AFTER EVERY MIRACLE | Numbers 20:1–13 | Jeremiah Paltan

Numbers chapter 20, you see, I was in the back room and Al came up to me and he said, "Oh, were you preaching?" And I said, "Numbers." I said, "Oh, Old Testament." See, for those who don't know, when you're really Pentecostal, you usually preach on the Old Testament. Listen, I'm a recovering Pentecostal, so we're going to see what we can do with this. Alright, Numbers chapter 20, I'm going to read 13 verses, again, that's super Pentecost. I'm going to have you reading 13 verses. I'm going to read from the NIV version today, although I love the ESV version. We're going to go with NIV today. Numbers chapter 20, praise God, we thank you Lord, we thank you God. This is in the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the desert of Zinn and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and it was buried. Now there was no water for the community, say no water. And the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord, why did you bring the Lord's community into the wilderness that we have our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, great vines or ponogranas, and there is no water to drink." Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell face down and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, "Take the staff and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water of the rock for the community so they have their livestock can drink and their livestock can drink." So Moses took this staff from the Lord's presence just as he commanded.

He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses says to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock." When Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice, say twice, with the staff, water gushed out and the community and their livestock drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you would not bring this community into the land I give them." There were the waters of Maribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where he was proved wholly among them. Close your eyes pray with me, "Father, thank you for your word, thank you for all that you've done. May your word rest in our hearts live in our minds, Father. As we ponder your word throughout this week, many years to come, Father, we want to love you, we want to honor you, we want to worship you in spirit and in truth. Speak to us this morning." We say that for a few seconds, say God speak to us. You want to hear your word in Jesus' name, amen. Give God a hand clap one more time. I want to speak to you with this thought in our minds after every miracle, after every miracle. I'm going to give you a quick little history lesson. I promise not to bore you. My wife did say, "Don't do that because you're going to bore them," and we've got to listen to your wives. Her husband listened to your wives, so I'm going to make it very short, I promise. Moses is leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, and in Numbers 20, they reached the wilderness of Zen, and the very first thing that the text tells us is that Miriam dies there. Miriam had been with Moses since he floated down the now. She was Moses' sister.

She was the one who suggested to Pharaoh's daughter that Moses' own mother nursed him. She walked with him through the waters, sang praises after they crossed the Red Sea, and served as the prophetess and leader among the people. Now, church, Moses is walking through the valley of the shadow of death, trying to imagine a future without his sister. You can imagine what that could be like, right? You had to deal with the loss of a family, and in that very season, the people gathered against him. Why did you bring us out here today? It has no grain, it has no figs, figs, grapevines, or pomegranates. Now, if you don't understand what that means, because I didn't, the good company translation is, "There's no Chick-fil-A." That then they add that one complaint that actually lands. He says, "And there is no water to drink." The Bronx says, "And no Beth." What? So Moses and Aaron go to the door of the tabernacle and they fall on their faces and the glory of the Lord appears. Now God gives him clear instructions. He says, "Take the staff, gather the assembly, and speak to that rock. And before their eyes, you're going to notice that I'm going to make water pour out of that rock." I love that. God, you're a miracle worker. We've seen that all the time. But Moses walks out and instead of speaking to the rock, he speaks to the people and he says, "Listen, you rebels." Now I'm not going to tell you the good company translation because I won't ever preach again. But it says, "Must we bring you water out of this rock?" Then he raises his arm and strikes the rock and with his staff, he hits it twice. Look, verse 11, he says, "The water gushed out anyway." That was a history lesson. My wife texted me, he said, "I'm looking good." All right, great. He says, "Do you see grace in this verse, church?" I love this part so much because Moses didn't do it the way God said. He disobeyed God. But God still let the water flow. Now, I don't know if anybody here can relate. God told you to make a left. You went right and he blessed you anyway. God told you, let it go. You held on and he still made a way. I don't know about you. If anyone can testify with me this morning about that rock moment in our life when you disobeyed God, but his grace allowed blessing to flow anyways. God allowed miracles to happen anyways. The finances came through anyways. Your fridge never saw it empty and blessings always overflow.

