ARCC Sermons

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March 7th

Our Bible reading today is in Numbers chapters 28,29,30.

Here God repeats His instructions on the laws of sacrifices and worship.

Now let’s think about this. The “fighting” army of Israel is preparing for war. They are about to experience first hand what their fathers and grandfathers told them about the peoples and armies of Canaan. This will not be a cake walk. Invading the land of God’s promise will be dangerous and costly.

So what does God, through Moses, address first in their preparations for war? “Personal and national worship of and commitment to God Almighty.”

Reminds me of something that Jesus told his “dangerous” disciples...Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

God has a new generation of men...young spiritual leaders for the family unit...as well as spiritual leaders for a military unit.

I like Matthew Henry’s comment: “God read the hearts of these men and knew they were concerned about keeping their peace with God when they were at war with their enemies.”

So instead of God teaching them the ordinances of war first...God taught them where to focus spiritually every morning and every night. The priests were commanded to bring a male lamb to offer to the Lord on behalf of the people every morning and every evening of every day of the year.

Every day began and ended with a vivid demonstration and declaration of the Grace of God and the absolute necessity for atonement for sin by blood sacrifice. Every morning, the silver trumpets’ sound would call the congregation to worship....at 9:am...a one-year-old lamb without blemish would be sacrificed on the bronze altar...atoning for the sins of the people that were committed in the night.

Then at 3:pm in the late afternoon, the trumpets would sound again. Another one-year-old lamb without blemish was being sacrificed to God on behalf of the congregation...atoning for the sins of the people committed during the day.

Soldiers that were included in that congregation would hear those trumpets too...They would be reminded of their Holy God and be in awe. They would be reminded

of their Gracious God and be thankful. They would be reminded of their Awesome God and be humbled. They would be reminded of their Faithful Warrior God and be bold in their own faith in His promises...all the way to and through the battle.

God was using Moses to remind the men...” Take your armor and your weapons ready for battle...but don't forget God ...take Him with you into the fray...He goes before us and He is our rear guard...we fight for the people of promise...we fight for the land of promise...we fight for the One to come...who is the Kingdom of God...no greater cause...Jesus.

Have a great day

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March 6th

Our reading in the Bible today is in Numbers chapters 26,27.

This part of scripture deals with “numbers”. Some up...some down...most pretty much the same. I'm talking about comparing Israel’s Sinai census to her Moab plains census.

The two accountings were done 38 years apart. They were both counting available men for military service.

The first counting totaled 603,000 men. The second counting totaled 601,000 men fit for war.

What could these numbers tell us now that we have read about Israel’s 38 years of wilderness wandering?

No growth. No progress. No advancement. No change. And we could be talking about Israel’s spiritual state as well as her population.

No growth spiritually for most. No progress in the faith for most. No advancement in their relationship with God. No change in 38 years: mostly spiritually immature at best. Spiritual stagnation.

Some ask, why did it take 40 years to get to a place that was only a three-week walk away? For God to mercifully replace a generation of unbelief with strong believers...at least a larger percentage of them.

So today we read about this second numbering of the Israeli congregation. The first took place at Mt Sinai, just one year into the journey to the promised land. And now Moses and the new High Priest, Eleazer, number the tribe members in the plains of Moab, 38 years later.

Let’s note a few things about this numbering.

God commanded the census to be taken on both occasions. It wasn't an initiative of Moses. From the beginning of the wilderness march to the southern edge of Canaan, 39 years later, God was teaching the Promised Land people many things. One very important lesson was that they would have to fight. Trust God, yes...but fight at His command.

O how David wished he had paid closer attention to Israel’s history...especially this “numbering” thing. 500 years after this numbering of the congregation, King David ordered Joab to take that same kind of census. Joab counseled him not to take it. But David neglected history and the counsel of a faithful servant...and had the census taken.

And God judged David and Israel severely...with a three-day plague that took the lives of 70,000 men of Israel....(not counting the members of their families....upward to 200,000 most likely). All because of David’s pride...”Look how large and strong “my” army is...”

God would teach David and the people a “hard lesson”...THE King in Israel...was God Himself...and David and Israel had forgotten that.

