Toward the place of God's Provision

A few items before we get going this morning. I do want to remind you, like normally on the Sundays that we celebrate communion, we take up an offering for the Agape Fund, and you'll have an opportunity to do that after the service as there should be an Agape Fund box in the lobby as you leave this morning. And over the last 3 weeks, including today, every penny that is given to the Agape Fund. is going toward the relief effort in the Philippines, the part of the Philippines that has been hit very hard by the terrible storm that struck a few weeks ago.

And we have some contacts there with the Master's Academy International, Shawn Ransom, Vince Green, who will be over there, and Pastor Celso. These are individuals that you've met. they will take every penny that is given and put it towards helping the churches there and also enriching the capacity of these churches to minister relief and help to the needy in the name of Jesus. So this is the last Sunday in which your offering to the Agape Fund will go towards that effort in the Philippines.

So if you want to give to the Agape Fund, you can just You can put it in the offering bag and just put on the memo line Agape Fund, and we'll make sure that gets to the relief effort there in the Philippines. You can put that in the bag, offering bag as it goes by this morning, or you can put your gift in the Agape Fund box in the lobby, OK. Well, there's a few other things, but I think we'll save some of this as we go. But let me, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Numbers.

Numbers chapter 13. You may say, where is numbers? So just go to the beginning of the Bible. and you have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus.

And then Numbers. It's the 4th book of the Bible. You can go to Numbers. 13.

So find numbers 12 and then right after that is 13. We'll be looking at some selected passages in Numbers 13 and and 14. This morning, We, there's a green insert that is in your, bulletin. And I want to just draw your attention to that once again.

the elders back in June made a decision to begin the journey to the Bornes Technology Center, which is down the road, about 1.5 miles, unless and until discoveries or developments put a check in our step as we began to move in that direction, that began in earnest, a process of discovery. And at the elders retreat last weekend, we looked at the data that came in from that process of discovery and based on what the elders were looking at, we reaffirmed our decision to go to Bourne's at some point in the year 2014.

however, we also decided at the elders' retreat to submit that matter to you, the congregation. and our constitution allows for the elders that they're choosing to deem particular matters to be, such that, we would want the congregation's participation in those decisions and so we want to do that with this decision given the magnitude of the decision.

And so we announced last Sunday a facility business meeting the Sunday night of December 8th, that's next Sunday at 6 o'clock right here in, in this building, and what we want to do is. Just lay out for you, what it is that the Lord seems to be showing us as elders and submit the matter, to you. And you see at the bottom of that green insert, the basic question that we want to pose to you, the membership of, of Cornerstone. Do you agree with the elders that Cornerstone should Make a move to Burns in 2014.

Our trust as elders, we trust the Spirit of God in you, and we trust you, and have confidence in you such that if God is truly leading us as elders to make this move, then he will be faithful to lead you. as well, so we want to make this decision and confirm it in collaboration with you, the congregation. We don't want to hit you with all the information next week. So what we did last week is we made an eight page letter available to you for that lays out pretty much what the elders are looking at and a little bit of the journey to give you an understanding of where we've come from and why we find ourselves where we are today and what the factors are that the elders are looking at.

That is compelling enough to them to cause them to reaffirm their decision to move to Bornes. You can go online to our website, and I believe there's a picture there that says December 8th facility business meeting. Just click that and that will lead you to a PDF of that eight page letter. You can get it that way.

Also in the lobby on the table to your left. is a hard copy of, of that letter. And so we would encourage you to either electronically or get a hard copy of the letter and to be combing through that. And if you have any questions or issues or thoughts, just pray over those things, come to us as elders, we would love to engage in dialogue.

with you regarding those things, and we appreciate those in the church body over this past week that has approached us with thoughts and insights and with questions, and we would love if by the evening of December 8th, pretty much most of the questions that anyone would have have already been. Answered. And as elders, we will be instructed even by the questions that people might have or the thoughts that you might have to share. So, we're wanting this letter to get out so that we can be having this conversation now in preparation for the evening of December 8th, OK?

and by the way, it'll be a membership vote only. However, we will have differently colored survey sheets for those of you that are not members of Cornerstone yet, but you consider Cornerstone to be your home. we would like To at least know and survey your thoughts, as well. So you'll be able to participate in letting your voice be heard, to the elders next Sunday evening, even though, the vote itself will be, that will be tallied will be a membership only, vote.

