OT DAY 214 - Be The Two Faithful Servants, Not Those Ten Unfaithful (Please click here for English podcast)

Please click the link below to my new 40 days Break.Build site any time you like to having a 40 days "Break.Build" daily devotion with one to two people as a discipler to help those Jesus prepares for you to disciple. You need to know that the call and purpose of my Break.Build and this Discipler123 blog/podcast is for you to become a discipler to help more people to have a daily intimate relationship with Jesus and then they can become disciplers too:
http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

Please click these links to the app. Andy Ng wrote if you have an Android cel.:

Discipler123: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.rec.app

Break.Build: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.bb.app

Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3.   Open your heart to praise the Lord

        
           I will praise the name of God with a song;
                       I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31          This will please the Lord more than an ox
                            or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32         When the humble see it they will be glad;
                               you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

                             Psalm 69:30-32

Confession and Repentance

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (Numbers 13:1-14:38)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers 14&version=ESV

 14 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” 10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the Lord. 38 Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

                             Numbers 14:1-10, 36-38

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

My Listening
     This is a very important and critical passage in the Bible concerning with prosperity or destruction, victory or loss, life or death. This is a passage which makes everyone's heart ache and ask why so foolish. 

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

    

     God's agenda for the scouts includes whether the people there are few or many, strong or weak, even though the Israelites are not supposed to have responsibility for defeating them; God is committed to driving them out. If the scouts discover that they are many and strong, is that to encourage the Israelites to rely on God?
      The trouble is that the scouts spend more time talking about the frightening prospect of having to dislodge the country's present occupants…
      The people are convinced by the majority of the scouting party who declare that Israel cannot possibly overcome the country's inhabitants. As they have done before, they rail at Moses and Aaron(this is easier than railing at God) and determine to head back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb attempt to change their minds...But they only find the people starting to stone them for their trouble, until God appears and declares the intention to cast off the people altogether and start again with Moses.  

John Goldingay. Numbers & Deuteronomy for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.36.

      Since when did Moses need a Church Council to decide on doing God-size project? Since when did Moses need a Vestry(AGM) to let the whole congregation to decide when to go and not to go? It all starts here! 
      But, God told them to do so, right? No! God wants a Church Council to know that that is beyond human ability and capacity so that they have to rely on God. God wants a Vestry to know that that is beyond their ability and capacity so that they have to follow God's strategy, like how God told Joshua almost forty years later to conquer the city of Jericho in God's way.
      Brothers and sisters, may be you are facing with something you can't manage now. If this is so, do not be frightened, this is the perfect timing for you to rely on God, follow His instruction and to experience His great power to save, heal and prevail.
      Let's read verses 36 to 38 again:

36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the Lord. 38 Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

      Those ten unfaithful died, only the two faithful servants lived and be able to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. Don't make the same mistake! Live and not die! 

Dear Lord Jesus, 
Lead us to rely on you totally so that we won't make the same mistake as those ten unfaithful scouts did. Help us to know that in you all things are possible. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:

1. What kind of assurance have you got from this passage? What kind of warning have you got from this passage? 

2. How are you going to follow Joshua and Caleb's model to prevail and not the ten unfaithful scouts who have no name recorded in the Bible to die? 

Praise and Thanksgiving

Let's give thanks for God with us. Let us praise Him:

10,000 Reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

You may choose to follow my other daily blog:

Daily Devotion on Fire: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/

Break.Build: http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/