08/22/2021 – Midtown Church – Elk Grove
When Life Doesn’t Add Up: Experiencing Victory in Unexpected Places
Count Your Blessings, Not Your Crisis
w/ Pastor Tyronne Gross Jr.
Main Text:
The Israelites traveled on and camped in the plains of Moab near the Jordan across from Jericho. 2 Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 Moab was terrified of the people because they were numerous, and Moab dreaded the Israelites. 4 So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will devour everything around us like an ox eats up the green plants in the field.”
Since Balak son of Zippor was Moab’s king at that time, 5 he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. Balak said to him, “Look, a people has come out of Egypt; they cover the surface of the land and are living right across from me. 6 Please come and put a curse on these people for me because they are more powerful than I am. I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that those you bless are blessed and those you curse are cursed.”
Numbers 22:1-6 CSB
1. God Will Bless by Any Means Necessary
21 When he got up in the morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and went with the officials of Moab. 22 But God was incensed that Balaam was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand on the path to oppose him. Balaam was riding his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing on the path with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the path and went into the field. So Balaam hit her to return her to the path. 24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow passage between the vineyards, with a stone wall on either side. 25 The donkey saw the angel of the Lord and pressed herself against the wall, squeezing Balaam’s foot against it. So he hit her once again. 26 The angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn to the right or the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she crouched down under Balaam. So he became furious and beat the donkey with his stick. 28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and she asked Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?” 29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You made me look like a fool. If I had a sword in my hand, I’d kill you now!” 30 But the donkey said, “Am I not the donkey you’ve ridden all your life until today? Have I ever treated you this way before?” “No,” he replied.31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the path with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam knelt low and bowed in worship on his face.
Numbers 22:21-31 CSB
35 Then the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you are to say only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials. 36 When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite city on the Arnon border at the edge of his territory. 37 Balak asked Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?” 38 Balaam said to him, “Look, I have come to you, but can I say anything I want? I must speak only the message God puts in my mouth.”
Numbers 22:35-38 CSB
2. God Blocks Man’s Curses
Balaam proclaimed his poem:
Balak brought me from Aram;
the king of Moab, from the eastern mountains:
“Come, put a curse on Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel!”
8 How can I curse someone God has not cursed?
How can I denounce someone the Lord has not denounced?
9 I see them from the top of rocky cliffs,
and I watch them from the hills.
There is a people living alone;
it does not consider itself among the nations.Numbers 23:7-9 CSB
3. God Keeps His Promises
Then he spoke his message:
“Arise, Balak, and listen;
hear me, son of Zippor.
19 God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
20 I have received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot change it.Numbers 23:18-20 NIV
Since Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go to seek omens as on previous occasions, but turned toward the wilderness. When Balaam looked up and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him, and he proclaimed his poem: The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eyes are opened, the oracle of one who hears the sayings of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls into a trance with his eyes uncovered: How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, your dwellings, Israel.
Numbers 24:1-5
“The Israelites are to camp by their military divisions, each man with his encampment and under his banner. 53 The Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the Israelite community.” 54 The Israelites did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Numbers 1:52-54 CSB
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