-Transcript-
00:36 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to the cafe.
00:38 Hope you’re having a wonderful day today, a wonderful week. Thank you so much for joining us here today. I’m so excited to have you here.
00:44 I’m touching on something so important and that’s showing gratitude to God and the relationship of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament Church. And the first part of this message, I spoke a lot about Numbers 11 and the idea that the Israelites had been provided for with manna, that they had been given a food that nutritionally met their needs. And frankly they got sick of it and they started to gossip and fuss and act nasty and it wasn’t good, Amen, and it wasn’t godly.
01:17 And God got mad and guess what? So did Moses. Moses identified with God and God was very mad. Why? Because God had delivered them out of bondage.
01:24 And you know what he did? You know what the Israelites did? They looked back at that bondage and said, oh I miss what we ate there. As slaves, I miss what we ate there. Rather than saying, oh thank God we’re free and God is so good and he’s given us food, he sustained us.
01:38 And you got to remember, they’re on the way to Canaan land, the land of milk and honey. It’s like God’s saying, be content with this for now and I’m gonna bless you greatly later. And we see in the New Testament Church here today, we live in at least in America, North America really at large, we are so abundantly blessed.
01:57 We have more blessings than we know what to do with. We have more stuff than we know what to do with. Look up, if you have time, look up how many storage units are in the United States.
02:08 It is insane. There’s more storage units in the United States than I think McDonald’s. And that tells me something, that we’ve become so materialistic that we need storage units to store all our stuff.
02:15 I have nothing against storage units for work. I’ve got two of them, Amen, full disclosure. So if you have a storage unit, don’t get mad at me.
02:21 I got I got a couple as well for work, Amen, and I got some, I think I got my father-in-law’s mattress in there, but that’s more than you need to know, amen. The point is, we all are dealing with materialism here, and that’s why you see such great abundance here, and yet people want more, desire more. And instead of desiring what really will fill them up, which is a relationship with God, they desire the material things of the world.
02:44 They’re showing ingratitude to God. And so here in Numbers 11, the Israelites have been complaining. They’ve only had manna.
02:52 Every single day they have manna. They want, they miss the food of Egypt. And here we have Moses saying, Lord, just kill me.
03:00 I can’t deal with these people anymore. You have to understand the magnitude of this. There was hundreds of thousands.
03:05 Some scholars say over a million Israelites at that time. And Moses is the, for lack of a better word, leader, or you know, president, so to speak, or spokesperson for God. All three, I guess.
03:15 And so they’re all going to him, and he says, I can’t deal with it. And in verse 16 of Numbers 11, the Lord said unto Moses, gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. Verse 17, and I will come down and talk with thee there.
03:39 And so God is telling Moses to gather seventy people, right, at the tabernacle, the holy place, and God’s gonna come talk to Moses in front of these people. And verse 17, .and I will come down and talk with thee there, and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone Number one, do you see how loving God is? I mean, Moses says, God help me, and God says, okay, I’ve got you.
04:05 Here’s the plan, right? Just like that. Do you understand that sometimes, yes, sometimes we pray for years, and our prayers are delayed. But hey, oftentimes we pray, and our prayers are met immediately.
04:15 I can testify to this. There’s been some massive battles I’ve gone through, and I haven’t always been living the best, Amen, in those times. I think when I was younger especially, and I’d pray.
04:28 It’d be little prayers sometimes. Oh God, just use me today. And God would.
04:33 Oh God, help deliver me from this evil situation. And God would, oftentimes in the same hour, amen. God is an awesome God, and it’s nothing for Him to help you, but it’s everything for us to seek that help.
04:42 I hope that makes sense here today. Let’s see here, verse 18, and say thou unto the people, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and you shall eat flesh. For ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.
04:59 Therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and you shall eat. And you shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you, because you have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, why come we forth out of Egypt? So the Lord had wrought this mighty works, spreading the Red Sea, knocking out Pharaoh and all the great armies. I mean, it’s like the world power of that time, and God just wiped them out in this miraculous way, delivering His people, and they’re over there moaning, groaning, and complaining.
05:35 You know, God gives us breath, God gives us life, and God gives us a Savior in Jesus Christ, and here we are moaning, groaning, and complaining. It upsets the Lord. Ingratitude upsets the Lord.
05:45 And Moses said, the people among whom I am are 600,000 footmen, and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? And the Lord said unto Moses, is the Lord’s hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not. Hey, whoo, the Lord’s got a mighty hand, and that mighty hand, you know, I’m counting personally on God’s mighty hand to deliver me from all evil, Amen, and to keep me until the day of redemption, Amen, and then from then on to eternity to be with Him.
06:22 That’s that mighty hand, Amen. It’s still relevant today, and it’s still just as strong. He can do anything, Amen.
06:27 Do you believe it today? Verse 24, And Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered the 70 men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto them, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the 70 elders. And it came to pass that when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.
06:48 But there remained two of the men in the camp. The name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them, and they were of them that were written, but were not out unto the tabernacle, and they prophesied in the camp.
07:02 And so here you have two people. They weren’t at the tabernacle, but they were in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.
07:13 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My Lord Moses forbid them. Verse 29 of Numbers 11 here, And Moses said unto him, Envious thou for my sake would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and the Lord would put his Spirit upon them. Verse 29, Amen.
07:30 Man, this is some good stuff. I wish I had more time to dive into all this, but what’s happened here is that as God has given out of his mercy Moses 70 elders to help tell all the people what’s going on, that they’re gonna have so much flesh, so much meat to eat, that it’s gonna come out of their nostrils, which is not gonna be good. But either way, God is helping Moses bear that burden.
