From Indifference to Idolatry: The Many Ways We Misuse God’s Miraculous Work

In the highs and the lows. Thank you God that you're faithful. ♪ Who is he worthy ♪ ♪ Oh so worthy ♪ ♪ Who is he worthy ♪ ♪ Oh so worthy ♪ ♪ We thank you, we thank you ♪ ♪ For all that you've done ♪ ♪ The work of your blood ♪ ♪ That's still enough ♪ ♪ You are so faithful, faithful, faithful ♪ ♪ The God who was and is to come ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooy, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey♪ ♪ After all that has happened, you're still what we're after Everything else doesn't compare to just how good you are Just how good you are Just how good you are Just how good you are Just how good you are How good you are How good you are In everything, so good you are In the grief and in the victory, God How good you are How good you are How good you are How good you are How good you are

How good you are How good you are How good you are How good you are We thank you, we thank you We thank you, we thank you The finished work of the blood It was enough It's still enough It's still enough The finished work of your blood It's still enough The finished work of your blood It's still enough ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Until the end ♪ ♪ You are faithful, faithful till the end ♪ ♪ Yes, you're faithful to the end, to the end ♪ ♪ To the end, to the end, to the end, yes, you're faithful to the end, to the end ♪ ♪ To the end ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ All my sin rolled away because of you, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Seen across the empty grave, the evidence is in this ♪ ♪ All my sin rolled away because of you, oh Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ I see the evidence of your goodness all over my face ♪ ♪ All over my life, all over my life ♪ ♪ I see your promises and fulfillment all over my life ♪ ♪ All over my life, all over my life ♪ ♪ I see the evidence of your goodness all over my life ♪ ♪ All over my life, all over my life ♪ ♪ I see your promises and fulfillment all over my life ♪ ♪ All over my life, all over my life ♪ ♪ I see the cross, the empty grave, the evidence is in this ♪ ♪ All my sin rolled away because of you, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ I see the cross, the empty grave, the evidence is in this ♪ ♪ All my sin rolled away because of you, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ I see the cross, the empty grave, the evidence is in this ♪ ♪ All my sin rolled away because of you, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ I see the cross, the empty grave, the evidence is in this ♪ ♪ All my sin rolled away because of you, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Because of you, oh Jesus ♪

♪ I see the evidence of your goodness all over my life ♪ ♪ All over my life ♪ ♪ I see your promises and fulfillment all over my life ♪ ♪ All over my life ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation, I will not rush to meet you again ♪ ♪ I will not be shaken, I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation, I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone, and I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation, I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone, and I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation, I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone, and I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation, I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ All over my life, all over my life I see the evidence of your goodness All over my life, all over my life I see your promises and fulfillment All over my life, all over my life I see the evidence of your goodness All over my life, all over my life I see your promises and fulfillment All over my life, all over my life I see the cross, the empty grave The evidence is there All my sin rolled away Because of you, oh Jesus I see my cross, the empty grave All my sin rolled away Because of you, oh Jesus All my sin rolled away Because of you, oh Jesus I see the cross, the empty grave The evidence is there All my sin rolled away Because of you, oh Jesus Because of you, oh Jesus

Because of you, oh Jesus All my sin rolled away Because of you, oh Jesus And oh, precious is the flood That makes me wise Snow, no water found I know Nothing but the blood of Jesus And oh, precious is the flood That makes me wise Snow, no water found I know Nothing but the blood of Jesus It's nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing but the blood of Jesus It's nothing but the blood of Jesus It's nothing but the blood of Jesus It's nothing but the blood of Jesus Jesus, we love you Jesus, we love you Jesus, we love you Jesus, we love you Keep my heart tender, keep my heart pure I wanna be like Mary with that alabaster jar Pouring out everything, pouring out everything Keep my heart open, keep my heart true Just like a child, I'll follow after you Do just as you do, do just as you do Oh, that you'd have the glory I just wanna see you on it Oh, that you'd have the glory Let my life be praise to you Keep my heart tender, keep my heart pure I wanna be like Mary with that alabaster jar Pouring out everything, pouring out everything Oh, that you'd have the glory I just wanna see you on it

Oh, that you'd have the glory Let my life be praise to you Oh, that you'd have the glory I just wanna see you on it Oh, that you'd have the glory Let my life be praise to you Let it be praise to you Let it be praise to you Let it be praise to you I wanna be spilled out, I wanna be spilled out I want to go all out for my love for you I wanna be spilled out, I wanna be spilled out I wanna be in my love for you I wanna be spilled out, I wanna be spilled out I wanna go all out for my love for you I wanna be spilled out, I wanna be spilled out I wanna go all out for my love for you I wanna be spilled out, I wanna be spilled out I wanna go all out for my love for you Oh, that you would ever love me I just wanna see you often Oh, that you would ever love me Let my life be free I wanna be spilled out, I wanna be spilled out ♪ I wanna go all out, my love for you ♪ ♪ I wanna be spelled out, I wanna be spelled out ♪ ♪ I wanna go all out, my love for you ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, I just wanna see you ♪ ♪ Let it be praised to you ♪

♪ Let it be praised to you, Jesus ♪ That could be our one prayer this morning. Let our lives be praised to you, Jesus. Help us live a life that you can enthrone, Jesus. Let us live a life that you can enthrone, Jesus. ♪ Oh, that you can have it all, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ ♪ Oh, that you would have it all ♪ Have you, have you, have you, have you, Jesus? Yeah, keep with that, Alan. I feel you, you got something to play over us right now. Come on, let's just lift up our voices in this place. Sing this, sing whatever's on your heart unto the Lord.

