You've Been Here Too Long | Pastor Ed Ellis | Purpose House Church

We thank God for each and every one of you that are here this morning in the building. Also to those that are viewing online we thank God for this opportunity that God has given. We thank God for our pastor and also our First Lady and the family who are not with us on today. We are definitely praying for them. How many of you feel good on this morning? Hallelujah. I want to take the time this morning. I believe that the Lord has a word for us individually. Not only individually, the Lord has a word for the church and also for Christendom. We are living in unparalleled times. We can see this playing out in the natural, but how many of you know what happens in the natural has something that's working behind it in the spiritual. So I want you guys to pray for me as we get going on this morning. I believe that a text like this today, it can go many different ways. So please pray that it's cohesive and I do not run down any rabbit trails and at the end that you guys will receive what the Lord is saying. If you will please turn with me in your Bibles to Deuteronomy the first chapter and we are going to read verses 1 through 8. When you have it, say amen. That wasn't a lot of amens. I'm gonna give you another second. All right, Deuteronomy the first chapter, verse number one. These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan, in the wilderness, in the plain opposite Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazaroth, and Dizahab. It is 11 days journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh, Bornea. Now it came to pass in the 40th year in the 11th month on the first day of the month that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him as commandments to them. After he had killed Sihon, king of the Amorites who dwelt in Heshbon and Og, the king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashteroth and Edri. Verse number five, on this side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law saying, the Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb saying, you have dwelt long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey and go to the mountains and in the low land, I'm sorry, and go to the mountains of the Amorites to

all of the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the low land, in the south and on the sea coast to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you. Go and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give them and their descendants after them. So for a title from that sixth verse, the Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb saying, you have dwelt long enough at this mountain. So the title that I would like to use on today is you've been here too long. You've been here too long. Now just from the title of the message, I don't know what your mountain is or your place that you've been too long, neither do you know mine. But we all have something. Have you ever had a sense of urgency? Something that comes up on you that you cannot shake? Let me give you a definition, I like definitions. So the word urgency means this. The quality or state of requiring immediate action attention, haste, due to pressing importance. And the book of Deuteronomy in its entirety is characterized by a strong sense of urgency. But have you ever had a sense of urgency to come up on you? Let's turn our attention to the screens for the baptism. Hallelujah. I don't know about you, after being saved for a long time, it's something about seeing someone accept the Lord for the first time and getting baptized. It makes you want to do it all over again. But have you ever had a sense of urgency to come up on you? I'm not talking about fretting. I'm not talking about anxiety. I'm not talking about fear.

But when this sense of urgency comes up on you, you cannot get settled. You cannot shake it. You try to move on, but the more you try to move on, the more that that thing just eats at you. But you want to move on, but you can't. You know that there's something that you must do. You know that there's some action that you must take. You want to skip over it. You want to move on. You want to go on with life as normal, but you know that there's something that you need to do. Moses understood the importance of this moment. And Moses also wanted to convey this to the children of Israel. Now, this wasn't the first time that Moses nor the children of Israel had heard this. Actually, Deuteronomy is just rehearsing the promises that God had given them years before. But now, the children of Israel, they're up on this mountain. They have been wandering in the wilderness for over 40 years. Now, if we go all the way back to Exodus, the most direct route from Egypt to the promised land would have taken the children of Israel 11 days. 11 days, less than two weeks, a week and a half, but because of their disobedience, because of their murmuring and complaining, they wandered in the wilderness

for longer than they should have. Have you ever been in the position where you speak to yourself and tell yourself, hey, I've been here too long? No. This situation that I am in, I should have been well past this now. It could be years that you've been in this situation. Now, ask yourself, how many mountains are we dwelling on that it should have been an 11-day journey, but we've been wandering around the wilderness, our own wilderness that we created. We've been wandering around the wilderness for years, and we ask ourselves the question, Lord, why is it that I am in this situation? Lord, what has happened? Where are we disobedient at? Have you ever felt like you've been on a merry-go-round? For years and years, you've been wanting to get off the merry-go-round. You jump off, but you get right back on it. This is the situation that the children of Israel was in. On a personal or spiritual level, on a church level, we should understand and grasp the urgency of this moment in which we are living in. I believe that we're living in a time of clarion call. A clarion call is a strong, urgent, and inspiring request for people to take action. It is a demand or message that is loud. It is impossible to ignore and extremely clear about what needs to be done. So how attuned are we in this season? If this is an urgent season, and if we are sensing that this is a moment of clarion call, I believe that there is something that you and I on a personal level should be doing.

