It's All How You Look at Things | God's Perspective

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. Don't look at God in the light of your problem. Look at your problem in the light of God. It's all how you look at things. When you're driving clear across the country, you might encounter the Rocky Mountains, a huge mountain range. Hikes Peak alone jets up more than 14,000 feet into the sky.

But when you fly over those mountains on an airliner, it kind of looks like the same ground you saw an hour ago, but with more texture. Well, so it is with differing perspectives. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie brings us God's reassuring perspective on our mountain-sized problems.

Turning your Bibles to Numbers chapter 13. And the title of this message is It's All How You Look at Things. Now, maybe as you're listening to me, you are facing a gigantic problem. And as the days go by, your giant just gets bigger. For instance, it could be a giant of fear. You're afraid right now.

And no wonder. You look at an uncertain economy. You look at riots in the streets. Something else that might be frightening right now, some challenge you're facing of some kind, and you are paralyzed with fear. Or it might be a giant, if you will, of some kind of a personal sin. A certain area of your life that you've fallen over and over again.

You seem to get victory. You seem to conquer it for a week, maybe even for a month, and you fall back into it again. It could be pride, envy, gluttony, lust, or something else.

The list just goes on. Or in a related way, it could be a giant of addiction. You're trying to break free from the power of alcohol, and you go well for a while without a drink, and then you fall off the wagon, and then you're back to square one, or it might be drugs, and you're just finding you cannot overcome this addiction. It's like a giant that taunts you day in and day out. Or it could be a different kind of a giant. Maybe it's a husband that doesn't believe as you believe in Jesus Christ. And instead of getting closer, he seems to be getting further away from coming to the Lord.

Some might be a child that you raised in the way of the Lord, and they've hit those teenage years, and they're starting to push back, and some have even gone prodigal on you. This giant, if you will, is anyone or anything that seeks to control you, hurt you, destroy you, or torment you in life. So listen, I have some good news for you right now. God is bigger than your giant. God is bigger than your problem. So the key is, if you understand and see God as you ought to, you will see your problems for what they are. Listen, if you have a big God, you have small problems. And if you have big problems, do you have a small God?

Now I'm not in any way saying your problem may not be gigantic, because it could be. But I'm just saying God is bigger than what you're facing. So if you have a big God, in other words, if you see God and his power and his glory and his ability to help you, you're going to see your problem with the right perspective. But if your problem looms so large that you can't even see how God can get you out of it, then the problem is your problem is bigger than your God, and you need to change the way that you look at things.

That is why the title of this message is It's All How You Look at Things. Now, in our last message that we called A Blessing for You, remember we learned some things about the Lord. And the blessing that was to be pronounced by the priests on the people.

They were to say the Lord bless you, the Lord keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So we discovered that God loves to bless us, that God will keep us, and he'll protect us and he'll give us peace. And that's so important the way that we view God, because it will affect us in every area of life. So we're in a series that we're calling Water, Fire, Stone. And it's a series on the life of Moses, and we're back in the book of Numbers. Now, don't let that concern you, because maybe like you, you didn't do well in school in the subject of math. Oh no, I hate numbers. It's really not about numbers. It's actually a record of the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel, and the book of Numbers has a lot to say to us today.

Here's a question. Why did the children of Israel wander in the wilderness for 40 years? You know, it doesn't take, even on foot, 40 years to get from Egypt to Israel.

The reason it took so long is because they effectively went around and around in circles because they weren't learning the lessons God wanted them to learn. I mean, they had it made in the shade. Every day the Lord provided them with food.

It was right outside of their tent. It was called manna. The word manna comes from the Hebrew krispokrimo, and we get our English word krispy cream from it.

No, I made that up. But the Bible says it was sweet to the taste. It is described as the food of angels, and it's hard for us to wrap our mind around it, but this amazing substance was there for them each and every day, but it wasn't very long until they started complaining, complaining. We're tired of this manna.

We're tired of eating this manna every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then God set them up with the ultimate GPS system, a cloud by day, a fire by night. You know, you have GPS in your car or on your phone. You follow the directions. Turn right here, turn left there, etc.