So please make plans to be here next Sunday night for that. And please engage us as elders in dialogue and conversation in the meantime. thinking about all of that, I want us to launch today a series that is entitled Toward the Place of God's provision. That is essentially what the elders have decided to do at our retreat is to take the winter seminar and to seize the opportunity for us to be pondering things that are relevant to where we are in our church's journey, and there is a blue insert that is in your bulletin.

And take some time this week to be reading that and you'll also see a tentative idea on the back of, of what the schedule for the breakout sessions and the sermons look like for the month of December and into January as we just use this opportunity to ponder where we're at as a church, what are some things at this point of our journey that the Lord would want us to keep in mind. Our vision that we have repeatedly stated to the congregation that has served to fuel the decision that the elders are putting before the congregation has been stated as follows.

We want to reach considerably more people in our Sunday services than we are reaching now. Right now there are limitations from a facility standpoint to our ability to reach more people with the number of services that we have, and we would like to obtain the use of a facility that allows us the room to accomplish.

This we would view such a facility not as the be all and the end all of Cornerstone body life but merely as the front porch that all of our care groups and homes share in common and we would view such a facility as a key entry point through which we can usher people into the wholeness that we are experiencing here in the body life of Cornerstone. By finding a larger facility in which to house our worship services and our other corporate functions, we are wanting to enlarge the wide end of the funnel so that we can reach more people and get them launched in their journey from brokenness to wholeness, and their journey to gospel conversion, gospel orientation, gospel community, gospel mission.

And ultimately standing before Christ in gospel glory. That's what we're all about here at Cornerstone.

We want to get better at it. We want to increase our capacity to reach more people in Our services. God is doing something special here. And we do not do well to keep this to ourselves, but to look at the greater multitude in the riverside area and beyond and to hear the call of Christ to us as he points us to them and says, you feed them.

That's our goal, to feed a greater number of people, to reach out to them and to show hospitality to a greater number of people than we are reaching right now. I was fiddling this week with a graphic. That helps to illustrate the role that facility plays. and you can put in that yellow space that's Linden Street right now for us, that's our central campus, but the likelihood is that it will eventually represent the Bourne's campus.

That campus is not the be all and the end all of life at Cornerstone. It is merely a porch that our households represented with the blue. In that graphic and our care groups represented by the orange that the households and the care groups share in common, we want to be able to welcome people onto the central campus and to usher them deeper into the body life of Cornerstone and to get them launched in their journey. From brokenness to wholeness.

Bornes will serve us well in this endeavor. There's a lot of minutia in the eight-page letter, trying to put it as simply as possible. let's represent it this way. Some, some of the reasons why we like the Bourne's location is because it is close by.

also, it represents approximately 100% more auditorium capacity. it represents approximately actually more than 100% more in terms of restroom capacity, 100% more parking, 100% more programmable space for a 70% increase in rent over what we're paying now. And by the way, our rent will be going up here at Lyndon for 2014. Which would make the increase from what our rent will be in just a couple of months here at Lyndon, the increase from our rent two months from now to our rent when we move to Bornes would be less of an increase than 70%.

I believe it would amount to a 57% increase or something like that. Also, Bourne's will provide us breathing room to grow, to be able to reach out to more people. So, there's more to share. Read the letter.

We'll be talking more about this next week, but be processing these things together with us. We as a church right now are in a season where we are in the process of making one of the more momentous decisions that we have ever made in the 32 year history of Cornerstone. And as a pastor and as elders, one of the things that we have found ourselves doing, we were doing this at the retreat last weekend. is trying to find some parallel that's at least close enough that represents a little bit of where we're at in our journey that might provide a fodder for us to ponder, to think upon, and might give us some insight.

