6/5 at The Gathering
Blake Coffee and Aaron Hufty each taught from Numbers 13-14 on Sunday, June 5. The videos from both of those lessons, followed by the scripture, are below:
Core Lesson (Aaron Hufty)
Did We See the Same Thing?
Numbers 13:25 – 14:10
Core Listening Guide
I. God’s Promise/The Assignment
The bottom line for this whole passage is that God promised the Israelites this land. There would certainly be some effort required on their part, but those were just details. The scouting mission was simply a way to find the best point of entry. What went wrong?
II. Man’s Doubts/Mob Mentality
We can’t. They’re too strong. Too big. Are these the same people who had been miraculously delivered from the Egyptians? When did God get in the business of worrying about size and numbers? Examine also how quickly the negative report spreades through the nation. Does any of this sound familiar to you? What has the Lord promised you that you are too scared to lay claim to? By the world’s definition it may be impossible, but why is that stopping you?
III. Dangerous Territory
Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb rightly fall prostrate before God. Their final argument is the same as the first point of the lesson: If God promised it to us, what are we doing here?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Venture Lesson (Blake Coffee)
Swing the Bat
Numbers 13:25 – 14:10
Venture Listening Guide
Even when it is clear what God is going to do and what He requires of us, He still expects us to study the assignment and count the costs.
When fears (real or imagined) dictate our response to a genuine assignment from God, then we have made our God too small.
A Christ-follower participating in fear-mongering is the very height of hypocrisy. God did not give us a spirit of fear.
Cowards spread fear and gossip and go with the flow of the crowd; Godly leaders stand against that current and spread a vision of what God will do.
Godly leaders are often called to bear the consequences of others’ mistakes.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
NUMBERS 13
25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.
Report on the Exploration
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
NUMBERS 14
The People Rebel
1 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
10 But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.
