2023 July BIG SUNDAY - ABLE 2

Welcome to Go Church Beirut, your place to love, grow and go.

Get ready to hear an inspiring message recorded during a Go Church Beirut gathering.

Let's talk about Able.

This you know, you normally will shift themes from month to month, but in June and this

month I wanted to talk about this word, Able.

Last month we studied these three elements that we're able through Jesus, who is our

covenant mediator.

Last month when we were in our Big Sunday we were talking about the blood of Jesus that

is speaking about Joseph and about me and about Rapha and about Siela and it's saying

that you are able.

You're able.

The blood of Jesus is my witness that testifies that I am able.

And we saw in our grow groups that God's promises contain able.

When he promises something inside the promise is able.

And then the Holy Spirit gives us the wisdom to access the power, right?

If you go when the power flipped here, if one of us that didn't know what we were doing

had went over to the electrical panel and grabbed the wrong thing, we would have got

a hold of a lot of power, but because we don't know what to do with it, it would have hurt

instead of help.

Maybe that's why it went off.

But we're able through, so now it's only natural, right?

Let's look at what we're able to.

It's a play on words.

Able to what?

Well, through our grow groups and the podcast, we're going to look at that we're able to

see, we're able to say, and we're able to do.

See what?

See what others can't see.

If you can see something someone else can't see, you can receive something they can't

see.

You know, if you drive through Dubai today, there was a time when it was all orange fields,

right?

Orange groves.

But someone said, you know what?

I think you could build a building here.

I think you could build a mall here.

I think he or she, they saw something no one else could see.

We're going to look at what we're able to say.

Seeing things that the others in the world around us maybe is the opposite, where everyone

else is saying it's bad and getting worse.

Well, the Bible says that we can declare something and God will make it so.

That's in Job.

And then we can do things that others have just decided is impossible.

We were just singing about that.

What God considers possible, man calls impossible.

But today, I want to talk about something else.

I want to talk about not able.

That seems a little off-brand, right?

Wait a minute.

We're doing this whole thing about able.

How are you going to talk about not able?

Sometimes people say, well, that's nice for you, but I'm not able.

This message that you're talking about, it sounds very good, but you don't understand

it's not that easy.

It's not that easy.

I'm not able.

And I want to look at a Bible story today and kind of let us look at together two questions

that centers around a group of people that said, we're not able.

In fact, that's actually a phrase from a verse in the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 13,

Numbers 13:31

verse 31, the people of God, the covenant people of God said, we are not able to go.

Not able to go.

And as I was preparing for today, I thought the Lord reminded me of this verse and I started

thinking about this story and I went back and read it.

And I want us to go back through this together.

In Exodus chapter 3, verse 8, the Lord said, who said the Lord?

Exodus 3:8

The Lord, the same one that in Genesis said, light be, and it was.

The Lord said to Moses, I have come down to rescue them, the covenant people of God, from

the hand of the Egyptians and bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land,

a land flowing with milk and honey.

That sounds good.

The people of God at this time had been enslaved in the land of Egypt for 400 years.

Pastor Matt, usually when he reads this and now when I read it, I can hear him say it.

This is the Lord saying, I'm going to come down and do it.

And then he tells Moses, now you go do it.

And Moses had his own, I'm not able moment, but God revealed, no, you are able.

You know why?

Because inside that promise, inside that word from God is all the able that he needs.

As soon as God said, go, he could.

As soon as God said, I'm going to bring them into a good and spacious land that flows with

milk and honey, which sounds awesome, makes a great tagline for your brochure.

As soon as he said that, they were able to do it.

Why?

Because inside that word is all the able necessary.

So Numbers chapter 13 verse 2, God said to Moses, send men who can spy out the Canaanite

Numbers 13:2

land that I'm giving to the Israelites.

Pick one man with demonstrated leadership from each of the tribal families.

Moses did so.

Key to miracles, the key to receiving God's best, do what he says.

Even if what it looks like you're doing is not enough.

That's really the message of John 2 in the miracle of Cana.

The miracle of Cana where Jesus turns the water into wine, they didn't have enough.

And what they could do wouldn't be enough.

But they just did what he said.

And when you do what he said, you get what he says.