There is no exact parallel to our situation in scripture. But there is something close enough that I know I found myself as a leader coming back again and again to this passage in order to try to discern the, the insights and the warnings. That are found in this passage for us as elders, as leaders, and for us as a congregation. Guys, how we behave during this season as we're on the threshold of a potential move and we're in that decision making process right now, how we behave ourselves as elders and as a congregation during this season will be the stuff of legacy in the years to come.

When the history of Cornerstone is recounted in the years to come, how the elders and the congregation comported themselves during this season will be spoken of. These days are momentous. And that's all the more reason for us to be careful, to be judicious, to be believing, to be faithful, and to be devoting ourselves to unity and to prayer before God. What I want to do is observe in Numbers 13 and 14, 4 actions of the Israelite congregation as they decide what to do about the next place of God's provision.

For them. We're going to just dive down at a particular season in Israel's history, where God had delivered them from the land of Egypt, and had led them through the wilderness for a number of months, and they now find themselves essentially on the southern border of the promised land that God had led them. too. And please understand, my goal in coming to right here is not to equate the Bornes Technology Center with the promised land.

That's, that's not the goal at all. But it is a transition time. They're on the border of the next place of God's provision for them. And I think it's worthwhile, even though the parallels are not exact, by any stretch of the imagination.

we know from 1 Corinthians 10 that these types of things were written for as examples and for our learning. Us upon whom the ends of the ages have come. And so we do well to go to the Old Testament and passages like this, and to just, Lord, what do you want to say to us through this by way of application? So we'll observe 4 actions of the Israelite congregation as they decide what to do about the next place of God's provision for them.

The first action that they take is the congregation's leaders research the place of God's provision. They do their research, and it was the leaders who did. This research in Numbers 13, it says, then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Send out for yourself men, so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel. You shall send a man from each of their father's tribes, one a leader among them.

Understand, guys, that these weren't just, hey, find 12 guys who are good at spying. This is no find 12 men who are leaders. They're leaders of leaders. These are the 12 most trustworthy men.

In the million plus congregation of Israelites, when these 12 men were selected, they were the leaders of the leaders. People trusted them. They had a lot of capital with the congregation of the Israelites. and they were the ones who could be trusted with a responsibility like this.

Everyone would want to know, what do these guys think in a particular tribe, what does so and so think? These are the men that were chosen. And so Moses, verse 3 sent them from the wilderness of Peran at the command of the Lord. All of them, men who were heads of the sons of Israel.

Again, these are leaders, these are heads that are sent to fulfill this task. Verse 17, and when Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, go up there and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it, look at the things they're to look for. See what the land is like, whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and how is the land in which they live? Is it good or bad?

And how are the cities in which they live? Are they like open camps? Or are they fortified with high walls, and how is the land? Is it fat or lean?

Are there trees in it or not? And make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land. And bring it back essentially so that we can actually see fruit from this land of God's provision. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

And so they went up and they spied out these leaders that the congregation trusted went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zen as far as Rehob. At Lebbo Hammath, so they went from the southernmost part of this land of provision to the northernmost part. They searched it out thoroughly and then they came to the valley of Eskol and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes and they carried it on a pole between two men. With some of the pomegranates and the figs, and they returned from spying out the land at the end of 40 days.

So like, imagine here at Cornerstone, even though there's not a perfect parallel, just imagine the congregation of Cornerstone selecting the 12 most trustworthy men in the church whose opinion they value, and the congregation assigns them the task of going to the next place of God's provision for us to investigate thoroughly. And as the congregation waits, 40 days go by, we're like, everyone would be dying to know what do these individuals, these leaders among us think? Well, they finally return, and that brings us to a second development or action.

