gives up promises

14:09

accounted to him as righteousness,

14:11

they do this thing called a cutting ceremony.

14:14

Now, this is actually somewhat common

14:17

back in the day at that time.

14:20

They would get animals, they would cut them in half,

14:22

put one on each side, kind of like these chairs.

14:25

One person who was saying,

14:27

yes, I'm gonna agree to this promise,

14:29

this covenant is on that end.

14:31

The other person's here

14:32

and they walk through the middle

14:34

and meet in the middle

14:35

and they then like shake hands,

14:37

whatever they do, I don't know at that point,

14:39

but they say something and they make this promise.

14:42

And what it's saying is,

14:43

if either of us breaks this promise,

14:46

we're gonna be like these animals.

14:48

That person has the punishment of death

14:50

being broken in half and dead.

14:53

But Moses is put under,

14:55

I mean, not Moses,

14:56

Abraham is put under a deep sleep,

14:58

which we see.

14:59

It says in verse 10,

15:01

he brought all these to him,

15:03

these animals,

15:04

and then verse 12,

15:05

when the sun was going down,

15:07

a deep sleep fell upon Moses

15:08

and behold,

15:09

horror and great darkness fell upon him.

15:12

And he said to Abram,

15:13

no, certainly that your descendants

15:15

will be strangers in a land

15:16

that is not theirs

15:17

and will serve them

15:18

and they will flick them 400 years.

15:21

And the nation whom they serve,

15:22

I will judge.

15:24

And then jump down to 17,

15:25

it says,

15:26

it came to pass when the sun was down

15:28

and it was dark,

15:29

that behold,

15:30

there appeared a smoking oven

15:31

and a burning torch

15:32

that passed between those pieces of animals.

15:35

On the same day,

15:36

the Lord made covenant with Abram.

15:39

This is incredible

15:40

because think about it,

15:42

Abraham was supposed to walk

15:43

halfway through and meet with God.

15:46

But while he's asleep,

15:48

God walks all the way through.

15:50

And what he's saying is,

15:52

if you break this covenant,

15:55

I will die.

15:58

We see Jesus here.

16:03

Usually if you break the covenant,

16:06

you deserve to be like the animals

16:07

and get the punishment and die.

16:10

But God walks all the way through

16:12

who can't break a promise,

16:13

who could never fail.

16:24

And he says,

16:25

if you break the promise,

16:27

I will die for you.

16:31

We see you, Jesus.

16:33

We thank you, Lord.

16:37

Lord, we thank you that you took

16:39

the punishment, God,

16:40

that we deserved.

16:43

And you fulfill all promises, God.

16:46

You're faithful, God.

16:47

You're faithful

16:48

to generations and generations.

16:52

So God keeps his promises

16:54

over the centuries

16:55

as we see over the millennium

16:57

and for eternity.

17:00

And the thing that's so great

17:01

about God

17:02

is that his faithfulness

17:03

isn't dependent on us,

17:05

on our actions, right?

17:07

It's actually who he is.

17:09

It's hidden in his name

17:11

and we see Moses

17:12

when he goes out

17:13

to the burning bush

17:14

before he goes

17:15

and saves these people,

17:16

the Israelites,

17:17

out of Egypt.

17:18

He sees the burning bush

17:19

and he meets with God.

17:23

And he tells him

17:23

all the great things

17:24

that he's gonna do.

17:26

And he says,

17:27

who am I that I can't do this?

17:30

And then the Lord speaks to him

17:31

and then Moses says,

17:33

well, who should I say you are?

17:36

Like, I know your God,

17:37

but what's your name?

17:38

Who should I say you are?

17:40

And God says,

17:41

my name is Yahweh.

17:43

I am who I am.

17:46

Now, you might think

17:46

that's like a riddle

17:47

and that's confusing,

17:48

but with the beauty

17:49

and the depth of God,

17:51

you understand something

17:52

about his character

17:53

that I am who I am

17:55

means he's unchanging.

17:57

He never changes.