And if you're like my GPS, periodically it just makes no sense. Turn right on the next off-ramp. You turn right. Turn left over here. Turn left here. Do a U-turn. Go around in circles five times. Get back on the freeway. You're like, what was that all about? But God's GPS was much clearer, just like if the cloud moves, you move. If the cloud stops, you stop.

If it's nighttime and the fire moves in the sky, you go with it. So they had food to eat. They had amazing GPS to guide them knowing where they should go. And yet these people grew tired of it, and they started taking it all for granted. And they started complaining, and they said, we remember the good old days back in Egypt. We miss eating our garlic and our leeks and our onions. Man, their breath must have stunk.

You know, think about it. Oh, we miss it. Well, you know, we don't like this food.

Besides, we're all on the keto diet, and man, it doesn't work with that. We want meat again. And they started crying out to Moses, we want meat.

We want meat, and so forth. So God gave them what they wanted. I mean, you've heard of the expression, raining cats and dogs? It literally rained birds. Quail coming out of the sky. And these people were so anxious. They have this meat, they didn't even take time to pluck the quail and cook them. They just grabbed these birds and bit into them, and the Bible says it turned bitter in their mouth. And offering a little commentary, Psalm 106, verse 15 says, God gave them their request, but sent leanness to their soul.

Listen, careful what you wish for, you might get it. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We hear from listeners all over the country and from countries all over the world, like this one.

Hi, Greg. I'm a young Christian living in rural Australia, and I recently went with my mom to watch The Jesus Revolution. The movie really touched me and gave me a new insight into the lives of young Christians just like me.

I enjoyed the movie so much that I'm so excited for the opportunity to show it to all my friends who aren't Christians yet and are still trying to find their way in the world. I would just like to thank you and all your team for all that you guys have done to spread the gospel around the world. Every morning, my brother and I listen to your podcast through the local radio station on the way to school. It's a great way to strengthen ourselves and to encourage us to spread the Lord's word. I wait eagerly for the day I am able to be at one of your crusades in America, or maybe even here in Australia. Thank you for obeying God all those years ago so that you bless all of us today through Christ. God bless you all. It's a blessing to know that listeners are hearing the message of the gospel through the radio, podcasts, and even through the film Jesus Revolution.

Do you have a story to tell? If so, would you email Pastor Greg and let him know? Send it to Greg at Harvest.org. Again, that's Greg at Harvest.org.

Today, Pastor Greg is continuing his series on the life of Moses. Our message title is, It's All How You Look at Things. I heard about a couple that were in their 60s. Both were 60, actually, and they were celebrating 40 years of wedded bliss. And suddenly a genie appeared and said, You know, you guys have done so well in your marriage, 40 years. I'm going to grant to each of you a wish.

And he went to the wife first. What would you like? She said, Oh, I love my husband so much. I would like to be in an island in the middle of the South Seas surrounded by beautiful blue water. That's my wish, genie. And poof. There she was on this island with her 60-year-old husband that she had been married to for 40 years. And then the genie said, Okay, what's your wish? And the husband looked over at his wife and said, I'd like a wife that's 30 years younger than me. And poof, he was 90 years old.

So careful what you wish for, you might get it. See, the problem with the Israelites is they had forgotten how miserable they were back in Egypt. They had forgotten the sting of the Egyptian whip. They had forgotten the fact that they cried out to God over and over again for someone to deliver them.

And God answered their prayer and sent them Moses and brought them through this wilderness and through the Red Sea and all of the rest. But yet they just said, Man, we wish we had it like we used to have it. And you know, the devil will come and whisper in the ear of a Christian and say, Hey, man, remember the good old days?

Remember that one party where this happened? And he'll bring back a few memories. And you know, all of us, if we're honest, would say that before we were Christians had some fun when we were sinning. The Bible says there's pleasure in sin for a season.

It's a short-lived pleasure. But the devil isn't going to remind you of the misery you experienced or the emptiness in your heart. He's not going to remind you of the guilt that plagued you day in and day out. He's not going to remind you of the time you almost overdosed. He's not going to remind you of the time you contemplated suicide. He's not going to remind you of all of the repercussions that came as a result of your sin. He'll just remind you of a few good times you had.