That we see that the Israelites engaged in, and that is that the leaders give the congregation a conflicting report regarding the place of God's provision.

for them. So these 12 leaders who have all of this capital with the people of Israel return, and they give a report, and they disagree with each other. They actually in full view of the congregation of Israelites are arguing with each other. They have a different perspective about what they have seen and what the Israelites should do.

about coming into this land that God had called them to. It says, and they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Peran at Kadesh, and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. And thus they told him and said, Here's the beginning of their report. We went into the land where you sent us, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

So they show them the grapes and the pomegranates and the figs. Verse 28, but Nevertheless, The people who live in the land are strong and the cities are fortified and very large, and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there and you can continue reading that in the text. Basically these, these men were huge. They were giants.

And so they began to give this report. It starts off seemingly favorable, but then there is a but or a nevertheless, and they began to talk about how strong the people are, how fortified the cities are, and the size of the people in this land, and the clear sense that is indicated in the text is the congregation of the Israelites. began to vocalize their negative response. They are clearly upset.

I don't know what they were expecting. They were probably expecting the spies to go into the land and come back and say, Man, all the walls have already fallen down. God must have gone ahead of us. There's no walls.

There's no protection, and everyone there, there's no 1/4 feet tall, and they're all so weak. In fact, they're begging us to come in and overtake them. and drive them out so they can go live somewhere else. I don't know what the people of Israel were expecting, but they were not expecting this.

This startles them. And so they began to vocalize their negative, hysterical response, verse 30, then Caleb quieted the people. The idea is he had to say to them, guys, hush, stop. Just stop the hysterics.

He quieted the people before Moses, and he said, He's not even going to wait for these guys to finish the report with their recommendation. We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it, he says. We know that Joshua was with Caleb in this. So you have Caleb and Joshua, who are saying we should come into this land and take this land, we're going to overtake these people.

Yes, they're as big as is being described, but God is with us and we can overtake them. We can take these guys because God is with us and he's not with them. Caleb and Joshua take that position. But the other 10 of the leaders The heads of the tribes of Israel are painting a very different picture.

Look what they say in verse 31, but the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us. So there's back and forth going on here. The leadership here is arguing over what to do. Verse 32, so they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land, which they had spied out saying, the land through which we have gone and spying it out is a land that devours its inhabitants.

It's not everything. That it's been cracked up to be. And all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. They're also we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Enoch are part of the Nephilim.

In other words, these are giants in the land. In fact, they are so huge that we became like grasshoppers in our own sight. And so we were in their sight. And they were looking down upon us like grasshoppers.

And what? We became grasshoppers in our own eyes. They're saying, I They're saying we've never felt so short and so small. as we did when we were in This land spying it out.

see, they don't realize that that's actually a very good place to be. God intentionally leads us into situations where we are saying, I have never felt more weak. I have never felt more small. than I do right now.

I don't know how many times I've told people in this congregation. That this year, this year here at Cornerstone, I have never felt more like a rookie. Than this year I've never felt more small. I've never felt more out of my league, and I think I speak for the elders when I say that.

Is that a bad place to be? No, I don't think so. For them to say, man, we were grasshoppers in our own sight, God would say, Yeah, that's the point. But the mistake they made is they left God out of the equation.

Because these giants they behold in the land of God's provision were but grasshoppers compared to Jehovah, and they totally left him out of the equation. What they're discovering is that the place of God's provision was a place of God-sized problems. divinely intended to be that way in this land of promise, in this land of provision, everything is bigger. The blessings are bigger, the clusters of grapes are bigger.

But so are the challenges bigger. This is a land that is full of God-sized problems that required God-sized Solutions. And why did God structure it this way? Why didn't he just have the spies come in, and they walk around, it's like, man, God's already defeated everybody.

In fact, everyone is dead. God has gone ahead of us and destroyed everyone. All that's left now is for us to just waltz into the land. And take it.

God could have done that. But instead, God in His sovereignty has these walls that are these cities that are highly fortified with high walls, and these giants like the Israelites have never seen these problems the size of which they had never seen before. Why did God allow things to be structured in this way? I think the reason is because God did not just want to give them a place.

