"Speak to the Rock"

"Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink."

(Numbers 20:8)

"And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham,

unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused

thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither."

(Deuteronomy 34:4)

The first time the children of Israel needed water, the Lord told Moses to "strike" the rock (Exodus 17:6), which Moses did, and the waters gushed out as God said they would.  But, later when the situation occurred again, and they needed water, God told Moses to "speak" to the rock (Numbers 20:8), but Moses disobeyed and he "struck" the rock.  Because of this "mistake," God told Moses in the verse above that he could see the land promised to him, but he could not enter it.  "Whoa!" you say, "Just because of one little thing wrong, God punished him so harshly?"  Yep.  We currently live in what is called the dispensation of Grace; if not for that, we would be in severe trouble, considering the "Sin" now parading before the Holy eyes of God.  God expects people to listen when He speaks, and He expects people to obey Him  ...  He IS God  ...

It was at Meribah that Moses struck the rock, instead of speaking to it, as God had instructed.  "Meribah" means 'quarreling.'  The children of Israel had been murmuring and arguing with Moses and Aaron about the lack of water and food, so Moses was fed up, to say the least.  No doubt, in his anger and frustration, he rashly disobeyed God's orders.  We're no different than Moses; we do things in frustration and anger that we possibly wouldn't do otherwise.  But, the same rules still apply.  DON'T go out and do something out of impatience and/or anger, and Sin!  The definition of Sin is "transgression of divine law; or the willful violation of a religious or moral principle; a lapse, or a great offense."  The Holy Bible says clearly what Sin is, and that those who do those things will not enter the kingdom of God.  

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication,

uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,

wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings,

and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time

past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

(Galatians 5:19-21)

"Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be

not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,

nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,

 nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were

some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified,  but ye were justified

 in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God."

(I Corinthians 6:9-11)

"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things

rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God

gave them over to shameful lusts.  Even their women exchanged natural relations

 for unnatural ones.  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with

women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent

acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion." 

(Romans 1:25-28) 

 It's pretty strong, isn't it?  We need to all look at these scriptures closely, and tell ourselves the truth.  You know, sometimes, we tell ourselves something is "ok," when we know deep down that it isn't.  We've all done it at some time or another, but that's why the Lord Jesus Christ suffered, bled, died, and rose again.  It is so that WE can rise again; we can be washed by the blood of the lamb; we can be cleansed of all unrighteousness and stand before the Lord knowing that our eternal future will be holy and beautiful, and not damnation.  We must be mindful that "THIS" life is not all there is; there is an eternity that is more real than this.  Our seventy or eighty years here in earth is nothing compared to eternity, which will begin for all of us  ... somewhere  ...  We are running out of time; you know it; even if you are not so-called spiritual, you know that the clock is winding down, and we must all be ready.  The Lord will come as a thief in the night  ...  for something of value  ...

We have to ask ourselves, Are we "striking" the rock, instead of "speaking" to it?  Huh?  Are we doing things that our conscience tells us is wrong?  You say, "Everybody else is doing it, and they seem to be prospering and doing well; nothing's happening to them."  It's not over yet!  It doesn't matter if laws have been passed in the State where you live saying it is "ok."  Does Almighty God say it's ok?  Does the Holy Bible say it's ok?  Sometimes, and these days, oftentimes, the laws passed DO NOT coincide with the Holy Word of God.  It is the Lord Jesus Christ who makes the ultimate decision; He says whether it's "ok" or not; we will all stand before Him in judgment; every knee shall bow before Him  ...  and soon  ...

Dear friends, it's time we all "Speak to the Rock."  What?  Obey and follow the commands of the One who holds our future in the palms of His hands.

(Visit promiselandchurch.net and theexperience238.com.)

Pastor Kenneth Phillips

PromiseLand Church, Austin, Texas

(The hands of Jesus Christ in earth!)

Services Sunday 10:30 am and Wednesday 7:15 pm

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