Taking the count of those fit for war had its logistical purposes...for Moses and David. The organizing of such a force for war was good in and of itself....both Moses and David had that...but... what they would “really” need was a “bold and courageous faith” in God.

Did they have it? Well...That’s the rest of the story.

Have a good day

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March 5th

The Bible reading for today is in Numbers chapters 23,24,25.

Yesterday’s reading introduced us to some “strange ministers” of God...that show up in our text today...a false prophet that told the truth...a donkey that talked to men, and an angel of the Lord that demonstrated that less can be more.

That false prophet was named Balaam. He was hired by the king of Moab to curse the Israelites. He was known for his great powers to do such. However, God turned him into “His minister” for the “blessing” of Israel...instead of for the “cursing” of Israel.

And...Listen to the end of one of Balaam’s messages about Israel in today’s reading...about their effect on him...“Who can count the greatness of Israel...Let me die the death of the Israelite..the upright... and let my end be like his...”

A false prophet...arrogant enough to confront the God of Israel....became “A strange minister” of the true God for sure.

That “talking” donkey?... That was Balaam’s ride. God not only gave that donkey prophetic power, but God also gave him spiritual sight. That donkey could see what Balaam could not. And that donkey could explain what God was doing when Balaam could not.

Another strange minister of God indeed.

And that angel of the Lord...right in the middle of that story of Balaam and the donkey...he fulfilled his ministry... by simply “standing in the way”. That angel “with a sword”...was part of the host of God’s “angel army”. He was there to kill Balaam for accepting Balak’s deal... ”you curse Israel so that I can defeat them and I will fill your house with treasures.”

God could have used that powerful heavenly agent to put down Balaam with his sword. But instead, God used him to simply “get in his way”....so that God could speak to him through a donkey.

Strange ministers all!

Moving on in the text...let me show you two more ways this false prophet told the truth that effected Israel and us today. In chapters 24 and 25 we read of another prophesy God directs from the mouth of Balaam. Speaking of Israel...Balaam said...”How lovely are thy tents, O Jacob...Your tabernacles...O Israel.” Or “How beautiful is the place where You are, O Lord.”

Balaam was referring here to how the presence of God made beautiful everything in the camp of Israel where He tabernacled. This text also reminds me of something similar that King David said from his hiding place in the mountain range of Judah.

After months of running from Absolom, a tired but brave David scoped out Jerusalem from nearby cover. He looked at the walls, he looked at the people, and he looked with longing upon the Temple...and said: “My heart longs for the courts of the Lord...how lovely is the place where You are O God.”

There probably was a special sense of God’s presence in the Temple for David. I'm sure he missed worshipping with other believers there. However, David wrote songs about the presence of God going with him even outside the Temple proper...by God’s Spirit.

So when he was tempted to become forlorn and cold of heart in his shadowy retreats, away from Jerusalem, surely he said “O Lord, I am not alone. You are here, with me, your child. And to others’ eyes and several senses, this place seems most certainly despairing. But because I am your “court” and you dwell with me...even this unhappy place is beautiful.” “How lovely is the place where You are!”

Then finally...Balaam prophesied of something/someone to come...when he says...“I see him but not now...I behold him but not near...a Star shall come out of Jacob...a Sceptor shall rise out of Israel..and out of Jacob shall One come having all dominion...Lord of Lords and King of Kings...Jesus is His Name...what a Savior...even a topic of conversation way back in the wilderness!

Enjoy the rest of the story

Have a great day

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March 4th

Our Bible reading today is in Numbers chapters 21,22.

At the end of chapter 20, Israel marched from Kadesh to Mt Hor, still a bit south of Canaan. There they camped. God called Moses and Aaron to the mountain. There God told them to bring Aaron’s son Eleazar to the mountain. God was about to gather Aaron to his people. And ordain Eleazar to take his place as High Priest to God on behalf of Israel.

The people mourned Aaron’s death for 30 days. The normal time set aside for mourning dignitaries was 7 days. Obviously Aaron meant so much to the congregation of Israel.