He wanted to give them himself. He wanted to bring them into a land facing problems that made them feel like grasshoppers. God-sized problems that required God-size solutions, so that God could be that solution, and he could show himself strong and faithful, and mighty, and loving. As the children of Israel went throughout the land to conquer it.

God's like, I want to do more than give you a land, I want to give you me. And these high walls, these giants that confront you, these obstacles, these problems are all simply means by which I'm going to give you me and show myself strong and faithful and mighty. Guys, wherever Cornerstone goes to next, we need to be realistic. I believe wherever we're going to go to next is going to be a place where the blessings are bigger, and the problems are bigger.

the challenges are bigger. We'll find ourselves facing bigger challenges that make us feel like smaller grasshoppers than we do now. Is that bad? No.

In God's land of provision here in numbers, in the place of provision that God leads His people even today into. There are always God-sized problems and challenges that require us to stay desperate and to cry out to Him and to take every step of the way in total dependence upon Him. Well, how does the congregation respond? Do they say, Well, yeah, we are grasshoppers compared to these giants, but look at Jehovah.

Let's go and let's take this land. How does the congregation respond? Well, the congregation grumbles against their leaders, and they reject the place of God's provision. It says in Numbers 14, Look at the hysterics here.

Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night, and all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in this wilderness. We are right now wishing that we never made it out of Egypt. We're right now wishing that we were already dead, having died somewhere in this wilderness journey that we have been on over the last year and a half or so.

So they are very upset.

Verse 3, and why is Jehovah, why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? They've already concluded we go into this land, we die. Entering this land equals death. Our wives and our little ones will become plunder.

Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? Verse 4, this is amazing. And so they said to one another, Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt. They would rather return to slavery in Egypt, than to face the God-sized problems in the next place of God's provision for them.

Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the Sons of Israel, and Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephune of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes, and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. Verse 8, if the Lord is pleased with us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey.

Only do not rebel against the Lord and do not fear the people of the land, for they shall be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us.

So do not fear them. How did the congregation respond? But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. That's how they responded to Caleb.

And to Joshua. What they're saying is we're going to succeed. The land is good. Don't fear the people of this land will be our prey.

God is with us. We can take these guys and the congregation of the Israelites hear that and say, we want to kill you. We want to stone you. Well, to make a really long story short, in the verses that follow, God determines that he's going to destroy the Israelites, right where they're at.

Moses intercedes for them. God chooses in his grace and mercy to pardon them to a degree. but God resolves and tells Moses that not one of these Israelites, 20 years of age and older, will go into the land. Only those under 20 will enter into the land.

God also determines and announces that the Israelites' own despairing words, their worst case scenario, is going to exactly come true. God then slays the 10 leaders of Israel who gave a bad report of the land and who counseled the children of Israel to not come in and take possession of this land of God's provision. And basically tells them turn around. And you're going to be wondering for the next 40 years.

Until your corpses lie in the wilderness. And then your children, whom you said are going to be prey for the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, they're the ones who are going to go in and take this land. that I have chosen to give To them. Well, that leads us to a 4th and a final action that we observe here, and that is that, every possible mistake that could be made was made.

The congregation presumptuously tries to enter the place of God's withholding. God has just said, you're not getting into the land. You're going to wander for the next 40 years. Anyone 20 and over, you're disqualified.

You're not going to get in except Joshua and Caleb. He says in Numbers 14:33, Your sons shall be shepherds for 40 years in the wilderness, and they shall suffer for your unfaithfulness until your corpses lie in the wilderness. So this land that I had promised you and was making available to you and calling you into, right now the doors are closed for the next 40 years. You cannot enter this place of my provision.

You must wander in the wilderness until you Who are 20 and over die in the wilderness. So upon hearing that, how do the children of Israel respond? Verse 40 in the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country saying, Here we are. We have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised.

They're like, we're ready to go in now. But Moses said, Why then are you transgressing the commandment of the Lord when it will not succeed? Do not go up, lest you be struck down before your enemies, for the Lord is not among you. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword inasmuch as you have turned back from following the Lord, and the Lord will not be with you.