What? Despite your disobedience, God blessed you anyways. And I love that because we serve a merciful God. We serve a God full of grace. We serve a God who makes a way out of no way. And as the water was flowing, now God speaks again in verse 12 and says, "Because you did not trust me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you would not bring this community into the land I give them." Wait, wait a minute. God, look at everything Moses has done. Look where he sacrificed. Look how long he's carried these people. If you know this story, you know Moses didn't even want to go in the first place. Moses wanted to stay home chilling watching Netflix. God said, you need to go and set my people free. You see, and I love that so much because many times when we say no to God and many times the thing that we want is not what God wants and I'm okay with that. It's not okay with God removing my free will and saying, I want you to walk into this because what I have for you is a lot better than what you think you want. That's the beauty of this gospel that what you once wanted. Now God changed the desires of your heart and that ought to be our prayer every single morning. Lord, I know I want this. I know I want to go there, but God changed the desires of my heart because if there's anyone that can convince me, the only one is the Holy Spirit. You may persuade me, but God convinces me at the end. I love that so much and I was reading because I'm like, God, you know these Israelites. You know, you know what? As a matter of fact, you wanted to wipe them out. You detailed to Moses a few chapters before saying how you start all over if you could. You know how stubborn and frustrating they can be if you wanted you wanted to destroy them. How can you fault Moses for losing his temper and striking the rock? Now church, this unsettles me because if it happened to Moses, I have to ask seriously, what does this mean for us? Because you see, Moses lived under the old covenant, but through Christ, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That is the promises of God. One mistake doesn't cancel God's promises and God doesn't mean, and that doesn't mean our choices are without consequences. You see, there's a difference between God keeping you from something He's promised you and you choosing to not walk into what He's made available. Now write this down if you're running down with me. Grace removes condemnation, not responsibility. So what did Moses do that cost him the promised land? 'Cause I question God, I'm like, but why though?

Why? If anyone deserves it, is Moses? Why? So we don't have to guess anymore things for asking because God tells us in verse 12, you did not trust me enough to honor me as holy. And the sight of the people. You see, inside that one verse are three choices that can keep any of us from walking in what God has made available to us. Number one, don't waste your worship. Trust what you heard from God. Trust what you heard from God. See, God's first charge is simple. He says you did not trust me. In other words, Moses didn't take God at his word. So think about where Moses was when God spoke. He was faced down at the tabernacle and the glory of the Lord appeared. Now don't miss it because he was in the presence of God, in the tangible presence of God. He heard the word of God clearly. God said, Moses speak to the rock. Then God says, I am gonna take care of the rest. I got it, don't worry about it. And Moses, instead of trusting God, he steps out and does something totally different. You see, church, that's what wasted worship looks like. It isn't that Moses never got in God's presence. It's that he got there, heard from God,

and walked without trusting what he heard. You see, the glory of God fell, but the obedience didn't follow. Beloved, if there's one thing I've learned in this journey is that the proof you've been with God is in how loud the service was, how great the worship set was. It was whether you trust him enough to do what he said when you walk back out and face the people who frustrate you. You can give God praise. It's okay, I'm not gonna yell out. You give God praise. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because it's a shame to sit under the word every Sunday and not trusted on Monday. It's a shame to say you praise God and you still speak harshly to your co-workers, harshly to your parents, harshly to your spouse, to your boyfriend, to your girlfriend, your co-workers notice. You know why? Because they saw your attitude on Friday. They heard you had an awesome service. They saw your IG, that it was an awesome fire worship set. On Sunday and on Monday, nothing changed. You see, that's one of the greatest harms to the witness of the church. You know what it is? People who leave God's presence unchanged.

You see, 2021, I made a decision to move to Florida. And I said that our friend Alfen is in these laughing because it was a tough decision. I had met the love of my life in 2020 and I told her, "Hey, 2021, I feel called to go." And I remember going and I didn't have a lot of money in my pocket. And it was the first time I was gonna live on my own. And I remember having all this student loan debt and trying to live off a salary that was very sad. And I was living in a garage. And I remember saying, "I gotta do something about this. I can't live like this." And I decided to drive for Uber. Now in Florida, you can drive for Uber without having a taxi driver's license. And I remember buying a car, the car that I still haven't loved very much. What's her name babe? I forgot her name. It's a Kia. Yeah, we're just gonna call her Kia, that's fine. We used to name our cars, but not anymore. So I remember driving this and I tinted the windows 'cause in Florida, it's hot. We're talking about the sun blazing hot. So you need to tint your windows so you don't end up like roasted chicken at the end of your day. So I remember driving and I started doing Uber.

