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."
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.
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!"
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."
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.
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 be 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.
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.
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.
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