Verse 43, but they went up. Presumptuously. This, this word translated presumptuously, or in the new American Standard heedlessly speaks of something that is swelled up. They're swelled up with arrogance and pride.

They went up presumptuously to the ridge of the hill country. Neither the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp. They know God is not with us. Moses is not with us, but we can take these guys.

Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and struck them and beat them down as far. As hrma Amazing. Here's what's utterly ironic. They're told the day before, the land is very good.

God is going to give it to us. The people are going to be our prey. God is with us. And they hear that and say, we're not going to go up.

In fact, they cry hysterically. But then on the next day, They hear words from Moses saying, God said, don't do this. You're not going to succeed. You're going to be killed.

God is not among you, God will not be with you. And they hear that and say, Yeah, we want to go up. We can be victorious. What are these?

It seems like opposite responses, right? But what do, what's at the core of their unwillingness to go up the day before. And their desire now to go up the day after. I'm not done thinking about.

This, but these really aren't two totally separate responses. They both emerge from the same sick core. We could say it this way. The day before, they said we will not go up, because we don't believe God when he says we will succeed.

But on the next day, they say we will go up because we don't believe God, when he says we will fail. At its core, they refuse to believe God. On the day before, they say we will not go up because we don't believe God's promises of blessing. On the next day, they say we will go up because we don't believe God's promises of judgment.

On the day before, they say we will not go up because we don't want to have to need God in order to acquire the land. On the next day, they say we will go up, because we don't need God in order to acquire. The land What These responses the day before and the day after have in common is a rejection of God. That's exactly why in Numbers 14:11, it says, and the Lord said to Moses, how long will this people spurn me?

And how long will they not believe in me? They don't believe anything that I say. I promise I will be with them and they will succeed. They don't believe that.

I tell them the land is now closed off to them, and they're going to wonder for the next 40 years until they die. They don't believe me when I say that. They don't believe anything that I say after all of the power that I have destroyed. slave and delivering them from Egypt, and in providing for them and caring for them miraculously throughout their wanderings in the wilderness up to this point.

What God is indicating here is at its core, these people are not really rejecting the land. They're rejecting God. They're spurning him. And they're choosing to not believe in Him.

I submit the story. on behalf of the elders to this congregation, and would encourage you to ponder all that may be in it, that is instructive for us. Why do we look at a story like this? Just a few things to remind ourselves that what we do here at this point of our journey as a church is very significant.

It's the stuff of legacy. Our future will be shaped by What we do here during this season, just like the future of the Israelites at this juncture shaped many years to come. We also learn here that we must be unified and not just unified for the sake of unity. 10 of the spies were pretty unified.

But they were not unified in their faith in God. We as a congregation want to be unified in faith in our God. Whatever choices we make, ultimately, we want it to be the choice for God, for his ways, and ultimately, we want him more than we want facility. We want him more than we want anything else.

We also can learn here that the places of God's provision include blessings, yes, and challenges. Wherever we go next, we're going to hit high walls, we're going to hit challenges, and it'll be easy to go, oh, man, remember how nice things were at Linden Street. We would have been better off if we stayed at Lindon Street. The challenges here are bigger than what we had there.

But all I want us to learn is that bigger challenges don't necessarily mean that something's not of God. The way to respond to those challenges is, yes, to let them make us feel like grasshoppers in our own sight. But then to also see the largeness, the greatness of our God, and to run to Him. To embrace those challenges.

We should realize also that wherever God leads us, He wants to give us more than a place. He wants to give us Himself, and he's going to orchestrate circumstances, and he does this in all of our lives. We all face things all the time that are so much bigger than we are. Just realize the reason that happens is because God wants to give Himself to you.

He wants to show himself strong. And how can he do that? If you never face God's size problems, embrace those for the opportunities that they are. And another lesson to learn here is just because we're God's people doesn't mean that God must bless every plan we devise.

