Praying Circles Around Your Walls – 7

Subject: Is the Lord’s Power Limited

by Rick Welborne

Joshua 6:1-5 (NKJV)
¹  Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.
²  And the LORD said to Joshua: "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.
³  You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.
⁴  And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
⁵  It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him." 

Numbers 11:21-23 (NASB)
²¹  But Moses said, "The people, among whom I am, are 600,000 on foot; yet You have said, 'I will give them meat, so that they may eat for a whole month.'
²²  "Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?"
²³  The LORD said to Moses, "Is the LORD'S power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not."

Numbers 11:31-32 (NLT)
³¹  Now the LORD sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp. For miles in every direction there were quail flying about three feet above the ground.
³²  So the people went out and caught quail all that day and throughout the night and all the next day, too. No one gathered less than fifty bushels! They spread the quail all around the camp to dry. 

--Again today we are continuing the series Praying Circles Around Your Walls – 7 and I want us to pick up where we left off with Moses when he saw God send more quail than you can shake a stick at. 

--Before the quail blew in from the sea by a supernatural wind (I believe by Holy Spirit) God asks Moses a question, but more than a question…it is really the question for all of us here today.

--Your answer to this question…the question…will determine the size of your prayer and will determine whether you draw small prayer circles or large ones.

--Here is the question God asks: Is the LORD’s power limited? The obvious answer is ‘no’! God is omnipotent which by definition means there is nothing God cannot do.

--Since this is the Sunday before Easter let me just say that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is absolute proof that the Lord’s power is not limited…and we have that same power!

Romans 8:11 (NLT)
¹¹  The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. 

--If you are lost, if you are bound, if you are struggling with addiction, if your marriage is falling apart…allow the resurrection power of Jesus give life and freedom to your situation.

--Many of us act like and pray like our problems are bigger than God. Please let me remind you of this absolute truth that will add substance to your faith.

--God is infinitely bigger than your biggest problem or biggest dream. By the way, just in case you have forgotten or maybe didn’t know, He is infinitely bigger than your biggest sin. 

Psalm 103:10-13 (NIV)
¹⁰  He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him;
¹²  as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
¹³  As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; 

1. A low view of God or a high view of God.

A.W. Tozer – A low view of God is the cause of a hundred lesser evils, but a high view of God is the solution to ten thousand temporal problems.

--As I hear a quote like this I always wonder is there a place in the Word that makes such an outstanding statement about a big difference in serving God compared to this world. This came to me:

Exodus 20:5-6 (NLT)
⁵  You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.
⁶  But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

--If what Tozer said is true and I believe it is, your impending divorce, your failing business, or the doctor’s diagnosis is not your biggest problem. I am not making light of your problems.

--But here is the question you have to answer; Are your problems bigger than God, or is God bigger than your problems? 

--The truth is, our biggest problem is our small view of God. That is the cause (according to Tozer) of all lesser evils. It is a high view of God that is the solution to all other problems.

--Is the LORD’s power limited? There are only two options: yes or no. Until you come to the conviction that God’s grace and power know no limits, you will draw small prayer circles.

--Once you embrace the omnipotent God, you’ll draw ever-enlarging circles around your God-given, God sized dreams. Before you criticize someone’s dreams you may want to see how big their God is.

--How big is your God? Is He big enough to heal your marriage or heal your sick child? Is He bigger than the latest MRI that had bad news or the negative prognosis? Is He bigger than your secret sin or your secret dream?

2. The size of your prayers will be proportional to the size of your God.

--Moses was perplexed by the promise that God had given him. How could God possibly provide meat for a month for 21/2 million people? It didn’t add up!

--This is that moment for Moses and for us, when a decision has to be made whether or not we will circle the promises of God…God poses the question:

Numbers 11:23 (NASB)
²³  The LORD said to Moses, "Is the LORD'S power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not."

--The size of your prayer depends on the size of your God. And if God has no limits because of His omnipotence then neither should our prayers. He is not bound by the laws of man or nature.

--If He can bring water out of a rock, if He can make a sea and a river part and dry up, if He can make an axe head float, if He can heal leprosy…He can take care of you by His power!

--Is the Lord’s power limited? Let’s look at this just for a moment in the story of an axe head floating. How many of you know axe heads do not float?

2 Kings 6:4-7 (NLT)
⁴  So he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees.
⁵  But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. “Oh, sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!”
⁶  “Where did it fall?” the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface.
⁷  “Grab it,” Elisha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it. 

--God is wanting us to know that He has the power of divine reversal, annulment, cancellation, negation, revocation, undoing when it is needed in our lives. He can do anything!