And not only you and I at the personal level, but as a church, as the whole world church, the worldwide church, what are we doing? Are we hearing the voice of God in this very important time? Or are we just content to allow things to go on just as they are? Are we comfortable with just coming into church Sunday after Sunday, sitting in our favorite seats hearing messages week after week? But we're not receiving any downloads. We're not receiving any strategies from God that will help us in the time that we're in. This is a moment. If we want to take advantage of this moment as individuals, if we want to take advantage of this moment as a church, it cannot be the same as usual. We can't come in here and check the box every week, making ourselves feel good because we've been to the house of the Lord. Actually, it's going to take more on what we do outside of the church than what we do inside of the church, because what we do outside, what we do in our own personal time will reflect in here. If we're not hearing God out there, what makes it any different once we come into the house of God? This is a very important time in which we are living in. As individuals, we cannot afford to sleep at the wheel. As a church, we cannot afford to put it on cruise control. Individually, what is God saying to you? Are we attuned to hear the voice of God? Are we able to block out the distractions? Are we able to put aside those things, those time wasters? Are we willing to say no to our flesh? Are we willing to set personal boundaries, those things that prevent us from getting in the presence of God? This is a prepared moment that calls for prepared people. Let me tell you, we're not just going to walk into this. This is not something that you can run to the altar and we lay hands on you and it's

going to happen. No, it's going to take us on an individual basis. This calls for some growth. God's people, we cannot afford to stay where we're at. You have to move. We've been on this mountain too long. You've been here too long. We got to get to moving. We can't stay here too long. What type of downloads are we receiving during this time? Is there a sense of urgency? Is there a burning on the inside of us? Is there a longing that's happening on the inside of us? Are you hearing the voice of God during this time saying, hey, I want you to come just a little bit closer? That's something that you cannot shake. You can be in your home, you can be in your car and just feel God saying, hey, you know what? I want you to pull aside. I want you to just spend a few minutes with me. I want you to pray. Get up from the dinner table. Get up from in front of the television. Put your phone down. TikTok is not that important. Facebook is not that important. I want to get into the face of God. During this time, what God is saying is more important than what we're seeing on our reels

or what we're seeing in our DMs. This is the time, my brothers and my sisters, that we need to hear the voice of God. Can you hear God saying, I want you to arrange your everyday life, rearrange your everyday life and make me the priority? Are we experiencing those burning bush moments like Moses had? Moses just wasn't content with seeing the burning bush. It wasn't until Moses stopped and pushed in a little bit closer. When Moses stopped, turned his attention from other things, that's when God began to speak to him. But how many burning bush moments do we just walk past every day? We're not even aware of it because we're so in a rush to move on to that next thing. I have this to do. I have that to do. But that one moment that we pass by, maybe this is the time that God wants to download some strategy to you. Maybe this is the time, that thing that you've been believing God for, you've been asking God for, maybe this is the time that God wants to speak to you. Maybe this is the time that God wants to give you some creative ideas. Maybe this is the time

that God wants to drop a heavy Reveal on the inside of you that's gonna change your life. Not only change your life, change your family's life. But we miss out on these opportunities. We miss out on these opportunities every day simply because we're not attentive. We're just not aware. This is the season as Christians, individually, we need to be vigilant. We need to operate and move in the spiritual gifts. I'm not sending a hierarchy of gifts, all of them are important. But during this season, the discerning of spirits, very important. Because a lot of times, what we see with our natural eyes, is really not true. I'm finding this out more and more. Man, as Christians, if we're just walking around by natural sight, man, we're not exercising spiritual gifts. Man, we... In this season, guys, that we're in, in this season, you know what the Bible says about the end times? And if it were possible, even the most elect will be fooled. We're in that season. We're in that season.

