What Did God Say? — Chasing What God has for Us

 

What Did God Say? (Turning On Focus Mode pt. 3)

 

Pastor Jim Lowe III

Sunday Morning,  9:30am Stream

1/16/22 (3rd Sunday Message)

 

{All scriptures are NIV84 unless stated}

 

Today’s Title:

What Did God Say? (Turning On Focus Mode pt. 3)

 

Over the past 2 Sundays we’ve been talking about going after our goals for 2022.

 

Many of us have made plans for what we want for the year.

 

We’ve set resolutions.

 

We may even have set plans to do things from 2021.

 

…maybe even 2020.

 

When it comes to goals.

 

We know from past goals…

 

We don’t always set out to do everything we accomplish.

 

Many of us may have failed at things over and over.

 

We had set goals last year to go after God’s Purpose for us last year.

 

The past few weeks we’ve talked about chasing many things.

 

Today it will now be about chasing what God has for us.

 

Jeremiah 29:11

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

 

Things we can take from this.

 

1.God Has A Plan For Us!

 

He has plans for us.

 

He has a design for us.

 

We are not just here.

 

We are not just living for ourselves.

 

2. God’s Plan Is To Prosper Us!

 

God has plans for your prosperity.

 

Prosper = success.

 

“Live Long and Prosper” - Long life with success.

 

God wants you to be successful in life.

 

God wants you to prosper financially.

 

God doesn’t want you living in lack.

 

He wants you to be a lender and not a borrower.

 

Prosperity is also more than just money.

 

God wants you to have mental stability.

 

God doesn’t want you troubled by your circumstances.

 

God wants you to have joy in this life!

 

3. God’s Plan Is NOT To Harm Us!

 

Out of all the things God has planned for us…

 

Our downfall isn’t one of them.

 

Many people may have things against you…

 

But God loves you.

 

God Wants You Better Today Than You Were Yesterday!

 

God’s plan is NOT to harm you!

 

No One Wants Greater For You Than Your God!

 

These are the plans he has for you!

 

4.God’s Plan Is To Give Us A Hope And Future!

 

Our bible tells us God’s plan so we have hope!

 

 This gives us something to LOOK forward to!

 

When we go after God’s plan…we trust, hope, BELIEVE it will be for our good!

 

We might not know what’s coming in this life…

 

But God knows.

 

God knew everything when he designed his plans for us.

 

Many of us have been left trying to figure out what’s next after COVID.

 

God knew it would happen!

 

No Matter What Has Happened, Remember God Is Making Plans For You!

 

He has something he designed for us.

 

We spent last year talking about how to find and go after this purpose.

 

God’s Plan = God’s Purpose For Us

 

This is what we mean in God’s purpose.

 

Finding God’s plan.

 

Over the last year many of us made it a goal to not just find it…but walk in it.

 

Many of us have been unsuccessful.

 

{Question:}

Why Have We Not Been Able To Fully Walk In Our Purpose?

 

When it comes to things holding us back…

 

We have been talking about the things we see.

 

Proverbs 4:25

25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.

 

When it comes to God’s plan for you, the things we 

 

see

 

focus on

 

look at can distract us.

 

Exodus 3:7

7 The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

 

The Lord is talking to Moses at the burning bush.

 

He told him 2 things.

 

1.Go get his people from Egypt.

2.Take them to the land I show you.

 

This will teach another time.

 

God Will Not Just Deliver You From Something, He Will Deliver You To Something!

 

God said he would bring them up Into a land.

 

Verse 8

8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

 

God was giving them this land.

 

A “good and spacious land”

 

So spacious 6 nations were already living there.

 

Canaanites,

 

Hittites,

 

Amorites,

 

Perizzites,

 

Hivites,

 

Jebusites

 

This land was big…and God was giving it to his people.

 

God Had A Plan To Give This Land To His People

 

Skip to when Moses has brought the people out of Egypt.