Just let it be true. ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ ♪ Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ ♪ Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ ★世界中 Dopamine, Dopamineaktradition, Noxepamines, Gonorrhea, Cystitis Nips, Macon crashes 2, Hyperventilation, Dementia, Colds, Flu, Heating, Fever, Antigen Retention, Regenerativeхритение, Cough, Leprosy, Cardiovascular diseases, Drinking spills, Screen Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Oh, but you would have it all Is this worth it? Is it worth it? Is it worth, worth is life? Is it worth with me forever going? Worthy you were, worthy you are. Worthy you were, worthy you are. Worthy you will be forever now. Worthy you were, worthy you are. Worthy you will be forever now. Worthy you were, worthy you are. Worthy you will be forever now. Worthy you were, worthy you are. Worthy you will be forever now.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Israel saw the glory and it shined down through the air ♪ ♪ And now you've called me to boldly seek your face ♪ ♪ Show me your face, Lord ♪ ♪ Show me your face ♪ ♪ Then strengthen my legs that I might stand in this holy place ♪ ♪ Show me your face, Lord ♪ ♪ Your power and your grace ♪ ♪ I can make it to the end if I can just see your face ♪ ♪ If I can just see your face ♪ ♪ If I can just see your face ♪

♪ Show me your face, Lord ♪ ♪ Show me your face ♪ ♪ Then strengthen my legs that I might stand in this holy place ♪ ♪ Show me your face, Lord ♪ ♪ Your power and your grace ♪ ♪ I can make it to the end if I can just see your face ♪ ♪ I know I can make it to the end if I can just see your face ♪ ♪ If I can just see your face ♪ ♪ I know I can make it to the end if I can just see your face ♪ ♪ I know I can make it to the end if I can just see your face ♪ Jesus, you're holy. Jesus, we love you. Thank you that you're more than enough. In every situation, God, you are more than enough. What you did on the cross was more than enough. I just pray that that revelation would stay in our hearts today. That what you did is more than enough. That loving you is our privilege and our honor. In your name, Amen. Oh yeah, there it is. I forgot to turn it on, my bad. Hey, good morning. Thank you for being here with us. We are really, really spoiled to have some of the greatest musicians in the world here at the altar. Would you guys, as you're finding your way back to your seat, would you just thank them, bless them for their ministry? Amazing, amazing, amazing job. Thank y'all very much. We are so glad to have you here at the altar this morning. This is the last Sunday of 2025,

which is wild because 2005 was six months ago. So I'm not entirely sure. You know, Jessica, yeah. So I'm not entirely sure how we got here, but I am just amazed at the faithfulness of God to see us through. It's been an amazing last six years here at the altar and last 12 months especially, the way that we've seen God move. I mean, you know, I look around the room and I see families that, you know, sold the Bramblett, sold their home in Missouri and moved out here to come and be a part of the church. And many other families have, you know, found their way to this area or found their way into this community. And it's just been an incredible year where it feels like God has been arranging the pieces that he wants to build with. And so, you know, I've got three little boys who love to build Lego sets. And sorry, I've got one little boy and two young men who love to, you know, build Lego sets. And just yesterday I was watching Carver, my seven-year-old, as he was building this really cool race car. He brought it to church today. He can show you after service if you wanna see it. But he, you know, he took the bag and he opened the bag and he poured out all the pieces. And then he, you know, he made sure

that he got them together. And in our house, we've got a dog that will chew anything that you look away from for more than three seconds. And so, you know, he's running around the house just like the dog is just waiting for a Lego piece to be unsupervised so he can snatch it and ruin the whole set, you know? And so Carver, he's, you know, he's guarding the pieces and he's making sure that they're all there and he's making sure that each piece goes in the right place so that he can build what he has in his heart to build. And as I watched him do that, I had this feeling like that's what God does with the church. You know, that he meticulously positions each piece to make sure that it builds what he has in his heart to build. And he also guards the pieces to make sure that not one of them is snatched and taken away by the enemy. And so I want you to know that you are in the place that God has you right now for a purpose. You believe that? That God has formed and fashioned you to play a role that only you can play. You know, you can't, Carver, as much as he might like to, he couldn't use the wheel on his car for the spoiler. It's like, that's not what it's made for, right? And so each piece has a unique position that only it can fill and that without each piece

in its right and proper place, the vision would never become complete. And so I just want to tell you this morning, you are, each one of you, you're a crucial part of what God is building here at the Altar Fellowship. You're a huge part of what God is doing in this generation. There is no way that this thing that the Lord has seen in his heart is going to be complete without you being who you are and being in the place that he's called you to occupy. And, you know, one of the ways that we do that, one of the ways that we keep our place or serve the Lord from the place that he's put us is through our giving. You know, we give, many of us give our time to volunteer, to contribute here at the church in one way or another. Many of us give our skills or our talents or our abilities to not just serve the Altar Fellowship at our services, but to serve the work of the kingdom in some way. And the Lord calls all of us to give even out of our finances as well. And so in just a moment, we're going to receive the offering this morning. Let's go, that's, whoever cheered when I talked about the offering, you get, is that Xander? I'm like, he's got, oh, it's Nathaniel. You've got the revelation, buddy. I like it, it's just you and me. You get bonus points from me

