Giants in Your Land: Trusting God When the Obstacles Look Impossible | David W. Ebel

David W Ebel: Hi there, I'm David Ebel and been in ministry a long time. And this Sunday I had a chance to fill in for my pastor and preach a sermon that I've preached before, but God really laid it on my heart to pay attention to it again. And ⁓ when I did, lives were changed, and I really felt maybe I should be sharing that with more than just the the people that were in our congregation. So I'm going to record this so that you can be a part of it too. It comes out of the The book of Numbers Numbers thirteen and starting with verse one through three, the Lord said to Moses, send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one leader. So the Lord's command commanded Moses, sent them out to the desert of Pyron. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. Now we're gonna go further, but I want to get I just want to start with that. God didn't just say, grab a group of guys together, line them up and send them out. Be spies and see what we're gonna I'm giving you. He he sent them to see what he had already planned for them. Now, yeah, I don't know about you, but many of us are kind of a little bit skeptical when something seems too new and too improved and too better. And you know, the it Moses had been leading people around for a long time. God's saying, Follow me and here we are at this wall. And Moses is told by God to s pick out a person from each of the leaders. So what Moses did from history we understand is he picked people who weren't just ordinary people, but he picked someone who was good with livestock, and someone was good with planting, and someone that was good with each of the things that go that we they would need to know about to be able to take on a land and to to rebuild there, to start their their lives over again. So they didn't just have anybody, didn't have tourists. They had people who are very practical, people who are leaders of of of divisions of the the large body of believers. And so what he did is he told them to go and see the land I have given you. The problem was that what the people heard was, Well, here goes Moses again. We're gonna go look at this land and we're gonna see whether or not we should do it. Kind of like ⁓ when you you kind of feel like when you're going real skate shopping, and you go in and You see this, and I like this, but I don't like that, and I really like this, but I I I really wouldn't want a place with that. Sometimes that's our our self-serving nature. And when God says, Go do this, we want to say, Yeah, but God, I'll do anything, but I don't want to be a missionary. I'll do anything, but I don't want to see teach Sunday school. I'll do anything but. The key is that God says, When you if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. In other words, if you love me, you'll do what I ask you to do. And you won't do it out of fear. You'll do it because you love me. So w what happened then is that when Moses sent that they meant to explore the land of Canaan, starting with verse seventeen, he said, Go into the land of Nagav on the hill in the country, and see the land that is this that is like what and with the let me say that again. See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How's the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees there or not? Do your best to bring back some fruit from the land. It was the season for the f the ripe grapes. So they went and explored the land, and what happened was that came out of it it was is they went in and they saw that the the the it was in planting season and the grapes were huge. Yeah, hit the the story goes on to tell that that the grapes were so large that two of the strongest men took a pole between them and carried one bunch of grapes between them to to show what what kind of harvest that were were there. And of all the other kinds of crops and things there were there were samples to bring back that were amazing. They were much better than what they had experienced in a long time. They saw beautiful water that was flowing, they saw Where the where the sheep and the lambs could could could play and in and lope around beautifully and eat off the off the beautiful lush ⁓ grass. They saw where all the other pieces to to a new life could be had, fresh water, fresh places to put with good soil, where they could plant and grow things, a place where they could really start over again. And they and those that went ahead and with with that mindset they were excited. But then there was the skeptics. And they looked around and said, Well, wait a minute. This is the land where the where the sons of Enach are. Sons of Enoch were half ⁓ history shows that they were the ones that when when Satan was kicked out of heaven and the angels came to earth, some of them mated with humans and created giants. Now that sounds a little far fetched, but they found the bones. Some of the bones of these some of these bodies are between eighteen and twenty five, thirty feet tall. So they know that ju those giants did exist. So as they went into that land They they saw that the wall cities were there, but they were walled cities. And the walls were huge. History tells us that the walls were so thick that you could ride a chariot along the top of the wall. So that they didn't have to even walk on the top of the wall, they could ride their chariots. Now these are big, burly guys, so their chariots were huge, which tells you how big the walls were. And the these guys are used to traveling through the desert and what are they gonna you know, I'm sure they're whining, wait wait a minute, we