(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and 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Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] You You You You Good morning and welcome. Let's find our seats take our song books turn the song 56 Song number 56 Five six Sing it out on the first One When we On the second Is Oh What And we want to welcome you to this meeting of the verity baptist church We're so glad that you are with us here today There's so many exciting things going on in the life and ministry of our church We're glad that you are a part of it We'd like to of course begin the service with a word of prayer And i'm going to ask that you bow your head and let's pray together Heavenly father lord, we do love you and we thank you for allowing us to gather together today lord We pray that you'd bless the service today the singing the preaching the fellowship We pray that you'd continue to bless our church and to help us lord And we ask that you'd meet with us this morning as we open up your word We study the bible together help us lord to be ready to hear your word help us to minimize distractions Help us to have our hearts ready to hear and to draw close to you in jesus name. We pray. Amen Turn this song 255 255 on the first Time In this moment Sing it out on the last Me Amen all right well let's take our bulletins we'll look at some announcements real quickly if you did not receive a bulletin on your way in just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you if you need a bulletin just put your hand up and we will get one for you the verse this week Psalm 56 3 what time I am afraid I will trust in thee that's a good verse there we like that if you open up your bulletin you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10 30 a.m. we're glad you're with us of course on Sunday morning on the Lord's Day for Church we do invite you to be back tonight at 6 p.m. for the evening service the evening service is different than the morning service different songs that are sung different sermon that's preached just one more opportunity to be in God's house with God's people under the preaching of the Word of God and then of course we have our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. we call it the most encouraging service of the week and we'd love you to join us for the midweek service on Wednesday night if you look at our soul winning times our main soul winning times on Saturday morning is at 10 a.m. we have a big soul winning rally on Saturday mornings we'd love for you to join us for that and we have additional soul winning times on Thursdays and Fridays and Sundays the Thursdays and Fridays have been postponed recently because of the workdays but Sundays at 2 p.m. today there's a soul winning time for you if you'd like to be able to make it to that if you are a first-time guest if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church we are so glad that you are with us we have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building this morning if you go out our main foyer or if you go out our secondary foyer you'll see a little table set up and on that table you'll see these little gift bags please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guests this morning there are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have the one I like to highlight is this documentary that our church made it's called being Baptist it's very well made very interesting we think you'll like it we want to give this to you as a gift so please make sure you do not leave here this morning without grabbing one of these gift bags on your way out and if you are a guest we'd ask that you please take a moment to fill out the communication card which is inserted in your bulletin we'd love to have a record of your attendance if you need a pen you can raise your hand and one of our ushers will bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen you're welcome to keep the pen as a gift from us as well and we're not gonna do anything odd with your info we would just like to have a record of your attendance we actually would like to send you a little gift but we need your information to do that so please take a moment to fill the card out when we're done with the announcement we're gonna sing a song when we're done singing we're gonna receive the offering and as the offering plate goes by you can drop this card in the offering plate or you can hand it to me after the service I'll be standing at the main door greeting people on the way out and I hope you'll come by and say hello if you look at the announcements there we of course are a family integrated church what that means is that children and infants are always welcomed in the service we do not separate children from their parents for any reason however we don't want to allow the children to be a distraction during the service all right we've got mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available to help those of you with little ones the all of the rooms have comfortable seating they have monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to it if you're not sure where the mother baby rooms are the daddy room is you can look at the back of the bulletin you'll see a layout of the church building it'll show you where the mother baby rooms are it'll show you where the daddy room is so if you have a child that's being distracting let's not keep them in the service let's get up quickly promptly and move them out so that we're not distracting the service this morning and if you need to be baptized please let us know we'd love to baptize you the baptistry is filled the water is warm we've got everything you need if you'd like to be baptized you can check off on your communication card that you'd like information about baptism and we'll follow up with you in regards to that and talk to you about that if you've already spoken to somebody you know you need to be baptized all you need to do is at the end of the service after the preaching while we're singing the last song you step out that door one of our staff guys will meet you there and we can get you situated for baptism this morning we've got a lot of announcements and things going on in your bulletin so I'm gonna try to go through these as quickly as I can but I want you to just make note I'm not gonna go through all the details so you'll have to read some of these things yourself we do want the married couples to know that we have our married couple sweetheart banquet coming up on Friday February 9th that is at 6 30 p.m. it's always a fun time and we want you to be a part of it we need you to sign up though it is a catered event we're gonna have a nice Italian meal dinner but we need to know that you are coming so please sign up they'll be preaching from the Word of God of course geared towards the couples and then we're gonna play the not so newlywed game it'll be fun you don't have to worry about it it's not that serious all right when I'm asked you deep personal questions or anything like that but we'll just ask silly questions see how well you know your spouse and then the couple that wins they win a date on us you get a hundred dollar gift card to the Cheesecake Factory so please make sure that you sign up on your communication card it is for married couples only all right not dating couples not it's like we're married it's you got to be married to be a part of the married couple sweetheart banquet also we have a teen activity coming up for all the teenagers so make sure you teens pay attention because we need you to sign up for this it's a laser tag activity we did this last year and all the kids had a good time with it but we need to know you're coming because we have to let them know you're coming so teenagers don't trust your parents to sign you up all right you take the initiative here sign yourself ask your parents permission to sign yourself up for the teen activity and the information is there we'll be meeting at the location it is on Friday night February 16th at 6 p.m. so just make a note of that then we've got the homeschool group they've got PE class on Thursday February 8th at 10 a.m. and just make a note of that we have to postpone last PE class but we have the next one scheduled for February 8th and make sure that you are aware of that and then also for the home school group there's a Valentine's Day party on Wednesday February 14th at 11 a.m. if you have not received the flyer with the information make sure you see my wife and get that information there's about a hundred kids in our home school group and you need to know what group you're on and who you're supposed to be bringing Valentine's Day cards for or whatever so make sure that you are aware of that get that information from my wife there's also some volunteer opportunities for the parents if you'd like to help bring sugar cookies or prepare frosting decorating bags and just help with the different activities there's a clipboard in the back so please go by there and take a look at that you should have one of these in your bulletin our vision offering is coming up on Sunday March 3rd I'm not gonna go through all of this right now we'll talk more about