September 11 2016 Seeing Through The Eyes Of Faith

SEEING THROUGH THE EYES OF FAITH

Numbers 13:17-33

TWO WAYS TO SEE THINGS

I.    Notice what happens when we allow fear to dominate our lives.

A)    We misunderstand what God can do.

1. Verses 28-29 – But the people who live there are powerful.  The cities are fortified and very large.  The Amalekites, the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites (all giants) live there.

• Lesson The longer you look at a problem, the bigger it gets.

B)    They underestimate what God can do.

1. Verse 33 – We felt like grasshoppers before them, they were so tall.

• Lesson: Problems rarely defeat us it’s our perspective that defeats.

C)    The results of fear:

1. Discouragement.

a)    14:1 – Then all the people began weeping aloud and they carried on all night long.

       2. Discontented.

        a) 14:2 – Their voices rose in a great chorus of complaint against Moses and Aaron.

       3. There was a desire to return to the old.

       a)   14:3 – Let’s get out of here and return to Egypt, they shouted.

II.    We need to see what happens when faith dominates our life.

       A)   Verse 30 – But Caleb reassured the people as they stood before Moses, “Let us go       up at once and possess it,” he said, “for we are well able to conquer it.”

1. Ephesians 1:18
2. Examples of Spiritual sight.

Genesis 21 – Hagar

Luke 24 – Disciples on Emmaus Road

2 Kings – Elisha’s servant

Genesis 13 – Abraham
        
3.    Spiritual eyes see opportunities, not obstacles.

III. We see the decision of the future here.

A)    Kadesh means place of decision.

CONCLUSION: Moses could lead the people to Kadesh, but he couldn’t make the decision for them.

He didn’t bring us out this far to bring us back again.
He brought us out to bring us into the Promised Land.
He didn’t bring us out this far to bring us back again.
He brought us out to bring us into the Promised Land.
Though there be giants in the land,
We will not be afraid.
He brought us out to bring us into the Promised Land.

January 3 2016 What Happens When You Have Faith

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE FAITH

Daring Faith: Key To Miracles - Part 1

Romans 1:17 “The Gospel shows us how God makes people right with himself—that it begins and ends with FAITH. The Scripture says those who are right with God will live by trusting in Him.”

Memory Verse: Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

FAITH IS seeing from God's point of view. 

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT) “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen and to be certain of things we do not yet see.”

Ephesians 1:18 “I pray that the eyes of your heart will be flooded with light so that you can see the wonderful future God has promised to those he called . . .” 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE SEE

(Numbers 13-14 - Spying out the Promised Land)

WITH EYES OF FEAR?

1. WE EXAGGERATE our difficulties

Numbers 13:27b “It’s a magnificent land BUT the people living there are powerful, and their cities are fortified and large! What’s more, we saw Anakim giants there!” -28

Numbers 13:31-32 “. . . other spies said, “They’d crush us!” So the majority report of the spies was negative.”

2. WE UNDERESTIMATE our own abilities

“We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” Numbers 13:33

3. WE get discouraged

“Then all the people began weeping aloud, and they carried on all night!” Numbers 14:1

4. WE START TO to gripe about our life

Numbers 14:2 “All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron . . . ‘We wish we had died in Egypt!’ they wailed, ‘Or even here in the wilderness!’”

5. WE EVENTUALLY give up and we blame God.

Numbers 14:3 “Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to be killed with swords . . . We’d be better off going back to Egypt!”

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE SEE WITH EYES OF FAITH?

1. FAITH shrinks my problem

Genesis 18:14a “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

Luke 1:37 “For nothing is impossible with God!”

2. FAITH opens the door for a miracle

Mark 11:22-24 Jesus said, “Have faith in God! If you have faith in God and you don’t doubt, you could tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it would. Whatever you ask for in prayer will be yours, IF you only have the faith.”

3. FAITH moves God to act on my Behalf

Matthew 9:29 Jesus said, “According to your faith it will be done to you.” 

4. FAITH unlocks all the promises of God

2 Corinthians 1:20a “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are all ‘Yes’ in Christ!”

5. FAITH turns God-given dreams into reality

Ephesians 3:20 (LB) “Glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us, is able to do FAR

MORE than we would ever DARE TO ASK or even DREAM of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes!” 

6. FAITH GIVES ME  power to hold on in tough times. 

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NLT) “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we’re not crushed and broken. We’re perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit. We’re attacked but God never abandons us.

We get knocked down, but we get up and keep going!”

John 3:16 (CEV) “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life.” 

How To Grow In Your Faith during the DARING FAITH SERIES

1. Listen to all 10 Weekend Messages of the campaign.

2. Carry the weekly Bible verse with you.

3. Set 3 faith goals for growing, giving, and going.