–He can change the natural order of things to work the miracle we need. Review the above list.

–Everyone knows that steel does not float...unless God reverses the law of gravity.

–Everyone knows that hungry lions would devour whoever is thrown into their den...Unless God reverses their natural instincts and shuts their mouths.

–Everyone knows that anyone thrown into a fiery furnace which has been heated 7 times hotter would die instantly...like the men of valor who threw them in unless God was with them in the fire and cancels the power of the flame.

–Everyone knows that a dead boy does not come back to life unless God wills it so. He Cancels (reverses) Death! Happy resurrection day!

–Everyone knows that flour and oil do not multiply itself during a drought or any other time unless God does something supernatural.

–Everyone knows that someone born blind (John 9) will never see unless God does the healing. He can reverse any damage in the eyes and make them perfect.

–Everyone knows a crippled man who has never walked cannot walk unless God reverses the condition of his legs. He restores whatever was missing.

–Everyone knows that after being dead for 4 days...no way to live...He revokes the power of death.  Takes away the stink of life!

--Is the LORD’s power limited?

3. There is no degree of difficulty with God.

--This is so difficult for us to comprehend but with God there is no big or small, easy or difficult, possible or impossible. It is hard for our earthly minds to understand this.

--We are all subject to the natural laws God has instituted but He is not limited to anything or by anything. He is the beginning and the end.

--To the infinite (God) all finites are equal. Even our hardest prayers are easy for the Omnipotent One to answer because there is no degree of difficulty for Him.

--It is humorous for us humans when we receive prayer request that we deem to be the most urgent or on the edge of impossible…we totally change our voice…the volume and intensity.

--We use big words and quote certain verses hoping that because of our loudness and being demonstrative, God will hear us. Does God perform because of our loud words?

Isaiah 29:13 (NIV)
¹³  The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.

--No matter how long you pray or how loud you pray…it all comes down to the question: Is the LORD’s power limited? The obvious and only answer is “no”.

--With God, it is never an issue of whether He can…we all know or should know that this great omnipotent God can do anything He chooses to do. Because we know that He can we can pray with a holy boldness:

Hebrews 10:19-23 (NLT)
¹⁹  And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.
²⁰  By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.
²¹  And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,
²²  let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
²³  Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 

Revival - 2

Subject - What Will Bring Revival in America

by Rick Welborne

–We must first understand just what Revival is. Many in the Church, especially in the Bible belt where I live, think of Revival as simply a series of special evangelistic meetings. 

--For these, Revival is synonymous with Revival meetings…consecutive services…planned meetings.  

–But this is not what is meant by the term Revival, either historically or biblically.

Habakkuk 3:2 (NKJV) 

2 O LORD, I have heard your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy. 

–Revival in the biblical and historical sense, is a work of God's Spirit whereby the love and zeal of Christians are renewed and rekindled leading to the conversion of sinners and the transformation of society.

Charles Finney - Revival consists of conviction, repentance and reformation. Revival begins with Christians convicted of sin. 

–A backslidden, coldhearted Church cannot regain its zeal and begin to serve God without a deep soul searching of Holy Spirit. 

–Then there must be true repentance. Many believe and act as if simply feeling deeply sorry or remorseful over sin is sufficient. Not true biblically.

2 Corinthians 7:8-11 (NLT)
⁸  I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while.
⁹  Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way.
¹⁰  For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.
¹¹  Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right. 

–Finney - True repentance is a breaking of the heart, getting down into the dust before God with deep humility, and forsaking sin. Only then can the Christian's faith be renewed and reformed. 

–Reformation involves a return to Godly living and work springing forth from a heart filled with love.

Finney - When the Church catches on fire, the world will come to watch it burn!

Steps to Revival

1.  Revival must begin with the leaders; a Church rises no higher than its leadership. 

--The ministers of God must cry out as Joel proclaimed,

Joel 2:1718 (NKJV) 

17 Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?' " 

18 Then the LORD will be zealous (jealously guard) for His land, And pity His people. 

–Revival takes aim at the Church not the world. It sweeps people out of the world, but it must start with the Church. 

1 Peter 4:16-19 (NKJV)
¹⁶  Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
¹⁷  For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
¹⁸  Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?"
¹⁹  Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator. 

--If we have no Revival it is because the Church hinders it with:  Coldness of heart. We have no zeal for God, no passion for His will. 

