“CHOOSE OR REFUSE THE WAY FORWARD”
Don’t let history repeat itself, because it will try.
Deuteronomy 1:19-33 NLT
[19] “Then, just as the LORD our God commanded us, we left Mount Sinai and traveled through the great and terrifying wilderness, as you yourselves remember, and headed toward the hill country of the Amorites. When we arrived at Kadesh-barnea, [20] I said to you, ‘You have now reached the hill country of the Amorites that the LORD our God is giving us. [21] Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’ [22] “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.’ [23] “This seemed like a good idea to me, so I chose twelve scouts, one from each of your tribes. [24] They headed for the hill country and came to the valley of Eshcol and explored it. [25] 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.’ [26] “But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to go in. [27] You complained in your tents and said, ‘The LORD must hate us. That’s why he has brought us here from Egypt-to hand us over to the Amorites to be slaughtered. [28] Where can we go? Our brothers have demoralized us with their report. They tell us, “The people of the land are taller and more powerful than we are, and their towns are large, with walls rising high into the sky! We even saw giants there-the descendants of Anak!”‘ [29] “But I said to you, ‘Don’t be shocked or afraid of them! [30] The LORD your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt. [31] And you saw how the LORD your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Now he has brought you to this place.’ [32] “But even after all he did, you refused to trust the LORD your God, [33] who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.
If we don’t learn from history, we’ll probably repeat it. Perhaps that is why Moses was careful to remind the children of Israel that their forefathers had experienced a failure of both nerve and faith, and as a result they had wasted forty years in the wilderness. If the people did not learn from that experience, but repeated the failure of nerve and the lack of faith, there was no telling where they might end up. Moses had no interest in returning to the wilderness in another holding pattern. For the people of Israel, the way forward was the way of faith.
People who look at their Christian history have had some great and discouraging times. Some fellowships divide because of lack of Love, drifting of doctrinal convictions, lack of faith and or leadership not calling the people to obey the Word Of God!
1 Timothy 4:11-12,15-16 NIV
[11] Command and teach these things. [12] Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. [15] Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. [16] Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
When that happens, we are challenged with the decision to repent and start again with courage and Faith or to settle in the wildness of compromise in some church we know isn’t calling all people to be disciples of Jesus as God defines in Scripture. We can convince ourselves it seems close enough to staying saved if enough people also agree with us.
2 Timothy 4:3 NIV
[3] For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
But settling for a watered down version of Christianity isn’t what God created us to do. It only deceives one to believe that putting self first, but mentally thinking Jesus is Lord makes you right. But Gods desire for the lost to be saved starts to die in our hearts and lives. We intellectually still believe in seeking and saving the lost, but it really becomes a theory in our lives and not a lived out passion.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV
[3] This is good, and pleases God our Savior, [4] who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Maybe some are afraid to face the giants of our past hurts in the church we were before and are afraid to trust totally again.
Deuteronomy 1:32-33 NIV
[32] In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, [33] who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.
Forty years earlier, confronted with the awesome task of moving into enemy-held territory, the people had sent scouts in to spy out the land. The scouting report brought them into a dilemma. On the one hand, the land was full of promise—as promised! On the other hand, it was full of giants, both real and imaginary. The sons of Anak were very big and very real. But the Israelites’ inordinate fears were without substance, and their imagined problems lacked reality. They failed to imagine how big and real their all-powerful God is. As a result, they fell back rather than pressing forward.
A careful recounting of God’s actions in the past should lead a trusting person to have confidence in his saving power in the future. But some of us are more cautious than others, some more calculating than the rest. Some of us can recognize opportunities in every difficulty, while others see difficulties in every opportunity.
We’re all wired up differently. But there is a factor that should loom larger than personality or temperament: the God factor! When we recognize who God is and what he has promised, we should have no problem trusting him to carry through in the future.
Who God is, what he has done, and what he has promised to do have been fully documented. So we are faced with the challenge of deciding whether he is worthy of ongoing trust and whether we will choose to trust him. Notice the word choose. It comes down to a matter of choice in the end. The earlier generation of Israelites “refused to trust the Lord [their] God” (1:32). Now the later generation were being given their chance to choose or refuse. We have the same opportunity every day of our lives. We either choose to trust or we refuse to trust. And the result? Living in the land of promise or wandering in the wilderness.
Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV
[1] As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. [2] Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. [3] Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. [4] There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism; [6] one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
When you find God’s Kingdom, (The Pearl), you sell everything and stole wandering in search of another one.
Matthew 13:44 NIV
[44] “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Proverbs 23:23 NIV
[23] Buy the truth and do not sell it—wisdom, instruction and insight as well.
Don’t sell the truth when things go wrong in God’s church, be righteous and strive be help with a solution and maturity to help straighten things out. Keep God’s family unified and settle matters quickly. Forgive and seek to understand others pain. Leaders inspire your people to do great things for God with great patience and careful instruction! But never apologize for preaching the full Word of God!
Be strong in the Grace,
Chris Chloupek, who has been the “worst of sinners at one time”. Keep the fight good in your heart 