After the mourning was over, the silver trumpets sounded, in their certain ways, to signal the people to begin to pack up and break camp. It was time to head toward Canaan again. One of the Canaanite kings of the territory next to the border raided the marching Israelites and took some captive.

Moses and Israel vowed to God...”If You will give us victory over Arad...we will devote their cities to destruction...and so it came to pass...Israel’s first “Promised Land” victory.

It’s interesting to me how Israel dedicated their victory to God by “destroying the cities”...in other words, those cities would never be used again...except...“for God’s purposes!!!”

So it was time to move on again...but since God forbade a confrontation with the Moabites, the travel around their borders grew long and tedious to the new generation of Israelites.

Apparently, they did not learn well from their parents’ experiences...especially those of distrusting God by impatience with Moses’ leadership.

So God judged His new generation of treasured ones with fiery serpents.

Many Israelites died that day.

Would this new generation repent and turn back to God?

And the people confessed to Moses...”We have sinned against the Lord...and we have sinned against you. Please pray to the Lord that He would take the serpents from our midst. So Moses prayed and God spoke to him...”Make a fiery serpent, set it upon a pole, and everyone who is bitten and looks upon the fiery serpent will live.” And so it happened just like God said.

Jesus, speaking to Nicodemus in John 3:14,15, referred to the story of the fiery serpents we read about today. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up...and whoever believes in Him may have eternal.”

The Old Testament foreshadowing comes from the phrase “lifted up”... the serpent upon a pole...the Savior lifted up on a cross...the bronze serpent related to physical healing for the bitten Israelites...“belief in Jesus was and is so much BETTER...Eternal life...both now and forever.

Now before you're through with the reading, there will be several more battles fought and won by God empowered Israelites...fighting not for themselves, but for the glory of their Lord.

Enjoy the rest of the story...

Have a great day

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March 3rd

The bible reading today is in Numbers chapters 18,19,20.

The people of Israel had been wandering for years in the wilderness when we get to these chapters today. They are back to Kadesh where their rebellion began...where they said “no” to God. Where they refused to go up into Canaan and fight for their land of promise...right alongside God.

I wonder if anyone, (besides Moses), had a bad dream or a nightmarish flashback when they camped again on the southern edge of Canaan. Well, maybe family members who lost loved ones in the “fire”...the terrible presence of an angry God. ...Perhaps they did.

And the text tells us that it was in Kadesh that Miriam died...and was buried. She was the first of Moses’ siblings to die in the wilderness. I wonder what the brothers talked about at Miriam’s funeral. I kind of think they spoke of regret...sorrowful for Miriam not being able to see and experience the new land that God promised them.

So close...but so far away...she could taste it...(when they ate from the large cluster of grapes brought back by the spies...)but she would never taste it in the land of milk and honey...Miriam’s death must have demonstrated to Moses and Aaron that God would do what He said...

“No one from the generation that left Egypt (20 years old and up) would make it to the Promised Land”...would this prophesy include Moses and Aaron? This was the beginning of the end for this generation of God’s treasured ones.

Cant, you just imagine the conversations among the older Israelites, as more and more funerals take place. “I know that we dishonored our God and our families 38 years ago...we should have courageously gone on up and faced the Canaanites and our fears. God said He would be with us...”oh I wish we had believed Him...and just gone on in with Moses and Joshua and Caleb.”

“Grandson, Granddaughter, learn from Granddad’s mistakes....listen for God’s voice in the words of Moses...trust God always and when Moses is no more, follow Joshua as you would follow God into the new land...no matter what!”

Before we leave this story of Miriam’s death, I want to propose one more lesson.

Miriam, as a young Jewish girl showed great faith and courage and wisdom when she helped her little brother (baby Moses) escape death from the Egyptian massacre of Jewish baby boys.

Little did she know how great an action that was, not just for her parents, but especially for all of Israel.

Later, God made her a prophetess...and she spoke the words of God as she received them from the Torah. Scripture also tells us that Miriam took up a tambourine and led the congregation of Israel in praise to God for His saving them through the Red Sea.

She also assisted her brothers in serving the people. She was highly respected.

Jewish Rabbis say that she was used especially to teach the women of Israel the Torah..the laws of God.