So they had been on an 11-month journey from Mount Sinai right up to the edge of the land

of promise.

It should have taken 11 days, but it took 11 months.

Maps was buffering.

They get there.

Okay, we're supposed to go in.

But how?

Where?

This is really an important leadership principle.

It's not a lack of faith or trust to get facts.

So before we make a decision, we're going to go in this way, we're going to go in that

way.

Moses said, okay, what should we do, Lord?

The Lord said, send in leaders.

Who's going?

And the leaders go in to see what this land is all about.

Verse 25 says, they who?

The leaders.

They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole community at K' in the desert.

There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the

land.

So who went?

The leaders, right?

Twelve of them.

And what did they do?

They went to gather facts.

Now what's the report?

Verse 27, we went into the land which you sent us, Moses, and it does flow with milk

and honey.

And here's the fruit.

Verse 23 says, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes.

Two of them carried it on a pole between them along with some of the pomegranates and figs.

An archeologist, an archeologist and historian in the 1950s wrote this.

He said, specimens as large as five kilograms have been found in this area of grape clusters.

He says, the spies would have hung them between a pole so as to not damage them in transit

so that the people they showed them to could see them the way they saw them.

These 12 guys had never seen anything like this before.

They were born in slavery.

They'd never seen anything like abundance.

They didn't know it.

They were born in a different world, in a different time, and God is moving them from

where they were into something brand new and something good.

Yes, but, how would we say that in Arabic?

I say this all the time.

Do you speak Arabic?

Yes, but.

But is a conjunction.

That's the fancy name for what the word but is.

But is a conjunction.

It joins two things together.

And it literally means what I'm about to say makes what I already said meaningless.

People that have had any conversations with me know that when you say but, I'm going to

point that out.

Yes, but.

Yes, but.

So these 12 people had went into the land of promise and they had found big grapes.

Yes, but we found something else.

Verse, the next verse, was that verse 28, 29, but the people who live there are powerful

and the cities are fortified and very large.

We even saw the descendants of Enoch there.

Oh no, not those guys.

We are not able to attack these people.

They are stronger than we are.

Who said that?

Who said that?

Moses says to these guys, you go in, tell us what you find.

They come in.

We found lots of great produce.

You know, I was.

This is off the subject, but you know why those grapes were there and so big?

Because their grandfather had planted seeds of blessing there.

Provision for them had been growing and they didn't even know it.

Yes, but.

We found something else.

The something else we found means we are not able to attack these people.

They are stronger than we are.

Who said that?

Which prophet are they quoting?

Did the Lord say that?

No.

That's an individual decision.

Keep reading and they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.

The people hadn't seen it.

They the leaders had seen it.

Can you imagine leaders influencing people in a bad way?

They said the land we explored devours those living in it.

Is that true?

And the people we saw are of great size.

We seemed like grasshoppers in their own eyes and we looked the same to them.

Here's a question.

How do they know that?

Did they set up like a like a survey?

Like a booth?

Hey, excuse me, Mr. Giant.

Do I look like a man or a grasshopper?

How do they choose grasshopper?

What is and what is this thing about devouring the land?

Did the grapes try to eat them?

Where did this come from?

The reason I'm bringing this up is these leaders, they come back and they're like, yes, it's

great.

But the people are really tall.

You know what's amazing to me?

Is God already talked to them about this in Exodus chapter 23.

Exodus 23 · chapter mention

We won't take the time to look at it, but you can go back and look in Exodus chapter

Exodus 23 · chapter mention

23.

God says, I am going ahead of you and I'm going to drive out the people in front of

you and I won't do it all at once so that the wild animals and the weeds don't take

over.

In other words, there is a plan, there's a strategy and they just take one step, do what

he says, take one step, do what he says and they would possess the land because they were

able.

Yes but, yes but, we have made some assumptions based on what we saw and we are going to use

those assumptions to limit our life.

Because the land there devours those living in it.

Is this what they saw?

How many came back?

Twelve go?

It's not like nine came back and one of them is limping.

What happened to Sonny?

He didn't make it.

Where is this devouring land?

Yes but, yes but, again, did they set up a website?

Was this like a WhatsApp poll that they sent throughout the land of Gath?

On a scale of one to five, five being I'm your equal, one being I'm a grasshopper, where

am I?