So you say, Well, I'm going to go back and do that stuff again. Warning. It'll turn bitter in your mouth.

Just like it did for the Israelites. It'll happen to you. Because now you see, you know better. You've tasted of the living water. And you're no longer going to be satisfied with swamp water. You've tasted of what it is to have a relationship with God.

And you're never going to be satisfied living that old life again. So they've eaten of this quail, this bird. It turned bitter in their mouth. And now they've come to the very brink of the promised land. They're poised to enter in. So they send in 12 spies. 12 spies to check things out to see what was ahead of them. And that's where we pick the story up here in Numbers chapter 13. I'm going to read from verse 25.

And by the way, I'm reading from the New Living Translation. After exploring the land for 40 days, the men, or the spies, returned to Moses and Aaron. The people of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen. And showed them the fruit they had taken back from the land. So these guys came back with a cluster of grapes that were gigantic. It took two of them to carry the grapes back. Imagine how big the peaches would have been. How about the watermelons?

Those would have been gigantic. So they bring back this incredibly large fruit. Verse 27.

This was their report to Moses. We arrive in the land you sent us to see. And it is indeed a magnificent country. A land flowing with milk and honey. And here's some of the fruit as proof. But the people living there are powerful. And the cities are fortified and very large. And I'll drop down to verse 30 of Numbers 13.

But Caleb tried to encourage the people as they stood before Moses. He said, let's go at once to take the land. We will certainly conquer it.

Oh but the other man who had explored the land with them answered. We can't go against them. They're stronger than we are. So they spread discouraging reports about the land among the Israelites.

The land we explored will swallow up any who go there. All the people were huge. We even saw giants.

The descendants of Anak. And we felt like grasshoppers next to them. And that's what we looked like to them. And all the people started to weep aloud. And they cried all night. And the voices rose in the great chorus of complaint against Moses and Aaron. They wailed, we wish we had died in Egypt or even here in the wilderness. Oh man.

This is incredible. So twelve spies go in. Ten of them give a discouraging report to give an encouraging report. It all comes down to how you see things.

How you look at things. First there was the majority report from the ten spies. You see their problem was they did not seek God for what He is. They only saw problems.

Listen. God promised them a land flowing with milk and honey. God promised He would give them the land. But they ignored what His Word said and put their eyes on circumstances. On obstacles. On challenges. On giants. And ultimately on defeat. That's because they had a small God and thus they had big problems.

But then there's the minority report. This is basically Joshua and Caleb. They saw the same obstacles. They saw the same challenges.

But they also saw opportunities and great victories if they would go into the land. So here's what it comes down to. It's all how you look at things. We all face problems. We all face obstacles. We all face challenges and we all face giants. But can you see them in the light of who God is? Don't look at God in the light of your problem. Look at your problem in the light of God.

Again He's bigger than what you're facing. If you're taking notes here's point number one. The problem here is they focus their attention on the obstacles rather than their objective. Let me say that again. They focus their attention on the obstacles rather than their objective.

Number 1328 they saw the people were powerful and the towns were fortified and the people were very large. Listen obstacles are frightening things when you take your eyes off of the objective. So here's what we need to remember. Take your eyes off of the obstacles and put them on the opportunities. What is the opportunity that is in front of us right now? It's presenting the gospel to people. People need to hear about Jesus Christ.

Pastor Greg we're talking about the movie Fame. So many people want to be famous especially young people. Social media influencers. They want to be social media influencers. They want fame. And yet so many famous people would love to have a day of anonymity.

They'd love to have a day they just go walk around the mall or go to the beach or go grocery shopping. But once you're famous you can't take a day off and you just can't quit. I mean Taylor Swift if she wants to just say yeah I'm done. I'm not going to be famous anymore. No she's famous for life.

Yeah she is. Well the most famous man I ever met and I've met some famous people. Met a few presidents. I've met some movie stars, rock stars. But you know the most famous man I ever met was Billy Graham.

