Ep 137 | Cover to Cover 16 | Pastor Ryan Clark | April 19, 2026

Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Clark.

You are listening to a message from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

I hope you've learned your lesson.

Has anyone ever heard that before? Yeah, I think all of us probably have at some time in our life.

Usually when we've heard that we've done something pretty wrong, but in our lifetimes, there are plenty of lessons that we really need to learn and bonus if we learn those lessons without having to learn the hard way.

I looked online this week to find lessons learned.

Unfortunately, the hard way, and a few of them made me chuckle a little bit.

Here's a few of them.

There are some clothes that shouldn't be put into the dryer.

Hopefully lesson learned, right? There are some chairs that you can't recline all the way back.

Hopefully, lesson learned.

And one more.

For those of you that may need to replace a door at your house, not all doors are the same size.

Hopefully, lesson learned.

As we're continuing our sermon series Cover to Cover, as we're making our way through the Bible, we're now in that we're right smack dab in the middle of the Book of Numbers.

And as I was reading through the lessons for this past week, I said to the Lord there are so many things in here in these lessons.

I don't know which one to focus on, and I felt like the Lord said hit on each one very quickly.

Lessons that we can learn from the people out there in the wilderness.

And you know what? It's actually a good thing that we would spend some time learning the lessons so that we wouldn't have to learn them the hard way.

In fact, it says in 1 Corinthians 10, these things happen to them, and it's talking about those people out there in the wilderness.

As examples and were written down as warnings for us on whom the culmination of the ages has come.

That's an amazing verse.

It's saying that one of the reasons all of these things that we're gonna talk about happened to these people out in the middle of the desert was as an example to you and me, so we wouldn't have to learn the hard way.

So here we go.

And by the way for those of you that like to fill in the blanks in your bulletins for today, there's a number of blanks that you can fill in if you would like to follow along in that way.

Lesson number one is from Numbers 9.

It says, on the day of the day, the tabernacle, the 10th of the covenant law, was set up, the cloud covered it.

From evening till morning, the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire.

This is how it continued to be.

The cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire.

Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out and whenever the clouds settled, the Israelites encamp.

Pastor Ryan told us last week on how out in the desert, God had his people camp in the shape of a cross.

And right there in the middle of that cross was the tabernacle of God's presence where God would dwell.

And during the day, there was a cloud that covered over the tabernacle, and then at night.

It looked like a pillar of fire.

Now, from time to time that pillar would ascend and would move.

And that was the God's way of saying to the people, pick up your stuff, we're moving to a different place.

And so all of the people would pick up their things and they would carry them along.

The Levites would pick up the things of God and they would carry them along and they would move from place to place through the desert on the way to the Promised Land.

This is our lesson number one: Let the Lord LEAD you: GO when he says, GO and STAY when he says STAY.

Reminds me of a song, right? Should I stay or should I go now? And the answer is, God wants to answer that question for you.

He wants to be the one that says either stay or go.

In Mark 5, it says, as Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed, begged to go with him.

Jesus did not let him, but said, go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.

So Jesus has this opportunity to deliver this man of many demons and out of thankfulness, he said to Jesus, can I go with you? And Jesus says, no, I want you to stay put, but as you stay, tell your family, your friends, your neighbors, about what God did for you.

And then a few chapters later in Mark 16, Jesus says to his disciples, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

So sometimes Jesus says, stay, and sometimes Jesus says, go.

But did you notice that in both of these situations, the reason that Jesus said either stay or go had to do with the people that God wanted them to share the gospel with? In the same way, how do we know when we should stay or when we should go? We should be asking the Lord, Lord, where would I be a better witness for you? In my current job, or do you want me to look for another job.

In my neighborhood? Lord, have I reached out to everyone in my neighborhood yet or do you have a new neighborhood that you want me to reach out to? 10 years ago this summer I was asking that question.

Lord, do you want me to stay in New York or do you want me to go to that crazy place of Buffalo, Minnesota? Where can you use me best? And as you ask the Lord that question, he's going to say either stay or go.

Lesson number two: Numbers 11, he's talking about the manna that came down from heaven to feed his people.

The manna was like coriander seed and it looked like resin.

The people went around gathering it and then grounded into a hand mill or crushed it on a mortar.

They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves, and it tasted like something made from olive oil.

When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

This is one of the most amazing stories in the Bible.

God's people had been delivered from slavery.

They're out in the middle of the desert.

There's nothing to eat.

But God loves his people and has all kinds of power, and so he said, I'm gonna feed you.

Even out in the middle of the desert when you wake up each morning on the ground is going to be what he refers to in another place in scripture as the Food of Angels.

It was going to be this bread.

And as they ate it, they realized, wow, that's pretty good.

It tasted like it had olive oil in it.

In another place it says it was sweet, like it had honey in it, maybe even like a pastry of some sort, and that was pretty amazing for a couple of weeks.

But then all of a sudden the people started changing their tune and complaining about it.

In Numbers 11, it says, the rabble with them began to crave other food.

And again, the Israelites started wailing and said, if only we had meat to eat.

We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost.