Sounds like a Godly woman. I believe that she was.

But even the most devout people can stumble in their faith. And she did. Miriam disgraced herself before God and others by rebelling against Moses’ leadership. Like that...she had leprosy.

The story is a bit silent about Miriam after God severely judged her. But we do read that Moses interceded in prayer to God for his sister and God answered his prayer and healed her.

Was Miriam’s sin really that bad? God thought it was...

One more part of the text for just a minute.

After forty years of leading Israel from Egypt to the promised land...putting up with the complaining and grumbling and accusing and mutiny of the people, what was Moses’s reward?

God said, “You won't be going in, Moses.”

“Why? “ You ask “Because I told you to speak to the rock...not to strike it,” God said. You did not believe me...nor did you uphold the holiness of my word.”

Wow God was serious about sin...even in the lives of our heroes in the faith.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for sending the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts to convict us of sin and lead and empower us in Promised Land Living.

Have a great day

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March 2nd

Today’s bible reading is in Numbers chapters 16,17.

A very sad story...A Levite leader, named Korah, and three Ruebenite friends, Dathan, Abiram, and On...all of which should have been “humbled” by the way Almighty God was using two of their own...and Korah, especially, should have been “grateful” for how God separated his tribe to assist Aaron and his sons the priests...in holy matters of the tabernacle...but... they were “neither” ...neither humbled nor were they grateful to God for the good state of their lives.

Instead, they were jealous of the elevated positions of influence and authority that Moses and Aaron had in Israel...especially jealous of Aaron and his sons as Priests to God. They cried out...“Why do you exalt yourselves, Aaron?” (They asked, not really wanting an answer).

Korah and his buddies and 250 chieftains of Israel wanted to be priests too. Even though God had made it clear that the priesthood would come from the line of Aaron from the tribe of Levi.

Apparently the cloud by day had little effect on these men. Apparently the fire by night also had little effect on them. Their thoughts had become higher than God’s thoughts. Their ways had begun to outweigh God’s ways.

These men were there when God powerfully delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. These men and their families were a part of the Red Sea crossing...as God’s hand parted the waters. These men were a part of the victory over the Amalekites...given by God as Moses’ raised his staff over the battlefield. These men saw God bring water from a mountain of rock...that quenched the thirst of two million people. These men had been fed from God’s hand with mana in the morning and quail at night for over a year. They had seen the fire and smoke and heard the great rumbling, thunderous sounds of God’s terrible presence at Sinai. And these men had just seen the fire of God consume thousands of unbelieving, complaining Israelites on the outskirts of the camp just days prior to these days.

But apparently, these men had forgotten who was God and who wasn't.

Why...they were there at the dedication of the tabernacle and the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests...and what did they see? They saw the “sign of God”...the “stamp” of His presence...His “holy fire” from the holy place...lit the fire on the bronze altar of sacrifice...His fire of cleansing...His fire of sanctifying...the fire of His presence made this tent and these men His ...His place and His men... among the congregation of Israel.

Korah and his band of brothers were there. But apparently they had forgotten that this was all about God and His glory...not theirs!

Our text today reveals that many in the Sinai days believed that the problems in the camp were based on the fact that they weren't in the leadership of the community.

God had chosen Moses for national leadership and Aaron for spiritual leadership. Were they perfect? No...far from it. At best, we could say that Moses and Aaron were “repentant” men ...God’s men...set apart for God’s use only.

We can also say that God was going to use them to make a “promised land people” ready for the “Promised” land. When Moses and Aaron were verbally abused...when their leadership from God was challenged...What did Moses and his brother do? They humbled themselves and stayed right where God placed them.

What did God do about the uprising in the camp? God made certain that the nation knew who were His leaders on the ground...one more time.

How did He do that? Something about 14,000 casualties...a sinkhole all the way to Sheol...and a staff that blossomed and bore ripe almonds...all pointing to “The” Son Of Promise...Jesus Christ...trust Him...He’s always better.

Enjoy the rest of the story...

Have a great day...

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March 1st

Today’s bible reading is in Numbers chapters 14,15 and Psalms 90.

