01-18-12

How far Are You?

NJBC 7:30am/11am

                                                 How Far Are You From Your Blessing
                                                            Deuteronomy 1:19-36

As one reads the account of the journey of the Israelites from Egypt on their way to the promise land there is much to be discovered about our own spiritual voyage. God has taken great pains to insure that the specific traveling details are outlined in the book of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

The physical route they took is symbolic of the spiritual road we must travel and if we are careful to heed the voice of God and follow his directions and stay on the straight and narrow and unlike them we can avoid going in circles and the consequential trouble along the way.
The Apostle Paul writes in 1st. Cor. 10 that the wilderness experiences of the Hebrews was examples for us that we would not fall into the same pitfalls as they did. They spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness and caused a 20 day journey to stretch into 40 long years, a whole generation.

At one point in their journey they were less than two days from their appointed destination. But rather than go in and occupy and enjoy the promised blessings of God they retreated because of doubt, despair and unbelief and spent the next 40 years in the wilderness.

And my question to you this morning my brothers and sisters, is how close are you to your blessings, how close are you to the job you been praying for, the home, the apartment that you been seeking. How far are you from your healing and deliverance?
Can I encourage you on the birthday of MLK, Jr. God’s anointed servant who brought us so far and so close to Canaan not to go back to the wilderness.
Young people don’t go back to riding on the back of the bus now that you come so close to owning the bus.

Now that the slave master has stopped beating and abusing our black women; Don’t you go back to degrading and disrespecting them. Now that we’ve been delivered from the lynch rope of the KKK, don’t you go back to killing one another.

Now that the privilege of education is opened to us, stay in school don’t let anyone fool you, hood wink and bam buzzle you into thinking it’s cool to be dumb.
I use to wonder how in the world folk could spend 40 years going in a circle, in the same old place doing the same old thing, day in and day out. Why couldn’t they see that they were going in a circle, why couldn’t they see that they were passing the same cactus plants, the same sand bars? Why couldn’t they see!
Then I realized that I know some folk now doing the same thing in a different way, I have some in my family, you have some in your family, The fact of the matter is for a time I went in a circle myself, and if you are honest with yourself you have to admit that you went in a circle too, and the reality is some folk here this morning still going in a circles.

Hanging in the same places, doing the same thing you been doing for the last forty years, with the same folk, and talking the same talk. Going in a circle. Making the same mistakes, telling the same lies, falling into the same traps, getting involved in the same go nowhere relationships, Paying the same bills, circles!

These Israelite’s were so close to their blessing but they kept circling in the wilderness.
It was impossible for them to avoid the wilderness altogether if they were to inherit the promise land, because they could not get to the promise land without first passing through some wilderness territories.

Contrary to what some folk think they did not spend forty years in the same wilderness. But there were several specific wilderness areas that made up their circular journey. For 40 years they circled the desert of Sin, Shur, Sinai, Moab, Paran, and Kadesh-Benara.
Each one of these deserts preceded a battleground an obstacle to a city or a people God wanted them to overthrow on their way to the promise land.
For us they represent habits and sin in our lives that we must conquer in order to receive the promises of God.

We must remember that the names of these wildernesses had to have been assigned in hind sight.
The Hebrews would not have known the geographical names of these places coming out of 400 years of slavery and Egyptian isolation, they could not GPS their trip and most certainly Pharaoh didn’t give them a road map when they left Egypt.
But it is evident that Moses designated these names to represent their experiences along their journey.

So the obvious question is what wilderness are you in right now? What wilderness is standing before you and your blessing?

I wish I could tell you today that you can avoid the wilderness, but unfortunately the blessings most always lie on the other side of our wilderness experiences because the wilderness represent a test of our faith just before the blessing.

Before God raised David to the throne as king he had to spend time in the wilderness of En-Gedi, of Maon, of Ziph.

Before the announcement of Jesus as Messiah John came crying in the wilderness repent for the Kingdom of God is at Hand.

Before Jesus healed a single soul, before he fed a one person, before he turned water into wine He had to spend 40 days in the wilderness.

And before you get to your blessing there is a wilderness, but remember for every desert experience there is a blessing just over the horizon. That’s why you got to learn to praise him while you going through. (Somebody that’s going through ought to praise him right now).

This text is tailored to teach us that there are at least 4 things that can make our blessings seem further away than they really are.

1)- Listing to the negative REPORT of others.
Before they arrived at Kadesh-barnea they had to go through the wilderness of Paran, and it was in the wilderness of Paran that the spy committee persuaded the people not to enter Canaan, so that a whole generation died in the desert (Numbers 13-14).


2)- The spirit of REBELLION. (v.4)
They refuse to follow the leadership of Moses. (Listen to me you will never make it out of the desert as long as you complain against God ordained leadership. When you complain you complain against God.

3)- A REFERENCE and frequent REMEMBERENCE of the past. (adlib tea party, take our country back)
They referenced and REMEMBERED the past too often. Its okay to look back to see how far you have come and see how blessed you are, (in fact I am speaking for UNCF tomorrow and their theme is “looking back and moving Forward” their idea of looking back is to gage their path for the future.

There is African bird known the Sankofa Bird looks backward with the egg of the future in her beak, constantly checking as she moves into the
Future. Sankofa Video and Books encourage reflection on the past and strategies for the future.

But when remembering where you came from causes you to have regret it becomes a stumbling block and a hindrance to your future, even if your past was better than your present because looking back with regret robs you of your vision, your hope and your faith.
You can’t live in regret because no matter how good or bad things was… yesterday is gone. You can’t get it back; you can’t change it you have to press forward.
And some of us need to pray the serenity prayer. Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference...

These Israelites regretted leaving Egypt, they were still connected to their pass, and all they could think about was fish, cucumbers, onions and Garlic, the stuff they left behind in Egypt.
It’s amazing that Satan only lets you remember what you like, they forgot about the bricks and straw, the whippings, the poverty, the discrimination. (adlib)

4)- They failed to REJOICE for what they already had. God had brought them a long way, through Red sea, had given water when they were thirsty, food when they were hungry, their clothes didn’t wear out, but rather than give thanks all they did was complain.

We have come a long and I will be the first to admit we still have a long way to go. But we ought not ever forget who brought us this far.

We have come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in……

David told me to tell you, you don’t have to be afraid of the wilderness if the Lord is with you. Even though it gets steaming hot in the day and freezing cold at night, the Lord want allow the sun to smite you by day or the moon by night.

Even if when you have to walk through dangerous caves in dark valleys of death where lions and bears are searching for prey, you don’t have to fear any evil if the Lord is with you. Even in the desert he can make grass grow, and water flow, even in the desert He’ll put food on your table, even in the desert he will heal your body.


NJBC 01-15-12 7:30am/11am

How Far Are You From Your Blessing?
Deuteronomy 1:19-36

1)- The negative REPORT of others.


2)- The spirit of REBELLION. (v.4)


3)- A REFERENCE and frequent REMEMBERENCE of the past.


4)- They failed to REJOICE for what they already had.