Also, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic.

But now we've lost our appetite.

We never see anything but this manna.

Lesson number two: Don't look back with fondness on your days of SLAVERY.

THANK God for where you are today.

Isn't it interesting that these people, just a few chapters before this, were calling out to God and saying, God, please deliver us from this horrible slave labor.

God did, and now they get out into the middle of the desert and all of a sudden they're saying, we wanna go back to Egypt.

Think of all the good food there was to eat.

But what were they conveniently forgetting That when they were in Egypt, they were in slavery.

Don't look back with fondness on your days of slavery.

Thank God for where you are today.

Look at what Jesus said in John 8.

He said, very truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

You say, I've never been in physical slavery.

Good.

But I'm sure that each and every one of us have skeletons in our closet.

Maybe from our youth times that we were testing God times, that we were doing things that God told us not to do.

And just like those Israelites, it's so easy to look back on those days with fondness and say, man, that was fun.

That was a good time when I was crazy with my friends and doing all this stuff that I said I would never do.

But what do we conveniently forget? That alongside that we were in slavery to sin.

And remember, God doesn't tell us to do anything or not do anything that isn't for our good.

And so chances are there were a lot of difficult days during that as well.

Don't forget that, and don't look with fondness on that, instead be thankful for where the Lord has brought you today.

Lesson number three: Also from Numbers 11.

Moses was troubled.

He asked the Lord, why have you brought so much trouble on your servant? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me.

Give us meat to eat.

I cannot carry all these people by myself.

The burden is too heavy for me.

This was quite a burden.

Over a million people complaining to one guy, Moses the Lord, said to Moses, bring me 70 of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people.

Have them come to the tent of meeting that they may stand there with you and I will take some of the power that the of the spirit that is on you and put it on them.

They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.

So Moses is completely overwhelmed, and God says, bring 70 of the best men that you know and I'm gonna take from the Holy Spirit that is on you and put it on others so that you don't have to carry all the burden yourself.

Lesson number three: Don't try to do life all by YOURSELF.

Let others who have the SPIRIT of God help you through life.

This is the reason that God created the church, and this is why I say every week in my weekly One-Call, I say, hello, St.

John's family.

This is your weekly One-Call.

Why do I say that? Because God has created a family here and be, and in that family, God is saying, just like with Moses, you don't have to do life on your own.

Maybe you've got projects in your home or things that you're, you just can't do.

Maybe you're.

You should not get up on a ladder and or maybe get up on your roof.

I know of some 80-year-old that's here today that was up on his roof.

You shouldn't be up on your roof if you're in your eighties or nineties.

We have a ministry that we started here about nine years ago called the Moses Ministry, and that Moses ministry is to help one another out with projects that you might need help with if you need a ride to give you a ride.

You're not on your own.

Depend on other people that have the spirit of God to help you.

And I say this all the time, but we all take our turns going through rough times in our life and when we do, when we have a loss in our family and we're sad, you don't have to go through that all alone either.

God has provided a family to go through that with you.

Lesson number four: From Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of the his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.

Has the Lord spoken only through Moses, they asked.

Hasn't he also spoken through us? And the Lord heard this.

And so Moses' sister and brother, Miriam and Aaron, they started looking at Moses and saying why is he the big shot here? God speaks to us too, and they started undermining his authority.

God didn't like this so much, and it says the anger of the Lord burned against them and he left them.

When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam's skin was leperus.

It became as white as snow.

The Lord's wrath and his anger poured forth, and Miriam looks down and she's got leprosy.

Well, Moses cries out to the Lord.

Please God heal her and based upon Moses' prayer, seven days later, God heals Miriam.

And then two chapters later, all of the people are complaining once again, and God says, Moses, get away from those people.

I'm gonna destroy all the people and I'm gonna make you into a great nation.

And Moses calls out to the Lord on behalf of not just his sister, but all the people of Israel.

And he says, Lord, don't do this.

And once again, based upon the prayer of Moses.

God relents from doing this to the people.

He says in Numbers 14, I have forgiven them just as you asked.

Here's our next lesson: Don't underestimate the power of PRAYER.

Jesus died so that you could approach God's throne CONFIDENTLY at any time.

In Hebrews 4, it says, let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need, as we say so often.

It says in Isaiah 59 that our sins separated us from God.

But when Jesus died on that cross, it brought us back to him so that just like Moses, we could communicate with God on a regular basis.

And those prayers have power because God loves you and he's hearing each and every one of your prayers.

You may go be going through desperate situations.

In your life, situations that you know on your own are not gonna be fixed.

Maybe you've got a bad diagnosis from the doctor, a bad report.

Maybe you've got kids or grandkids that are rebelling against the Lord and you think, I don't know how this could ever get fixed.

Don't underestimate the power of prayer.

Your prayers make a difference because God has made it through Jesus that all of those prayers are getting through.

And just like with Moses, they can change things.

List number five: From Numbers 13, the Lord said to Moses, send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites from each ancestral tribe.

Send one of its leaders.

So at the Lord's command, Moses sent them out from the desert of Paran.

They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community.