So you better get it off our crew. You better stop depending on your natural eyes. You better stop depending on your natural senses. Your knowledge. Your experience. You better stop depending on that. You better start hearing the voice of God. What type of growth? What type of growth have we experienced this year in our families? When was the last time that we prayed as a couple? When was the last time that we prayed as a family? What position, what place have we been in for too long as a family? What place, what position that we've been in too long as a saved couple? Now is the time, husband and wives, we need to grow together. We need to grab each other by the hand and say, we're going to go up together. This is not a time for Christian couples to be unequally yoked simply because there's work for you to do. Not one outrunning the other, climbing up the spiritual growth ladder, but we need to grab each other by the hand. Come on, baby, let's go. If we're going to do this thing for God, we're going to do it together. I cannot afford to leave you.

I cannot afford to be left behind. We're going to go up together. We have plenty of opportunities, and this is not a shameless plug, but we have too many opportunities, too many groups and activities going on at this church for someone to not grow spiritually. If you cannot grow in this church, you just don't want to grow, and that's just the plain truth. We can offer as much as we can offer, but it's up to you to take advantage of it. It gets to a point where we have to be responsible for our own spiritual growth. You get to a point where I cannot leave it for the First Lady. I cannot leave it for the pastors. I have to take accountability for my own spiritual growth. I understand and realize that coming in here on Sunday morning is not going to get it. I understand that in the mornings, I'm going to have to have a quiet time, that I'm going to have to read my Bible, that I'm going to have to pray, and if I want to add a little bit with that, I'm going to have to fast. I'm going to have to consecrate myself. Let's go old school. I'm going to have to set myself apart. A lot of things that I'm going to have to

pull myself aside from. Holiness is right. Hallelujah to His name. That's what the old saints used to sing. Holiness never goes out of style. I don't care what trends are going on in the world. I don't care how those trends infiltrate the church. Let God be true and everybody else is a liar. Holiness will always be right. Living for God is always right. We cannot grow in God and have mixture at the same time. A lot of times we wonder why we're not growing. You need to get the mixture out of your life. You need to make a decision, for God I'm going to live, and for God I'm going to die. I don't care what the world says. If you don't want to grow, you stay in the position that you're in. But for me, but for me, I understand the urgency of the time in which we're living in. The same old patty cake church, the same old mediocre living is not going to get it. The same old patty cake church, the same old mediocre living is not going to get it. Church as usual is gone, because we're living in unparalleled times. The world is making so many pulls and so many demands upon us, and we just go with the flow.

We cannot afford to just go with the flow. We set the flow, we set the pace. I want us to understand the seriousness, the importance, and the urgency that this moment that we're living in brings with it. This is Moses' farewell tour or farewell address to Israel. Moses is now about 120 years old, he's about to die, and Israel is about to enter into the promised land. Genesis 12, 1 and 2, it says, now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. This reminder of what was promised didn't stop with Abram, but it continued with Isaac and also Jacob. Exodus 3 and 6, I am the Lord of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Verse number 8, Exodus 3 and 8, so I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. The children of Israel had firsthand knowledge of God's faithfulness while they were in bondage in Egypt. They were aware of how God was showing himself superior to the gods of the Egyptians. They were aware of how God was making a difference between the land of Goshen and the land of Egypt. They were privy, and they heard about how God blessed them, and they crossed the Red Sea on dry land. They heard the stories of how Israel drank water from the rock. They heard about the manna and the quail that God provided for them in the wilderness. They knew about the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They were also aware that in 40 years of wilderness wandering that their shoes and their clothes