17:58

At all times,

17:59

he is who he is

18:01

and there's no changing

18:02

who he is.

18:03

And this also shows

18:04

that he's self-existent.

18:05

He's outside of time.

18:06

There was no beginning

18:07

and there's no end.

18:09

That's a dependable God.

18:11

That is the God

18:13

who loves you,

18:14

who made promises

18:15

to you and me.

18:19

And later,

18:19

when we see Moses

18:21

ask to see God's glory,

18:24

God says,

18:24

I can't show you my face,

18:25

which really,

18:26

you know,

18:27

it could be his face

18:28

or his poetically,

18:29

his full glory.

18:30

You can't see his glory

18:32

and live,

18:33

but you can see my back

18:34

or the aftermath

18:36

of my glory going by.

18:39

I can't even imagine

18:40

what that would be like.

18:41

Moses, after he meets with God,

18:43

his face is shining for days.

18:44

That's aftermath of his glory.

18:46

And he didn't even see his face.

18:47

He just saw the aftermath

18:49

of God's glory

18:50

is now leaving aftermath

18:51

of the glory on him.

18:54

And when he passes by

18:55

in front of Moses,

18:56

he says,

18:58

this is what God says,

19:00

the Lord, the Lord,

19:01

Yahweh, Yahweh,

19:02

I am who I am,

19:04

merciful and gracious.

19:05

He's declaring who he is here.

19:07

I am who I am,

19:08

merciful and gracious,

19:10

long suffering

19:11

and abounding in goodness

19:12

and truth,

19:13

keeping mercy,

19:16

man, sorry guys,

19:19

keeping mercy for thousands,

19:21

forgiving iniquity

19:22

and transgression and sin,

19:24

by no means clearing the guilty

19:26

but visiting the iniquity

19:27

of the fathers

19:28

upon the children

19:29

and the children's children

19:30

to the third

19:31

and fourth generation.

19:32

And Moses made haste

19:34

and bowed down his head

19:36

towards the earth and worshiped.

19:38

Then he said,

19:39

if now I have found grace

19:40

in your sight,

19:41

oh Lord,

19:41

let my Lord,

19:43

I pray go among us.

19:45

Even though we are a stiff neck

19:47

to stubborn people,

19:48

pardon our iniquity and sin

19:50

and take us as your inheritance.

19:54

It's such an amazing response,

19:57

like all he wants

19:58

is Lord be with me

20:00

and Lord,

20:02

can we be yours?

20:04

Knowing that you're stubborn

20:05

and knowing that you're fail

20:08

and you already had the golden calf

20:09

and there was wrath

20:11

against you,

20:12

all this stuff

20:12

and he's saying,

20:13

can we be your inheritance?

20:15

Can we be your people?

20:17

Can we be yours?

20:18

And I see that when we see God

20:20

in his glory,

20:21

when we know who he truly is,

20:25

there's nothing in you

20:27

except to want to be with him

20:29

and to want to be his

20:31

and he be yours.

20:34

And I love that

20:35

this is who he says he is,

20:37

like that this is not dependent

20:40

on what we do.

20:41

So often,

20:42

we as Christians

20:43

can like mess up

20:44

and we know like,

20:45

okay, we're supposed to be holy,

20:47

we're supposed to do all the right things

20:49

and now I messed up

20:50

and God must be distant

20:51

and far from me

20:52

and I have to do all this stuff

20:53

to make him happy again

20:54

and then maybe we'll be good.

20:57

And he says that this is unconditional.

20:59

This isn't based on you.

21:00

I've known everything you've ever done

21:03

and we can actually have the boldness

21:05

to say Lord,

21:06

in spite of this,

21:08

thank you for forgiveness,

21:09

but in spite of this,

21:11

I want to be yours

21:11

and I want you to be with me

21:13

and he accepts us wholeheartedly

21:18

because it's who he is.

21:20

He is the one

21:21

who is gracious, merciful,

21:23

long suffering,

21:24

abounding in goodness and truth,

21:26

keeping mercy for thousands

21:28

and forgiving iniquity,

21:29

transgression and sins.

