Stand Guard - Elaine Fisher

Sion Alford

First Conference 2022 • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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Moses gave the men these instructions as he sent them out to explore the land: “Go north through the Negev into the hill country. Numbers 13:18 (NLT) See what the land is like, and find out whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many. Numbers 13:19 (NLT) See what kind of land they live in. Is it good or bad? Do their towns have walls, or are they unprotected like open camps? Numbers 13:20 (NLT) Is the soil fertile or poor? Are there many trees? Do your best to bring back samples of the crops you see.” (It happened to be the season for harvesting the first ripe grapes.) Numbers 13:21 (NLT) So they went up and explored the land Numbers 13:25 (NLT) After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned Numbers 13:26 (NLT) to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. Numbers 13:27 (NLT) This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. Numbers 13:28 (NLT) But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! Numbers 13:29 (NLT) The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley.”

Numbers 13:30 (NLT) But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!” Numbers 13:31 (NLT) But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” Numbers 13:32 (NLT) So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. Numbers 13:33 (NLT) We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!” Joshua 2:1 (NLT) Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, “Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.” So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night. Joshua 2:23 (NLT) Then the two spies came down from the hill country, crossed the Jordan River, and reported to Joshua all that had happened to them. Joshua 2:24 (NLT) “The Lord has given us the whole land,” they said, “for all the people in the land are terrified of us.”

“Stand Guard”

1. Guard your purpose.

Deuteronomy 1:22 (NLT) “But you all came to me and said, ‘First, let’s send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter.’ Deuteronomy 1:23 (NLT) This seemed like a good idea to me, so I chose twelve scouts, one from each of your tribes. Deuteronomy 1:24 (NLT) They headed for the hill country and came to the valley of Eshcol and explored it. Deuteronomy 1:25 (NLT) They picked some of its fruit and brought it back to us. And they reported, ‘The land the Lord our God has given us is indeed a good land.’”

2. Guard your thoughts.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV) casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Corinthians 10:5 (MSG) We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity. Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV) For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

3. Guard your actions.

Joshua 14:8 (NLT) “... For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.” James 2:14 (NLT) What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? James 2:17 (NLT) So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. James 2:18 (NLT) Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” ... “I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” James 2:19 (NLT) You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. James 2:20 (NLT) How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? James 2:25 (NLT) Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. James 2:26 (NLT) Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works. Matthew 1:5 (NLT) Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse. Matthew 1:6 (NLT) Jesse was the father of King David.