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MINORITY

Speaker: Pastor Keith Goullette
Theme: Faithfulness Lived Out
Thesis: Choose God’s Way
Scripture Text: Numbers 14:6-9 & 34-38 (next week: Numbers 27:15-23)
I. Conclusion - v. 6-7
II. Condition - v. 8
III. Consequences - v. 34-38

Scripture Readings

NUMBERS 14:27
How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me.

JUDGES 17:6 & 19:1
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

Now it came about in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah.

JOSHUA 22:5 & 24:14-15
Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

SCRIPTURE TEXT—NUMBERS 14:6-9 & 34-38
Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, 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 passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 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 will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”

"According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die." As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.

A SPECIAL POEM SHARED BY PASTOR KEITH WITH TODAY'S MESSAGE

A POEM FOR LEADERS: TRUST IN GOD, AND DO THE RIGHT

Courage, brother! do not stumble,
Though thy path be dark as night;
There's a star to guide the humble;
Trust in God, and do the right.

Let the road be rough and dreary,
And its end far out of sight;
Foot it bravely, strong or weary;
Trust in God, and do the right.

Perish policy and cunning!
Perish all that fears the light!
Whether losing, whether winning,
Trust in God, and do the right.

Trust no party, sect, or faction,
Trust no leaders in the fight;
But in every word and action,
Trust in God, and do the right.

Trust no lovely forms of passion,
Fiends may look like angels bright;
Trust no custom, school, or fashion.
Trust in God, and do the right.

Simple rule, and safest guiding,
Inward peace, and inward might;
Star upon our path abiding,
Trust in God, and do the right.

Some will hate thee, some will love thee,
Some will flatter, some will slight;
Cease from man, and look above thee,
Trust in God, and do the right.

--Norman Macleod