if you cheer when it's offering time. Because you want to know the secret? This is uncomfortable for me. Like, it's awkward for me to stand up here every Sunday and be like, y'all want to give us some money? Like, please understand, I don't love this part of the job. But I also read in the book of Malachi, there's a group of priests who, they taught the people not to give right honor to their finances. And the whole book of Malachi is a brutal rebuke of those ministers for modeling indifference toward money and teaching other people to be indifferent toward money too. And so I come back again and again and again to the book of Malachi and I recognize, like, I am accountable to teach you guys that what you do with your money matters to God. It does. What you do with your money, it matters to God. And so as your pastor, that I want to see you blessed in every area of your life. I want your marriage to be blessed. I want your family to be blessed. I want your home to be blessed. I want your career to be blessed. I want your finances to be blessed. I want your body to be blessed and healthy. Like, I want you to be blessed miraculously in every area of your life.

I have this responsibility to tell you that if you are indifferent toward God's standards when it comes to the management of your money, you cannot expect or invoke God's blessing or provision in that area. And so, we're gonna be a people who are faithful with our money. And when it's time to give in the offering, we're not just gonna do it because pastor said I have to, we're gonna do it because it is our privilege, Nathaniel, it is our privilege to glorify God with our finances. Isn't it? Isn't it our privilege to be able to bless? The fact that the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the God who told the oceans where to stop and who knows the stars by name, that that God would give us the ability to bless him. It's just a stunning idea. And so, as we give this morning, I want you to keep it in your heart that you are able to bless God, not just through your singing, not just through your obedience to his word, but through your giving, you're able to be a blessing to the Lord of hosts. Amen. And so, as many of you know, there are a few ways you can give.

There's an envelope in the seat in front of you you can use to give by cash or check or card. You can scan the QR code there with your phone or if you have the mobile app, you can give through that. Would you guys stand with me? We're just gonna pray over this offering. Thank you, God, for the privilege that it is to partner with your eternal work here in our generation. God, as we give to you this morning, we pray that this offering would be pleasing to you. God, that we would be a people who honor you with our finances. And as we end 2025 and position ourselves to step into 2026, Lord, we do so with joyful hearts, giving cheerfully, knowing that you love a cheerful giver. God, we thank you that you have provided for us, that you've met our needs this year. And thank you, Lord, that you're gonna continue to be just as faithful next year. And so we give today in faith, knowing that there's always more where that came from, that the God who has provided for us in the past will continue to provide for us in the future. Lord, we bless you today. We honor you today. And we ask that this offering would be fruitful and effective for the advancement and establishment of your kingdom and your will in the earth. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen.

All right, whenever you're ready, we will be receiving the offering here up at the front. Thanks so much. Thanks, buddy. Hey, good morning. You can be seated. Thank you so much for being here with us this morning. I've got good news for you today. Jesus is on the throne. That is good news, isn't it? I feel like I'm probably not alone in feeling a little bit frustrated and discouraged about some of the political decisions or indecisions that are happening in our nation. And it feels like, you know, I'd love to just go to the house and, you know, grab everybody and shake them by the collar and say like, do anything, please do something. Yeah, and yet it is a hopeful thought that despite the corruption or the seeming indifference of so many of our earthly leaders, it is good news to know that Jesus is on the throne and that before him, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And so we are like truly in good hands, right? And I think as we, you know, this week, as we sort of cross the threshold from 2025 into 2026, it's time for, it's an opportunity for many of us to stop and consider who we are today

and to consider who we want to be one year from today. You know, I think that as we, you know, it's like the week of New Year's, that's the time that everybody starts their new diet. You know, they start their new exercise plan. It's gonna happen. You buy yourself a treadmill that turns into a, you know, a clothing rack in your bedroom, right? And you make all these promises to yourself about the ways that you're gonna be different or better. But here's the thing that I think we all, if we're right, or if we're honest, I should say, wrestle with, and that is that we see who we are. Hopefully we're honest enough with ourselves that we can see our faults, maybe our flaws, our shortcomings, the areas in our life, or maybe. Maybe we're not as good as we could be, like, you know, maybe we're not as strong as we could be or as wise as we could be or as committed as we could be in some areas. But at the same time, we have the Spirit of God living within us, whispering to us, you were made for more. You were made for more than this. That yeah, you're just as frail and fragile as every other human, but you are not limited to your own strength. The strength of God is available and accessible to the saints, and that strength is able to convict us

and to empower us to walk in a way that is pleasing and honoring to Him. And so, as I've been praying throughout this week about what I might be able to teach that would be, you know, a blessing or a benefit to the house, I felt in my spirit like it would be appropriate for me to warn you about the ways that we often misuse God's blessings in our life. Because here's the reality. Every one of you is here because of a series of miracles. That's right. The fact that you were born is itself a miracle. The fact that God has sustained you to this point in life is itself a miracle. I think most of us have amazing testimonies of, you know, these moments where we come to sort of a fork in the road, and, you know, had we gone one way, had we continued with that relationship, had we continued with that habit or that addiction, we might be dead or in prison today, and yet we're here instead in church and who could ever have imagined it, right? Our lives are themselves miraculous, and yet for so many of us, we take the miracles, the blessings that God has given us and we misuse those things to the detriment of what God wants to do in the future. And so today, I want to maybe help to try

