The test of a prophet and can we trust Ellen White.

<p>The test of a prophet and can we trust Ellen White.</p>

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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

The Success of God’s People

Do you ever remember as a child liking to play the game follow the leader?

I remember playing that as a kid and I also remember it didn't ever seem to last that long Because someone would announce and parade in there, you know, follow me!

And so, okay, fine, we'll follow you if they can convince us they're gonna do some cool stuff and we'd walk across the log and do some other things.

But invariably, before very long, what would happen?

Somebody would kind of manipulate the process and say, no, no, no, we don't want to follow you anymore.

And so then you have all these splits in them.

In fact, you want to be the leader, right?

So let me ask you now, do you like being the leader?

Is it fun to have everybody following you?

And if so, how many people would you like to lead?

How would you like to lead more than 2 million people on a backpacking trip that lasts 40 years.

I mean if they were all pathfinders it'd be a little easier but we're gonna bring their parents who are used to things being a little more cush.

Let's suppose it's nominating committee time.

Would you accept the responsibility of leading An inexperienced Pathfinder club of 2000000?

We would all laugh at the proposal because we realize that leadership can be awfully tough.

Out of all the characters in the Bible, my heart goes out the most, perhaps, to… Can you guess who I'm thinking of?

Perhaps the toughest leadership assignment in all of Scripture.

I mean, take a look at the abbreviated list of leadership crises.

Before crossing the Red Sea, just having witnessed the 10 supernatural plagues in Egypt, they come to the Red Sea and the Egyptians are behind them and the people are crying out, were there not enough graves in Egypt that you had to bring us out here in the desert to be buried?

This is phenomenal what God has just done.

Now they're on the other side and they're fearful that they're not going to have enough food, that they're going to run out.

God always makes provisions, but they're starting to count.

They say, we're going to run out, we're going to starve.

And They say, what's the problem if we'd only be back in the flesh pots of Egypt?

And God says, don't worry, I have a plan.

God has provided every step of the way, but now again we're at a crisis time and this time it's so bad they threaten to stone Moses.

I would call that a pretty significant crisis, Wouldn't you?

It's been 40 days, we haven't seen or heard of him.

Aaron, give us a God, give us something golden, give us something to follow.

And we see the meltdown of the community of faith after the 10 Commandments have been verbally, personally spoken by God Himself in that Mount Sinai experience just 40 days later.

Leadership crisis number 6, in Numbers 11 we find Moses so discouraged that we find him pleading that God will take his very life.

He says, what have I done to displease you God that you put the burden of all these people on me?

The 12 spies come back and the overwhelming majority say, we can't do it, we can't go in, this is impossible.

After all this that they've been through and again the people are ready to turn and stone Moses.

Remember Korah, Dathan and Abiram along with 250 well-known community leaders stand up to challenge Moses' leadership, and then the earth opens up and swallows those men.

And the very next day, the people cry out, you, Moses, you killed those guys.

And then leadership crisis number 9, the leader himself melts down, casts disrepute on the name of God, and forfeits the promised land.

After going through so much, why anybody would want to be a prophet for God, his mouthpiece, if you will, is beyond me.

But when you've been called by God to be a prophet, not a pastor, a prophet, you have to be willing to pay the price of that divine calling.

Of course they're going to spit in your face.

And you have to be faithful to that call.

But I want to go back and look at 1 of those specific crises that I believe, sadly, is very relevant to our time today.

It's just following Moses' low point in Numbers chapter 11 and the devil, I believe, is deciding to capitalize on his low point.

It's where we're going to pick up our story.

Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman which he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

Now from the Hebrew it's clear Miriam is the instigator.

She is listed first, and the verb is both feminine and singular.

She's got her brother to come along with her in this, but she's the 1 leading the way.

Moses' wife, Zipporah, she was an Ethiopian or a Cushite, it may say in your translation.

And while she still was a direct descendant of Abraham, her skin is just a little bit darker than the Hebrew skin.

So Miriam uses this little visible difference as a pretext for her jealousy.

However, the reality is that when Moses was overwhelmed, it was Zipporah, his wife, that went to her father, Jethro, you recall, and Jethro counseled Moses to select others to share in this responsibility.

And when Moses acted on that counsel, he did not consult Miriam or Aaron.

And so now they're feeling a little jealous of Moses, their kid brother, neglecting them.

Moses in this high uplifted role of leadership.

The Success of God’s People

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