did not wear out. So the children of Israel were constantly reminded of God's faithfulness. Here they are, an 11-day journey, 40 years later they're still wandering. And this is the question that we must ask. In order for them to enter into the promised land, an entire generation had to die out. Their staying in the wilderness too long not only affected them, but it affected an entire generation. Now let's just bring this just a tad bit closer to home. Our wilderness experiences, the mountains that you and I have dwelt on too long, who have they affected? Let's change the tense. Who is it affecting? Our staying in positions too long, our refusing to move, our refusing to step out on what God has said that he's going to do. We should not take these times lightly. Oh, my bad God. My bad, I just didn't feel like doing it. This is too hard. God, I hear you but I'm comfortable with where I'm at. God, I hear you but I don't want to do that right now. We say, who would do that? Me and you do that. We make up every excuse that we want to make up for us not doing what God has called us to do. And there's people, there are people closely connected to us. There are people that are closely connected to us. That we are affecting their destiny. We are affecting them because we won't move. God had showed the children of Israel time after time, victory after victory, blessings after blessings in the wilderness.

Even in the midst of their disobedience, God was yet blessing them. God was still encouraging them. Come on. Come on. I have something for you. Because of your disobedience, all right, there's punishment for this. You're not going to be able to do this. But I have not forgotten my promises that I've spoken to you. So our willful disobedience, it's not a small thing. We need to get that out of our mind. We never want to get to a point where we're comfortable with telling God no. Or putting God on hold. I'll do it later. We're not in that season anymore where we can do it later. We're in the season now. When we hear, we better move. When we hear the first time, we need to find out what we need to do to be able to make that happen. We don't have time to lay fleeces out before the Lord. You're well past grown. God is this you? God if this is you, show me a sign. You've been saved too long for that. Stop all of that foolishness. You know when you hear the voice of God. Stop playing with yourself. Time after time, miracle after miracle, blessing after

blessing. God showed himself strong. Numbers 13, one and two. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I'm given to the children of Israel. God told Moses, Moses told the people, said tell the 12 spies to see if the people who dwelt in the land are strong or weak. Whether they are a few or many. Tell them to see what the cities are like. Do they live in cities or do they live in strongholds? Tell them to search out whether the land is rich or poor. Whether they're a forest or not. Numbers 13 and 20, and he told them, hey, be encouraged. And bring back some of the fruit of the land. And after 40 days, they came back. They showed them the fruit of the land. They reported that everything was just as God has said. Truly, it is a land that is flowing with milk and honey. And if you read on in that, it said that the great. Grapes in the promised land were so large that it took two grown men to bring the grapes back. And I don't know if you guys ever go to Sam's and Sam's has those purple grapes or those good, sweet, green grapes. I call them promised land grapes. And let's just walk down biblical history for a second. God had promised the children of Israel that Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph, that he was going to make them numerous and that he was going to bless them with their own land. He showed himself faithful in Egypt, miracle after miracle. They got off to a good start and they began to wander because of

their disobedience, but God still blessed them, blessed them, blessed them. And with the children of Israel, they were instructed to rehearse all of the things that God was doing, had done, and what he was doing, they were instructed to rehearse that to succeeding generations. So they knew all of this, but yet as I got to this particular text, I'm like, God, they already heard all of this before. This is not something new. Why are you telling Moses to rehearse this again to them about your faithfulness? It's not that God had forgotten, God knew. God didn't need this as a reminder, he already knew. But God was doing this for the children of Israel. I want you to look back on everything that I have done, everything that has happened to get you to this point, and I want you to see my faithfulness. Even in your unfaithfulness, I want you to see my faithfulness. And even in our own lives, when I look back over my life and I see the things that God has done, God has been faithful. Even when I have not been as faithful as I should have. There are some times that I was disobedient, but God has still been faithful. So I want to ask you this question, nobody can answer this for you but you. And I'm not trying to point a finger at anybody, because I have already preached this message to myself. What mountain are you dwelling on? What is the location in your life?