it as we get closer but we do want you to start thinking about and praying about the upcoming vision offering I will say this we've got of course the vision offering over the last several years has been one of the things that the Lord has used to allow us to purchase the property the property is moving along well over on that other side just on the other side of the freeway for those of you that may not know we've purchased a four acre 400 seat auditorium and we are planning to move in in the month of February however there are even though things are moving well and we're ready to move in there are things that are going to have to be done of course the vision offering is it helps us to put on the red hot preaching conference every year the next generation youth rally it supports our missionaries and we'll talk about those things but just the one thing you need to be aware of is that that we need to put a brand new HVAC system over there and we're talking about an HVAC system for a huge property that HVAC system is going to probably cost $100,000 I hope that's like what I'm praying for I'm praying it only cost $100,000 so we're gonna have to raise that money otherwise we're gonna have a very uncomfortable summer all right so just be in prayer about that and start praying if anybody has $100,000 sitting around they're not using maybe you can just write a check and that'll solve the problem but be in prayer for the vision offering the Lord always does a great work with the vision offering so just take this home start thinking about it praying about it put it somewhere where you can see it and be praying for the vision offering and then in your announcements they want you to notice the workdays I want you to know in the bulletin we have the workday schedules but we're gonna actually move away from the workday schedule this week and we're going to start moving towards more of a task-based schedule so we don't want you don't look at those dates and don't worry about those dates anymore but I do just want to take a minute and I apologize the announcements maybe a little longer this morning but we've got there's there's a lot of great work that has happened over there especially this week and but there's still things that we need done and what we want to do is just let you know what we need done and if you can do it if you can help if you say I can do that then I'd like you to see brother Oliver our deacon after the morning service they're gonna be standing in the main foyer with a clipboard I want you to walk up to them tell them hey I can help with that and then we're gonna get your information get an idea of when you can be there we're gonna move away from the workday schedules and we're just gonna try to work around you so whenever you can be there to help us with a specific task we'll make sure the staffs there or whoever needs to be there to help you with that so here's some things that need to be done over there on that property we need to there's us there's air conditioning registers I don't know maybe like 20 of them or 30 of them that need to be spray-painted and if anybody some of you hoodlums that have a lot of experience with spray painting if you can use your gift for God for once you know so I'm just joking but if you can spray paint registers and help us install them that would be great there's baseboards that need to be painted in the auditorium in the auditorium the baseboards are already installed we left the baseboards that were there they were in good condition but they got painted the same color as the wall they need to be painted now we're not looking for someone who wants to get in there and do it fast and sloppy all right but so don't we don't just need anybody to do that but if you can take your time if you can pay attention to detail if you can be patient and paint those baseboards nicely we would really appreciate your help with that you can let us know regarding that there's a mechanical arm that needs to be installed made and installed and if you are technical with that kind of stuff and that would be great there's doors that need to be installed new door frames that need to be installed door trim that needs to be installed doors that need to be hung some doors need to be shaved and trimmed so that they can open smoothly if you have skills with that if you feel comfortable with that we would appreciate that all of those rooms there's still some baseboards that need to be installed caulking painting the baseboards touch up things like that if that's something that you can help with that would be great the main foyer needs the the first skim coat of texture has been done but it needs to be textured it needs to be painted if there's anybody that can help with that if you have if you have experience with that then please let us know as well we need to finish running the wires over there there's a lot of work that needs to be done brother Jay has been helping with that and we appreciate him but if there's any guys that can help for the J with that running wires running cameras if we move over there I'm just I'm just telling you if we move over there with no cameras I don't have a problem with that but we're gonna keep everybody in the same room we're not gonna allow people to roam around without being able to keep the children safe so if you can help us with that but then we would appreciate that I know for some of you that won't make a difference either way but if you can help us with the cameras that would be great so there's just lots of little things that need to be done and if you can help with that just please see brother Oliver after the service you'll have a clipboard and get you signed up and get you going with that if you look at the announcements there nine chapters a day we're getting almost done with nine chapters a day I hope you're sticking with it the chapters should have got shorter they should have got easier this is the time to catch up all right don't quit don't be a quitter stay with the nine chapters a day if you already finished nine chapters a day you'll have one of these charts in your bulletin to read the Old Testament because we want you to read the Bible cover to cover once you read the whole thing so now that you've read the New Testament in the month of January you can take the next 11 months and read the Old Testament make sure you do that don't forget about that BBC choir they're gonna start practicing for Easter on Sunday February 11th make note of that at 5 p.m. begins the choir practice for Easter there's other things there for you to look at please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service right now be a good time to check your phone and make sure that it's on silent so that it doesn't go off in the middle of the service if you look at the back of the bulletin birthdays and anniversaries for the month this week we have miss Olga Olga bitch's birthday on January 29th John will cool chick has a birthday on February 1st and brother Oliver and miss Melanie Gonzalez have an anniversary on February 1st praise report money matters all those things are there for you to look at I think that's it for all of the announcements so we're gonna go ahead and sing the chorus of the week as we prepare to receive the offering this morning and this is a medley a lot of different songs have been put together to make up this wonderful Jesus medley so let's go ahead and sing it out if you know it sing it with me if you don't know it let's learn it together on the first Oh there's a bird it's recorded in concert isn't Jesus my wonderful wonderful wonderful Jesus is to me prince of peace mighty God is saving me from all sin and shame wonderful is my redeemer Oh heaven is a wonderful place filled with glory and grace I want to see my Oh this world is my home somewhere beyond Oh amen good singing while the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time and let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer Heavenly Father Lord we do love you and we thank you for allowing us together together today Lord we thank you that you've met our financial needs up to this point and we pray that you would continue to do so what we pray that you'd bless the offering the gift and the giver we ask that you'd meet with us we open up your word and study the Bible together in Jesus name we pray amen you you you you you turn your Bibles the numbers chapter 23 numbers chapter 23 if you do not have a Bible raise your hands and an usher will bring you one numbers chapter 23 we will read the entire chapter as our custom numbers 23 just keep your hands up and an usher will bring you a Bible numbers 23 the Bible reads and Balaam said unto Balak build me here seven altars and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams and Balak did as Balaam had spoken and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram and Balaam said unto Balak stand by thy burnt offering and I will go per adventure the Lord will come to meet me and whatsoever he show with me I will tell thee and he went to a high place and God met Balaam and he said unto him I have prepared seven altars and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram and