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Week 148.3 - Faith For Provision: Reason #16: The Promised Land - III (Wed)
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I've got the victory living inside of me I got the greater one I can overcome this ain't no time to turn back no the less to grow slack I gotta keep pressing on Till every battle is wonder Good morning, class. Hi, I'm Keith Moore, and we welcome you to Faith School. Faith School is the place where my spirit is fed, where my faith grows stronger, and where I learn how to be an overcomer. Nothing is too hard for the Lord, and nothing is impossible to those who believe. And that's what we're about at Faith School is believing, believing, trusting the Lord. So get your Bible out, get something to make a note with. We saved you a chair right here in the front. Our idea is we don't want you to think about us coming into your room where you are. We want you to come in here with us and these folks are surrounding you. And I get to see how close I am right here to check up on you and see are you getting this? And so give this your full attention for the next few minutes, please, Father. All of us agree together as touching this, asking for the utterance, the anointing, the quickening of youf Spirit. Any corrections we need to make, any adjustments we need to make, we ask for the light of truth of youf Word in Jesus name, Amen. We've been for some weeks now on a series we're calling Faith for Provision. We're in the process of giving, one by one, 30 reasons from scripture why we are sure abundant provision is always God's will for us all. Now, I know that's not something that everybody believes, but if you don't believe it, ask yourself what your belief is based on. And faith in God is based on what he said, not what people think. So that's why we're giving you one by one reasons, not my theories and opinions about it. What he said about reason after reason after reason, and the Bible said, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established. Well, we're giving you more than that. So if you respect God, you respect His Word. And if you respect His Word, when He tells you something for 30 times, right, then you say, yes. Okay, Right, Yeah, we got that settled. Right. And what are we talking about having settled? Abundant provision is always God's will for us all. Say it again. Abundant provision is always God's will for me, always. That means poverty is never God's will for anyone. Now, you know, people argue with that and they go, well, certainly it must be because a lot of people are in poverty well, no. See, you're ascertaining the will of God by what's happening in the earth. No, there's all kind of things happening in the earth that are not God's will, not his plan. And if you're confused about that, well, then you're confused about a lot of things. Think about the Lord's Prayer. He taught us to pray. Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Really? Well, then is there poverty in heaven? Is there lack in heaven? Well, there's lack on earth. Is that the will of God? No. See, if the will of God is already being done. Everything on the earth is the will of God. Somehow. I don't need to pray that the will of God will be done. It's already being done. No, no, that's a major adjustment that a lot of folks need to make. You don't ascertain the will of God by what has happened or by what is going on. No, we ascertain the will of God by what he said, which does not change. And so we begin reason number one with the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack. That word is translated both ways. And so we went, one by one, through the goodness of God, the fatherhood of God, the creation of God, God's will in heaven. The God of Abraham. We are the seed of Abraham. We talked about the blessing of tithing. We talked about honor and riches. We talked about wisdom and wealth. We talked about being an imitator of God. We talked about God the Great I am. We talked about the unchanging names of God and the God of restoration. We talked about provision in the wilderness. And now we are up to number 16 in our study. Promised land. The promised land. We saw that the Lord told His people that he delivered out of Egyptian bondage, that he had chosen a land for them, that he was going to take them to a good land. Good land. Good land. A good land that flowed with milk and honey. A pleasant land. A prosperous land. We studied yesterday's session. A land where there was no scarceness. A land where you wouldn't lack anything. Hallelujah. Does this sound good or not? No scarceness, no lack. Well, obviously that was God's will. That's not something they came up with. That's something he told them he chose and his plan for them. Now, there's so much to be learned here. Because that first generation of folks that he brought out of Egyptian slavery and bondage, did they go to the Promised Land? They did not did they experience the riches and goodness that he was talking to them about. They did not. And that's sad, because it was the will of God, it was the plan of God, it was what God wanted for them. But they would not believe Him. He couldn't convince them to trust him and obey Him. Well, see, all of this is typical. Foreshadowing the provision and goodness of redemption in Christ. And then also the fact that it's still our choice whether we believe or not, whether we receive or not, whether we find and follow his plan and will for ourselves or not. So we're not just looking at old history here. These living principles of faith and trust and living revelations of the goodness of God and His will for no lack, these are unchanging. They have always been true. They're true today, they'll be true tomorrow. That he is the God of more than enough and abundant provision is always God's will for us all. Well, in Nehemiah 9, Nehemiah, looking back at what had happened with this, he describes it like this. Nehemiah 9 and down about verse 25, they took strong cities and a fat land and possessed houses full of all goods. Did you notice? They don't call them bads. Did you notice that? And he's talking about things. When he says houses full of all goods, what kind of goods is he talking about? Furniture. Right, furniture. Rugs, hangings, whatever it might be. Goods. Goods. God used to want them to have a house. He used to want