to bridge the gap between the past and the future and to try to caution you about the way you view what God has done or what God is doing in hopes to set you up to be able to grab a hold of and to take full advantage of what God is about to do in your life. Amen? Yes, sir. As we come to the end of 2025, many of us will take time to reflect on the year that has gone by and consider what we want to do to make 2026 different. We have today a distinct opportunity as we do in all moments of transition like this to make necessary and meaningful changes to our lives that'll refine us and better position us to walk in God's best for our lives and for the lives of those we care about. As you consider this week, all that God has done for you, the miracles, blessings, and breakthroughs He's given you and the things and people and places He's used most significantly, I feel it's right to warn you that the way you handle the miracles God has given you can undermine your ability to receive the miracles God wants to give you next. Let me say that again. The way we handle the miracles God has given us can undermine our ability to receive the miracles God wants to give us next. Now, I want to explain that a little bit

and I'll come back to this again and again. But I wonder how many of us complain about a marriage we once prayed for God to give us. How many of us begged God for children and then roll our eyes when those same children ask us to go outside and play? Or when the baby wakes up again in the middle of the night and ugh. How many of us grumble about a job that God miraculously provided for us? We said, God, I need a way to make ends meet for my family. Please help me. I sent out 150 applications. I got this job. It was miraculous. I worshiped and glorified God for the opportunity. And then six months later or two years later, I'm grumbling and I'm complaining. I'm grumbling and complaining about my boss and about the hours and about the customers or the clients that we work with. And so often we dishonor the miraculous intervention of God by complaining about the supernatural provision. He's provided for us. And I'm convinced that when we do that, we actually hold at arm's length the supernatural provision He wants to provide for us moving forward. And I wanna go today to everyone's favorite book in the Bible, Numbers.

We're gonna go. Did you know, I just learned this recently that in the Hebrew Bible, Numbers has a different name. It's called In the Wilderness. And I feel like whoever decided to change it to Numbers, it was probably bad at marketing. That's like a bad sales. Everybody just skips over it, because it's called Numbers. But there's actually a lot of wonderful stories about what happened in the wilderness. And I've actually, in my Bible, I crossed out the name Numbers at the beginning of the book and wrote In the Wilderness, because I like that more. But I wanna go to Numbers chapter 21. And I wanna just read a story to you. This is a story maybe some of you are a little bit familiar with. Numbers 21. I'll start in, we'll start in verse four. This is obviously, this is when the Israelites are in the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan. And it says this, in Numbers 21, starting in verse four, it says, then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the souls of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses,

saying, why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water and our soul loathes this worthless bread. So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people. I really love this story. So the Lord, so the Lord sent, we should remember this the next time we start to complain. So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and many of the people of Israel died. I promise this is gonna be an encouraging message for us. Verse seven says, therefore, the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole and it shall be that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. And so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Okay, this is a story I remember hearing for the first time in Sunday school, you know, 30 years ago, and in thinking like, oh, cool, snakes are biting people in the desert, you know? And, but I, as I revisited it, you know, I,

you should know that by the time I preach a sermon to you, often I have studied and prayed and considered preaching that message for months. And this one is, is no, is no different. This has actually been why I've been sort of waiting to preach for a long time. I'm actually really excited because I feel like God ordained it for, for this day. But I want to just go back through this story and pull out some things that might be easy to miss. So it says at the beginning in verse four, it says, then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. Now, I want to give you some context for this by going back just a few verses to verse, we'll start in verse one of Numbers 21. And I want to read you just the first three verses of the chapter. It says the King of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners. So Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, if you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites

and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called Hormah. So what happened is that this Canaanite King attacked God's people and took some of them prisoner. The people turned their hearts, they lifted their voices to the Lord and they said, God, would you give us breakthrough? Would you give us deliverance from this enemy? And God said, yeah, I will. And so the Lord listened to the voice of Israel in verse three and delivered up the Canaanites and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. And so God gives them this supernatural breakthrough because his people cried out to him. God answers their prayers. That's verse three. God answers their prayers and brings deliverance to the people of Israel from their enemies. And then in verse four, it says the people became very discouraged on the way. In verse three, God answers their prayer, brings them deliverance. Verse four, the people, the soul of the people became very discouraged along the way. This happened immediately after the miraculous breakthrough the Lord gave them against the Canaanites. And so I think the first point I need to make about the ways we misuse God's blessing is number one, we forget it. We forget what God has done in our life.

How easy is it to experience a miraculous, supernatural blessing or breakthrough and then to go back to life as normal and to immediately forget about God's faithfulness. And it's easy to forget about the miracles you've seen. It's easy to forget about the mountaintop experience that you had when you went to that camp when you were a kid in youth group and God touched your life. But now you know what, you're grown and you've got a career and a family to think about and it's easy to forget about the things that God has done in your life. But the reality is we cannot live off of moments of breakthrough or blessing if we are going to be a people who walk faithfully in the will of God. We've gotta be people who day after day, week after week, month after month choose to remind ourselves that the one who fights for us is faithful. That the God who is faithful to our fathers before us, he'll be faithful to us and he'll be faithful to our children after us. God's faithfulness never fails. The Bible tells us hundreds of times that his mercy endures forever. And so for us to forget his miraculous intervention in our life is for us to insult his faithful character. The soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. It's because they, like us,

they forgot what God had just done for them. This is the thing I think that is difficult for me as a pastor, this is one of the things I should say that I think is difficult for me as a pastor is that I meet with people often who have seen God do, I mean, miracle after miracle after miracle in their life, but they're looking at the next miracle they need and somehow they're convinced God's not gonna do that one too. It's like, man, you wouldn't even be here today if God wasn't invested in your story. And the fact that you are here is evidence. The Bible tells us that God is faithful to see through to completion the good work he's begun in you. That means that God finishes what he starts. And so if God has started healing your marriage, friend, I promise he's gonna finish. If God has started healing the trauma of your childhood, I promise he's gonna finish. If God has started changing the trajectory of your life away from the destructive patterns that your parents and grandparents walked in and he started reorienting you toward Christ, I promise he's going to finish what he started in you. And it is crucial that we not allow ourselves to forget that the one who promised is faithful. So verse four gives us the first mistake that we make or the first way that we misuse God's blessing, and that is that we forget it.