the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth and said return unto Balak and thus thou shall speak and he returned unto him and lo he stood by his burnt sacrifice he and all the princes of Moab and he took up his parable and said Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram out of the mountains of the east saying come curse me Jacob and come defy Israel how shall I curse whom God hath not cursed or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied for from the top of the rocks I see him and from the hills I behold him lo the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel let me die the death of righteous and let my last end be like his and Balak said unto Balaam what has thou done unto me I took thee to curse mine enemies and behold thou has blessed them all together and he answered and said must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth and Balak said unto him come I pray thee with me unto another place from whence thou seest them thou shall see but the utmost part of them and shall not see them at all and curse me them from thence and he brought him unto the field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah and built seven altars and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar and he said unto Balak stand here by thy burnt offering while I meet the Lord yonder and the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said go again unto Balak and say thus and when he came to him behold he stood by his burnt offering and princes of Moab with him and Balak said unto him what hath the Lord spoken and he took up his parable and said rise up Balak and here hearken unto me thou son of Zippor God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good behold I have received commandment to bless and he hath blessed and I cannot reverse it he hath not behold iniquity in Jacob neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel the Lord his God is with him and the shout of a king is among them God brought them out of Egypt he hath as it were strength of a unicorn surely there is no enchantment against Jacob neither is there any divination against Israel according to this time shall be said of Jacob and Israel what hath God brought behold the people shall rise up as a great lion and lift up himself as a young lion he shall not lie down until he of the prey and drink the blood of the slain and Balak said unto Balaam neither curse them at all nor bless them at all but Balaam answered and said unto Balak told not I thee saying all that the Lord speaketh that must I do and Balak said unto Balaam come I pray thee I'll bring thee unto another place for adventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence and Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor that looketh toward Jasmu'en and Balaam said unto Balak build me here seven altars and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams and Balak did as Balaam had said and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar let's pray father god almighty thank you for this day thank you for this opportunity to come together please bless pastor and bless the message please let it bring glory and honor to you in the name of Jesus Christ I pray amen amen all right over there in numbers chapter number 23 and of course on Sundays we've been going through a chapter by chapter series through the book of Numbers we've called it wilderness wanderings and we have been wandering in the wilderness with the children of Israel looking at these famous stories of the children of Israel in the wilderness and within our big series of the book of Numbers the last week we've been in this little miniseries inside of the book of Numbers dealing with this character Balaam and Balaam is a prophet and he's honestly one of the most intriguing and somewhat confusing characters in the Bible I preached two sermons about Balaam last Sunday from Numbers 22 and I'll just quickly catch you up I won't obviously be able to develop everything we talked about last week but what we learned last week was that number one Balaam was a false prophet the Bible is clear about that there's a lot said about Balaam especially in the New Testament the Bible is clear about the fact that he's a false prophet and he was also a reprobate he was not saved when he died he went to hell he was a wicked false prophet and if you remember the story Balak the king of Moab is fearful of the children of Israel who are getting closer to entering into the promised land and he's seen the children Israel be victorious against several kings and Balak has hired Balaam a false prophet to curse the children of Israel and there's all sorts of drama that ensued as a result of that Balaam trying to get to Balak and of course there was a donkey involved and all those things we talked about that last week in chapter 23 we are here where Balaam and Balak have now came together and they're getting ready to do these curses upon the children of Israel and to be honest with you because Balaam is a little bit of a confusing character this this is there's a lot to cover in these in these verses and this morning is gonna be very much a Bible study I hope that's okay and and we're gonna we're gonna dissect these verses together what I'm gonna do is we're going to look at this chapter under two different headings I think we did this last week as well and maybe this will help you we're going to spend the first part of the sermon in the explanation I'm gonna give you an explanation of what are referred to as the first two oracles of Balaam in chapter 23 there are four different times that Balaam prophesies upon the children of Israel two of them are found in chapter 23 two of them are found in chapter 24 Lord willing we're gonna cover all of chapter 23 this morning and then we're gonna finish our little study on Balaam tonight in chapter number 24 we're gonna begin by just giving you an explanation of the first two oracles for those of you taking notes and I do encourage you to take notes on the back of your course the week there's a place for write down some notes and then we're going to in the second part of the sermon or towards the other sermon I'm gonna give you some application from the two oracles so explanation of the first two oracles and applications from the first two oracles so let's just jump right into it I want you to notice that each one of these oracles each one of these blessings that were actually meant to be curses but they end up being blessings these prophecies of Balaam they all have a little bit of a setup and we see the setup here in verses 1 through 6 of number 23 look at verse number 1 the Bible says this and Balaam this is the false prophet said unto Balak this is the bad king build me here seven altars and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams and Balak did as Balaam had spoken and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram and Balaam said unto Balak stand by the burnt offering and I will go I want you to notice this word here in our King James Bible peradventure the word peradventure is an older word we don't use it as much today it simply means perhaps and what he's saying here is he says I will go peradventure the Lord will come to meet will come to meet me and I want you to notice that what he's saying is he says let's do all these all the the seven altars seven oxen seven rams all these sacrifices to be offered and then he says perhaps the Lord will come to meet me I want you to notice that Balaam does not for sure believe here or know have confidence in the fact that the Lord is going to meet with him he says perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me and whatsoever he showeth me I will tell thee and he went to an high place now and again there's so much to cover I can't go through everything but let me just say this if you're familiar with the Bible you know this especially the Old Testament that high places are bad places high places is where sacrifices were done to false idols and and this is where they're at they're in a high place there's all these little hints throughout the story that these are not good people doing a good thing notice verse 4 and God met Balaam and he Balaam said unto him God I have prepared seven altars and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram and the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth and said return unto Balaam and thus thou shalt speak and he Balaam returned unto him Balaam and lo he stood by his burnt sacrifice he and all the princes of Moab now let me just say this real quick note here because again one of the reasons that the story can be confusing at times is because there's this relationship between God and Balaam in verse 4 we're told that God met Balaam in verse 5 we're told and the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth and last week I mentioned that this week I would be explaining what I believe is going on here in the story regarding God's relationship with Balaam why I believe that God speaks to Balaam and God speaks through Balaam because let's be clear what Balaam says in these four oracles is correct is true is the Word of God and is even inspired by God however Balaam is