The Manna Series: Nothing But Manna

0:11 I want you to open your Bibles to Numbers chapter 11. Numbers chapter 11. Now, while you're turning there, I want to tell you I'm preaching a narrative message. that means don't look for the points to come up on the screen. They're not going to come up. You write down whatever the Lord says to you. So it's a narrative message. And I'm waiting to give you my subject to the end. Can I do that? It don't matter. That's what I'm going to do with you. I'm going to give my subject at the end. So I want to talk about the children of Israel, how God brought them out of Egypt. They were slaves and God delivered them. God raises up Moses.

1:06 Come on, y'all seen the movie. Walk with me for just a second. God raises up Moses. God uses Moses to lead them out of slavery and lead them to a promised land, a place that God had promised them. It's going to take them 40 years to get there. 40 years. It's a long time, 40 years. 40 years it's going to take them before they arrived. When they leave Egypt, they head into the place that the Bible calls the wilderness. Somebody say wilderness. Y'all know what's in the wilderness? Nothing. There are no grocery stores. There are no vendor trucks. there's nothing. So there's no food.

2:03 And the question is, how are they going to eat? But something spectacular happens. God provides and sends quail, it's a bird, to them every day for them to eat. And then they wake up in the morning, they wake up in the morning and outside of their tents in the wilderness is something called manna.

2:32 Matter of fact, when they first saw the manna, they said, what is this? It's a bread. And for every day for 40 years, God gave them manna. It's amazing. As a matter of fact, every day, except for on the Sabbath day, on the Sabbath day, God didn't give them manna because they weren't supposed to go out and do any work on the Sabbath day. And so God would give them twice the amount of what they needed the day before. And they were to gather enough for two days on the day before the Sabbath. And they didn't get any on the day of the Sabbath. And for 40 years, God provided manna.

3:21 When we get to Numbers 11, did I tell you I'll go to Numbers 11? I want to start at verse 1. Just walk with me through this. This is going to be a short sermon. Pay attention. Lean over to your neighbors. They don't fall asleep in this little 20-minute message the pastor about to give you. verse 1 says now when the people complained it displeased the Lord it's okay y'all stop it's okay to make your wife upset or your husband upset but don't make God mad It displeased the Lord, for the Lord heard it, and his anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched.

4:17 Praise the Lord for that. The fire came, some of them died, but Moses cried out, God, stop the fire. And so they stopped dying. So he called, verse 3, so he called the name of the place Taborah because the fire of the Lord had burned among them. Now, verse 4. The mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense cravings. Stop. Stick a pen right there. Are y'all still with me? Have I lost you yet? I want you to notice that this is a mixed. Here's what the scripture says, a mixed multitude. What does a mixed multitude mean? Here's what the mixed multitude means. It means that when the Jews left slavery, when the Jews left Egypt and God freed them, some of the Egyptians came with them. They weren't slaves. They weren't Jews.

5:09 But they tried to seize on an opportunity. See, some of you got to be careful because everybody who travel with you ain't with you for the right reason. That's what I want to tell young people. Be careful who your friends are because who your friends may make a difference in what your destiny turns out to be. You don't want to hang out with the wrong people. You don't want to hang out with people who've got you going to the wrong places, doing the wrong things. I think I told y'all, I might have told y'all this a couple years ago or recently. I don't know. I told y'all at some point or another. When I was a teenager, in the summertime, my mother and father would take me to my grandfather's house and I hung out with my cousins. And my cousin, I was hanging out with him. And one day we, we, I want to say he, but I was with him.

6:09 And along with these other friends, we, they broke into a school shed to steal a lawnmower to take the motor off. Why y'all looking at me like y'all ain't never done nothing like that? Y'all get on my nerves acting like y'all ain't never had no sin in your life. We stole a lawnmower to make a mini bike.

6:35 How many of y'all remember what a mini bike is? the problem was that the lawnmower and the shed was in the fence. The school was surrounded by a fence. And so they brought with them, I'm sorry, we brought with us some wire cutters to cut a hole in the fence so we could get the lawnmower through the fence.

7:04 I know I told y'all this before. They said to me, climb the fence and jump over the fence and look out to tell us if anybody comes. So I was climbing the fence while they were cutting a hole in the fence, and I slipped off the fence and fell down and broke my ankle. and that me breaking my ankle saved my life because I had to go home I had to go to the hospital I got a cast and I had to go home and so I wouldn't so I wasn't hanging out with my cousin you know the funny thing the last time I told this story my cousin who doesn't go to church was in church that Sunday Thank you. He might be here today. I don't know.

7:56 So you've got to be careful who you hang out with. That's the whole point I'm making, is who you connect with, who your friends are makes a determination with what your life might be. And in this particular text, in this particular story, in this particular situation, the children of Israel who were slaves got freed from slaves, but they also had among them people who made them become discontent with their freedom.

8:31 You got to be careful who you hang out with. And it says right here, the mixed multitude was among them and they yielded to intense cravings. So the children of Israel, verse four, also wept again and said, who will give us meat to eat? They were hungry and they were complaining. And then they said this, here's the challenge they had. They said, we remember the fish which we freely ate in Egypt. the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. They start reflecting on their slavery days. The devil will always try to make you feel that slavery is better than being free. And the devil will recall in your mind and bring to your remembrance and cause you to hunger and desire for the things the way your life used to be. And I'm here to tell you, I don't care how nice you think life may have been in slavery, freedom is always better than being a slave.