It continues in verse five after it says, the soul of the people became very discouraged along the way. Verse five says, and the people spoke against God and against Moses. And maybe it's because I am a pastor, but I can't help but look at that phrase, and against Moses, and think, what did Moses do? Everybody's mad at Moses. You think Moses is in charge? You think it's Moses' fault it hasn't rained in a month? What are you guys doing? Moses doesn't want to be out here in the wilderness with you guys. Like he said yes to a land flowing with milk and honey, and now he's wandering around in circles in the desert with a bunch of, you know, a bunch of grumbling idiots out here. Like you guys, this is Moses' experience. Like here's the thing that is so interesting to me is that everybody's blaming what God is, what they think God is not doing on Moses. Like it's Moses' fault. And here's what I realized by looking at this, that rebellious people will complain against those who refuse to complain with them. Rebellious people, they'll complain not just about, you know, leaders or about what God is doing or not doing. They'll find anything to complain about, but they'll also complain about.

about you if you won't join them in their complaining. Can I tell you, yeah, can I tell you what is one of the greatest accomplishments in my life as a member of a church? And part of it is this church, but I've been a member of other churches as well. As a member of the church that sent us up here, I can tell you one of my greatest accomplishments is that none of the grumblers would consider me their friend. They would call me and be like, dude, can you believe? And I would shut it down so hard, so fast, that would be the last time we ever talked. I'm just not, don't call me with that. Don't text me with that. And I may even agree with you, but that's just not a conversation we're gonna have. I'm gonna take it to the Lord, and it's gonna be God's responsibility to bring this breakthrough, but it's not gonna be you and me fussing and complaining about what we don't like about what God is doing here. That's unacceptable. And so you should know, though, that if you do that, people are gonna start to complain about you, too. Just like they did Moses. Like, I promise, if Moses, if I could bring him in as a guest speaker today, I promise he would tell you he wasn't having fun in the wilderness either. It wasn't like he brought everybody out there

and Moses loved it, and everybody else was like, oh, this is really hard, and Moses was just skipping through the wilderness thinking like, well, I don't know what you guys are complaining about. Like, it wasn't fun for him either. And yet, that's the difference. That's what distinguished or set Moses apart from everybody else, is that they were complaining and grumbling, and Moses was seeking the Lord. Moses was finding his deepest satisfaction in the presence of God that was with him, even in the wilderness. And so, listen, I'll tell you, if you are unhappy in this church, if you're unhappy in your job, if you're unhappy in your family dynamic, you can complain and you can grumble, and you can find people that will complain and grumble with you, or you can begin to find your satisfaction in the nearness of the Lord. And you can know that even if it feels dry, even if it feels destitute, even if it feels alone and isolated, even if you feel like nobody knows what you're going through, God is with you in it. And if God is with you,

I should say it like this, if you begin to become aware that God is with you, even the desert can feel a lot like heaven. And so, the people, they spoke against God and against Moses, saying, why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread. What bread are they talking about? Manna. God is sending supernatural bread from heaven, and this is how they feel about it, our soul loathes this worthless bread. Like, these people are furious about what they once rejoiced and danced in the streets over. Like this supernatural demonstration, six days a week, bread falls from the sky for us, and we're mad about it, because it's just gotten old. Because it's easy to celebrate the miracle the first time it happens, or the second time it happens, or the third time it happens, but when that miracle has happened for you 180 times, suddenly it just doesn't feel so miraculous anymore. This has been, listen, I can only speak from my perspective here,

so, but I will say this, that there have, I've watched people come into this church and say, this is a miracle for me, God is healing my heart, he's breaking off some church hurt, or some trauma, or this religious spirit that I have. God is doing this amazing work in my life through this community, and I'm so grateful. And then you see those same people, the church doesn't change, you see those same people, you know, what was once really miraculous becomes pretty routine, they forget about how miraculous it was, and then over time, they begin to even resent this miraculous thing that God brought into their life. And so that brings me to my next point, which is number one, we misuse God's blessing by forgetting it, and number two, we misuse God's blessing by resenting it. The Israelites, they were discouraged after God answered their prayer. brought deliverance from the Canaanites, but ultimately they became resentful of the bread they once cherished.

You know, as believers, we can often be quick to forget the miraculous and powerful things Yahweh's done for us, and we can fall into that forgetfulness. However, let's not overlook something that is maybe even more tragic, but often overlooked. We can begin to resent the thing that God has done for us, consider, for example, your marriage. How many of us stood at the altar on our wedding day and confessed before God, before all of our friends and family members, we know this person is God's will for my life? And then it loses its sparkle, it's not as new and exciting and fresh as it once was, it's, you know, the marriage gets a little bit old, starts to feel like work, and then, you know, the person hurts us, they do something that is, you know, less than flattering to us, and so we feel like, oh, I deserve better than this, and we start to sound like the Israelites, our soul loathes this worthless bread, this worthless bread you're talking about that your soul loathes, that is God's miraculous provision for you, you understand, God didn't neglect to take your spouse's imperfections into consideration when he called you to marry them. It's not like God was like, well, they were perfect when I had you guys get married, but then, you know, he backslid, like, I didn't know, I didn't know that was gonna happen.