a bad guy he's a false prophet and he's a reprobate so I'm going to explain what it is that's happening here and why God is speaking to Balaam and through Balaam however let me just say this I'm going to cover that in tonight's sermon all right so we're gonna cover that from chapter 24 because it honestly just makes more sense to cover it from chapter 24 once we get to the end of the story then to do it from chapter 23 so I guess some of you are just gonna have to come back all right come back for the evening service and if you find Balaam a difficult character to understand if you find them confusing or intriguing which many people do then I I think it'll make sense to you when you see it tonight and we will cover it tonight for sure but it just makes more sense to cover it at the end of the story from chapter 24 so let me just give you that little commercial for the evening service tonight now there we have in verses 1 through 6 the setup for this first Oracle and then we have the first Oracle and chapters 7 through 12 now the reason that these are referred to as oracles the word Oracle is a biblical word it's not in this passage but the reason is referred to as Oracle's because an Oracle in the Bible is simply just the Word of God it's the the things that God said and Balaam is speaking the Word of God in these prophecies in these blessings in these oracles notice verse number 7 number 23 verse 7 and he Balaam the Bible says took up his parable I want to notice the word parable there what we're going to see is Balaam's first whatever you want to call it blessing Oracle prophecy preaching sermon he's going to give a speech and he's going to do this now remember he's been hired to curse the children of Israel he's been hired to stand on a high place looking down upon the congregation of the children of Israel and to pronounce a curse upon them so that Balak would be victorious over them in battle and what he's going to do is the opposite instead of giving a curse he's going to give a blessing he's been hired to give a curse he wants to give a curse because he wants to get paid but instead he gives this blessing but the Bible here in verse number 7 I want you to notice calls it a parable and he took up his parable the reason that it's referred to here as a parable is because the blessing he gives or the prophecy or the preaching or the sermon or whatever you want to call it is given in poetic form and what Balaam does is he gives poetry as a sermon or as a sermonette here from the Word of God so it's referred to here as a parable and I want you to notice it says here and said Balak the king of Moab had brought me from Aram out of the mountains of the east saying now after the word saying is one begin when this when this Oracle or this poetry or this parable begins now let me just say something about Hebrew poetry and poetry you find in the Old Testament Hebrew poetry doesn't rhyme Old Testament Hebrew poetry doesn't rhyme and it has no special meters in the way that the type of poetry that you and I are used to seeing has so the way that you can tell poetry in the Bible is because of a series of parallelisms that are used they are couplets that are given through these prophecies where you'll see that there's these statements that are made in parallel fashion there's these forms these these parallel couplets that are given and you may miss them when you first read the Bible but once you see it then it's hard to not see it I want you to notice it here in verse number seven number twenty three verse seven and he took up his parable and said Balak the king of Moab had brought me from Aram out of the mountains of the east saying and here's where the parable begins the poetry begins the Oracle begins notice the couplets and the parallelism come curse me Jacob and calm defy Israel notice how both statements begin with the word calm they both have a negative curse defy and they both identify the congregation of Israel Jacob and Israel both the same individual by two different names who are the descent who was the one that the children of Israel descended from so we see calm curse me Jacob calm defy Israel notice the next couplet verse number eight this is Balaam speaking how shall I curse whom God had not cursed or how shall I defy whom the Lord had not defied notice that there's parallelism and there's couplets there's a reinstatement of the same things come curse me Jacob come defy Israel how shall I curse whom God had not cursed or how shall I defy whom the Lord had not defied look at verse nine for from the tops of the rocks I see him and from the hills I behold him notice there's parallelism and there's restatements he says I see them from the tops of the rocks I behold him from the hills from the tops of the rocks I see him from the hills I behold him lo the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations they'll dwell alone and they'll not be reckoned look at verse 10 who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel reinstatements saying these people can't be counted who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel and let me just say this what he's saying here this is coming from the Lord and of course keep in mind that he was hired to curse the people and he's saying in this parable the king of Moab hired me and he said come curse me Jacob come defy Israel and then he says how shall I curse whom God did not curse how shall I defy whom the Lord had not defiled from the tops of the rocks I see him from the hills I behold him lo the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel and here there's a reference to the Abrahamic covenant found in Genesis 32 12 you have to turn there but if you remember the Abrahamic covenant that God the promise that God made to Abraham he said that he would make thy seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude and here Balaam is saying who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel notice the last part of verse 10 let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his so notice there's a reinstatement he says I want to die the death of the righteous and I and I want my last end to be like his and this is Balaam making this request let me just say this by the way God does not answer this prayer for Balaam because in this Oracle Balaam asks let me die the death of the righteous let my last end be like his but this is not something that comes to pass in fact just real quickly keep your place there in numbers 23 and go with me to numbers chapter 31 numbers chapter 31 just real quickly and look at verse number 8 Balaam says let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his and numbers 31 in verse number 8 we actually see how Balaam dies and I want you to notice that he does not die the death of the righteous he does not die a peaceful blessed death numbers 31 verse 8 notice what the Bible says and they this is the children of Israel slew the king of Midian we're fast-forwarding in the story numbers 31 the children of Israel have gone to battle against the Midianites they killed the king of Midian beside the rest of them that were slain namely Evai and Rechem and Zur and her and Reba five kings of Midian look at the last part of verse number 8 Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword why don't you notice that the children of Israel and numbers 31 actually go when they battle the Midianites they find Balaam among the Midianites and they slew him with the sword they kill him so this is just another proof that this was a bad guy this was a bad man but it's interesting to me that he makes this request let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his and God's response to that is no you're gonna die and you're gonna be slain with the sword look at verse number 11 numbers excuse me numbers 23 go back to numbers 23 and verse number 11 numbers 23 in verse 11 the Bible says this and Balak said unto Balaam what has thou done unto me I took thee to curse mine enemies so now the the parable is done the the the curse that was supposed to be done upon the children of Israel ended up being a blessing right Balaam says come curse me Jacob come defy me Israel how shall I curse when God is not cursed how shall I defy whom the Lord is not defiled for from the tops of the rocks I see him from the hills I behold him the people shall dwell alone shall not be reckoned among the nations who can count the dust of Jacob the number of the fourth part of Israel let me die the death of the righteous let my last and be like his and you notice that there's this parallelism and these couplets and by the way when once you see it it's hard to not see for example the book of Psalms is a book of songs music that is Hebrew poetry and and think about the very first Psalm Psalm 1 once you see the poetry you'll you'll you'll begin to identify Psalm 1 and verse 1 says this blessed is the man that notice the parallelism walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful that's how Hebrew poetry works there's these reinstatements this parallelism that's given and that's how we can identify that Balaam gets up to curse the people and then the Bible says that God puts a word in his mouth and not only