21:33

Second Timothy says,

21:34

if we are faithless,

21:35

he remains faithful.

21:37

He cannot deny himself.

21:42

Now Jesus is the ultimate revelation

21:46

of the faithfulness of God.

21:48

Like we saw this promise of Abraham

21:51

went all the way to Jesus

21:52

like we read in Galatians.

21:53

He is the image of the invisible God.

21:56

The reason we can even know God

21:57

is because we know him

22:00

and he says because you've seen me,

22:02

you've seen the Father.

22:03

We can actually know

22:04

what the invisible God,

22:06

Father is like

22:07

because we've seen Jesus

22:08

in the Word

22:09

and also in our hearts.

22:11

And he is the fulfillment

22:12

of every single covenant

22:13

in the Bible.

22:14

And I'm not going to go through them all.

22:16

There's seven of them,

22:17

some debate more,

22:19

but there's the covenant of Adam,

22:21

Noah, Abraham, Moses, David,

22:23

the land covenant,

22:24

and then the new covenant.

22:26

And look it up.

22:26

It's pretty amazing.

22:27

Every single one.

22:29

God, Jesus is the fulfillment of,

22:31

not the people.

22:33

And in Numbers 2,

22:35

we're going to jump forward.

22:38

There's such great symbolism

22:39

pointing that Jesus is the fulfillment.

22:42

Jesus is the one

22:43

we should be looking for.

22:45

And we jump to,

22:46

well, verse 1.

22:48

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron

22:50

saying,

22:50

Every one of the children of Israel

22:52

shall camp by his own standard

22:54

beside the emblems

22:55

of their father's house.

22:56

They shall camp some distance

22:58

from the tabernacle of meeting.

23:00

On the east side

23:01

toward the rising of the sun,

23:04

those of the standard

23:05

of the forces with Judah

23:07

shall camp according to their armies.

23:11

Now we see between the rising of the sun

23:14

and between the tabernacle,

23:17

the actual presence of God is in there.

23:20

The entrance to that

23:21

is on the east side.

23:22

So we see from the rising of the sun

23:25

to the entrance

23:26

into the presence of God,

23:27

there is the tribe of Judah.

23:31

Now Jesus is born

23:33

from the tribe of Judah.

23:35

Also,

23:38

Zachariah in Luke,

23:40

when he sees pregnant Mary

23:41

in the temple,

23:42

he runs up to her

23:42

and says of Jesus in her womb

23:46

without even knowing.

23:47

The Holy Spirit reveals and says,

23:49

This is the dawn.

23:51

The day spring.

23:52

The dawn from on high

23:53

has visited us,

23:55

calling Jesus the dawn.

23:57

So he is the light of the world,

23:58

he also says.

23:59

So the sun is rising.

24:01

Through Judah,

24:02

there is entrance

24:04

into the presence of God.

24:06

We see the dawn

24:07

of Jesus in our hearts.

24:09

He is the only light of the world.

24:12

And through him,

24:12

we actually have the ability

24:14

to enter the presence of God.

24:22

So my main takeaway

24:24

from here is pretty simple,

24:26

that Jesus is faithful.

24:28

Amen.

24:30

Jesus is faithful.

24:32

And I've experienced

24:34

his faithfulness

24:35

honestly every day.

24:37

Like, it doesn't have to be

24:38

crazy answered prayers.

24:40

The fact that I wake up

24:41

and I know he's with me

24:42

is proof of his faithfulness, right?

24:45

You wake up,

24:46

you talk to him.

24:47

He's right there.

24:48

You know he's with you.

24:50

You feel his presence.

24:51

That is just proof

24:53

of how faithful he is

24:54

because guys,

24:55

we're not perfect.

24:56

We mess up,

24:57

we get distracted.

24:58

We know we should be

25:00

maybe more serious

25:01

about things of God

25:02

and we get distracted

25:03

and, you know,

25:04

maybe do dumb things.