them to have a house full of goods. How about now? How about you? Now it's progressive according to what faith. You have to lay hold of it. If you're in the street, living on the street, getting off the street is a good step, right? Believe God to get off the street, but don't stop there. I said don't stop there. Then believe God to get your own place. Maybe it's just an efficiency apartment, but it's your own place, right? And then believe God. Step up. Maybe it's a three bedroom, two bath, right? Believe God to get your own house. Somebody said, I don't know any way. Exactly. That's what faith is all about. When you can't see any way but you believe God can and he will, then you are in real faith territory. So go ahead and say it out. I believe God wants good things for me, including my own place. Thank youk, Lord, for doing this for me. Hallelujah. We go from grace to grace, faith to faith, glory to glory. It's a progressive thing. So it goes on to say they took strong cities. Nehemiah 9:25. They possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged vineyards and olive yards and fruit trees in abundance. So they did eat and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in youn great goodness. Is God still this good? He is. He is. And this term, I wanted to read that from Nehemiah because of that phrase right there. They delighted themselves in youn great goodness. Say it out loud. Delighted themselves. Now, see, this is how they responded to the goodness of God. They delighted themselves in what? In His. God's great goodness. He's not just good, he's really good, right? His goodness is not just some. It's great, great goodness. And part of the goodness is seen in material things. It is. People mock it and make fun of it because they are not delighting. Oh, come on. Can you see this? That's what we want to talk some more about. They're not delighting themselves in his great goodness. The way that they got it is the big deal, too. In Joshua 24:13, you don't have to turn there. Joshua 24:13, after they had begun to possess the land and began to enjoy it, the Lord said, I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you built not, and you dwell in them. And vineyards and olive yards which you planted not. Do you eat? Just a couple of verses later is the famous 15th verse. Choose you this day, right? Who you're going to serve, as for me and my house will serve the Lord. Well, this is in connection with abundant provision of houses you didn't build, and entire cities you didn't build, and vineyards and olive yards you didn't plant. Well, see, that's a type of you didn't work for it, right? And in the book of Hebrews, he talks about that. We which have believed do enter into rest the biggest and the best things in our life we did not earn, we did not merit, we didn't work for it and accomplish it through getting it, working for it. And so it was by grace. And actually all we had to do is believe it. Now, the enemy tried to keep them out of it. So there was a fight. But the fight wasn't creating the houses and lands and all that. It was just getting through the resistance, trying to keep you from it. Can you see that? And that's why we fight, not the good fight to get the stuff. We fight the good fight of faith. We fight the unbelief, the fear, the doubt, all the things that tell us you can't all the things that say, no, you'll never have that. You'll never reach that. That's too big. That's too far. That's too high. That's too much. That's what you have to fight, right? You have to put your helmet on. The hope of salvation. Why? So them stupid thoughts can't get in your mind, Is that right? That they're bouncing off the hope, the expectation of the full salvation. Right. And you have to keep your shield of faith up. Why? So you don't let those stupid arrows pierce you and gut you. Faith. And so that you get depressed and hopeless and faithless. If you let those thoughts and those feelings get in you and you dwell on them, they'll hurt you. They'll take you down. But no shield of faith. And it just goes boing. It bounces off. Hallelujah. And fight the good fight of faith. You didn't work for it. Now, something that people have struggled with is, if God wants me to have these kind of things, does he really want you to have your own place full of good things? And yet people say, well, if that's what he wanted from me, wouldn't I already have it? No. No. Did he have the promised land for his people when he first brought them out of Egypt? He did. Did he have it for them? Could he have brought them in immediately once they learned the lessons coming through the wilderness, could he have gotten them right in within a few months? Or whatever the case might be, but it didn't happen. Didn't happen. Why they despised. Now I'm quoting Scripture. They actually despised the good land and his good plan, and they slandered it. I'm quoting scripture. They despised it and slandered it. Now, that's why I read to you in Nehemiah. The next generation that actually enjoyed it, what did they do? They didn't despise it and they didn't slander it. They delighted. I said they delighted in it. That exact thing is happening today. There are people who hear things like what I'm preaching right now, and a number of them despise it. They despise it. They mock it and they slander it. And they'll never have it. Y' all hear this? But there are some like these, like you. Is that right? Like me. We delight. I said we delight when the Lord tells us, I got something good for you, boy. We go. I believe it. I believe it. I believe it. I am in full agreement with good things for Keith. I'm full agreement. Full agreement. And that's not covetousness. That's just me not despising nor rejecting nor slandering what the Lord has said for me. With many people, just like for that first group of Israelites that came out of Egypt, God's plan was too good for them in their thinking, it could not be. And when the spies came back from spying out the land and they said, oh, man, yeah, yeah, it's a good land, okay, but basically, I'm going to paraphrase. We'll never see it. Why? Giants, things full of giants, full of walled cities. In other words, no way, no how. They'll kill us all. That's all that's going to happen. And in doing so, they didn't believe God was big enough, God could do it. He was good enough that he would do it. They