The twelve spies went up from the wilderness into Canaan. We “read” about that yesterday from chapter 13.

If you recall, after checking out the land of milk and honey for forty days, the spies returned to the camp of Israel. Ten of the spies said that the people of that good land were too great to defeat. Two of the spies said differently. “

“Do not rebel against the Lord. Do not fear the people of the Land...they are bread for us...their protection is removed from them...and the Lord is with us...do not fear them...let us go up at once...”

But the people went with the “faithless” report of the ten. And they denied the strength of God’s promise. They should have gone with the courageous faith and obedience of Caleb and Joshua. These men believed God more than the perspectives and counsel of the other spies. These two feared God more than the giants of Canaan.

These two remembered the promise of God....to give the land of promise to them. The others forgot it. These two remembered the power of God in their deliverance from almighty Egypt. The others forgot it. And so Israel disobeyed God’s command to go to war for the promised land and the glory of God.

Friends, aren’t we glad that Jesus did not balk at the assignment bestowed up him by the Godhead? I'm glad that He didn't think that the Father had a plan to do evil toward him...but rather trusted the eternal purposes of God...to the glory of God...that’s our Savior!

So after the people refused to go up into Canaan, God declared judgment upon the congregation. No one twenty years of age and older would live to see the promised land...except...Joshua and Caleb and their families.

The Israelites would wander in the wilderness for forty years...so that every adult that rebelled against God would die in the wilderness...and only their youngest children would enter the promised land.

The people mourned day and night...but it was not a mourning of repentance. It was a mourning of anger and resentment toward God. They accused God of plotting to do evil against them.

Can you believe that God’s kids would say that about their faithful loving God? I guess we can. We’re looking in a mirror. God had not made everything easy for them. They had experienced hard times. What was God doing?

God was making them into a “Promised Land people”....it was going to take a God-sized faith and courage and determination to overcome what lay ahead. Trials and tribulations would produce in them a steadfastness they would need. If ....they would just trust God.

But instead of trusting God’s good purposes, they became bitter against God for it...openly and secretly.

You know some well-meaning counselors tell their clients...” get it out...Hollar scream cuss at God...let him know how you feel. Quit bottling it up...He understands. He can take it.”

But listen to James... the brother of Jesus...teach the way to healing...“Confess “your own” faults “one to another” and “pray” for each other....“that you may be healed...”

Nothing in there gives license to curse God for anything. And though outsiders looking in may have sympathized with their loud disrespectful anger...that faithlessness was sin...even for God’s treasured ones.

So what did God do? He gave them what they wanted...” to rather die here in the wilderness than to go on with the Lord and what He had planned for them.”

By the way...the stubborn unbelieving Israelites justified their careless words against God based on a concern for their wives and children.

Notice...it was the wives and children of these unbelieving family leaders that would wind up paying for their husbands’ and fathers’ destructive outbursts toward God. Let this be a word to the wise.

And one more thing from the text...God told Moses that He was going to destroy the stiff-necked nation of Israel for their rebellion. Moses prayed for the people...and God listened...quite a prayer...it’s the rest of the story found in Psalms 90.

Have a great day.

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February 28th

The Bible reading today is in Numbers chapters 11,12,13....but before we get there...I want to touch on one of the duties of the priests mentioned in yesterday’s reading. It inspired my thinking.

“The blowing of the two silver trumpets”This duty was for priests alone...and it was for two main purposes...

First... to call the congregation to the tabernacle...”God had something to say.”...And there was “Nothing” more important than that.

In the wilderness of Sinai, God used the trumpets to arrest the attention of the people...to lay aside other things...and “Hear from God”.

On this side of the cross, God the Holy Spirit, living in us, is that trumpet sound to our souls...telling us...” God has something to say.”...

So stay in the Word, stay in the Bible, stay in church...and pay attention to what God has to say. There is nothing more important!

Secondly....the trumpets’ certain sound not only called the Congregation to worship...the trumpets also called the congregation to war.