25:05

But like, he's still there.

25:07

He's still faithful.

25:08

He's still forgiving.

25:10

Generation to generation,

25:11

he's never failed.

25:13

And I see in 2 Corinthians,

25:16

verse 1,

25:17

2 Corinthians 1 verse 20 says,

25:19

For all the promises of God,

25:22

in him are yes,

25:23

and in him are amen,

25:25

to the glory of God through us.

25:28

In him, all the promises,

25:30

every single promise in the word is yes.

25:32

It doesn't say,

25:33

through our obedience,

25:34

all the promises of God

25:35

are yes and amen.

25:36

It says in him,

25:38

all the promises of God

25:40

are yes and amen,

25:41

to the glory of God through us.

25:46

So I was writing down a list

25:48

of some of the promises

25:49

just to think about.

25:50

This actually is for you.

25:51

This is for me.

25:52

This is real life,

25:54

something we can actually experience.

25:57

So some of these promises,

25:58

and there's tons of them.

25:59

There's too many to write down.

26:00

But forgiveness of sins,

26:03

we have complete and total

26:04

forgiveness of sins

26:06

in the past,

26:07

present, and the future.

26:09

We have his mercy,

26:10

which is not getting what we deserve,

26:12

and his grace,

26:13

which is getting far more

26:15

than we could ever expect,

26:16

and we do not deserve at all.

26:19

We have eternal life.

26:20

So this life,

26:21

though it's important,

26:22

we know it's not our home,

26:23

and there's something far greater.

26:25

We have his constant presence

26:27

with us at all times.

26:28

We have the indwelling Holy Spirit

26:31

living inside of us,

26:33

refining us,

26:35

making us look more like him.

26:37

We have guidance, wisdom,

26:39

comfort, help, provision,

26:42

empowerment, peace, joy,

26:44

answered prayers,

26:45

a heavenly home,

26:47

and adoption as sons and daughters

26:49

of the Most High God.

26:52

Don't doubt his faithfulness.

26:55

Don't doubt his faithfulness.

26:59

You know, I love Romans 8.

27:06

It says, chapter 8, verse 15,

27:09

we do not receive the spirit

27:11

of bondage again to fear,

27:14

but you receive the spirit

27:15

of adoption by whom we cry out,

27:17

Abba Father.

27:18

That's like Daddy God.

27:20

This is how intimate

27:22

and close we are.

27:23

Jesus called him Abba Father.

27:24

We call him Abba Father.

27:26

And that spirit,

27:27

the spirit himself bears witness

27:30

with our spirit

27:32

that we are children of God.

27:34

And if children and heirs

27:35

and heirs of God

27:36

and joint heirs with Christ,

27:39

that is something you can

27:40

lean on and rely on.

27:42

If you ever doubt,

27:44

maybe, like honestly,

27:45

sin causes confusion.

27:46

It's, there's no doubt about it.

27:48

If you're not walking closely with him,

27:50

the enemy will put doubts in your mind

27:52

and you will go off the rails.

27:55

But if we come to him,

27:58

he promises here

27:59

that his spirit will tell your spirit

28:02

that you are a child of God

28:04

and you will be reminded

28:05

of the joy of your salvation

28:07

and the confidence of your faith.

28:11

And so in my life,

28:13

you know, I see so much faithfulness.

28:15

I'm just gonna share a few stories

28:16

that are kind of cool.

28:18

Yeah, a little bit of time.

28:20

So, you know, Philippians says,

28:22

being confident that he has begun

28:24

a good work will carry it on

28:25

to completion until the day of Jesus.

28:28

So, that means the good work in you,

28:30

your faith and being formed

28:32

to look more like God,

28:34

more like Jesus.

28:35

He is the one doing the work in us.

28:37

All we do is submit.

28:38

So when I was 13,

28:42

I was just kind of like

28:43

in a weird place with faith.

28:44

We had a small group,

28:46

or not small group,

28:47

Question Time,

28:48

whenever you call it after this.

