Time to Move
Bryan Jones
January 5, 2025
Prayer Points for Prayer Time:
- Pray that Brookwood leads people to rely on the promises of God.
- Pray for people to identify the obstacles that keep them from the fullness of a life lived with Jesus at the center.
- Pray for people to take a step to move away from the obstacles and towards transformed life in Christ.
Scripture Reading:
Good morning. My name is Lou Callahan, and I serve with BrookwoodKiDs. Our Scripture reading today is Deuteronomy 1:6-8, and says:
“When we were at Mount Sinai, the LORD our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the neighboring regions—the Jordan Valley, the hill country, the western foothills, the Negev, and the coastal plain. Go to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, and all the way to the great Euphrates River. Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.’”
Deuteronomy 1:6-8 (NLT)
This is the Word of the Lord.
A. Introduction
(Isaiah 43:19)
Do you know what this Friday is? Quitter’s Day… 80% of people will fail their New Year’s resolutions by the second Friday in January…
Turn to the person next to you and say you’re a quitter…
But God put this verse on my heart:
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:19 (NLT)
I don’t know what last year held for you; maybe it was great. Maybe it was rough… but I have this sense that God is doing a new thing—a new thing in me… in you… in our church…
So, as we look ahead to this new year… I want to ask you 2 questions. First…
B. Time to Move
- Can you NAME your mountain?
(Deuteronomy 1:6-8)
“When we were at Mount Sinai, the LORD our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the neighboring regions—the Jordan Valley, the hill country, the western foothills, the Negev, and the coastal plain. Go to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, and all the way to the great Euphrates River. Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.’”
Deuteronomy 1:6-8 (NLT)
- Now, the book of Deuteronomy is really 3 sermons Moses gives to the Israelites before they head into the Promised Land. He wouldn’t be going because of disobedience, but he’s trying to prepare the people. Now, for reference, Moses’ second sermon that he preaches is from Deuteronomy 4:44-26:19… So, the next time you complain about the length of my sermons, remember how long Moses used to preach J… In fact, in the spirit of Moses, I’ve made today a 2-hour sermon.
- Deuteronomy has been referred to as a book of boundaries because they are on the edge, or the boundary of the Promised Land…
- So, this shows you a little of the journey the people of God took to escape Egypt. They cross the Red Sea… and they end up around Mount Sinai… Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb are the same mountain. Their names are interchangeable.
- But they had escaped slavery, and now they were camped at Mt. Sinai… and does anyone know what happened at Mt. Sinai? It was the giving of the Law.
- Now, here’s the thing: they were comfortable on this mountain. They were no longer in slavery. God was personal. He rained down mana, which, as I’ve told you, is Hebrew for Chick-fil-A. Life is good for the most part…
But God didn’t want them to settle in the wilderness… He wanted them to step into something better. God had more for them… and so He said this to the people…
“When we were at Mount Sinai, the LORD our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on.’”
Deuteronomy 1:6-7b (NLT)
It’s a mountain of comfort and familiarity.
- They had been there 1 year, and God knew they were getting comfortable, and they were settling… so He says you’ve stayed long enough …
Here’s my question … Can you name your mountain? The area where you have stayed too long. The area that you aren’t truly following God in…
- Comfortability
- Self-pity
- An unhealthy relationship
- Fear and worry
- People pleasing
- Addiction
- Money
- Success
- Spiritual complacency
- Negativity
- Escaping or suppressing
- Overeating
- Your job
- Shame
- Lust
Where have you stayed too long? Where is God going? Don’t settle; don’t believe this is all there is…
Why do people stay at those mountains… because, honestly, a lot of us believe our plans are better than God’s…Think about it…. before you go: that’s not true… most of the people in the Bible didn’t think God’s plans were better…
Most people struggled with God’s plans…
- Adam and Eve struggled with God’s plan… they thought God was keeping something better from them. That God was withholding.
- Noah struggled with God’s plan… He was to build a boat in the middle of a desert. Listen, how sane do you think people would think I am if I said God has called me to build a giant snow plow in South Carolina… I think a few of you might be looking for a new church.
- Jonah really struggled with God’s plan. God called him to preach to the Ninevites, his very enemies.
- David struggled with God’s plans… He was anointed as king, and then he spent over a decade hiding in a cave from people trying to kill him… but it was all a part of God’s plan
- Paul struggled. Remember, he had a thorn in his side, some struggles we don’t know all about, but we know he begged God to remove it, and He wouldn’t…
- The disciples struggled with God’s plan. They couldn’t accept Jesus being crucified. They wanted Him to come in power, not die on a cross.