don't even have weapons like these. They've got iron and they've got the things to fight with, and we've got sticks and twigs and the jewelry that they let us take from the from the from before. We have nothing to fight them with. We've got walled cities and giants. How are we going to do this? When we look at them, we're terrified. And when they brought when they came back and and and showed the good things, the grumblers spoke up and said, No, wait a minute, hold on a second. Let's get this straight. There's walled cities. Big walled cities. And these these these warriors, they're not like us. These are not only warriors that are trained in battle. We're not trained in battle. We're trained in survival over generations, wandering through the desert. These people are huge and strong and powerful. And we can't defeat them. They're bigger than us. They're giants. The walled cities. We can't compete with this. If we go there, we're surely going to be dying. Basically, if we go there, it's suicide. What happens? You know, the the the men of God saying, No, no, no, this is what God wants. And then the leader speaks up and says, Listen, if God gave us this land, it is ours. They're they're like bread to us. We we can go right in and take it because God has given it to us, indicating that God has already fought the battle. The angels went ahead, the land was prepared. No matter what we saw, God said it was true that it was going to be this way, and by faith. Those that were faithful, full of God's faith, stepped forward and said, Let's go. And those that that weren't full of God's faith, but they were using logic and reason and excuses and and what I see is all I know I want to see. And they held back. The story tells that as they went in deeper, God gave them the land, but the grumblers never made it to the land because they didn't believe in God enough to trust him. But those that believed and were faithful came into that land and acquired the land. And the giants weren't the ones who won the battle. God's people were. The question really comes down to. In your life and mine. Do we have giants in our life? Do we have giants in our personal land? You know what kind of things when we look in and got- we know in scripture, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. You know, I'll never leave you or forsake you, I'll be with you always. There's wonderful scriptures that tell us that we're not alone in our battle and we're not alone in our problem. So here we are. We're looking at a promise. The logic says, well, wait a minute, I don't have the skills, I don't have the knowledge, I don't have the funds. Folks, if I had the if I had all those things, I would have never even started ministering. Because when my wife and I started, we had nothing. We were happy to just have food on the table. But God honored our faith, and we were able to continue to be in ministry and serve and love people for over fifty years full time. How how did that happen? God went ahead of us. He always made a way. And we're able to continue to be faithful because he is faithful. So we when we come to our land and we look at the giants, we say, God, I trust you. But many of the people I know right now, they're saying, but but but but we can't. It doesn't make sense. It's not logical. We need to have a lot of money in the bank. We we w we want to build a beautiful building for God, but we need to we need to to get a big debt and borrow a bunch of money so we have this big building to make a great statement for God. I can tell you that God sent us to a town that had not had a ⁓ a church like ours, a salvation army, in the town. And we I came in and they and they said, Well, what are you gonna do? I said, We're gonna build it, we're gonna build a beautiful pr building, and we're going to we're gonna see lives changed. So eventually they gave us that we were able to rent a small building, eleven hundred square feet, not a big one, but enough. And all we saw is possibilities. So we we took that building and set it up and tore it down and set it up and tore it down to do senior programs and kids' programs and tutoring programs and all the other kinds of things, women's ministry and Bible study and services on Sunday in 1100 square feet, along with a food pantry that fed you know about up to a hundred people a month for a brand new work. That's a s that's a pretty good start. But it got it got to the point where we put together a board of our community, and the board says, You can't keep this up in this little building. And we said, that's right. We know. God has told us that that there's there is ⁓ on the other side a beautiful building and we we already know what it's going to be like. We can even draw it on paper by faith, what we know what's gonna what we need to do and what how we need to do it. And the board said, Well, show us how. So we showed we dreamed up the drill building together, we prayed over it, we get and we had our leadership check and make sure that we were accountable, as you should always be. And the board decided to raise the money and build the building. And the community bit raised enough money to build 28,000 square feet debt-free in six years. That's not me. I didn't do that. I just God gave me the dream and I said, let's go take the land. The people who believed followed us along in that dream. And in six years, which is a very short time, to plant a church and build a building of any substance. It was built in loving people and changing lives day in and day out, year around. And has been for 25 years or more. Why is that important? Because that that I was not a big, powerful guy. I'm I'm a