just didn't believe it. And so they never had it. They never enjoyed it. And I've been in this for a while now, and we've gotten criticized for teaching and preaching that God is a God of abundance. But I'm giving scriptures, right? But what's going on? People lack the faith to lay hold of it. And instead of letting God bring you up to that place of laying hold, they despise it and reject it. And that's sad, because it is not just a rejection of a preacher like me. It's a rejection of the goodness of God. Everybody, say it out. Lord, open my eyes and ears and heart and mind that I never despise youe goodness, that I never slander or speak evil of any of youf good things. I choose to rejoice and to delight in youn goodness. I believe youe love for me and you'd good plan of good things for me all my life and beyond. Hallelujah. Thank youk, Lord. Thank youk, Lord. Don't let the goodness of God be too great for you so that you balk at it and you choke on it. See, they just would not accept that the land was that good. And even when the spies came back and told them it was. Yeah, but no way we could ever have it. And isn't that how the enemy works? No, it couldn't happen. Even if it could, it might happen for somebody, but not for you, right? What's wrong with me? But the bottom line is that you wind up not believing what God told you. His plan. Land flows with milk and honey. Ah, the rains fall on it. Just the right amount at the right time. Crops. You remember when the spies came back, they had a bunch of grapes, one cluster of Grapes. It was so big, they carried it on a stick between two men. Now, this is serious grapes. It's a visible sign that what God said was not an exaggeration. This place is tops. This is the best place. If God says, I found it, I picked it out for you, you don't want to go anywhere else, right? Does God still pick out places for us today? Yeah. Well, it's the same kind of thing. I know Phyllis, my wife and I, we've been following the Lord for 40 plus years now. And step after step, there are places where we left home and went here and built to a certain place. And the Lord said, go over here. So we liquidated. We left, and we've done that multiple times. And oh, my, you know, at the time, it looks like you're leaving everything that you have that you know, that you've built up, but what he brought you to made you throw rocks at the other stuff. And I've thought many times, what if we had clung to our little junk back there years ago and missed everything that God had planned for us. That's happened too many times. People have clung to a little house or a little piece of land or some little something because they thought, this is as good as I'll ever have, and if I lose this, well, then I don't have anything. No. In fact, when the Lord dealt with us about liquidating and going to another place and starting a work and that kind of thing, for several weeks I kind of wrestled with it because it had taken us 20 years to build to that point. And a number of things. We had believed God for. For 10 years, 15 years, that kind of thing, and finally just got them and just got there. And the Lord is dealing with us. Liquidate and go over here and start over. And you don't do these things off the top of your head. I mean, you need to be led by the Spirit. But the Lord was leading me, and I was kind of dragging my feet a little bit. You know, maybe you've never done that, but I was like, are we really going to do this? Are we really going to do this? And I was shaving one morning, and the Lord said, what are you waiting on? I put the razor down. I said, lord, you know, no need in me trying to explain it to you, you know? He said, do you believe I'm able to give you better than this? Anybody know the correct answer to? He said, do you believe I'm able to give you better than this? This is when we were in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the Lord Was dealing with us about going to Branson. And we'd never been to Branson, didn't know anybody in Branson, Missouri. And I put the razor down, I said, yes, Lord, I do believe that yout are able to give us better than this. I believe it. So we did. We sold stuff, we liquidated, we went, we relocated our staff relocated. We're starting over. We had wound up in a pretty nice house and place. Now we're in a little rent house that was too close to a golf course. And the balls kept hitting the side of the house and the plumbing didn't work all the time. That's okay. We're doing the will of God, right? You know, if you're not willing to sacrifice some, then the commitment is not there. But we're not planning on staying there forever, right? And just a few months into that, I had the staff, we were praying about something and we're in the process of starting these new works and things. And the Lord said, I'm going to give you the best of Branson. Didn't the Bible say, if you be willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the lamb. I'm going to give you the best of Branson. Well, at that time, we didn't own anything. We didn't own one building, one piece of land, nothing. In the matter of the next five years, 10 years, and then 15 years, he gave us a 10 acre property with a 3,000 seat thing. And then he gave us another thing with the entire thing is 70 acres. That's right on the front row. And he gave us a house so much better than we had ever had. And looking back at the other saying, man, would we have been dumb if we would have just sat over there and clung to our little stuff and thought, yeah, but we arrived here. No, you haven't arrived, honey child. God can do more. Do you believe God can do better than you have seen or known? He is able to do exceeding abundantly above any and everything you have ever thought or asked. He is this good. I believe God is this good. And I delight in God's great good to me. Well, our time is up again. It seems like it passes pretty quick when we start getting excited like this. But he really does have a plan that just exceeds the best you could imagine or thought. Come back tomorrow. We'll talk some more about it. We'll see you soon here in Faith School. Thank you for joining us at Faith School. Class is dismissed for today, but you can watch this and other episodes of Faith School Free of charge@faithschool.org for more information, visit our website. Our call is at 941-702-7390.