Like, God knew that this person would wound you in precisely the ways you've been wounded. Guess what, that's a part of the process. That's why God called you into this relationship. I could say the same about the church, that you come into the church and you go, wow, the worship at the altar is amazing, and, you know, my pastor has tattoos, so he couldn't be religious, right, and, you know, you just sort of talk this stuff up, and this church is the most amazing place you've ever been, and then you find out there's people here, even the staff and leadership of this church, they're people too, and oh, gosh, people have issues and imperfections and struggles, and, you know, and you can be, like, horrified by that and go, oh, man, I can't believe God called me into this church, and it was wonderful, but now that I've gotten closer, you know, it's like, these people are just people, and, in fact, these people, sometimes they hurt me or they offend me or they disappoint me or they let me down, you should know that's the point. It's the point, it's not just an acceptable byproduct to God, you should know that's the point. God calls imperfect people into relationship with imperfect people because it is our imperfections that produce Christ in us. If I was perfect, you would never have the opportunity to grow in patience or grace.

If I was perfect, you would never have the opportunity to give me the benefit of the doubt, to be merciful or long-suffering. You actually become more like Christ by dealing with me and my imperfections. That's how God has made my wife so godly, and she's dealt with all of my imperfections for so long. And so, like, this is the beautiful thing about relationship is that God calls us into these kingdom covenant relationships, not because the other person in the relationship is perfect, we shouldn't expect that, but because even their imperfections can accomplish God's perfect will for us. And so we have to guard ourselves against forgetting God's blessing, and we have to guard ourselves against resenting God's blessing. You once begged God to give you accountability. Ooh, now you have it. It's easy to resent that miraculous blessing, isn't it? You once begged God to give you fellowship, and now you've got to rearrange your schedule to spend time with people who aren't as exciting as they once were. Like I mentioned earlier, you begged God to give you children, and now those children are making messes in your house, waking up in the middle of the night. They have needs that are maybe not convenient

with your desired lifestyle, and this is the reality of life with God is that the miracles he gives us, the miraculous blessings and breakthroughs he provides in our life, they're not always to the end of our personal comfort or preferences. They're always to the end of his glory through our sanctification. And so verse five, it says, and the people spoke against God and against Moses saying, why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there was no food and no water and our soul loathes this worthless bread. So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people. Who sent fiery serpents? Okay, I just, it's important that we reconcile some bad theology that has crept into the charismatic movement. Like if it's uncomfortable, there's no way it's from God. If it's hard, it must be demonic. Like that's, we got to get that out of our, I know it sounds ridiculous when I say it like that. And yet here we are, like all of y'all have some experience with people that are like, well, you know, my marriage got hard so I knew God wanted me to end it. You know, it got hard to be at that church, so I just left. Like this is what people do all the time.

We just say, well, it must be demonic, it must be evil. It must not be God's will if it's difficult. And yet the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and many of the people of Israel died. The prosperity gospel is really hard to hang on to in numbers 21. This is the truth. And yet, let me ask you this question. Is this judgment or is this mercy? See, this is, I think my answer would be yes. Like this is the beauty of the sovereign wisdom of God is that even his harsh rebuke is mercy for us. Mercy for us. We must not attribute every difficulty we face to some demonic enemy. Sometimes Yahweh in his jealousy will bring us low so that he can lift us up. Sometimes Yahweh in his jealousy will bring us low so he can lift us up. Sometimes the hand that strikes us is the hand that saves us. Sometimes the hand that strikes us is the hand that saves us. The New Testament teaches us that God disciplines those he loves. The word used there for discipline is to strike like with a rod. And this is a hard reality that the Israelites were on their way

to a tremendous destruction and they suffered hardship that drew them away from enmity with God. I remember hearing a story years ago about a pastor who, you know, for years embezzled money from his church. He was engaged in, you know, sexual sin and misconduct. Ultimately ended up not only losing his church and his ministry, but ended up in prison. And a friend of mine went to visit him in prison. I was sitting with this pastor and this pastor explained, you know, this guy said like, how does it feel? I mean, you know, being under the weight of God's judgment. My friend asked the pastor this and the pastor said, judgment? He said, this is mercy. He said, God broke my ministry so he could heal my soul. And I would rather spend 20 years in prison than eternity in hell. And I'm grateful for the privilege to be loved by God so fully that he would bring me this low so I could finally grab a hold of him in a way that I'd never had before. Sometimes the hand that strikes us is the hand that saves us. And so I would say this, guys, the only difference between a blessing and a curse is the way you respond to it. The difference between a blessing and a curse

is the way you respond to it. Here's what I mean. If that man lost his ministry and ended up in prison and joined the, you know, the Aryan nation and, you know, started dealing drugs and murdering people in prison because he just concluded, well, God's not real. If God was real, he would have had mercy on me and God, you know, let this happen to me. So I hate God. I've met countless people who are furious at God because the thing they wanted didn't happen. And they live their lives saying that they believe. If God doesn't exist, but that's not the truth. They know God exists, they just hate him because he won't let them be in control. But here's the reality, a different person, a person with a pure heart can experience the same hardship, the same suffering, the same sorrow, and it can drive them to say, Lord, heal me, save me, redeem me, expose what needs to be exposed, and bring me back into your will for my life. And so how do the Israelites respond to this? Is this a curse, or is this a blessing? Is this judgment, or is this mercy? These fiery serpents bit people, and many of the people of Israel died. Verse seven says, therefore the people came to Moses and confessed, we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.