No.

They decided this.

This happened in the space between their ears and based on those decisions, they came back

and influenced the whole people.

You're not able.

Who said that?

Who said that?

What assumptions limit you?

What things have you decided are true just because?

I want to talk about a bigger but.

A bigger but.

Look at this, Leviticus.

But I said to you, but I said to you, you will possess there.

Who's there?

The giants, those big fellas.

You will possess their land.

I will give it to you as an inheritance.

What do you do to get an inheritance?

Receive it.

By definition, an inheritance is something someone else built, worked for, and then gave.

I will give it to you an inheritance.

It's a land flowing with milk and honey.

In other words, hey, I've already covered this.

I've already covered this.

Fast forward a little bit to Joshua.

Joshua chapter two, verse nine.

When I say a little bit, I mean a generation later.

This is a woman living in the city of Jericho, which history says was the most fortified

city recorded.

She said, I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you.

Who?

The grasshoppers.

A great fear of you has fallen on us so that all who live in this country are melting in

fear because of you.

You know where this is from?

This is from Exodus chapter 23.

Exodus 23 · chapter mention

I would encourage you to read it.

See, it wasn't just big grapes growing in the promised land.

There was a knowing that we've been living here for a while, but this isn't ours.

This doesn't belong to us, and here they come, and they're going to take it.

And while that was the reality, we have the leaders walking around, yes, but they're really

tall, really tall.

We're not really tall.

What assumptions form the limits of your life?

What assumptions have you decided are true and said, this is all it's going to be?

I don't know the appropriate non-American, non-baseball expression for this, and I've

really thought about it.

But I want to urge, encourage, and implore you to swing for the fences.

No one knows what I mean by that, but I mean step forward in life and do something great

for God.

Don't wait for someone else to do it.

Don't wait and say, oh, I wish I could be like so-and-so.

You are the answer to someone else's prayer, and you are able.

You.

I believe it.

Verse 14, the Israelites grumbled.

It's a good, good measure.

Like you have gas gauges, you have gauges on your cars.

A good gauge to look at in your life is how much are you grumbling and where are you exaggerating?

These leaders, they came and they said, we barely made it out alive.

And then they began to grumble.

Do you know what grumbling is?

My dog grumbles all the time.

All the time.

He grumbles at big things.

He grumbles at little things.

This week, we locked ourselves out, me, Julie, and the dog.

And I'm ringing the doorbell and the dog is barking because someone is at the door.

Finally, he realized, wait a minute, we are at the door.

So then he laid down.

Grumbling.

Sneak up behind yourself this week and just listen.

Am I grumbling?

The Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly.

And they said, if only we had died in Egypt.

Boy, that's dumb.

Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword?

Let's get that straight.

They're complaining that they had to walk a distance so that the Lord would kill them.

Is this the complaint?

That is dumb.

Would that we had died in Egypt.

You know, if you go backwards in this story, we were talking about grapes, big grapes and

pomegranates and figs.

Every time they ran into trouble, they said, oh, I wish we were still in Egypt.

In Egypt, there is vessel.

Oh, I wish I had my onions and tomatoes from Egypt.

They're grumbling and complaining and saying, I wish I was still in slavery.

You know, these people, they got what they said.

Mark chapter 11, verses 23 and 24 work whether you want it to or not.

Mark 11:23

They kept saying, we're going to die in the wilderness.

We're going to die in the wilderness.

We're going to die in the wilderness.

Keep reading.

The Lord said, okay, you're going to die in the wilderness.

The Lord said what they said.

Hebrews says that Jesus is the high priest, the one who works with our confession.

He works with what we say.

They grumbled.

They said, well, man.

And then they said, let's appoint a new leader and go backwards.

Let's go backwards.

Let's not go forwards.

I want you to see what they're doing there.

Really.

I'm kind of making some jokes, but think about it.

What are they really doing?

They're saying, let's draw back because we are not able to go forward.

Hebrews calls that sinful wickedness, disobedience and unbelief.

Hebrews 3, those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness, to whom did God

swear they would not enter his rest?

Those who disobeyed, how did they disobey?

Drawing back.

So we see they were not able to enter because of their unbelief.

It's interesting to me.