28:49

So I already shared the story there.

28:50

I'll keep it brief.

28:51

But I was at a point in my walk

28:54

where, you know, you're 13,

28:56

so you're still a kid.

28:57

Nothing's super serious yet.

28:59

But I still felt God's like

29:01

speaking to me and wanting me

29:03

to just like spend more time

29:05

with him and read the word.

29:06

You know, my parents are obviously

29:10

super, super strong in their faith.

29:12

And they weren't pastors.

29:13

My dad wasn't a pastor at the time,

29:15

but still like my mom and my dad

29:16

showed me how to read the Bible

29:18

and journal and all that stuff.

29:20

So I knew what I was supposed to do,

29:22

but I didn't want to.

29:24

And honestly, like,

29:25

it was hard for me to think

29:26

that Christianity was fun.

29:28

It kind of seemed boring.

29:29

And I'm like,

29:30

do I really want to do this?

29:31

Like, God, I know you're real.

29:32

I know I'm a Christian.

29:33

But like, I don't want

29:34

to really do this, right?

29:36

And so it was like right around Christmas,

29:39

right after Christmas.

29:40

And we go to church,

29:41

Central Bucks,

29:42

Calvary Central Bucks,

29:43

sitting there.

29:44

It's like all the chairs

29:45

are kind of like this,

29:45

but really long rows.

29:47

And there's this guy next to me,

29:49

this bigger guy

29:49

I've never seen ever before

29:51

sitting next to me.

29:52

And he keeps interrupting me

29:53

while I'm listening to the message.

29:54

And I'm like thinking

29:55

about all this stuff.

29:56

And I'm like,

29:57

man, like, okay.

29:58

We talked,

29:58

he asked me what he got for Christmas,

30:00

you know, like 13-year-old questions.

30:02

And then I was like,

30:02

I feel like I should be paying attention,

30:04

but this guy keeps talking to me.

30:05

And then the main thing

30:08

I was struggling with

30:08

was reading the Word.

30:10

And he leans next to me

30:13

and he speaks.

30:14

And it was totally God.

30:16

He says,

30:16

read this.

30:17

And he hands me a book

30:18

of the Psalms of Proverbs.

30:19

He says,

30:20

read this every single day

30:22

and it will change your life.

30:24

Right while I'm struggling

30:25

with this very thing.

30:27

And he also gave me a silver dollar,

30:29

which I still have to remember.

30:31

And so I was like,

30:32

oh, wow,

30:33

that's kind of cool timing.

30:34

I was like, thank you.

30:34

So I put in my pocket

30:35

and then the whole service ends

30:38

and I turn to my parents

30:39

and my brother and sister

30:41

and we're like talking and stuff.

30:43

And like maybe 60 to 90 seconds later

30:46

I turn around and look

30:47

and he's not there anymore.

30:48

I'm like, okay,

30:49

well, he probably just left.

30:50

I was like,

30:50

but there's people down.

30:51

There's like six people

30:52

at the end of the aisle.

30:53

They'd all have to get up.

30:54

And he's not like

30:54

the type of guy that just jump

30:55

over the row, you know.

30:57

So then I'm like,

30:58

okay, I look like in the back

30:59

and he's not there

31:00

and there's a window and I look out

31:01

and he's not in the parking lot.

31:02

And I never saw him again.

31:04

So I'm like,

31:05

okay, either this guy is like

31:06

a spiritual ninja sent by God

31:09

to a 13 year old

31:10

or maybe this was an angel,

31:11

which I have faith it was

31:13

because it had such

31:14

a profound impact on my life.

31:17

Another one

31:18

that I see God's faithfulness

31:21

to me was

31:23

buying a house.

31:24

Back in the day,

31:26

it was like 2018

31:28

and I was like,

31:28

okay, there's no way

31:29

we're going to afford a house.

31:30

We'll just try.

31:30

Get pre-approved for a mortgage.

31:32

I'm like, okay, cool.

31:33

So then we see this house

31:35

on the market,

31:36

put in an offer,

31:36

we lose it.