Please pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people. Guys, this difficulty, this hardship, this affliction drove the people back into right relationship with God and right relationship with Moses. Even God's harsh discipline is a demonstration of his grace. Even God's harsh discipline is a demonstration of his grace. I would take you back, just as an example, I'd take you back all the way to Genesis chapter three, when we look at the fall of man. There were two trees in the Garden of Eden. There's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then anybody remember the other one? The tree of life, right? The tree of life presumably gives everlasting life. And so when Adam chose to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what happened is that they were immediately banished from the garden. And that can look like punishment, but imagine if man had chosen rebellion against God, had separated himself from communion with his creator, and then had gone and eaten the fruit of the tree of life, he would have lived forever in fallenness and enmity with God. And so even God's harsh rebuke was grace to Adam. To Adam, even God's harsh discipline is a demonstration of his mercy and grace. And so the Israelites, they come to Moses

and they say, well, you pray for us. And so Moses did, he prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole and it shall be that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. And so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Now this moment in Old Testament history, it stands as a weighty and wonderful glimpse of the future redemption that would be offered through the crucifixion of Christ. You see this serpent formed and held up high so that anyone who is bitten by a serpent can look on it and be saved. Centuries later, Jesus would say to his followers in John 12, 32, he said, if I am lifted up from the earth, then I will draw all men unto myself. In 2 Corinthians 5, 21, it says that Jesus at the cross, he became sin. That is to say that he took on the form of the thing that terrorizes us, just as the bronze took on the form of the serpents which terrorized the Israelites. The shadow we see here in Numbers 21 finds its full vivid manifestation in the form of Christ, our broken King being raised up on the cross and declaring through that act that all who look to him will live and not die,

just as the Israelites had done centuries prior. And so as I preach this, I understand I'm preaching out of Numbers chapter 21 here, but I have to tell you, the message of Numbers 21 is the message of the gospels and the epistles in the New Testament, and that is this, look to Christ. Fix your eyes upon Jesus. He is, what is it, Hebrews 12, two says that we fix our eyes upon Jesus because he's the author and the finisher of our faith. We turn our eyes to the one who hung on the cross for our sake. The message of Numbers 21 is they, as Moses raised up the bronze serpent and all who'd been bit by these stakes, they looked to the serpent and they were saved. It was a shadow, it was a hint, it was a sign pointing forward in human history. Jesus, the one who would become the embodiment of sin, who would be raised up on a pole and would declare through that sacrifice that all who look to him can be saved for the death that sin produces. And so I want to encourage you and exhort you and challenge you today, as you cross the threshold from 2025 into 2026 to make your fixation on Jesus your highest priority. This morning, as I was praying during men's prayer, I said, God, I just want you to take up more of my vision. I want you to occupy more of my imaginations this year.

God, as I'm laying in bed, as I'm driving down the road, as I'm in the shower, wherever I am, as I'm thinking about stuff, I don't want to be thinking just about deadlines and budgets and personnel and stuff that I have to get off of my to-do list. Lord, I want to be thinking about the throne room of heaven. I want to be considering your presence and your power and your love. I want to be lost in the scriptures, even when I'm not reading them. God, I want your heart to be the mystery, the enigma that I continually come back to over and over and over again. Friends, I want you to know that in a generation in which there are countless voices vying for our attention and our focus, there is only one that deserves it, and that is the voice of God himself. And so this morning, as we've considered that when God moves in our lives, we can, if we're not careful, we can forget it, or we can even resent it. I want to give you a third warning today. We can forget God's miraculous blessing, or we can even resent God's miraculous blessing, but I want to give you a third warning today against a more nefarious and cunning type of rebellion. That is one that has deceived, I believe, and drawn countless hearts away

from the God they once served. And to understand this threat, we need to leave Numbers 21, and we need to move more than 700 years into the future. We're gonna go to 2 Kings chapter 18. So we're leaving Numbers 21, the time of the exodus, and the wandering in the wilderness, and we're going forward to Exodus 21. After the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, obviously they came into the land of Canaan. After God used the bronze serpent to bring healing and deliverance to his people, presumably they buried their dead, and they tended their wounds, and they moved on with their lives. Eventually, as I said, they came into the land of Canaan. They were established as a nation. They had King Saul, they had King David, they had King Solomon. They experienced during that time some glorious and miraculous victories. David reigned with wisdom and strength, as did Solomon after him. But after Solomon's death, the nation of Israel was divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. And in 2 Kings 18, we read about one of the few good kings during this time of the divided kingdom, King Hezekiah. 2 Kings 18 tells us the story,

and it tells us about Hezekiah, who was only 25 years old when he took the throne of the southern kingdom of Judah. He was, yeah, he was 25 years old. He reigned for 29 years. In 2 Kings 18, verse three, it tells us that Hezekiah, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done. Now, the next verse is stunning, considering what we just read about this bronze serpent in the wilderness. 700 years later, King Hezekiah is ruling in the southern kingdom, and it says, this is what he did. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord. In verse four of 2 Kings 18, it says he removed the high places and he broke the sacred pillars. That is to say that he removed all of the temples and the altars and the places of worship to other gods, the gods of the Canaanite people around them. It says he cut down the wooden image and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made. For until those days, the children of Israel burned incense to it and called it Nehushtan. So Hezekiah has to deal with the idolatrous relationship the Israelites have developed with the thing God wants used to bring them deliverance. And so, how can we misuse God's blessing? There are three ways that I'm talking about today.