He's a historical figure on the Time magazine's most influential people list for more times than any other person who ever lived. And it's funny because when I would be out and about with Billy because I was helping him toward the end of his ministry with his sermons. I was helping him with illustrations. I spent a lot of time with him.

We had a lot of meals together. Billy somehow thought that wearing a ball cap would disguise him. But you know Billy's face, the profile of Billy Graham looked like something that would be on Mount Rushmore. He had very distinctive features. Easy to spot.

Tall. Really stood out. And so he always had the ball cap.

And it never worked. And one day he lost his ball cap. And he said, Greg would you get me another ball cap?

I said, sure Billy. I went down to the local mall. I felt like I was on a mission for God. Like I'm going to buy a ball cap for Billy Graham. And I went into this store that had more ball caps than any store I've ever been to before. I was completely overwhelmed.

I didn't even take the time to get his hat size. But I did my best job I could. And I came back very excited and gave him the cap.

He thanked me. And I saw a picture in the paper the next day. And he's in a car wearing the ball cap.

Being recognized I might add. And then he lost it the next day. That's why he always had to keep replacing him. But the thing with Billy and fame is he just wore it so well. He knew it came from God. He knew he should give glory to God. And he was a humble man.

And he was accessible. So you know fame can be a good thing if you use it for God's glory. And use it to build a bridge to bring people to Christ. And it can be a very destructive thing. I've likened it to fire. You know you can have a meal cooked on fire. You can have a campfire. You can do great things with fire.

And fire can destroy homes and forests and much more. So it's sort of the same with fame. It can be a good thing if he was right. It can be a bad thing if used wrongly. So we just need to understand it's not good or bad in and of itself.

It is what it is. But if you look to fame in and of itself to fill the void in your life you'll be unhappy. The same could be said of money. You know money's not evil. Sometimes you hear people say you know the Bible says money is the root of all evil. Actually the Bible does not say that does it? The Bible says Paul speaking the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Which while some have coveted after they've erred from the faith and pierced their souls through. So the idea is the love of money not money.

Money is neutral. So you can take your money and use it for God's glory. You know here's a little suggestion. Invest some in our ministry. Because then you lay up for yourself treasure in heaven. So we're offering a book right now called Fame where I talk about this and more. And we'll send it to you for your gift of any size. And whatever you send financially will be used to reach more people with the gospel and the teaching of the word of God. So you can use your money for good or you can use it for bad.

It's really up to you. The same is true of fame. Yeah that's right. Well we'd like to send a copy of this new book your way to thank you for partnering with us. To thank you for laying up treasure in heaven. Your investment helps us bring the gospel to many more people through radio, film, books, and so many other avenues. It's such an important time for that. You can make your donation and request the book by calling 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number 1-800-821-3300 or write A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside, CA 92514.

Or go online to Harvest.org. And don't forget the new movie also called Fame. Pastor Greg speaks with Daryl Strawberry and Alice Cooper and others.

People who know how destructive the lure of fame can be. It's a feature length film and we hope you'll watch along with your whole family. It's especially relevant for young people. The movie premieres the weekend of October 20th through 22nd at our new Harvest media platform at Harvest.org.

And also other streaming platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, Amazon Fire, and Google Play. It's free to watch. So mark your calendar for October 20th through 22nd. Are you receiving Pastor Greg's daily devotions each day via email?

If not, let's take care of that right now. You can sign up today free of charge at Harvest.org. And you'll receive a daily inspirational thought from God's word each day in your inbox. Again, go to Harvest.org. Hey everybody, what are you doing this weekend? I'd like to hang out with you at Harvest at Home. When is Harvest at Home?

It is a time of worship and Bible study exclusively designed for people that are viewing in from all over the place. So you can be a part of our extended congregation at Harvest at Home. Join us this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well, next time, more insight on life's opportunities and obstacles and how the pathway to happiness is viewing those events from God's perspective. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. In the day, the day when life begins A New Beginning is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. If this show has impacted your life, share your story, leave a review on your favorite podcast app, and help others find hope.