They gave Moses this account.

We went into the land to which you send us, and it does flow with milk and honey.

Here is its fruit, but the people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large.

We even saw descendants of Anak there, giants.

Oh, we can't attack those people.

They're stronger than we are 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.

We seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we look the same to them.

So Moses sends out these 10 spies to, to go and spy out the land.

The Promised Land that God was going to be sending them into.

And sure enough, it had some amazing resources there, but 10 of the 12 spies couldn't get past the size and the strength of the people that were there.

Some of them were giants with fortified walls on these cities.

And so they came back and said, we are scared to death.

We can't go in there.

They would devour us.

Here's our next lesson: Don't focus on the TRIAL in front of you.

Instead, focus on God's POWER and his LOVE.

Once again, you're gonna be going through difficult situations in your life.

Maybe you're going through one right now.

Maybe you're checking the numbers and you're realizing the numbers aren't adding up.

I don't know how I'm gonna be able to pay my bills.

I don't know how I'm gonna be able to pay rent.

I don't know how this can ever resolve itself.

Don't look at the trial.

That's what 10 of those 12 spies were doing.

They were looking at the trial instead of looking at their powerful God.

Look at what it says in Romans 8.

What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, then who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? If God is for us, who can be against us.

He's saying God is so powerful that if you've got one God on your side, even if the whole world is against you, you've got the majority.

That's what those 10 spies should have been thinking about.

It doesn't matter how many bad guys there are and how big they are, if we've got God on our side, we're gonna win.

Focus on the power of God and also the love of God.

That's that second statement there.

He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not Also along with him graciously give us all things.

If God loved you so much that he were to send his own son to die for you, then why would you ever think that he wouldn't take care of all your other needs as well? Lesson number six: From Numbers 15, the Lord said to Moses, speak to the Israelites and say to them throughout the generations to come, you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments.

With a blue cord on each tassel, you will have these tassels to look at, and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes.

So God told his people in the 15 chapter of Numbers, this is what I want you to do.

I want you to put tassels on the corners of your garments, and whenever you feel that tassel bumping against your leg or you see it either on yourself or on your friends and neighbors, it will be a reminder to you of all that I've said to you.

Have you noticed, maybe you've come into contact with Orthodox or Hasidic Jews today.

Many of them still wear those tassels all these thousands of years later as a reminder of what God has said to them.

And this is lesson Number 6: Remind your soul regularly of the COMMANDS and the PROMISES of God.

There are so many ways that people attempt to do this here today.

I was noticing last night that a lot of men were wearing cross necklaces, and I thought that is a great way.

Sometimes, and I don't know how good this is, I will write things on my hand.

Usually I'll write them in Hebrew or Greek, so no one else can tell, can know what what I'm putting on my hand, but it's a reminder to me.

A few days ago I wrote.

I am my beloveds and he is mine, as a reminder to me who I am and whose I am.

And there are lots of different ways that you can remind yourself of the commands and the promises of God.

But you know what? Even if you do regularly remind yourself of the commands and promises of God, you know what you're never going to be able to get past as long as you're here on this earth? Sin, and there's still gonna be times that you're gonna fail, even if you're trying with all your might to remember the things of God.

And when that happens, when you fail in your thoughts and your words and your actions, and you remember from the Book of Numbers that God has a ferocious wrath, it's gonna make you wanna get down on your face and say, God have mercy upon me.

And when you're down there on your face before the Lord.

Remember another lady that was down there on her face before the Lord from Luke 8, it says, and a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years, but no one could heal her.

She came up behind him and touched the edge of Jesus' cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

By the way, Jesus was a good Jewish man, so what would he have on the edges of his cloak? Tassels, what did she reach out and grab? She reach out and grab the tassels.

Why would she do that? It's actually pretty cool.

From Malachi 4, it says, but to you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings.

Great passage, but I looked this up this week, and it's even greater because that word for wings, yes, it can mean wings like a bird.

The word in Hebrew is Kanaph, but look down at the very bottom what it also can mean.

It can mean the corner of a garment.

What was he saying? But to you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in the corners of his garment where the tassels are.

He was saying there's healing to be found there.

And somehow this lady, with all these years of bleeding, knew of that reached out and grabbed it and was healed at that very moment.

Here's a bonus lesson that you and I can learn here today.

It's this: Reach out to Jesus for all your needs.

Maybe your need is forgiveness.

Reach out to Jesus.

Grab the tassels of his robe, so to speak.

Maybe your need is health.

Maybe your need is financial.

Maybe your need is relational.

Whatever it is, reach out and grab him.

And let him bring healing into your life.

In just a few minutes, we're gonna have the opportunity to do that in the Lord's Supper, where you're gonna be able to come forward and receive whatever you need, forgiveness, health, strength, relationship help, whatever it may be.

The Lord is to be found wherever his body and blood are.

You can find him there may God grant it to each of us for Jesus' sake Amen.

You've been listening to a sermon from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

If you would like more information about St.

John's and any of our ministries to our community and beyond, you can go to our website, www.

stjohnsbuffalo.

org.

Thank you and God bless you.