does he bless the people he blesses them in a poetic fashion in a parable type way notice the response from Balaam number 23 verse 11 and Balaam said unto Balaam what has thou done unto me I took thee to curse mine enemies and behold thou has blessed them all together and he answered and said must I not take heed so this is Balaam speaking to Balaam he said must not I take heed the word heed means to pay attention to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth so I want you to notice that we have the first Oracle and it doesn't go well Balaam doesn't give a curse he gives a blessing Balaam is upset about that so what happens notice the second setup in verses 13 through 17 look at verse 13 and Balaam said unto him come I pray thee with me unto another place from whence thou mayest see them thou shalt see but the us utmost part of them and shall not see them all and curse me them from thence so I want you to notice that now Balaam he says okay well I want you to curse the people and you don't you didn't curse them you blessed them but he said let's try this again he said he said let's try this from a different location he says I pray thee come I pray thee with me unto another place so let's go somewhere else from whence the word whence means place or source from whence thou mayest see them he says that thou shalt but the utmost part of them the word utmost means the furthest part or the the most furthest edge of them he says and shall not see them all so Balaam is saying maybe you couldn't curse all of them but maybe from a different location you can curse some of them he said let's just try this in a different way he says and curse me them last part of verse 13 from thence now where does Balaam get this idea or why does he think it would make a difference that they would move locations and maybe look at them from a different location well let's run a verse real quickly give your place their numbers go to first Kings chapter 20 first Kings chapter 20 numbers Deuteronomy Joshua judges Ruth first and second Samuel first King numbers Deuteronomy Joshua judges Ruth first and second Samuel first Kings first Kings chapter 20 this might come from an idea in the ancient world that the gods and when I say gods I'm saying plural because I'm talking about lowercase G gods idols false gods not true gods the ancient were the people of the ancient world often had this idea that the gods were the gods of regional locations so they were more powerful in certain places and less powerful in other places and of course we know that this is not true of the God of the Bible because the God of the Bible is the God of the whole world he's the true God he's Jehovah God he's the creator of the entire universe but the ancient people often had this idea when they worship the goddess this or the god that they didn't think that that was the god of the entire world it was just the god of their town the god of their city the god of their region the god of their location so the fact that Balak is asking Balaam to move it's like like trying to get you know reception on your cell phone he's trying to maybe maybe you didn't get a lot of reception here but maybe we go over here and maybe if we look at him in a certain way maybe it'll work out there better that's the idea look at first Kings just to show that to you in the Bible first Kings chapter 20 in verse 23 first Kings 20 23 the Bible says this and the servant of the kings of Syria these are obviously heathen people said unto him they're fighting against the children of Israel and they've lost and here's what they said the heathen this was their reasoning their gods lowercase G plural gods are gods of the hills therefore they were stronger than we but let us fight against them in the plane what plane means it like a prairie like a large flat area and surely we shall be stronger than they so I'm just showing that to you to show you that they had this idea that well maybe their God is the god of the hills but I don't think he's the god of the plane so we lost the battle in the hills but let's fight them in the plains that's the idea go back to numbers 23 I believe where Balak is saying come I pray thee with me unto another place from whence thou may see them thou shalt not see but the utmost part of them you're just gonna see the extreme part of them the the furthest away part of them and shall not see them all and curse me them from then so he says let's try it again somewhere else from a different location looking at it from a different angle look at verse 14 number 23 14 and he brought him into the field of Zophim to the top of Pisg so he takes him to another mountaintop and I'll just this has nothing to do with anything but I'll just if you want this for your notes Pisgah by the way is actually where Moses will go to die later on that has nothing to do with this story but it's just interesting to note and build seven altars and offer a bullock and a ram on every altar verse 15 and he said unto Balak stand here by the burnt offering while I meet the Lord yonder and the Lord met Balaam notice the words again and put a word in his mouth and said go again unto Balak and say thus and when he came to him behold he stood by his burnt offering and the princes of Moab with him and Balak said unto him what hath the Lord spoken notice verse 18 and he took up his parable so again we're gonna see another parable another poetry another oracle given by God through Balaam notice it here in verse 18 and he took up his parable and said so in verses 18 to 24 we have the second Oracle notice again just the the couplets the parallelism the way that the poetry works rise up Balak and here harken unto me thou son of Zippor God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent I want you to notice that not only is this beautiful poetry not only is this beautiful wording from the Word of God but it's also the blessing itself is a rebuke upon Balaam and Balak Balaam is there to curse the people so the first Oracle says how shall I curse whom the Lord did not curse how shall I divide whom the Lord did not divide right they're there to to curse the people and then God gives a blessing so then they say well let's try it again from a different place let's try it again from a different angle let's try it again from a different location so now the Oracle says this this is Balaam now trying to change the mind of God and through the Holy Spirit he speaks these words God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent he had said and he shall not do it or have he spoken and shall he not make it good God is making Balaam say I'm not changing my mind I just think it's interesting they're trying to get God to do these things and God says no in fact here's what I want you to say God is not a man that he should lie and by the way praise God for that we can we can always trust in the promises of God neither the son of man that he should repent the word repent means to change your mind you say look God's not a man that he doesn't need to change his mind he doesn't need to change his mind about the situation doesn't matter if you do it from a different location and look at it from a different angle God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent he had said and shall he not do it or have he spoken and shall he not make it good look at verse 23 behold I have received commandment to bless and he had blessed and I cannot reverse it Balaam is trying to curse imagine he's up there cuz he wants to get paid right we've learned that he's greeting these covetous he wants to get paid to curse the people he gets up there he says all right I'm gonna curse these people and what comes out of his mouth is God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent I have received commandment to bless and he had blessed and I cannot reverse it I mean God is just messing with Balaam and Balak at this time we were at this point look at verse 21 he had not been held iniquity in Jacob this is Balaam speaking the Oracle of God he had not been held in equity in Jacob neither had they seen perverseness in Israel the Lord his God is with him and the shout of a king is among them God brought them out of Egypt he had as it were the strength of an unicorn surely this is I think this is interesting verse 23 surely there is no enchantment against Jacob neither is there any divination against Israel now why why is that interesting here's why that's interesting is because if you remember in fact let's just look at it real quick go to Joshua chapter 13 you're there in Numbers you go past Deuteronomy into the book of Joshua if you remember Balaam is a soothsayer he's into witchcraft Joshua 13 22 look what the Bible says Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Joshua chapter 13 verse 22 Balaam Joshua 13 22 also the son of Beor because remember Balaam has brought up a lot throughout the Bible he's given a lot of real estate so here's another random time he's brought up Balaam also the son of Beor the soothsayer what's a soothsayer it's it's like a palm reader it's like someone that looks into a crystal ball it's a person who tries to predict the future using magic or dark magic or the occult that's what