And the very first night I encountered this experience that changed my life forever. I'm driving, I pick up this young man in a gas station. First of all, that's weird, a gas station. I'm sorry I did that last week, no judgment, okay? So I'm at the gas station, I pick up this kid and I remember driving. And the destination is taking me to a very dark road. I remember my windows are tinted. So I am scared. I'm like, yeah, I'm dead, I'm done. It was gone. And I remember, all of a sudden, I start smelling smoke in my car. Now listen, I'm from the Bronx, so I know what the devil's lead is, smells like. This boy starts smoking in my car, and I remember I look back and I'm like, bro, I'm sorry, you can't do that in my car. He's like, which you mean? Which you mean? I'm like, no, no, you can't do that in my car, bro. And you know, like, my New York accent comes on, I'm like, bro, you need to cut that out right now before I turn around, and you know. But I remember, and I opened the window, and he said, bro, bro, I promise, I'll give you, I'll give you a greater tip. I'm like, tip? Okay?

(audience laughs) All right, I'm cool with that. Like, that's fine, man. I'm cool with that. No, I really need you because I'm an Uber driver, and I can't have someone smelling in the car, it's gonna give me low ratings, and I just started doing this. Okay, turn it off. The very next day, I hit up my boy, that's also a techy driver in New York. I'm like, bro, have you had this experience? He said, yeah, bro, by this, do that to the car, and you're gonna be all right. And I remember doing everything, and I'm like, I smell it, I'm like, okay, maybe no one's gonna notice, and I remember I had to pick up a pastor friend of mine from the airport. I mind you, I moved to Florida to assume a worship pastor position at a church. So he knows what I'm doing at church, and he goes in the car, and he sits down, the first thing he does is, shh, shh. (congregation laughing) And I'm like, bro, I promise you, bro, it ain't me, man. I promise, bro, I promise. And I explain to him what happened, and we start laughing the entire ride home. You see, guys, when you really been with God, people ought to say, man, I smell the glory

of God in your life. When I see you, I can sense the love of Christ in your heart. When I walk with you, there's something different about you. Why? Because when you spend time with Jesus, when you spend time in his presence, something in you has to change, someone has to notice, something is different about you. I love that, because when they see you, they ought to say, I see mercy. I see face that trusts God when it doesn't make any sense. So when God says Moses, you did not trust me. He's saying, you were in my presence. You heard my voice, and you still didn't trust me. Don't waste your worship. Trust what you heard. Walk in your deliverance. Walk in what God has promised you. That is his promise. Number two, carry his presence beyond the church. You see, notice that God doesn't just say, you did not trust in me. He says, it happened in the sight of the Israelites. People were watching, because in verse three, where the people quarreled with Moses, you see, the Hebrew word is rib. It means to contend, to bring a case. Guys, they weren't just whining.

They weren't just complaining. No, no, they had a real case. What was the case? There was no water. There's nothing to drink. And when Moses takes that case to God, God is in angry. No, read verse seven and eight. There's no rebuke. There's no, I'm tired of these people. No, God essentially says, I understand. They need water. Speak to the rock, and I'll handle it. But Moses walks out and says, here now you rebels. God never called them rebels. Moses spoke in anger to a people God was not angry with. You see, here's why that matters. These people couldn't go into the tabernacle themselves. Why? They depended on Moses to go to God for them and go and tell the truth about what God said. You see, back then, God used to speak to the people, but they were scared of his voice. Every time God spoke, there was earthquake, there was lightning, there was thunder. They were like, "God, Moses, you got to tell God "to cut it out. "You speak to him for us and we'll listen to what he says." Through your mouth. Beloved, just like the Israel watched Moses to see what God was like, somebody is watching you.