What is that one thing, maybe two things, could be multiple things. What are those mountains in our lives that we have been dwelling on too long? That God is pricking at your heart. For a lot of you, this is just resonating because this is not the first time you have heard this. But for some, this could be the first time. But what mountains do we have in our life that maybe we've just been here too long? Now, the thing about it is this, look back over your life. Do you see individual moments, at least one, at least one time that God has been faithful in your life? I'm sure there's multiple, but maybe you just need that one to get your mind right. mind going. But look at how faithful God has been in your life. Now, for me, when God is asking me to do something, to go to a place that I've never been before, to do something I've never done before, to do something that I'm unfamiliar with, it's not that I don't trust him, I trust him. But this way is new for me. I've never been that way before. Although I've never been to this place before, I can look at how unchanging God has been in the past. So in order for me to go forward sometimes, I have to look back sometimes to see what God has already done.

Oh, hey, this may be difficult. God, I don't see how you're going to do that. But as I look back over my life, I can see different moments where I felt the same way. The magnitude may have been different, but God showed himself faithful. Sometimes we're fearful to step out. It's like stepping out on nothing, believing that God is there. Have you ever had to do that? God, I really don't know what's out there, but if you're telling me to go, guess what? You're going to meet me there. I don't have to see it. I don't have to see it, but you've been faithful. And if you've been faithful, then God, you're going to be faithful now. The children of Israel have become content. Praise team, I'm getting ready to wrap this thing up. The children of Israel have become content, knowing about the promise, hearing about the promise. And you know how it is, man. After you hear something for so long, year after year after year, you're like, ah, okay, I've heard that before. They have become comfortable with hearing it. They became comfortable in their position. They were comfortable being close to the promise. They were comfortable at looking at the promise because the Bible said that they could see

the mountain on which they were dwelling. They could overlook the promised land. They could see it. How many of us are just comfortable? Lord, I'm so thankful, I'm so grateful that you allowed me to see it. There's a difference between seeing it and possessing it. Sometimes it's okay. Moses, for example, right? We know that because of Moses' disobedience, he was not able to enter into the promised land. So God took him up on a mountain, right? And he overlooked the promised land, he saw it. But back in Israel's time, right? As God took Moses up on the mountain, being who Moses was, he was acquiring, he was acquiring the promised land for the children of Israel, although he was not allowed to enter. We cannot settle just for looking, seeing all the time. We cannot settle for being close to what God has promised. Sometimes, sometimes we just have to add the attitude, being close enough to it is not going to get it. I want everything that God has for me. I'm tired of living close to what God has promised. I want to possess, I want to walk out, I want to walk in to everything that God has promised me. Do not become comfortable. Do not settle for less than what God has for you. I've said a whole lot to you guys on today.

But I truly believe that we're living in a time, this is a very urgent time, whether you are aware of it or not. Your agreeance or non-agreeance doesn't change the fact. It doesn't. We are living in very pressing times. And God just wants to get the church's attention. We need to be aware of the season in which we are in. You've been here too long. What place in your life you've been here too long? You know that I've circled this thing years and years and years. You've been here too long. What is resonating on the inside of you? What place is it that you need to move from? What has God promised you that you have not seen the fruition of that yet? But you still feel that urgency on the inside of you. That you just cannot brush past this. You tried to walk away from it time and time again, but that thing just keeps eating at you. Could it be? Could it be that you need to see that thing out? That you need to do business with God? We ask that our prayer teams come. Again, as our prayer teams come, they can agree with you in prayer. I don't care how much oil they lay on you, they slap on you. I don't care how anointed those hands are

that they put on the inside of you. You're gonna have to do business with the Lord. And if you do not have a sense of urgency, ask God to give you a sense of urgency. Ask God to make you a sense of urgency. Ask God to make you aware of the seasons that we're living in. Ask God to prepare you, to prepare us for this season that we're in. So if that's you on this morning, I don't want you to think about what your neighbor's going to say. Nobody's guessing at what you're coming down to the altar for. This is between you and the Lord. We ask that you would just come down if you need prayer in any area. If there are any needs in the house this morning, our prayer team is here. These are pressing times and God does not want us to be caught unaware. This is a prepared season for a prepared people. Let God prepare us, amen. If you have a question, please hit that give button and join with us in spreading the gospel across the aisle, across the street, and around the world. We'll see you next time.