The North Carolina evangelist Vance Havner said, "What we live is what we really believe."
Exactly.
One of the steps I try to make in teaching and preaching is to connect the person in the pews to what's going on in the lives of the people inhabiting the texts we are looking at.
Last night we were in Numbers 10, toward the end of the chapter. The Israelites were finally leaving Sinai. And all God's people said... Amen! For those of us in our Wednesday night study group, it was about time.
So each tribe is led in turn to break camp and follow the cloud of God's presence. It must have been an amazing sight to see. After 13 months of being under the shadow of Mt Sinai as God prepared them, finally they were moving. Still, some people in the crowd might have been reluctant to move. But not Moses.
No, Moses was made for this. He was the man God would use to free His people and place them in the land He had promised Abraham. So imagine Moses' excitement and focus on what was going to happen in the future. His every thought must have been far ahead of where they were that day as they began.
Not Moses.
His thoughts were with his brother in law Hobab, who wasn't coming along.
That's right. This great man of God, with his mission finally becoming realized, wasn't going to leave without inviting someone he cared for to go on the journey with him.
So why is it that we as Christians are so willing to leave our friends, family, neighbors and coworkers behind when we "move out" to heaven?
We live what we believe.
Moses believed to live was to invite others to walk with God.
Do we? Really?
Exactly.
One of the steps I try to make in teaching and preaching is to connect the person in the pews to what's going on in the lives of the people inhabiting the texts we are looking at.
Last night we were in Numbers 10, toward the end of the chapter. The Israelites were finally leaving Sinai. And all God's people said... Amen! For those of us in our Wednesday night study group, it was about time.
So each tribe is led in turn to break camp and follow the cloud of God's presence. It must have been an amazing sight to see. After 13 months of being under the shadow of Mt Sinai as God prepared them, finally they were moving. Still, some people in the crowd might have been reluctant to move. But not Moses.
No, Moses was made for this. He was the man God would use to free His people and place them in the land He had promised Abraham. So imagine Moses' excitement and focus on what was going to happen in the future. His every thought must have been far ahead of where they were that day as they began.
Not Moses.
His thoughts were with his brother in law Hobab, who wasn't coming along.
That's right. This great man of God, with his mission finally becoming realized, wasn't going to leave without inviting someone he cared for to go on the journey with him.
So why is it that we as Christians are so willing to leave our friends, family, neighbors and coworkers behind when we "move out" to heaven?
We live what we believe.
Moses believed to live was to invite others to walk with God.
Do we? Really?
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