 

Numbers 13:1-3

The Lord said to Moses, 2 Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders. 

3 So at the Lords command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.

 

What did God say?

 

God Said Send Men To Explore The Land

 

The land he’s “GIVING.”

 

The bible lists the names of the people.

 

Verse 17-20:

17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land. (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.) 

 

What did Moses say?

 

Moses Said:

1.See What The Land Is Like

2.If The People Are Strong

3.Is The Land Good Or Bad?

{what type of towns, fortified, unwalled, trees…}

4.Bring Back Fruit

 

Moses would ask for details.

 

He would want to know what everything looks like.

 

But God said to explore the LAND…because he was going to give it to them.

 

God already told them who was there.

 

The Minor Details Don’t Matter If God Is Involved!

 

So what happens?

 

They go and check out the land as God and Moses asked.

 

Verse 26

26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.

 

Moses sent them out.

 

They came back and talked to Moses, Aaron and the WHOLE community.

 

“Everyone!”

 

Verse 27

27 They gave Moses this account: We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.

 

The land is great!

 

What did God say?

 

Explore the land!

 

They did that…and it’s good!

 

Here is the fruit!

 

But what about what Moses asked?

 

Verse 28-29

28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

 

Moses was given the good and the bad.

 

Details that shouldn’t have mattered…

 

Details he told them to focus on.

 

God Wanted Them To Focus On The Land;

Moses Had Them Focused On The People

 

Moses wanted to know who was there…God already told them who was there.

 

He wanted to know if they were strong or weak.

 

It didn’t matter if God was going to handle it!

 

It Doesn’t Matter What It Looks Like If God Promised It!

 

These spies have found “The Devil In The Details.”

 

Details ARE important…but God TOLD them want to look for.

 

Now The spies have a negative report.

 

They share this in front of everyone!

 

What happens when the Israelites hear this??

 

They’ll start to talk…

 

“Nah…we need to go someone else.”

 

“Moses brought us out here to die.”

 

These were the same Israelites who were complaining about Moses the entire time!

 

They are flaky from the start!

 

So Caleb tried to turn it back positive.

 

Verse 30

30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it. 

 

If Caleb silenced the people…

 

They were talking.

 

What was meant to be a good thing is burning to the ground.

 

Caleb tries to be positive.

 

Those with him double down.

 

Verse 31-33

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, We cant attack those people; they are stronger than we are. 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. 

 

So Caleb tries to turn this back around.

 

The group shuts him down quick.

 

Verse 32

32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored…

 

They STARTED giving a report to Moses.

 

The crowd hears and begins to talk.

 

Caleb tries to control everything.

 

The spies start talking TO the crowd!

 

They aren’t talking to Moses anymore…

 

“And guess what else!?”

 

They started making things up.

 

Verse 32-33

32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.

 

The land we explored EATS the people living in it!

 

All the people are of great size!!

 

We saw GIANTS there!

 

We seemed like grasshoppers in our minds…

 

We looked like grasshoppers to them!

 

This caused a MAJOR problem!

 

The bible states that the Israelites were planning on killing Moses and Aaron.

 

The spies believed what they saw.

 

God Wanted Their Focus On HIS Plan!

They Placed Their Focus On Other Things!

 

This happens in our life.

 

God has plans to prosper us.

 

God has plans to not harm us.

 

Yet when going after his plan…

 

We find things that distract us from it.

 

Same scripture from earlier in the MSG.

 

Proverbs 4:25-27 (MSG)

Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust.

 

It’s Time To Get Back To God’s Plan And Focus On It!

 

We are getting close to the end of January of 2022 already.

 

Let’s get back to God’s plan for us.

 

Let’s get back to walking in purpose.

 

To do that, let’s stop focusing on distractions.

 

What You Focus On Can Either Help Or Distract You From God’s Plan!

 

 

 

 

Affirmation:

“Today I Am Focused On What God Says, Not My Circumstances!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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