The first is that we can forget it. The second is that we can resent it. And the third is that we can idolize it. We can idolize the thing God used instead of worshiping the God who used that thing. Think about this. 700 years later, people had lost sight of the God who brought healing to their ancestors in the wilderness, the God that led their ancestors through the Red Sea supernaturally, the God that crippled the most mighty nation on the face of planet Earth in Egypt, the God who sustained them by way of manna and quail while they were in the wilderness, the God that gave them water from a rock supernaturally while they were in the wilderness, the God that crushed the walls of Jericho and brought his people into the land he swore to their forefathers that he would give them, the God that did miracle after miracle after miracle. They'd forgotten all about him, but they were burning incense to a hunk of bronze that he used 700 years earlier. I know that this seems ridiculous, and yet this might be the most common deception I see people fall into. We worship what worked once instead of the God that worked through that thing. There are entire sects of American Christianity

that are built around this, we know that God uses baptism, and so we worship baptism. You cannot come to God without it. It's like, tell that to the thief on the cross. We worship a particular type of worship. We will say, well, the early church didn't have drum sets and guitars, and so that was perfect for them. And so we're gonna set up camp, and we're gonna continue to burn incense at that altar. It's the way it worked for them. God worked through that, and so we're gonna do the same thing. It worked for a generation before us, or 10 generations before us, and so it'll work for us the same. But do you wanna know why those things worked for others? It's because God chose to work through those things. And so it's not those things that deserve our worship, or our loyalty, or our allegiance. It is God himself. Listen, we build altars to books, and songs, and places, and even people that God has used to bring us where we are, instead of giving right honor to the God who was the one who healed, and delivered, and saved us. We covenant ourselves to the thing he used to accomplish, his redemptive work, instead of to the one who redeemed us through that thing. This is, friends, I need you to hear this,

this is idolatry. It's idolatry, and we must guard our hearts against it. Hear me, the method is not sacred, the message is. The method is not sacred, the message is. And so, while it may look different in our church than it does the church down the street, we rejoice that the message is being preached, that Christ is being exalted, that the gospel's being proclaimed. Like, understand, there are some people that preach the gospel in ways that I think are just kooky and weird. But I used to preach the gospel by screaming at people in my hardcore band. Lots of people thought that was kooky and weird, too. Like, here's the thing, the method is not sacred, but the message is. Yeah. It is idolatry to fixate on the thing God used instead of the God who used the thing. So I came to tell you this morning that as you cross this week into the new year, there are relationships that have blessed you to this point in your Christian life, which cannot go where God is taking you next. I don't know who I'm speaking to right now, but I'm just gonna let the Holy Spirit do the work. Like, there are relationships, there's friendships in your life

that maybe they've blessed you. Maybe God has used you. use those things to get you to this point, but you realize that I've plateaued. I need to find people that are gonna challenge me more. I need to invest myself into relationships that are gonna provoke me to chase after God with more zeal and passion than I have before, and I realize these friends of mine, they have as much of God as they want. And so if I'm gonna go to the next level, I can't bring them with me. There are practices in your life that were good for a season, but they were only given to see you through your spiritual adolescence. Yahweh is saying today, those practices are not welcome in the maturity he's calling you into next. Let me give you a great example. You may have a pew in this church that you love to sit in. Yeah, but this morning I saw about 30 kids up here pouring their heart out to the Lord in a way that that comfortable little pew is never gonna allow you to do. Like maybe it's time you change your point of view inside of this building when you come to worship. Maybe you don't let small children be the only ones up here pouring their hearts out to the Lord.

Like see, it's things like this that are good things. I'm thankful God gave you that pew when you first came here. Wonderful. It brought you to this place. It brought you here. But it's time to go to another level. We're gonna have to leave some things behind if we're gonna go where God is calling us. Some people make idols out of money or sex or power, but most make idols out of beliefs or relationships or callings. We lay our lives down in loyal commitment to the things God once used without realizing it was not the thing that delivered us, it was Yahweh himself. He alone is worthy of our devotion and praise. So as we step into this new year, it's time to determine within our hearts once and for all that he alone will receive our devotion and our praise. Amen. Come on, Lord, we confess our idolatrous impulses to you. God, we repent of the times that we have worshiped the things you used instead of you. And Lord, we ask you to shake up everything for us today. Show us things in our life that can't go where you wanna take us. God, carry us into the fullness of glory Jesus died for us to have.

Lord, we love and we trust you, not just to save us, but to lead us, to teach us and to form in us the likeness of Christ that the world so desperately needs to see. God, we give you our attention and our affection today. As we finish this year, we ask that you would give us clear vision for the future. We say yes to whatever we need to let go of to step into the glory you've prepared for us. We yield to you today in Jesus' beautiful name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Y'all, God bless you. Thank you so much for being here today. If I don't see you before then, happy new year. Love you so much. And we will see you next Sunday, right here. Thanks, y'all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.