Friends...God the Holy Spirit sounds the trumpet to our spirits...calling us to spiritual warfare...let us report for duty courageously... every day...in and through prayer...and witness...pushing back the darkness and slaying the demons of unbelief not only for ourselves but for our families and church family...for our nation and the world...

“Thy Kingdom Come Lord...on earth (right here) as it is in heaven (with power)...power to save the souls of those we love. Amen! Let it be!!!

Now to the text of our reading today...

Israel has been organized, sanctified, encouraged, and blessed, instructed how to give, and reminded of God’s faithful deliverance...and on top of that, God lives in their camp...to provide, protect, and empower the nation...all the way to the promised land.

So what happened? A nation so blessed by God...and now they erase the thanksgiving in their hearts and replace it with grumbling, murmuring and complaining against God.

God heard their complaining.

And What He saw? ”They were no longer satisfied with God”. ...

Isn't that common among believers?

Yes...and No...remember, Jesus was and still is totally satisfied in His relationship to the Father and the Holy Spirit....even after the cross...and we are in Jesus...so what is most common for believers is to find our happiness and significance wrapped up in God.

...”Israel forgot what it meant to be His treasured ones...no longer being totally satisfied in Him.”

What an insight God’s own word gives us into the seed of bitterness and complaining in our own lives...it springs up out of no longer being totally satisfied in our relationship with God...”

Our text says that God was so displeased with the faithless murmuring of the people, that the fire of the Lord burned among them and many on the outskirts of the camp were killed.

Wow...destructive doubting and complaining to God by His people brought His severe discipline. But apparently Aaron and Miriam didn’t get it...neither did the leaders of the clans...

You ask, “What happened to them?” Well, that’s the rest of the story. Enjoy.

Have a good day.

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February 27th

The bible reading today is in Numbers chapters 9,10.

A year and some change, after Israel was delivered from the bondage of Egypt, God called for the second Passover observance by the nation.

Let us remember, that the night before the Israelites began to pack up and leave Egypt, God brought the 10th and final plague upon Egypt...” the death of the firstborns.” This one lasted one night.

The first one, the turning all water sources into blood, lasted seven days.

The ninth one, darkness across the land, lasted three days.

The record does not show the length of days that the other seven plagues lasted. However, 30 days of plagues are mentioned in some commentary opinions.

So let’s say that Moses’ appeal for Pharoah to let God’s people go, went unheeded for at least 30 days. And on that final night, God gave Moses some warning and some instruction to the Israelites.

“Gather your families within your houses tonight. Slaughter a lamb and prepare it for a supper together. Before you eat, place blood from the lamb on the doorposts and lintels of your house. At midnight God will send the death angel to the nation of Egypt and kill every firstborn in the nation.

The death angel will see the blood of the lamb upon your doors and “Passover”...withholding the dreaded judgment of God that was being meted out across the land.

This Passover meal was to be eaten by Israelite families every year...first month, fourteenth day. And the people would eat and remember the merciful “passing over” of the congregation, sparing their firstborns, through innocent blood, from death...and opening the way for Israel’s exodus from slavery.

God told Moses to tell the people that their participation in the Passover feast was not optional. In fact, any Israelite or foreign sojourner who was in the camp on the day of Passover...and failed to bring their Passover sacrifice to the Tabernacle...would be cut off from their families...in other words, they would be killed.

But if any Israelite was unclean or on a trip during Passover, they would be expected to observe Passover a month later...clean and heart ready.

Let us take time out to remember that our Savior Jesus fulfilled the Passover sacrifice by His bloody death on the cross...the covering of His blood caused the judgment of God to “Passover” us.

And we are commanded to remember that death of Christ on the cross for us...especially by partaking of the Lord’s supper together.

Before Israel could enter the “promised land”, they were called to remember who got them there. It was God...it was His glorious and miraculous deliverance.

That consistent remembrance by the adults would train the children and the grandchildren of the congregation to look with gratitude to God on their way to the land promised them.

Promised land people must always remind each other

“WHO”...is responsible for their salvation....in our case?... Jesus...the I Am...God the Son...and His death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave...

Jesus...today we especially remember Your glorious and miraculous Gospel...Don't let us forget that we are Promised Land people too...in You!