little. I'm five foot four and disabled. So for me to say, come in, let's do this, logically that made no sense. But supernaturally it made all the sense in the world. Because in in my weakness he has made strong. In your weakness, you are made strong. When you admit to God you can't do it on your own, and you trust Him for it. You ask Him to work in your life. You ask Him to make that difference in your life. Then He can start. And you say, But I I've tried and failed, so get up and do it again. Your failure only means there's more room for God to succeed in you. ⁓ I learned a c in a in a l a class that that changed my life taught by a senior pastor who'd been. is serving for many, many, many years. And he said that, you know, in order to have a vision fulfilled by God, usually there's the birth of a vision where God gives it. And then we get all it excited and we get all our energy and all our skills together and we try to fulfill it and then it falls apart. There's the death of the vision. Because if man is in it, God can't bless it. And then when we finally admit, God, I can't do this. I I don't have the skills, I don't have the knowledge, I don't have the What it takes, I don't have the money, I don't have whatever it is you've asked me to do. Then then the the commission of the vision, the fulfillment of that vision happens, because now God can take over and he can provide the needs, provide the strength, provide the hope, and and he can do what the what man can't do by himself. Can't you imagine what God would do in your life if you got past the doubts, the fears, the worries, the offenses, the things where people have said and done things and told you you You just weren't good enough you couldn't do it. I've had people when I was a kid tell me I was a loser and I'd never be anything. And you know what? Without God I probably wouldn't have been. But when I gave my life to God, God changed my life. And I'm not the guy I used to be. And I'm so grateful that I'm not, because I'm really grateful for who I've become. Now I I'm not an amazing guy, I'm just an ordinary guy just like anybody else. But I serve an amazing God. And God has given me the vision. To slay any giants in my path. Whatever gets in my way that's too big and too mighty and too powerful and I can't beat it, I get on my knees. I don't try to fight it by, you know, the you know, it's our spiritual warfare is not meant by flesh and bones, it's by spiritual powers and principalities and high places. God fights that battle. If you and I want to do what God wants done, we need to be available to God to do it. We need to get have him provide our needs to give us strength, to give us hope, to enhance our vision, to get to enhance our faith so that we can see beyond what's just in front of us, while which it will seem like walled cities. ⁓ in in the complaining stage of of of the story. They were saying, Well what well when we look at them, they're like giants. So w w the obviously when they look at us, we must look like ants. You know I remember when a my daughter was learning to cook, and we were encouraging her. And she made some biscuits. And I don't know what recipe she used, but I I know it wasn't play-doh, but it certainly wasn't far from it. And she was so proud of it and she gave one to me and I bit into it and said, Wow, that's I've never had anything like it and I chewed and I chewed and I chewed and I chewed and it got bigger the longer I chewed. And i I I finally had to cough it into a napkin 'cause I couldn't swallow it. It was just It filled up my whole throat. I couldn't hardly breathe. It was her best attempt. She did nothing wrong. And she was so adorable when she did it that I certainly could wasn't going to hurt her feelings. But on my own I couldn't handle that. And when those people f saw something, when the giants looked at them, they felt like ants or grasshoppers. But now when we look that when we matchew on that and dwell on that, sometimes little things become giant things when we dwell on it. The worry gets bigger. The moral feeling like you're a failure comes gets bigger. The more like everybody's against you gets bigger. The more that feeling like you you're the only innocent one in the world is out to get you gets bigger because we dwell and dwell and dwell and dwell. But God never moves. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He's with us always. And he can't wait for us to trust him. So he can love through us, he can serve through us, he can bless through us. He can meet needs through us because we become an open vessel. He can do that through. So my encouragement to you today and always is going to be: don't look at the giants. Look at the giant killer. Look at the one who spent his life and gave his life. And innocently, Jesus lifted without sin. He allowed himself to be crucified, which was the electric chair of the day. And he allowed himself to be beaten unrecognizably. Then crucified so that by the shedding of his blood we could be forgiven for our sins. And by by his death in place of ours, we don't have to die for punishment for our sins. He already did. If he did all that for us, it's time that we trusted him. Now you've been doing this a long time? Amen. Good. I've been doing it a long time, but I still have to go back. I still have to talk to God. And I still have to say, I can't do this. I still have to admit I can't do it on my own power, my own strength, my own smarts. Whatever it is that I think is easy to do, I have to stop and remember what I think got me in need of a Savior. What I believe in by faith is the Savior who gets me past myself and into his plan for