07:57 And then two of them didn’t show up at the tabernacle, and they, and this young person saw it, and then told Joshua the son of Nun, who told Moses, and Moses said, Oh that’s fine they’re not, they’re not at the tabernacle. Again, we don’t know exactly why they weren’t there, Amen. But what we do know is that God’s Spirit was upon them, and Moses said, I wish God’s Spirit would be upon everyone here.
08:15 And what’s so powerful about that, and I got, there’s a good article here on God, I think it’s GodQuestions.org. I hope that I get that right. GodQuestions is a great ministry, and it’s helped me a lot in my preaching over the years. They write up answers to very common, or even not so common, biblical questions.
08:34 And they have a great, yes, it’s GodQuestions.org, I just looked it up here. And they have a great little piece, little page on who is these two individuals, Eldad and Medad. And I got some information from there that really helped me understand that this is actually a way that we could be thankful for having the Holy Spirit.
08:58 Because Moses was saying, I wish that Holy Spirit, that God’s Spirit, the Lord’s Spirit, would put it upon everyone. So don’t be mad, don’t be envious, don’t be upset. Again, we don’t know exactly why those two stayed in the camp, but you can think of God’s mercy.
09:10 You know, God is so detailed. He’s a God of the details, and God, in His mercy and His understanding, maybe there was some that needed to hear the message in the camp for whatever reason. They could have been lame, they could have been have trouble leaving their house, they could have been part of this mixed multitude that were believers, or something to this extent, or they were trying to obey, but they weren’t in the same place as the Israelites.
09:37 There could have been all kinds of reasons those two were there. But Moses said, don’t worry about it, it’s good, I wish that the Spirit would be upon all. And then, again, this GodQuestions.org piece pointed out that that Holy Spirit is upon all that are saved, all that are born again, all that are here in the New Testament church, those that have believed on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, specifically understanding that He died for their sins, for my sins, and for your sins.
10:00 And so, we have the Holy Spirit. This is what Moses wished for for the Israelites. And in that time, they were under what? They were under the law.
10:09 But we are under grace. We are saved by grace. We are no longer under the law.
10:15 And so, if we are ungrateful to God, that is awful, but that doesn’t lead us to lose our salvation. If we’ve been saved, God keeps His Word, and we are saved for an eternity. We were once saved, always saved.
10:26 Christ died one time on the cross for all mankind, for all time. And so, we have the Holy Spirit living within us. So, how grateful should we be that what Moses desired for his people there, in Numbers 11, we have that.
10:40 God has answered that prayer, if you will, or saying, if you will, that Moses made, and gave us the Holy Spirit. And quickly here, what role does the Holy Spirit play in our lives? Number one, He’s a comforter. Amen The Holy Spirit is the comforter.
10:57 Jesus Christ said, you know, you’re gonna be glad that I go, I’m paraphrasing, because I’m going to send the comforter. And if I go, if I don’t go, I can’t send the comforter. And so, we have the Holy Spirit living within us to comfort us.
11:10 Do you know, I need that comfort every single day of my life? I’m sure you do too. Do you know, when you pray, and you get that peace, and you get that stirring of just sweetness, and that sweet spirit about you, you know where that comes from? That comes from the comforter. The Holy Spirit is the comforter.
11:25 As we go through hard times, a lot of people will tell you that have been in the valley, or that are in the valley, that the greater the valley, the more it seems that God shows up in such a loving, and wonderful, miraculous way. Well, who is that? Well, that’s the third part of the Holy Trinity. That’s the comforter.
11:42 Amen So, we have comfort through the Holy Spirit. We should thank God for that. We also have a mediator.
11:49 The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will murmur things to God that we can’t even describe, that we can’t even explain. And so, what a beautiful picture. In the Old Testament, they were murmuring bad things, not to God directly, but indirectly, and they were greatly punished for it.
12:06 In the New Testament, we have the Holy Spirit upon us, and our Holy Spirit will tell God, and murmur to God, the things that we can’t even utter. We’ll explain to God, hey, this is what Bob needs today, this is what Cindy needs today, this is what’s going on in their life, and put it in a way that God understands it fully. And we have the Holy Spirit actually praying on our behalf as we pray.
12:24 And finally, the Holy Spirit is proof of our salvation. If you want to know if you’re truly saved, number one, if you believed on Christ as your Savior, recognized your sin debt, realized and believed truly that Christ died for you, and was buried three days and resurrected, walked the earth 40 days and 40 nights, ascended up to heaven, is at the right hand of the Father, you believe on what Jesus did for you. And then, the Holy Spirit working within you as you’re at a service, and your heart is touched, or you’re convicted, as you read the Word, and you have discernment, you can’t really describe how you understand the Bible the way you do now, the words are starting to pop out to you, how you have peace in the times of turmoil, how you have convictions over certain things, how you’re able to witness to the lost, how you get along and fellowship with the brothers and sisters in Christ.
13:10 All of these kind of special things you experience, that’s the Holy Spirit living within you, and that’s proof that you’re saved. And now you know that you know that you know that you’re saved. And I’ve heard many Christians tell me that, look, I understand, I know that I don’t live like I should all the time, Amen Again, we’re not under the law, but that Holy Spirit convicts me here, there, and so forth.
13:30 That’s how we know that we’re saved, Amen So the Holy Spirit is our comforter, the Holy Spirit is our our helper in prayer, and are so much more than this, and the Holy Spirit also is God within us, the church within us, and the way that we understand that we’re saved. And so we need to thank God for that Holy Spirit that the Israelites did not have in large at that time, only a few, only that 70 at that time, and Moses presumably, and maybe a few others, but now we all have it. Everyone that believes has the Holy Spirit.
14:00 Thank you God for the Holy Spirit. Would you pray today and say, thank you God for the Holy Spirit, and I thank you for listening. Take care, God bless, and Amen.