Simply put, the reason people don’t follow God with their whole hearts is because deep down we aren’t certain we can trust God plans. Most of us believe in God, believe He’s good, but we struggle to believe His plans are better than ours… but they require time and focus …
God’s plans are better… we are often so nearsighted; we see what’s right in front of us… what makes sense, what feels good, what tastes good… but God is farsighted... He sees the whole picture… and you have to trust that God sees what you can’t…
It’s like the great theologian Garth Brooks once said… sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers… meaning God’s plans are better than mine!
- Will you MOVE from your mountain?
(Deuteronomy 1:2-3. C/R: Numbers 13:30-31; 14:28-33)
It costs something.
Think about this…
Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses addressed the people of Israel, telling them everything the LORD had commanded him to say.
Deuteronomy 1:2-3 (NLT)
So, they are camped out at Mt. Sinai for a year when God says to move; He’s got better plans…
And it says it should take 11 days, and 40 years later, they haven’t claimed the Promised Land…
So, why, some 38-39 years, have they not entered the Promised Land… what’s going on…
Well, in Numbers 13 and 14, we read that what happens is men are sent to spy out the land in Cannan, the Promised Land. There are 12 spies that are sent… they go, and they come back, and they report that it was some of the most amazing land…
In fact, they come back carrying a cluster of grapes between two poles because it’s so large. And they said all of this is available. The land is even better than we thought…
But only 2, Joshua and Caleb, think the land can be taken… the other 10 spies begin to grumble and complain…
Then Caleb told the people in front of Moses to be quiet. And he said, “Let us go up at once and take the land. For we are well able to take it in battle.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go against the people. They are too strong for us.”
Numbers 13:30-31 (NLV)
- I love what Caleb did… he told the people to be quiet. If you are talking negatively or giving into self-pity… do you know the most spiritual thing you can do is… stop talking… negativity can poison a whole community… listen, if you’re in small group and someone just wants to complain and gripe… you need to look at them and say: God loves you, but you need to quit talking… You need to take a time out…
Think about it: 4 in 5 people are negative… based on this text, they are 80 percent negative.
I have 5 people in my family, and clearly, I'm the positive one… it’s my cross to bear…
But if you aren’t intentional, you will surround yourself with negative people.
- In your life, you need to be surrounded by Joshua and Caleb's… who are speaking life and hope into you… because the majority will speak fear and death into you… Hold onto those people.
But the spies end up poisoning the group, and the whole group starts complaining and grumbling. They said it would have been better for us to stay and die in Egypt. They say we are going to die, and the children will be taken away…
And then God basically says because of their rebellion and disobedience…
“Now tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because you complained against Me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die. You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.’”
Numbers 14:28-30 (NLT)
“‘And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness for forty years. In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.’”
Numbers 14:33 (NLT)
God had forgiven them, but there were consequences to their actions… and notice, it says that they would wander for 40 years… because God knew those people weren’t fully devoted to Him…
I think God will work with almost anyone… but the one type of person throughout the Bible He doesn’t work with is half-hearted people.
Listen, God had better plans, but they weren’t easier. The plans would cost something… They would have to leave their comfort and go to war…
The other day, Steph was working out in our house… and she was facing the TV, and I was on the couch. She was working out, and I thought in my head: I need to do more of that… and then I said out loud to her I think I need to start getting healthier … and right after I said that, she turned around… right as I was putting a handful of peanut M&M’s in my mouth… then I just said maybe not today… that was 2 months ago… because, deep down, I love my couch, and I love peanut M&M’s.
Let me say this, following God isn’t complex, but it isn’t easy… notice Jesus tells His disciples that they have to die, and seek, and follow after Him…
It’s important to know there are things only God can do… only God can transform you, only God can heal and fix; only God can move mountains…
If your mountain is bitterness…., are you willing to forgive?
If your mountain is people-pleasing…, are you willing to disappoint others?
If your mountain is comfort…, are you willing to take a step of faith?
If you have a struggle or addiction - are you willing to confess that to others?
If your mountain is money…, are you willing to generously give?
There are things only God can do, but there are things God wants you to do…
God wants to give you character. He doesn’t force your choices… You can say all you want in the moment that you want God… and He will transform you… He will fill you. He will change you…
But you will have to die, seek Him, and follow after Him…
Two Spiritual Dangers:
- LEGALISM – you think that if you do this, God will change you… it’s all about rule-following and laws.
- LAZINESS- you think God’s love is enough, and you dismiss any part of abiding.
If we want to see God do things we have never seen before… then we have to do some things we have never done before.
This year, how are you seeking God? What’s your plan to grow in Him? Are you meeting with Him daily? If you aren’t, you aren’t going to have the heart and faith to be the person God wants you to be.
I want to personally invite you next week to be a part of Breakthrough… Breakthrough is all above moving deeper with God by doing 3 things…
- Extended time of church gatherings.
- (The Bible assumes you will be doing three things… Jesus says when you fast, when you give, when you pray…fasting at its core is about learning to feast on the presence of God… we are having a week-long fast…)
If God said He would do it, He will do it…