Psalm 69:9 (NLT) 

9 Passion for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. 

BEWARE OF REVIVAL

BY MICHAEL AMICO

There is nothing soothing about revival.  Revival is not a season to be jolly.  It’s not celebration or festivity.  The church in revival is faced with the anguish of unforgiven sin.  Like Isaiah of old the church cries out “Undone”.  Revival often takes the church in its grasp and refuses to let go until every last ounce of sin and self has been squeezed out.  There is nothing soothing about revival.

*  Revival often scorches before it soothes!

*  Revival burns before it blesses!

*   Revival eliminates before it edifies! * Revival hurts before it heals! * Revival empties before it fills!

 *   Revival breaks before it builds.  Revival breaks everything in its path.

 *   Revival breaks pride, programs, prejudices, and platforms.

 *   Revival makes demands, real demands.

 *   Revival demands painful repentance!

 *   Revival demands painful sacrifice!

 *   Revival demands painful commitment!

 *   Revival demands ambitious evangelism!

Beware of revival!  Revival is not all preachers and teachers have made it out to be.  Let me suggest that the next time you pray for revival, you first of all count the cost.

–Finney goes on and speaks of hindrances in the church:  Sin in the Camp. Division and strife.  Prayerlessness. Has there ever been a time when prayer was needed more yet exercised less? 

Luke 18:1 (NLT) 

1 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 

–Men should take it to heart that Jesus is talking to them, men should always pray! If we should, then to not do it must be sin! The Church today does not pray and so it cannot have Revival.

James 4:17 (NKJV)
¹⁷  Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

--Hindrances to revival is to emphasis on wrong doctrine and wrong emphasis on right doctrine. Every doctrine that centers our attention on man rather than Jesus hinders Revival.

–Every doctrine that makes man the center of God's attention rather than God the center of man's devotion hinders Revival.

–Every heart that is seeking or serving God for what He will do for them is a backslidden heart in need of Revival! Prosperity movement! 

2. The Church must begin to pray!

Galatians 4:19 (NKJV) 

19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you… 

Jonathan Duttweiler –Prayer is the communion with God by which the Church is impregnated with concern for lost souls; the avenue by which the Church travails for those souls. Prayer is the midwife of Revival and the nursemaid by which converts are stabilized and fixed! For Revival to come the Church must pray! 

Finney wrote in his Memoirs - "In regard to my own experience, I will say that unless I had the Spirit of prayer I could do nothing. If even for a day or an hour I lost the Spirit of grace and supplication, I found myself unable to preach with power and efficiency, or to win souls by personal conversation...I found myself having more or less power in preaching and in personal labor for souls just in proportion as I had the Spirit of prevailing prayer."

3. The Church must then be filled with the Holy Spirit! 

Ephesians 5:1721 (NIV) 

17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 

18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 

19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 

20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 

–Pray for your pastors to have anointed preaching which conveys the conviction of the Holy Spirit which will bring Revival.

–Charles Spurgeon wrote, "Unction [Holy Spirit anointing] is a thing which you cannot manufacture, and its counterfeits are worse than worthless. Yet it is, in itself, priceless, and beyond measure needful if you would edify believers and bring sinners to Christ."

4. To have Revival, the Church's chief motive must be to please God. 

Mark 12:3034 (NLT) 

30 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 

31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” 

32 The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. 

33 And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.” 

34 Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. 

It is God, in Christ, Who has suffered and died in order that all men everywhere might be saved, He deserves souls. Love for souls is good, but love for God must be first!

1 Corinthians 10:31 (NLT) 

31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 

5. If we are to have Revival ministers must deal directly with the people where they are.

 –Don't preach to the choir! Ministers of God must learn to deal with the people they have before them, not to some group of sinners unrelated to the congregation at hand.

–It is much easier for the minister to preach to those dirty rotten sinners outside the church instead of dealing with those in house. (People get very uncomfortable when dealt with!)

1 Peter 4:17 (NLT) 

17 For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? 

–Someone once told me that I should not deal with problems in the church from the pulpit in my preaching.  My response was that if that is the case Paul would have to apologize for his writings and preaching.

–Sometimes God’s Word is like a Sword (Sword of the Spirit):

Hebrews 4:1213 (NLT) 

12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest twoedged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 

13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. 

(6) The Church must preach the Word and leave out doctrines and traditions of men and denominations if we are to have real Revival. 

–Many hold to the notion that doctrines are unimportant and that as long as we have fire and zeal and love for God we will see results. But hear this loud and clear, the truth matters! (We cannot pick and choose...preach the whole counsel of God).