Somebody's watching you at home. Somebody's watching you at work. Somebody's watching you at school. They depended on Moses to go to God. They depended. There's someone on your job who has never read the Bible. They don't know what the Bible says. They never prayed, they never set foot in a church, and they are looking at you to find out what God is like. And see, the problem is, you say no weapon from the guest be shall prosper, yet you're fighting every enemy by yourself. yet you fall apart, you fold the first moment that trouble comes into your life. Church, it's sad when you say, all things work together for my good, yet you won't give God time to work. You may be the only Bible some people will ever read. So God's question to you is, does your life line up with my word? Can you, can somebody look at you and see Romans eight that says that nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? When somebody looks at you, do they believe that greater is he that is in you, that he that is in the world? When you walk and somebody looks like you do they, do you live like you believe that God would take what was meant for evil and work it together for your good?

And it's so sad because Moses misrepresented God in front of the very people who needed to know him for themselves. So when you leave this place, you have to carry that presence beyond the church. It's good to play church. I know what I'm talking about. I'm a recovering Pentecostal. I know what it's like to be at school and act like a fool and then come on church and play the keys like nothing happened. I'm exposing myself, I ain't talking about you. I'm talking about me. It's easy to play church, but God is calling you out for greater. He's calling you out for more. You have to understand that God wants more with us and he can't misrepresent God in any given moment. Somebody wants to know who God is through your mouth, through the way you speak, through the way you walk. And I love that so much because Jesus, when he heals the sick, when he heals the blind, the first thing he tells the blind, he says, "Now that you can see, don't tell anybody." What do you mean, don't tell anybody, God? First of all, if God used me from being blind, believe me, everybody's gonna know. But that makes no sense. What do you mean, don't tell nobody? Because if anything, if you were once blind

and now you can see, I can see that God is not in your life, not on what you're saying, but how you walk. Because once you used to stumble on the same thing, but now that you can see you can walk very well now. I don't know about you, but I came to talk to somebody right now, you don't gotta do a lot of talking, just behave the way God delivered you to be. That's what God wants us to do. He knows that all this means nothing when all this doesn't align with his word. We have to walk in his word. Now here's point three, I'm gonna end real soon. If God did it, you can't put your name on it. You see, here's the last one, because God says, "Moses failed them to honor me as holy." Behind that phrase is a Hebrew word, kadash, and it means to make holy, someone say holy, it's to make set apart, to separate. So God is saying, "Moses, you didn't set me apart in front of the people. You didn't separate me from you." So God is saying, "Listen," and this part is a scary part, because Moses says in verse 10, "Must we bring you water out of this rock?" Now you see, God has a sense of humor because he could have been setting up they're talking about we.

Since when you speak French, we, whoa, whoa, whoa. If water comes out of that rock, we ain't got nothing to do with that. Moses can't make water come out of the rock. Only God can. But in the biggest miracle of the moment, Moses puts himself in the picture church. Hear me, if you forget anything I said. There comes a moment when you have to separate God from the work of your hands, the intelligence of your mind, and the passion of your heart. If water comes out of the rock, it's not because you were strong. It's not because you were smart. It's not because you were well connected. It's because we serve God who can bring the water out of her walker. We serve God who can make a way out of no way. We serve God who is miraculous. And every now and then you gotta step back and let the people in your world know it wasn't my goodness, it wasn't my righteousness, it wasn't my connection, but the grace of God. You see, I told you where I'm from. I know how I grew up. You see, back then we used to sing this song. I don't know if you know, it says to God be the glory. ♪ To ♪

♪ Let me hear you say ♪ ♪ To ♪ ♪ For all this ♪ Oh, you sound really good. You see, once you understand where the miracles came from, it's so easy to lift up your hands at church. It's so easy to worship God when you're in the kitchen. It's so easy to worship God when you're somebody else. Why? Because where you know the source, when you know the fountain, it's so easy to lift up your hands and say, "To God, be the glory for all the things." Come on, Sid. ♪ He's ♪ Yeah, yeah, to God be the glory. ♪ To God ♪ Come on. ♪ Be the glory ♪ ♪ To God ♪ ♪ Be the glory ♪ ♪ Somebody always say ♪ ♪ To God ♪ ♪ To God ♪ ♪ To God ♪ ♪ Be the glory for all the things ♪ ♪ He's ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, come on, Sid. ♪ ♪ To God ♪ ♪ One ♪ ♪ Be the glory ♪ Come on, Sid, we never said. ♪ To God ♪ ♪ Be the glory ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, to God ♪ ♪ Be the glory for all the things ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Adios ♪ ♪ Siya la Gloria ♪ ♪ Adios ♪ ♪ Siya la Gloria ♪ ♪ Adios ♪ ♪ Siya la Gloria ♪ ♪ Una queso ♪ - God did it. God did it. (audience applauding) God did it. Come on, remember God did it. It wasn't your neighbor. It wasn't, it wasn't him. It was God. And God says set me apart, set me apart. If God did it, don't put your name on it. Do you know what is one of the fastest way to lose a college degree? Plagiarism.