my life. Would you trust him? Would you trust him to to get you past what you see and what you feel and what you hope? Would you help him? Him help you get past the walls and the giants? Will you give him room in your life so that he can do something remarkable in you? Will you trust him? Even when it doesn't make sense. That doesn't mean you turn off your brain and stop thinking, but you choose with that brain to let God run your heart and lead you and guide you through his spirit. I've had people tell me, Well, you're you're a Christian, so you don't think anymore. You're just little little robots for God. I can I can assure you that's not the truth. I I read God's Word and then I live God's Word. I apply it to my life. And then I make my choices based on the filter of what I know is true in His Word. So I don't have to be a robot. I need to be an obedient servant. A servant of love. You know, Paul called himself a bond slave of love, meaning I'm a servant because I love. I'm not a servant because I owe anybody, right? I'm in debt to anyone. I love God enough that I'm going to serve Him with all of me. And that's what we should be trying to accomplish. You're not close to God right now? Come on back. You don't know him at all? It's a simple way to get there. Just know that you what what right and wrong is. If you know what right is and you've done the wrong thing, that's a sin. Sins are what what separate us from God. And when you realize that you've separated yourself from God with your your your willful choices and you want God to be have room in your life and take over and guide you and lead you and help you, you confess that sin to God and admit that you you've done it wrong. Ask forgiveness genuinely within your heart. And when you do, you ask him into your heart. He says that he'll fill us with his Holy Spirit and lead us and guide us from then on. That he'll begin a brand new life with us. ⁓ you've heard people say born again. Well, what that means is the Holy Spirit now can dwell in us. It's God is everywhere at once, so a piece of him dwells in you to lead you and guide you and to reveal truth to you. And when you read God's word to illustrate it so that you understand what you couldn't get and make sense of before. Because it's a spiritual book. And when you give your heart to Jesus, you become a spiritual person. So that Holy Spirit can help you understand his word. But you've got to trust him. You've got to believe him by faith even before you see it, before you feel it, before you hear it, before you taste it, before you smell it. You've got to trust God because it's his word and he mer he made the promise, and you've got to give him room to prove it. When I didn't know anything and I went to church for the very first time, my first prayer was Jesus, if you're real, I give you six months to prove yourself. I had never prayed. I'd never been around people who prayed. So I just gave him an ultimatum. And you know he met me where I was? And he wasn't worried about my my lack of c of classy prayer. He saw the cry of my heart. He changed my life. Maybe for those of you who haven't given him the chance, you give him some time in your life to to not just trust him for the minute and see it's not a microwave minute, it's not just thirty seconds and it's gonna happen. It's a lifestyle that changes you with rear with when you learn to read his word. When you find a church that preaches his word and you go there to learn. Not to be entertained, but to learn how to please God. You spend time with other people who believe what you want to believe, so they can help you and stabilize you. in that new faith until you become strong enough to do it on your own. And you practice that faith daily, morning, noon, and night. You you you try to figure out who God is and how to please him. When I met my wife, I fell in love with her and even the show she sent me a small note and I'd memorize it because I wanted to make her happy. I couldn't wait to find when I found out what her favorite color was, what kind of flower she liked. All those things were meant the world to me and man I started bringing her flowers and I started bringing her things in the color she liked. When I fell in love with Jesus, I love him more than I love my wife, because God gave my wife to me. But I wanted to love him more, so I learned how to please him through his word. And I learned how to please him through other believers who were much more mature than I, and they showed me how to do it. I learned by practicing my faith in action. And I didn't always I didn't always get it right. But God is merciful, and when you go back to Him and say, you know, the Bible calls it Abba Father, which means Daddy in our language. When you go back to the Father and say, Daddy, I messed up. Look what I did. I'm stubborn and I did it my way. Would you forgive me? Now give me the power to forgive myself and help me get up and keep going forward for you. It's not monopoly where you have to go back to to to go back to go and start over again. It's it's surrender. Where you give your heart to Jesus and you give your heart to Jesus and you give your heart to Jesus as many times as it takes until you don't have to give it. He already has it. Take time for Jesus. He has time for you. Don't let the giants win. Don't worry about the walls. Don't look, worry about the situation, what you see and feel and touch. Worry about the promises of God. Give him chance in your life. Watch what he can do for you if you just really trust him. My name is David and I'm I'm just here to serve and I want to serve you by encouraging you to fall in love with Jesus.