As Christians, sometimes we, we think, well, we're Christians, we made a plan. God needs to bless our plan. But that's not necessarily true. God only blesses His plan.

And he only blesses us when we follow his plan. David Platt in his book Radical Together talks about how just the way he's cut, he says, I love sitting down with people and dreaming and scheming and making plans, developing a vision, developing a plan, and then figuring out what do we need to do to execute this plan, and then to, to get up from the table and we're all excited about what's going to happen and what God is going to do. He said, but I've learned over the years that there can be a deception inside of that.

This latent deception.

That, hey, we're Christians. Our motives are sincere. We made a plan. God has to bless our plan.

And he says, God's under no obligation to do that. He says, nowhere in Scripture has God promised to bless my plans or anyone else's in the church, no matter how innovative or creative they may be, neither has God promised to bless us based solely on our motives. Sure, we are supposed to do everything for the glory of God, but that doesn't mean everything we do for His glory is assured of his blessing. There is only one thing God has promised to bless, and that is his plan.

He has given us His plan and His word. And if we want the blessing of God, then we don't need to come up with something else. Instead, we need to align with the plan. He has already promised to bless.

These Israelites, on the next day, we're like, we're going to go up, we're going to take this, and God's duty bound to bless us. We're his people. God did not bless them. He's not bound to bless every decision we make.

But he will bless decisions that we make that comport with his plan. And may we, like over the days of this week and beyond, walk humbly before Him, cry out to Him, speak earnestly with one another to seek the face of God, to make sure that we as a church are following his plan for Cornerstone. And wherever we are, whether it's here, or at Bournes, at whatever point of our journey we find ourselves, being at a location. is not the solution.

Wherever we are, we can follow God's plan or not follow his plan. We must be students of His word, discern what his plan is, and live that plan out. That's the only plan. that God will bless.

And may we choose wisely, behave wisely before God and live according to His word that we might know. The blessing of God. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to help us in this season. Lord, we just come before you right now and all of this, these ponderings have just been a preparation for this prayer.

We are grasshoppers, Lord. Compared to the magnitude of the decisions that are before us. We are no match. For these things.

They make us look small in our own eyes. And Lord, we embrace that. We embrace. Being grasshoppers compared to The magnitude of what is before us.

We confess our weakness to you, our, our inabilities to you, our lack of wisdom and of ourselves to you, Lord. We say to you, our eyes are on you. You are a great God. And all of the nations of the earth and all of the problems we encounter are but a drop in the bucket.

They're not, they're less than nothing compared to your immensity and your greatness. Our only desire, Lord, we believe that this vision that, that we have articulated to the congregation, it was birthed out of a year of praying together as a congregation, reading your word, And pouring out our hearts to you and asking you to teach us to pray and to learn to think your thoughts after you. We've come together as a congregation and done that. We believe that this, this vision that's been articulated is, is from you, but we want to be humble, Lord, and to to lay this before you and ask you to do with it what you will.

Is this your plan for Cornerstone? We believe that it is, but we wait to fully hear your voice. As it comes through your people next week. May you root out of us any swollen pride in our, in our hearts.

May we walk in humility, you give grace to the humble and may we be a humble people. seeking your face, giving you all of the glory. We don't want Lord to make a name for ourselves. We just, we want to have a place.

In which Your name Can be broadcast that your greatness can be seen and more people can experience the courtesy and the hospitality of Jesus Christ. Reveal yourself to us and help us in this season. of seeking the season of need. We thank you, Lord, for the privilege of being a part of this great congregation.

What a, what a blessing. What a gift. Thank you for all of the brothers and sisters who are part of our gospel inheritance here. We are rich indeed.

May the very best of Cornerstone be seen in these days. We thank You, Lord, for the opportunity to give of our offerings to you. These offerings that go to support your work here at Cornerstone and Around the world You've given so much to us, and it is a blessing to give back to you, Lord, a portion of what you have blessed us with. Take these funds and do much with them for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, and all God's people said,