31:37

It's Nashville.

31:38

Things are crazy.

31:39

It's like hard to get a house.

31:40

Then there's this like,

31:41

we're just driving home

31:42

kind of down about the fact

31:44

we're like,

31:44

we're never going to be able

31:45

to buy a house.

31:46

And then,

31:47

you know like when clouds

31:48

have silver linings

31:49

from the sun behind it,

31:50

it's one of those silver lining clouds

31:52

and there's rays of light

31:53

shooting through it.

31:54

And I randomly get emotional

31:56

and I tear up.

31:57

I'm like,

31:58

what the heck?

31:58

Like why am I crying

31:59

at this sunset?

32:01

And I,

32:02

but I just felt like

32:02

I turned to Maria.

32:04

We're driving.

32:04

I'm like,

32:04

I think this means

32:05

something for our house.

32:07

Don't know what,

32:08

but I feel like God

32:08

has something for us.

32:10

And I believe them.

32:11

The very next morning,

32:14

Maria went on Zillow.

32:16

There's a house that pops up.

32:17

It looks perfect.

32:19

It's in Sunset Hills neighborhood

32:21

on sundown drive.

32:26

We go in.

32:27

We put in an offer.

32:28

They're Christians.

32:29

We tell them we're Christians.

32:31

There's seven offers

32:31

ahead of us.

32:33

There's better offers,

32:34

cash offers,

32:35

and they see

32:36

that we're Christians

32:37

and a young couple

32:38

that's going to have kids

32:39

and they say,

32:39

we want to give it to them.

32:40

And we get the house.

32:44

Another one.

32:45

One more.

32:46

So when we were praying

32:47

about getting pregnant

32:49

with Beau.

32:50

So, you know,

32:51

we're thinking of names.

32:52

Like, what could we do?

32:53

I don't know.

32:53

Maria.

32:55

There's a rainbow outside.

32:56

So Maria says,

32:57

what about rain?

32:58

Well, turns out is like,

32:59

I said no right away

33:00

because I knew when she's

33:01

in middle school,

33:01

she liked a guy named rain.

33:03

I'm like, there's no way

33:03

you're naming our kid rain.

33:06

And she's like,

33:07

well, what about Beau?

33:08

I was like,

33:08

it's pretty good.

33:09

Actually, I like Beau.

33:11

And BAU is how we spelled it.

33:13

So Maria,

33:14

you know how it is

33:15

your first time.

33:16

And I think there were

33:16

some things actually,

33:18

like when they were doing scans

33:19

that we're a little worried about.

33:21

So Maria would just pray

33:23

and ask God,

33:24

like, Lord, I pray

33:24

that you would keep Beau healthy

33:26

and that he would be born

33:27

a healthy baby.

33:28

And I kid you not,

33:29

we would see rainbows,

33:30

like more in those nine months

33:32

than my entire life,

33:33

like combined.

33:35

And there's rainbows everywhere.

33:36

And then when she's in labor

33:39

and we're flying to the hospital,

33:41

it's raining.

33:42

The clouds break.

33:43

The sun shoots through.

33:44

There's a huge rainbow

33:45

going over the highway

33:46

when we're five minutes

33:47

out from the hospital.

33:48

And I'm like, what?

33:50

So we're just like,

33:51

thank you, Lord.

33:51

And we go in and like,

33:53

there was a moment there

33:53

where the heartbeat,

33:54

his heartbeat was dropping

33:55

and everyone starts running around.

33:57

And I just knew,

33:58

I'm like, the promise,

33:59

the faithfulness of God,

34:01

we're going to be okay.

34:02

And he's born,

34:03

he's super healthy and awesome.

34:05

And he's, you know,

34:07

it just, it proves that like,

34:08

if we just open our eyes

34:10

and pray and look around,

34:11

he's going to prove

34:12

his faithfulness all the time.