a soothsayer is Balaam also the son of Beor the soothsayer notice again did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them so he didn't die the death of the righteous the Bible tells us that Balaam is a soothsayer but not only that go back to Numbers but we're in Numbers 23 we're gonna be in Numbers 24 tonight but just go to Numbers 24 just real quickly and look at verse number one because I want you to see something the Bible gives us some insight in Numbers 24 about what's going on in this episode with Balaam and what the Bible tells us in Numbers 24 and verse 1 is that Balaam is doing everything in his power to try to constrain God to try to get God to allow this curse to go forward and to give a curse unto the people we've already seen one tactic they went to the high places where they sacrificed unto idols but remember they built seven altars and they sacrificed oxen they made these sacrifices unto God and by the way those are the same type of typical sacrifice that the children of Israel would make to God those were fine sacrifices not in a good place but those were sacrifices they did to God in Numbers 24 and verse 1 the Bible says this and when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel he went not as at other times notice these words to seek for enchantments what's an enchantment it's an object used in casting spells or performing witchcraft it'd be like a voodoo doctor with a voodoo doll trying to curse the doll that would be the enchantment and the Bible here tells us that not only was Balaam up there on those high on those high hills in the high places performing sacrifices of the Lord he was also using enchantments to try to bring a curse upon the people so get this idea Balaam is up there the soothsayer with his enchantments he does his little hocus pocus I don't know what he does maybe has a pot and he's putting I don't know I knew or whatever he's got a voodoo doll and it's the children of Israel whatever he's doing he does all that he's like okay I think I'm ready I'm ready to curse the people he gets up and these are the words that come out of his mouth the words that come out of his mouth are God is not a man that he should lie surely there is no enchantment against Jacob verse 23 neither is there any divination against Israel I mean think about that he's a soothsayer who's using enchantments to try to curse the people he gets up to the high place to curse the people and what comes out of his mouth is surely there is no divination against Israel surely there's no enchantment against Jacob neither is there any divination against Israel God is making him say these words and God is making a fool out of them look at verse 24 behold the people shall rise up as a great lion and lift up himself as a young lion he shall not lie down until he eat the prey and drink the blood of the slain so we see the second Oracle and everything they say let's try to change God's mind let's do it from over there and the first words are God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent let's use these enchantments to try to get God to curse these people surely there's no divination in Jacob there's no enchantment for the children of Israel I mean God is just making a fool out of them look at verse 25 and Balak said unto Balaam neither curse them at all nor bless them at all he said if you're not gonna curse them at least don't bless them and we're gonna look at tonight what's what it is that's happening here and why it is that Balaam cannot curse them but he also is forced to bless them look at verse 26 but Balaam answered and said unto Balak told that I thee saying all the Lord that speaketh that must that I must do and Balaam said unto Balaam come I pray thee I will bring thee unto look at these words another place peradventure perhaps it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from them and remember again this idea that the gods lowercase G plural gods were gods of regions look at verse 28 and Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Pir that looketh toward Jeshaman and Balaam said unto Balak built me here seven altars and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams and Balak did as Balaam had said and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar now this is where chapter 23 ends and this is where we will pick up the story tonight we're not done yeah we're already done no no we're gonna pick up the story tonight and we're going to look at the next two oracles and then we're gonna talk about what it is that is happening here and why it is that God is doing this but what I'd like to do with the rest of our time for this morning now that we've ended the explanation I hope it all makes sense to you as we've seen the setup in the first Oracle the second setup in the second Oracle and we've seen the third set up here at the end of chapter 23 that sets us up for tonight for the fourth Oracle I'd like to just make some applications real quickly and some things that we can learn from this story and maybe you would like to jot these down the first thing that pops out to me by way of application we look at the explanation of the first two oracles hopefully they make sense to you now let me give you three applications from the first two Oracle applications from the first two oracles the first application is this God cannot be manipulated God cannot be manipulated it's interesting to me that these individuals have attempted here and maybe you've seen it as we looked at it to manipulate God look at look at verse 1 and Balaam said unto Balak build me here seven altars and prepare me here seven oxen and seven Rams look this would have taken a lot of time this would have taken a lot of money building these altars and bringing these animals up to these high places these oxen are expensive Rams are expensive to take seven of them to build these altars to go through the process of killing them and doing all these things this was a big endeavor you didn't say let's do one sacrifice see I go no no let's let's the idea that Balaam has here is let's go big build seven altars let's sacrifice seven I think about the size of an ox I think for us who are city dwellers we often don't realize just how big animals are so we go to the state fair or something and see them or go to a zoo I mean seven auction sacrifice seven Rams look verse two and Balak did as Balaam had spoken and Balak and Balak offered on every altar a bullock and a ram we already saw in verse 24 and chapter 24 in verse 1 that he also excuse me chapter 24 verse 1 that he also offered enchantments look at it again if you want numbers 24 verse 1 and when Balaam saw that it pleased that saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel he went not as at other times to seek for enchantment so we know that he's sacrificing seven oxen seven Rams he's offering enchantments whatever that means they're doing these things look at verse four numbers 23 verse 4 and God met Balaam and he Balaam said unto him God notice what Balaam says to God I have prepared seven altars and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram look at verse 14 and he brought him into the field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah in verse 14 we're after the first Oracle it already didn't work the first time they said let's try it again let's do it another time let's do it somewhere else let's do it from another angle look at verse 14 and he brought him into the field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah and notice in the new location built seven altars and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar this is another seven you understand I'm saying another seven altars another seven bullocks another seven sacrifices bullocks and Rams look at verse 29 and Balaam said unto Balaam this is the next location build me here seven altars and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven Rams and Balaam did as Balaam had said and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar and here's what the people are doing here's what Balaam and Balaam are doing they have this idea that God can be manipulated they have this idea that they can give enough sacrifice to make up for their wicked intentions they can give in a sacrifice they want to sin against God they want to sin against the people of God they want to bring a curse upon the people of God God has already told them the people are blessed and I'm not gonna curse them but they said well maybe we give enough money maybe we give enough sacrifices maybe we do enough then we can manipulate God and listen to me you can manipulate people you can bribe people you can impress people but you cannot manipulate God you're not going to perform some spiritual or religious sacrifice to manipulate God into seeing things your way I realize we have a vision offering coming up and we're about to preach on giving and all those things and but let me tell you something if you want to give out of guilt or whatever I mean we'll cast your check but you're not gonna manipulate God when you're living an outright sin when you're committing adultery you're committing fornication you're just doing that you're come you're just