Not only did they get what they said, but think about the 10, because there were 12

guys, two of them, if you keep reading, two of them said, we are able.

Let's go.

But 10, they said, no, we're not.

If you ask those 10 guys, hey, are you in disobedience?

No, no, no.

We're just being practical.

Hey, are you sinning?

No, no.

We're just looking at the situation and being practical.

What they considered natural practical wisdom is in Hebrews called sin.

Look at this from the same chapter, Hebrews chapter 3, look at this.

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

Brothers and sisters, that's me and you.

Pay close attention.

That's something for us to do.

So you will not develop an evil, unbelieving heart that causes you to abandon the living

God.

The people, the covenant people of God, who God said, I have come down to do this thing

for them, they abandoned and walked away from what God had for them.

It was the perfect will of God for them to enter the promised land.

It was the already prepared way for them to receive what God had given to them.

Where were they when they abandoned God's plan?

They weren't at a casino.

They weren't doing some terrible moral failure.

They just were in the plan of God and decided this is too much.

I'm going back.

I'm not going forward.

No, I've decided I'm not able.

The Lord said, you are able.

He told them and we just spent a whole month.

He told us.

The covenant people of God, that's still me and you.

The covenant people of God in Numbers 13 verse 31 in this voice paraphrase, it says, no way.

Numbers 13:31

We can't do it.

Those people who are already there are too strong for us.

Let's think about two questions.

Where were the people of God when they fell away from his plan?

Were they doing their own thing or were they following his plan?

They were following his plan.

Up until now, they had been following a cloud through the wilderness and the Lord had brought

them there.

Here's the next step.

And they just said, no.

Here's the more important question.

Who kept them from receiving what God had prepared for them?

There were already things prepared for them.

Not only were there provision and big grapes prepared for them, no, there was already a

way for them to go in and possess it.

Who kept them out?

That's exactly right.

They kept themselves out.

I want to read this as we finish.

Malachi chapter three, it says, this is the Lord speaking.

Malachi chapter three, he says, you have spoken arrogantly.

One translation says hard words.

One translation says strong.

Another one says harsh.

You have spoken arrogantly against me, says the Lord.

You have said it is futile.

In other words, there's no value to serve God.

What do we gain by carrying out his word?

Now we call the arrogant blessed and certainly evildoers prosper and even get away with it.

Have you ever heard that?

No.

What is the definition of success in this country?

In this society that we live in, what does it look like to be successful?

To be a person of influence?

We make assumptions about them, about how they got to that place, about how they got

that apartment, that car.

We make assumptions about it.

And those assumptions act as barriers for you.

You and you are the body of Christ.

So if you are not able, what does that mean?

It means the members, if one of the members of my body was not able to function, then

I would be disabled.

If my arm didn't work, what would that mean?

It would mean that I am disabled.

The body of Christ, that's you.

In Lebanon, that's here.

Right now needs to be well able to do what?

Acts chapter four, stretch out your hand to heal.

Stretch out your what?

Stretch out your hand.

We need to be able to speak, to boldly declare through every available voice what the truth

that has already set us free and able to do things, do things to help this nation recover

from a difficult situation.

Jesus needs to work through strong churches, not just this one, but all through this country.

Strong churches that aren't functioning somewhere in a corner, but are standing up like a light.

And that light shows how dark it is.

So don't come and say, yes, but you don't understand, it's hard.

No, those are assumptions we have decided, but we can change our decision and throw out

those assumptions and start acting like God's word is true because it is.

His word is true about me.

His word is true about you and His word is working in us now.

Hallelujah.

Let me pray for you.

Gilbert, come on.

Hallelujah.

Bow your heads with me.

Heavenly Father, I thank you that you have made us able.

I thank you that through your word you have given us exceeding great and precious promises

by which we escape the corruption of this world for a purpose.

And that purpose is to be your light, to stretch out your hand and be your example.

Lord, I ask that you supernaturally enable us today to step up into the place that you

have for us and occupy this land for you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you for joining us at Go Church Beirut.

Go Church Beirut exists so that everyone can experience the unconditional love of God,

grow in His love and go with His love to their world.

To stay connected with all that is happening at Go Church, follow us on social media at

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And if no one told you yet today, we love you and expect God's best for you.