1. Leviticus-Deuteronomy
#6 The Story
Wandering
Leviticus-Deuteronomy

2. Review: 1. God created the heavens and earth
2. God establishes marriage of one man and one woman
3. Man determined that his knowledge of good and evil was more important that his relationship with God
4. God begins His quest to restore man
5. Sacrifice
6. Cain & Abel
7. Seth
8. Noah
9. Abraham—Covenant-Promise as an everlasting covenant
10. Joseph (Remover) God removed my sorrow
11. Deliverance from Egypt
Commandments given and Tabernacle, Golden calf

3. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
Reference road trip movies, such as Vacation, with Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold.
Use stories from your own vacation experiences to illustrate two things that happen on road trips:
1. Kids fight and bicker and ask, “Are we _______?” (have audience complete the sentence) and dad threatens to turn the car around and go back home.
2. Drivers make a wrong turn and cause everyone in the car to go out of their way.
Herding Cats: To lead into the sermon, show the EDS ad “Cat Herders” from YouTube, to illustrate leading the Israelites through the wilderness.
VACATION IN KENTUCKY
Left Glasgow, Kentucky got on Interstate
Heading the wrong direction
I am not going to take in interstate back again
GPS—I want to go East
GPS says to go west
Said to go west—Recalculating, Recalculating,
I did not trust the GPS—Compass in the car
Got back to the very place exactly we started from

4. Herding Cats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE

5. Points to remember
The Lord is looking for followers who will passionately honor and trust Him.
Israel’s constant grumbling elicits God’s wrath.
Israel evaluated God’s commands according to their limited perspective, disobeying God and refusing to take the land, condemning an entire to death in the desert.
The Lord is looking for followers who will passionately honor and trust Him.
Israel’s constant grumbling elicits God’s wrath.
Israel evaluated God’s commands according to their limited perspective, disobeying God and refusing to take the land, condemning an entire to death in the desert.

6. Moses’ years of faithful obedience did not give him license to disobey, even once.

7. Our ability to live faithfully before the Lord is directly tied to our constantly remembering God’s word.
Our ability to live faithfully before the Lord is directly tied to our constantly remembering God’s word.

8. I. The Rabble Numbers 10-12 Who are the Rabble?
A. Who are the Rabble?
B. Greatest enemy of faith is forgetfulness
1. How bad slavery really is
2. How bad the consequences of sin are
3. How faithful God really is
a. Wonders in Egypt
-10 plagues
-God’s provision in the wilderness
C. In rough times, Forgetfulness
1. Horror of slavery
2. Goodness of God
Who are the Rabble?
Greatest enemy of faith is forgetfulness

9. II. A Crisis of Faith Numbers 13-14, 20
A. Do you trust Me?
1. For water?
2. For Food
3. For victory over the enemies
B. Border of Canaan
1. One step away from victory
2. So close and so tired
Do you trust Me?
Border of Canaan

10. Spies sent in Numbers 14:1-12
10-Gave a faithless report
2-If God is with us, we will win
Their protection is removed. v. 9
10 say they are too big for us. 2 said “God is with us. We can overtake them.”
Their protection is removed. beforeNumbers 14:1–12 (ESV) — 1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” 10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

11. GPS - Take a hard right into the wilderness
~~Recalculating for 40 years because of their lack of trust
~~~~Global Positioning Satellite to a God Positioning Satellite
Map showing their travel back into the wilderness
Keith Green sang a song—Take another lap around Mt. Sinai
Recalculating for 40 years because of their lack of trust
Global Positioning Satellite to a God Positioning Satellite

13. Did not have the same faith as Abraham 500 years earlier
Keith Green sang a song—Take another lap around Mt. Sinai

14. III. Fighting Battles Number 21, 25
Faced Swords of the attacking armies
Faces the battle of the mind
Balak-embracing the idols
Must have the same passion for fighting idolatry as an army
Destroy the Midianites because they tried to destroy Israel
Faced Swords of the attacking armies
Faces the battle of the mind
Balak-embracing the idols
Must have the same passion for fighting idolatry as an army
Destroy the Midianites because they tried to destroy Israel

15. IV. Transition Numbers 27, Deuteronomy
Transition from Moses to Joshua
Moses preaches 5 sermons
Transition from Moses to Joshua
Moses preaches 5 sermons

16. Moses’ Final Speech
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Moses’ Final Speech: Read Deuteronomy 30:11-18 out loud (The Story, bottom of page 86 to halfway down page 87), so it sinks in. Then, put verses on the screen for emphasis and read them aloud.

17. Today I make a covenant with my community:
Community Covenant
Today I make a covenant with my community:
• I will choose life and prosperity.
• I will love the Lord my God.
• I will walk in obedience to Him.
• I will keep His commands, decrees and laws.
• I choose to live and increase and to receive the blessings of God.
• I choose to trust in God and His leadership.
___________________________ ________
Signed Date
___________________________ ________
Witnessed Date
Community Covenant
Today I make a covenant with my community:
• I will choose life and prosperity.
• I will love the Lord my God.
• I will walk in obedience to Him.
• I will keep His commands, decrees and laws.
• I choose to live and increase and to receive the blessings of God.
• I choose to trust in God and His leadership.
___________________________ ________
Signed Date
___________________________ ________
Witnessed Date

18. Upper Story/Lower Story
God’s GPS is instructing us on how to live life in the upper story where we find blessing and purpose.
God has the whole journey mapped out, from beginning to end, and he knows the best way to get us to our destination.
Their wilderness experience was to be an indicator to watching nations
God’s GPS is instructing us on how to live life in the upper story where we find blessing and purpose.
God has the whole journey mapped out, from beginning to end, and he knows the best way to get us to our destination.
• He is with us every step of the way, whether we’re aware of it or not.
o When food and water were withheld from the Israelites, it was because God was testing them to see if they would trust him.
o If they trusted him in the wilderness, they would trust him in the final destination.
• Their wilderness experience was to be an indicator, a sign to the watching nations about how life works when you put trust in God, who desires to be in relationship with us. In order for God’s grand scheme to work out, his plan to get all the nations back, the children of Israel were going to have to trust him.

19. Application You are on a Road Trip
God sees the whole picture and directs us in specifics
Others in our car are affected by our choices
What choices are you making today?
The Christian life is like a road trip. God wants to lead us every step of the way from his GPS.
• He sees the whole picture from beginning to end and he wants is to make it to the final destination and enjoy the journey, but we must trust him. When he says go left, we should go… [have the audience say] LEFT. When he says go right, we should go…[have the audience say] RIGHT. When he calls for us to stop we should…[have the audience say] STOP…dead in our tracks. When he tells us to go faster we should put the pedal to the metal. When he tells us to break down the barrier in front of us, no matter how big and bad it looks, we need to charge ahead in faith.
There are others in the car with us, who are affected by our decisions. They will experience the blessings of our good decisions and the pain of our destructive decisions. What choices are you making today?