you know being a drunkard or being on you say well yeah but I'll just write a check and God will be happy no he won't it doesn't matter how many sacrifices you sacrifice God cannot be manipulated this is the story you're not gonna impress God with how much you give and look praise the Lord our church is not like this our church has never been like this but you better believe there's churches all over this country where people just live in open sin but the pastor never rebukes them never corrects them because they're big donors they're big givers because they they because they sacrifice bullocks you know the great thing about our church is I don't even know what you guys give I get reports as to the offering but their general reports just like total this is what was given you know and to be honest with you I don't care because you're here's what I know God owns the cattle in a thousand hills and the gold in every mine and God is no respecter of persons and look I hope you give and I hope you start preparing your heart to give in the right way towards the vision offering but don't give in the vision offering if you think well this will this will make things right with God no you getting right with God will make things right with God you getting on God's agenda you getting on God's plan you getting right with God you confessing your sin and repenting and doing what God wants that's what will get you right with God not seven bullocks while I'm trying to sin against the God of the universe so one thing we learned from the story is this and I think it's something we should all remember that God cannot be manipulated well yeah I'm doing this I'm doing that but I'm a soul winner well I'm happy you're a soul winner I hope you be a soul and I want all of us to be a soul winner but don't get this idea that we can manipulate God that we can sacrifice and give or or serve or do something and I will make up and then God will be happy no God will be happy when you follow his word so we see in the story first of all that God cannot be manipulated but I'd like you to notice secondly another application I see in this story not only can do we see that God cannot be manipulated but we see that God has not miscalculated notice again we already kind of talked about it but look at verse 13 and Balak said unto him come I pray thee with me unto another place from whence thou mayest see them thou shalt see but the us most part of them and shall not see them all and curse me them from thence they said let's let's let's try this again let's try this from another location look at verse 27 and Balak said unto Balaam come I pray thee I will bring thee unto another place up to the second time that God is just thinking a fool out of them they said I will bring thee unto another place perhaps for adventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence you know what we see here is that they're saying maybe God miscalculated maybe God made a mistake maybe God just doesn't understand let's just look at it from another angle let's go somewhere else okay maybe you can curse all of them but maybe you can curse some of them you know what's interesting to me is that this is what people often do when they want to sin against God they'll come to my office and they'll say I'd like to divorce my spouse what do you think about that I think you're an idiot well they're a moron yeah but you're the moron that married them and by the way I told you not to marry them and I told you this would happen and now you got to stay with it this is my life you know my therapy and and and you know what is what do you what does God say about it hey God's against divorce God's not for divorce but you know what people often do well what if we look at it from a different angle well what if that verse doesn't actually say that well what if I just ask another pastor what if I just get advice from somebody else what if I go to another place look at it from another angle what it would could I possibly change the mind of God and the answer is no we need to understand that God cannot be manipulated and God has not miscalculated God has said what he said and we need to just align ourselves to him stop trying to look at it well maybe if I look at it this way maybe if I look at it that way and maybe if I look at it from this angle and this guy on the YouTube said and this other preacher side and in the Greek they say you don't speak Greek shut up well in the Greek the one you don't speak Greek you don't even read the English Bible you're gonna tell me something about the Greek God has not miscalculated God let me put it the way God said it to Balaam God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent look we need to stop trying to get trying to change trying to change the will of God and change the view of God stop trying to change what God has said and start changing ourselves to align ourselves with the God that cannot be manipulated and with the God that is not miscalculated what we learn from the story is that look I don't care how many guys I don't get how many oxen you sacrifice I will not be manipulated I don't care if you change angles and change positions if you do it from a different place and you look you look at it from another angle well what if we look saw God says I have not miscalculated I have not misspoken I've already said what I said we see that God cannot be manipulated in God that's not miscalculated and look let me just say this when you're seeking the will of God for your life stop if you have to spin God if you have to like oh well God here's why and justify it to God you're already wrong people have to well I'm gonna move to this location is there a good church there well there's not a good church but but I think that no you're an idiot Jesus died for the church he gave himself for the church the will of God for your life is not a job and not a location it's to be in charge that is not miscalculated God cannot be manipulated just align yourself to God that's what God wants or be Balaam and let God make a fool out of you well maybe we can change his mind I think we can change his mind I'm gonna curse him ah well maybe I can use these enchantments and use divination to put a curse upon God ah and Chapman's don't work with the Jacob I mean he just makes a fool out of Balaam and he'll make a fool out of you when you and I get this idea that God can be manipulated that God somehow has miscalculated and God just doesn't understand and if God just heard my reasoning they just saw it from my angle if you just thought the way I see things it doesn't matter how you see things you know what the Bible says there is a way which seemeth right unto a man and the end thereof are the ways of death so we see that God cannot be manipulated we see that God has not miscalculated let me give you a third one this morning we'll finish up go to Deuteronomy 23 if you would you're there in numbers just go past Deuteronomy if you're married that's God's will for your life if you're in a Bible believing church that preaches the King James Bible is right on salvation teaches you to go soul winning teaching the way that's God's will for your life so I'm trying to figure out how you can get away with just get on board with God God cannot be manipulated God has not miscalculated here's number three God should not be misappropriated what do you mean by that well misappropriate means to use incorrectly or to use in an unintended way to use in an inappropriate way and you know what these people are trying to do what Balaam and Balak are trying to do is to use God as a weapon against the children of Israel and they learn is this lesson we can learn this lesson as well that God should not and God cannot be misappropriated look at Deuteronomy 23 in verse 3 Deuteronomy 23 in verse 3 the Bible says this the Ammonite or the Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation Lord forever here's why verse 4 because they met you not with bread and with water in the way when he came forth out of Egypt and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia to curse thee notice how much real estate Balaam gets in the Bible he's brought up a law God says I'm gonna curse the Ammonite in the Moabite because they met you not with bread and with water in the way and because they hired against you they hired Balaam to curse you verse 5 nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam but the Lord thy God notice these words turns the curse into a blessing unto thee because the Lord thy God loveth thee they meant it for evil here's how Joseph would say they meant it for evil but God meant it for good they tried to curse but God stole the words took the words out of their mouth and turned them into a blessing made a fool out of them and put a blessing upon the people of God why because the Lord thy God loveth thee go to Isaiah if you would chapter 54 just real quickly you go from the center of the Bible you will find the book of Psalms and Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon Isaiah you know what I find Christians oftentimes when they're manipulate when they're attempting to manipulate God when they're hoping that God has miscalculated oftentimes