–The truth is the Holy Spirit's instrument to probe the hearts and minds of men and bring about conviction. Paul told Timothy that he must learn to rightly divide the word of truth. Listen to Jesus:

John 8:3136 (NLT) 

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 

32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

33 “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?” 

34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 

35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 

36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. 

Praying Circles Around Your Walls – 6

Praying Circles Around Your Walls – 6

Subject: Vision Beyond Your Resources

by Rick Welborne

Joshua 6:1-5 (NKJV)
¹  Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.
²  And the LORD said to Joshua: "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.
³  You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.
⁴  And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
⁵  It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him." 

Numbers 11:31-32 (NLT)
³¹  Now the LORD sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp. For miles in every direction there were quail flying about three feet above the ground.
³²  So the people went out and caught quail all that day and throughout the night and all the next day, too. No one gathered less than fifty bushels! They spread the quail all around the camp to dry. 

--We have been speaking about circling your walls and about praying circles around those miracles that you want to see happen. We want you to dream God-sized dreams that only God can do.

--Many times when we dream like this we will look foolish…faith is the willingness to look foolish for God no matter what anyone else thinks. 

--Noah looked foolish building a boat in the desert, Israel looked foolish marching around Jericho, David looked foolish running at a giant with a sling and a stone.

--Peter looked foolish getting out of a boat and walking on water, the Magi looked foolish following a star, and I am sure Jesus looked foolish wearing a crown of thrones. 

--The results speak for themselves…Noah and family was saved from the flood, the walls of Jericho fell down flat, David killed Goliath, Peter walked on water, the Magi found the Messiah, Jesus was crowned King…

--Moses had a habit of looking foolish…standing before Pharaoh and demanding Israel’s release, raising his staff over the Red Sea, and reporting meat to eat for all of Israel.

--Sometimes when we begin to circle in prayer those things that seem impossible, we can definitely feel foolish. The bigger the circle you draw and pray the more foolish you feel.

--You see, it is crazy enough to want to be a great missions church and to throw abundant resources toward that, but it can seem just a little crazy and foolish to talk about another campus…multiple campuses.

--Many times we sit back and look at our dreams and we have to simply say…this is crazy…this is too much! I am backing God into a corner that He cannot fulfill! Really? Was it a God dream or not!

1. To have vision beyond your resources you must be willing to take a risk.

--Imagine Honi the rainmaker when he said that he would not leave the circle he had drawn in the sand until it rained, imagine Peter getting out of the boat to walk on water…to have vision we must take risk.

--The greatest adventures you will have in your life will take risk but they will be the most unforgettable…three years ago for my birthday my wife purchased for me one of my bucket list…sky diving.

--My wife decided to go for the best…typical sky divers jump from about 12,000 feet but that was not good enough for me…the highest a non-military person can do is 19,000 feet…that was what she got me.

--A couple years before she had my “death insurance” increased…I told my sons at that time that if anything happened to have their mom investigated. You hit the ground from 19,000 feet you are dead.

--The moments of training and the time waiting is only to build up your anticipation (my son Joshua went also). You board the plane with parachute on attached to another sky diver. The old plane climbs higher and higher.

--The look on Joshua’s face was priceless as I asked him was he ok and he said “No!” He jumped! My turn now. This is crazy, this is crazy, this crazy…Jump…This is wonderful! This is awesome! I might throw up!

--We fell for a minute and a half before we opened our chute…We could see the Atlantic Ocean, the Space Coast, and it was so exhilarating…if there is no “This is crazy” there may never be a “This is wonderful.” 

--If you are unwilling to take the risk of circling the city, stepping out of the boat, praying for rain, circling the prodigal, starting the campus, increasing the Missions, you may just forfeit the miracle. 

Mark Batterson: The greatest chapters in history always begin with risk, and the same is true with the chapters in your life. If you’re unwilling to risk your reputation, you’ll never build a boat like Noah or get out of the boat like Peter. You cannot build God’s reputation if you are not willing to risk yours. There comes a moment when you need to make the call or make the move. Circle makers are risk takers.

--How do we get to that point of taking Godly risk?

Vision, passion, discipline, and risk.

A. Vision - Godly vision is the power to see beyond our limitations.  

B.   Vision produces or results in passion. Passion is being empowered by what we see. If you see people with no passion - you know they have no vision. 

--Webster says passion is the intense, compelling emotion evidenced in decisive, courageous action.  Carl Barth “Passion is fear that said its prayers” Paul’s passion - For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

C. Vision and passion produce or results in discipline. 

D. Vision, passion, and discipline give you the courage to take risks. Risk is spending your life making a difference that your dreams dared you to believe.