9:34 Somebody tell your neighbor, freedom is better than being a slave. I'd rather eat crackers in freedom than steak in slavery. There y'all go acting like you ain't never been a slave before. You've been a slave to something. You've been in bondage to something. You've been in a challenge with something. But somebody here today, when you met Jesus, you know he changed your life. He changed your circumstances. He changed your situation. Anybody here can look back and thank God that your life is better today than it was when you were enslaved. when you was an addict, when you had addictions, when you had problems, when you were depressed, when you were down, when you were frustrated. Your life is so much better.

10:28 Somebody tell you, my life is so much better now. I'd rather walk with Jesus than to be stuck in the trouble of being with the devil and in frustration and defeat. And here they were remembering where they were and desiring to go back.

10:51 The devil wants you to desire to go back. He always tries to make your past look better than your future. What God has in store for you is so much better than where you have been. Somebody look at your neighbor and say, He's preaching better than you're saying amen. but what is it that made God mad scripture said God got angry God was displeased what made God get to that way he got that way because they became they began to complain they began to take for granted the doors that God had opened for them they began to not appreciate the miracles that God had wrought on their behalf God had raised up Moses and led Moses and protected Moses and used Moses to be a deliverer for them and they had forgotten and failed to recognize what God had done.

11:54 I suspect there's somebody in your role, in your section, who doesn't appreciate what God has done for them. Go ahead, look around, see if you can figure out who it is. It's somebody on your row, somebody in your section. Matter of fact, it might be somebody sitting in your seat right now who's complaining, that's murmuring, that can't find, don't have any gratitude, don't have thanks. And they, matter of fact, the children of Israel, there they were free and they said, we remember, they wanted to go back to their past. Anybody here want to go back to the way your life used to be before you met Jesus? You want to go back to drugs? You want to go back to being a liar? You want to go back to being depressed? You want to go back to being down and defeated and frustrated and unhappy? Do you want to go back?

12:47 No, no, I don't want to go back. I'm thanking God for where he is. they wanted their past they wanted the pleasures of where God had brought them from and my assignment here today is to try to help you understand not to have the hunger and the desire to want to go back to where God has brought you from they said we remember when it was nice when we had fish and we had uh uh cucumbers and melons and leeks and onions and garlands, but you were slaves. You were in bondage and they failed. Here's the problem. They failed to appreciate what God had done for them. They failed to appreciate the provisions of what God had provided. And I suspect today, here's what they said.

13:43 Look at verse six. Here's what they said. I'm almost finished. I'm coming to a close. I'm bringing my plane for a landing. I'm putting the clothes in the dryer. I'm putting the dishes in the dishwasher. I'm putting the car in the garage, I'm landing my plane. These people did not appreciate God's provisions. They said, here's what they said in verse six, but now our whole being is dried up.

14:13 Is that true? Your life is dried up? No, they made things worse than they were. How many of you know the devil will always find something to make it seem like life is worse than it is? Rather than you being appreciative for what God has provided, rather than you being thankful for the doors God has opened and the miracles he's wrought and the things he's done on your behalf, the devil will find something for you to complain about. when the call of God is for us to learn to be appreciative for the miracles that he has wrought on our behalf. They said, look at what they said. They said, but now our whole being is dried up. Then they said this, there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes. All we have is this manna.

15:13 y'all missed it they're complaining and they're saying yes it came supernaturally yes God provided it yes we didn't have to pay for it no we didn't have to pay for it yes it comes every day they got to a place where they began to not appreciate what God was doing for them supernaturally Here's what they say. We ain't got nothing except this manna. That brings me to my subject.

15:56 Nothing but manna. and that's where some of y'all are you're complaining that you ain't got nothing but this man but here's where I am I ain't got nothing but man Y'all ain't hear what I'm saying? That's how I want to live my life. I want the things that God provides for me. I want the doors that God opens for me. I want the provisions that God makes away for me. I ain't got nothing but manna. When you ain't got nothing but manna, you got everything that you need. Somebody say, give God the praise. I ain't got nothing but his manna. Somebody high five your neighbor. Say, I ain't got nothing but manna.

16:49 I ain't got nothing but miracles. I ain't got nothing but provisions from God. I ain't got nothing but a way being made out of no way. It's God who opened the door for me. It is God who made a way out of no way. It is God who put the food on my table. It's God who gave me the job that I have. It's God that helped me get a house that I wasn't qualified for. It's God who helped me drive the car that I'm driving that I shouldn't have had in the first place. It's God who made it happen. It ain't nothing but manna. Do I have any witnesses here today that can make that declaration nothing but man? I feel a shout down on my soul today. Ain't nothing but manna.

17:42 Somebody say ain't nothing but manna. Nothing but manna. Nothing but manna. When I come to church, I come through gate five when I come here. I come in gate five. And when I pull up in gate five and I see all the land. It ain't nothing but manna. I see the paid off community life building. Ain't nothing but manna.

18:15 I see the worship center, 4,000 seats, 2,000 parking spaces, 44 classrooms. I say ain't nothing but manna. I live 15 minutes from here. My house is on four acres of land. 4.7 to be exact.

18:44 But when I think about that property that I live on, I reflect on the fact that some years ago, the owner of the property deed restricted it. And in the deed restriction, he said, no Negroes can own this land.