11/2/11 THE SPIES’ REPORT
Numbers 13:26-33 Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Key Verse: 13:27-28 Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF
“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. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.”
Dear Lord Heavenly Father, thank you for helping me to know what it means to grow as a minister of Christ Jesus. Please grant me a quiet and gentle spirit. I repent that I have not been gentle with my children, especially in regards to getting them to do yard work. Please give me the mind of Christ. I pray that you may help all members of our family to be eager to work hard to make this house a home and to help us function as a house church and bear much fruit, especially the fruit of having the joy of salvation. Please bless the FCA to bear much fruit. Please raise up a willing and joyful leader for next year. I pray for Augustine to be that leader. Please help me to find my cell phone. Please plant your word in my heart. I thank you Lord. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!
1. The Ten Leaders’ Bad Report (26-29, 32-33).
Verses 26-29, “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. 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. 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.” ….,” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 3 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.” 2
Ten leaders saw that the land was extremely fertile. Indeed, it was a land flowing with milk and honey just as the Lord had promised. However, the people of the land were giants; their cities were large and well-fortified. Ten spies reported to Moses, “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (33). They felt it was impossible to take the land. Their conclusion was negative.
We need to be careful concerning the words that we speak. We can speak words of encouragement or discouragement. I have been guilty of speaking words of discouragement and fatalism. I have been bringing others down with my words instead of building them up. I repent of this. There can be one event and many ways to view it. I need to be able to speak words of encouragement to others. “Yes we can…when we have faith in God.” Though it looks daunting to produce a 12 discipleship ministry at NIU with the single family house church model, the mission field is fruitful. It is a very important campus. I just don’t have that much of an outreach to campus students. A church should have an outreach. Lord, the harvest is plentiful in this great mission land. But the workers are few. I ask you, the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into this mission field.
2. Caleb’s Report (31).
Verses 30-33, “ 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.”
But Caleb said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (30). He believed God’s promise. All twelve leaders experienced the same thing for 40 days, yet their conclusions were different. Caleb knew this was the Lord’s battle, not his. All he needed to do was to stand firm on faith (Isa 30:15). “This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.’” I need to stand firm in repentance and faith and God will bring about a deliverance in my life and ministry. He already has through the leadership development conference. In repentance and rest , quietness and trust is my salvation. I want to approach preaching the gospel and raising disciples at NIU with a new faith and a new trust God. Lord, please help me to be like Caleb and be full of faith and encourage others with the possibilities and open doors that you give.
One Word: Speak words of faith and encouragement
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