Come on, preacher, I heard you. Yeah, yeah. Plagiarism is simple. You know what it says? It says you take something somebody else gave you and present it like it's your own. I feel like preaching this morning. If you're caught, you're not eligible for that degree. Let me say it again. If somebody else gave it to you and you act like you got it by yourself, you're not eligible for that degree. That's what Moses did at the rock. God brought the water and Moses said we. So I came by to tell somebody this morning, don't you plagiarize God. If God woke you up this morning, don't act like you did it yourself. If the Lord made a way out of the way, don't act like he did it yourself. I wish I had a church that said, God is able to do it, see to me, or fuck to me. Come on, Zulu God, Zulu God say you do God. ♪ Be the Lord, be the Lord, be the Lord ♪ ♪ We say we say to God, be the Lord ♪ ♪ Be the Lord, be the Lord, be the Lord ♪ ♪ Be the Lord, be the Lord, be the Lord ♪ ♪ Be the Lord, be the Lord, be the Lord ♪ - So the easiest way, the easier ways to avoid plagiarism, and I hated doing this in high school. You want to know how you avoid plagiarism?

Easy. When someone else gave it to you, you put a little foot note at the bottom of the page, you cite your source. (audience applauding) That's what makes you all up with you for that degree. You cite your source at the end of every day, cite your source. When the bills get paid, cite your source. When the doctor's report came back better, what are you going to do? Set your source up. If you had not been for the Lord who is on my side, where would I be? It's simple, cite your source. After every miracle, say I wish I had a church that can lift up the heads right now real quick, and begin to cite your source. It was in my head! My God! ♪ To God, be the Lord ♪ Thank you for your work. Because Moses could only point people to the rock. But Church, we serve the one. The rock was pointed. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 4 that the rock was Christ. Jesus was struck once on the cross so that living water could flow for all of us. This is grace at work. Come on, you don't have to earn it. No, you don't have to strike anything. All you got to do is trust Him. That's all you got to do. And you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus with your life. This is your moment. You know why? Because Jesus did it for you. All you got to do is say, "God, thank you for your blood. Thank you for salvation. Thank you

for all you've done." Many years taking credit for God did. Made me walk out of His presence unchanged. I don't want to walk big and bad. I figured it all by myself. I don't want to do that anymore. I don't know about you, but I don't want to do that. I want to cite my source. You know why? Because Revelation says it very clear. We have overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testable. I feel God in the room. It's so powerful because someone is going to be safe just by hearing what God did in your life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Water is flowing. Easy. Because God already did it. You're ashamed and embarrassed to share your story. I'm not ashamed anymore. Why? Because it's being ashamed of the gospel. What Jesus did in my life. I'm not ashamed anymore. Many times we're carrying this guilt over something we've done. Hear me. Even when Moses struck the rock, the water still flowed anyway. One mistake doesn't disqualify you from God's presence. Come to the rock. Come to the rock. I want to open up this altar if it's okay with you. Can we come to the rock this morning? Can we come to the rock and cite our source? God. This is where I got my blessing from. This is where I got my smile from. This is where I got my joy from. I look good. Why? Because this is what God did over my life. That ought to be our response every single morning. I know it is to carry that guilt. I know what it is. You don't want nobody to know. I'm scared. I'm embarrassed. God doesn't care anymore. He wants to bless you anyway. He wants to lift you up. He wants to show you that greater is he in you. If only you just open up your heart and say, "God, here I am." You lift up your hands in the room, right? The altar is still open. Come on. Let's pray. I want to pray with you. I want to worship with you. I want to sing with you. Because there's oil flowing in the room. There's water flowing in this place. God is just waiting for you to cite your source. God's waiting for you to lift up your voice. God is doing. God is doing. To God be the glory. To God be the glory. For all the things ♪ Is the way I stand ♪