34:16

And one last thing,

34:17

just thinking about

34:20

the Israelites during this time,

34:22

like, sometimes when we

34:25

are in perceived chaos,

34:27

like things are going crazy,

34:28

we actually don't realize

34:30

that God's fully in control, right?

34:32

Like he fully knows

34:33

what's going to happen

34:34

and he's going to use

34:35

all things together

34:36

for the good of those who love him

34:38

and are called

34:39

according to his purpose.

34:40

So here, the Israelites

34:44

are slaves.

34:45

They don't realize

34:46

that this was part

34:47

of the promise of God

34:48

to do something great through them,

34:50

to bring about the savior

34:51

of the world, right?

34:53

And so they're slaves,

34:55

they're being tormented.

34:57

And then this random guy Moses

34:58

who used to be part of the nation

35:01

that was tormenting him,

35:02

he was a Jew,

35:03

but he, you know,

35:04

adopted by Pharaoh.

35:06

So they're like,

35:06

do we trust this guy?

35:08

And then God starts

35:09

doing these plagues,

35:10

just like unbelievable plagues.

35:13

And, you know,

35:14

they're in the midst

35:14

of this chaos

35:15

and they're probably thinking like,

35:16

man, if this keeps up,

35:18

maybe we're going to die from a plague,

35:20

maybe Pharaoh's going to kill us

35:21

because Moses just keeps

35:23

going back and doing this,

35:24

like what's his problem?

35:25

And then God pulls them out,

35:27

but then they're in the wilderness

35:28

and then like all this mayhem

35:30

is happening.

35:31

But the whole time

35:34

God had a plan

35:35

and was actually in control.

35:37

And in the midst of perceived chaos,

35:40

there was actually extreme peace

35:42

they could have

35:43

knowing that God is faithful

35:45

and there was an extreme sense of order.

35:49

Like they met the God of order

35:51

when they went out there.

35:51

The laws of Leviticus,

35:53

like can you get more in depth

35:54

and orderly than that?

35:55

That is our God.

35:57

And so all I want to say

35:59

is with that in mind,

36:01

like you might feel

36:03

like you're in chaos,

36:05

like maybe personally,

36:07

maybe mentally, emotionally.

36:10

Maybe it's, you know,

36:11

your family, your work,

36:13

whatever in life,

36:13

you might feel like it's chaos.

36:16

But remember that

36:17

God is a faithful God.

36:19

That God has a plan

36:20

that's bigger than anything

36:21

we can be going through.

36:23

And that he who began

36:24

a good work in you

36:25

will bring it to completion.

36:28

He will not fail.

36:32

So let's just pray it out.

36:33

I got some questions

36:34

we can go over,

36:35

but I just want to pray

36:36

and thank him

36:37

for how good he is.

36:43

Lord, Yahweh, I am who I am.

36:46

Lord, we thank you

36:46

that you never change.

36:49

Lord, we thank you

36:49

that in you,

36:52

the father of lights,

36:54

every good and perfect gift

36:55

comes from you, Lord.

36:57

There is no variation

36:58

or shadow of turning God.

37:00

You will never stop being faithful.

37:02

It is who you are, Lord.

37:05

And I just pray, God,

37:07

that like Moses,

37:09

we would have hearts

37:10

that would just say,

37:10

Lord, would you just be with me?

37:13

I want to be with you.

37:15

I want to be yours.

37:18

And I pray, God,

37:19

that we would open our eyes, Lord,

37:21

that your spirit would reveal

37:23

how you've been so faithful

37:25

every single day, God.

37:27

And I pray that we would also see,

37:29

Lord, where there's chaos,

37:31

there's a peace-filled,

37:33

loving God that has a plan.

37:35

And I pray that that

37:36

would rise up faith in us.

37:38

We love you so much.

37:40

In Jesus' name, Amen.

37:44

Thanks for joining us

37:46

at Lansdale Life Church

37:47

as we praise God

37:49

and discuss His word.

37:51

Don't forget to join us

37:52

for worship lives Sunday mornings

37:54

at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.

37:57

Be blessed

37:57

and have a great day!