they'll take the Bible and they'll try to miss appropriating they'll try to use the Bible as a weapon against others they'll try to use God as a weapon against others I grow tired of seeing supposed independent fundamental Baptist young men who in my opinion are borderline just mistreating their wives and and and and and I don't even want to use the word abusing because I don't I don't think there's physical abusement I've seen husbands take the Bible and beat their wives over it over their head with it not literally well the Bible says you're supposed to submit well the Bible also says that you're supposed to sacrifice and love your wife like Christ loved the church and gave himself for it and listen to me I'm not for I'm we're not Muslims I'm not for this idea that well the man's better than the woman and she better walk seven feet away from you behind me and she look submission doesn't mean you can't speak you understand that I'm telling you I'm independent vulnerable Baptist pastor Roger Jimenez hate preacher whatever you want to call me is telling you submission doesn't mean silence that's weird that's Islam go worship Muhammad you know what a submission means it means the right attitude it means reverence it means when you speak ladies you ought to speak with respect and with the right attitude towards your husband doesn't mean silence in fact the Bible says that the reason that God gave you a wife was to be a help me and some of you idiots would be smarter to stop shutting down your wives and start actually listening to them I'm all for submission and I'm all for leadership I'm all for all those things I'm if the Bible says that I'm for it but you know what I'm not for I'm not for us taking the Bible and trying to put a curse upon people that God is not cursed and try to misappropriate it and use it as some sort of a tool and some sort of a weapon against people look we ought never use the Bible as a weapon against other people now if they're the enemies of God then let the Word of God fight them and we ought to preach the world I'm not talking about that I'm talking about where we misapply misappropriate take verses out of context to try to make some point that makes us better than other people you're wicked as hell that's not for you that's not for that you know what Balaam learned know what Balak learned that God could not be misappropriated let me just end on this encouraging thought we should not use the Bible misappropriately to attack especially the people of God let me just say this when others attack us unjustly when others use the Bible and misappropriate and miss apply and take out of context to try to attack us to try to hurt us to try to go against us just remember that God cannot be miss manipulated God has not miscalculated and God cannot be misappropriated he'll turn that curse into a blessing if that's your medicine you preach the way you do you got all these people out there that hate you aren't you afraid so there's some witch doctor out there with some voodoo doll that says pastor Jimenez you know it's a little shorter it's brown very nice looking although very nice and they're just aren't you afraid of that no you know what I just gotta just turn that curse into a blessing you're they're not gonna use God and God's power against the people of God God's in control this verse kind of puts it all together Isaiah 54 17 look at it as they have 54 17 as they have 54 17 the Bible says there's no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against the judgment thou shalt condemn noticing this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and the righteousnesses of me sayeth the Lord know what we learned in this chapter numbers 24 we learned that bad people with bad intentions with lots of resources can come and will come against the people of God but praise be to God that God cannot be manipulated no matter how famous you are no matter how much influence you have no matter how much weight you have to throw around how much money you have that's not impressed with that he's no respective persons God is not miscalculated just look just if the Bible says it just believe it just do it stop trying to figure out how you can find the loophole and I'm the loophole and we look at it from this angle and we look at it in this way and if you if God just heard my story and praise God that God cannot be misappropriated no weapon formed against thee shall prosper they stood up there to curse the people of God but God turned the curse into a blessing let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Heavenly Father Lord we do love you we thank you for these stories just the encouragement they are to us Lord I pray you'd help us I pray you'd help us to never be the people who try to use a Bible verse to attack and hurt other children of God help us to always be fair and just and kind and loving Lord thank you for these lessons we can learn praise the Lord that we serve a God that is no respect our persons he will not be manipulated he is not miscalculated and he won't be misappropriated we love you for that we thank you for that Lord I pray you'd help us to learn these lessons apply them to our lives the matchless name of Christ we pray amen we're gonna have her Matt come up and lead us in a final song just wanna encourage just want to remind you a couple things and encourage you on a couple things first of all I want to encourage you to be back tonight 6 p.m. for the evening service and tonight we're gonna put this whole Balaam thing together in chapter 25 and if you find Balaam confusing you don't understand why is he saying these things then we're gonna look at it tonight we're gonna look at it from numbers 25 we're gonna look at it from other passages I think it'll make sense to you I think you'll find it an interesting sermon so I want to encourage you be back tonight 6 p.m. I also want to encourage you to bring someone with you next Sunday next Sunday morning bring a friend invite a friend bring a co-worker bring a neighbor invite some of the church bring someone with you as we study the Word of God together and then of course for you men I want to just remind you that we're not having these scheduled work days this week but we do have tasks specific tasks that need to be done and if you're gonna help us with any of these things if you could help us with spray painting registers installing registers carefully painting baseboards in the auditorium if you I don't think I mentioned this one but if you can help us with we need to shave down bolts on on the floor in the auditorium before with a grinder before the carpet gets installed if you could help with that if you could help with installing door frames door trims installing doors hanging doors shaving and trimming doors installing baseboards caulking painting baseboards touching up things like that if you can texture the main foyer needs to be textured if you can help us run wires for cameras install cameras any of those things would be extremely helpful please see brother Oliver he'll be standing in the main entrance you'll have a clipboard just let him know hey I can do this or I can do these couple things and we'll try to get that scheduled and make sure that we can work around you so you don't have to come during those timeframes just let us know when you can be there and we'll be there and and and do that it's exciting what's going on for our church and I think we're right on the brink of being able to get in there there's just some things that need to be done and if you've got the skills the ability to do we appreciate your help there's anything we can do for you please let us know why would Matt come up and lead us in a final song turn the song 452 452 all I need 452 sing it out on the first all I need is all I need He is all I need wisdom, righteousness, and power holiness is barrier my returns are clear He is all I need let's sing it out a little faster okay on the second He redeemed him and he died all I need, all I need time he went was close and died He is all I need wisdom, righteousness, and power holiness is barrier my returns are clear He is all I need He's a treasure and my soul all I need, all I need He has plans to make me whole He is all I need He's the measure holiness and power holiness is barrier all I need, all I need He is all I need Jesus is my Lord and Lord all I need, all I need all I need, all I need He is all I need wisdom, righteousness, and power holiness is barrier all I need, all I need He is all I need good let's sing it out on the last all I need, all I need all I need, all I need holiness is barrier He is all I need wisdom, righteousness, and power holiness is barrier all I need, all I need He is all I need Amen. Good singing before we leave here. If anybody has questions about salvation, church membership, or baptism the pastor will be at the door. He'd love to talk to you or direct you to someone who's trained to talk to you about that. Brother Johnny, would you close a prayer for us? Heavenly Father God, thank you for the church. Thank you for that great sermon. Help us to apply our principles and learn from the members of our lives. We accept your safety tonight. Amen. Amen.