Vision – passion – discipline – risk. Risk without discipline is recklessness. Discipline without passion is legalism. Passion without vision is hype. Vision without Christ is meaningless.

--If Faith Promises seem to be taking a risk for you, maybe that should be where you start. Trust God with your Faith Promise and see what God will do…not really risky based on God’s Word.

2. To have vision beyond our resources we must understand that the math will not add up.

--I love the transparency of the Scriptures because not only do we have trouble doing the math but a man (Moses) who talked to God face to face had problems with it. Let’s back up a little.

--The Israelites were complaining…what a shock! Numbers 11 starts out with people in the camp complaining and fire coming down from Heaven and killing a few of them…that should be a deterrent but no!

--If I could never understand Israel’s complaining before…I really get it with this one. They wanted meat! They missed meat! They had ba-manna bread, ba-manna sandwiches, ba-manna stew…they wanted meat.

Numbers 11:4-6 (NIV)
⁴  The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat!
⁵  We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.
⁶  But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" 

--What they forgot was that, even though their food was free, they were not. Many died. What a powerful message…you can go back to fulfill your out of control appetite but you will go back to bondage.  

--They cried at the doors of their houses but missed the miracle God sent every day for them thru the manna. We are guilty of the same thing…we forget the miracles of our bodies, our hearts, our lungs, our vision.

--We forget we are on a planet traveling 67,000 miles per hour and spinning on its axis at 1000 miles per hour. We are on a round rock but we can stand on the side, the top, the bottom, and not fall off…a miracle of gravity.

--We are surrounded by miracles yet we complain. We never have enough! Moses was a true pastor and he voiced what so many of us pastors feel at different times. Listen to him with these complainers:

Numbers 11:10-15 (NIV)
¹⁰  Moses heard the people of every family wailing, each at the entrance to his tent. The LORD became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled.
¹¹  He asked the LORD, "Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me?
¹²  Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers?
¹³  Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, 'Give us meat to eat!'
¹⁴  I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.
¹⁵  If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now--if I have found favor in your eyes--and do not let me face my own ruin."

--God hears the whining of the people and the burden of His servant Moses and promises one of the most unbelievable miracles ever heard of and the math does not add up.

--He promises them, not just meat for a day or two, not just meat for a week or two but so much meat for an entire month that the meat will be coming out their nostrils. Snot good! He wasn’t picking!

--Sounds like the kid with five pieces of bread and two pieces of fish…the math just not add up…not possible.

Numbers 11:21-24 (NIV)
²¹  But Moses said, "Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!'
²²  Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?"
²³  The LORD answered Moses, "Is the LORD's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you."
²⁴  So Moses went out and told the people what the LORD had said.

--Can you relate to Moses? Take that job that pays less, but it doesn’t add up. Go on that Mission’s trip you can’t afford; it doesn’t add up. Adopt a child, it doesn’t add up. Do a Faith Promise, it doesn’t add up!

--Build a new sanctuary but make sure you give more to Missions while you are doing it…the math, our math just does not add up but God has different math.

Batterson: Moses had no earthly idea how God was going to keep His promise, but that isn’t our business anyway. That is God’s business. Too often we let the how get in the way of what God wants us to do. We can’t figure out how to do what God calls us to do, so we don’t do it at all. 

3. To have vision beyond our means we must being willing to trust God and to trust the wind.

Numbers 11:31-32 (NIV)
³¹  Now a wind went out from the LORD and drove quail in from the sea. It brought them down all around the camp to about three feet above the ground, as far as a day's walk in any direction.
³²  All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp.

--Israel had set up camp in the desert of Paran. OK, why is that significant? Paran was fifty miles from the Mediterranean Sea and fifty miles southwest of the dead sea. So? Quail tend to live close to water.

--Quail don’t fly long distances…so how did they get to the camp? God sent a wind, a supernatural wind to blow them in…Correct me if I am wrong, isn’t wind used as an illustration or type of Holy Spirit. Stay with me.

--There were quail hovering three feet deep a day’s walk in any direction (a day’s walk was approximately 15 miles). Square the radius and multiply by pi…you are talking of 700 sg. miles…Quail-mageddon!

--If we just count the 600,000 soldiers times 10 homers…6 million homers of quail. Let’s say the quail were of normal size…you are looking at around 105 million quail…and you are worried about a Faith Promise. 

--You see, when God wants to send a miracle and the math doesn’t add up…all He has to do is send a supernatural wind (Holy Spirit) and the miracle is done.

Acts 2:1-2 (NKJV)
¹  When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
²  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.