Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. The wilderness experience was not happenstance. He was bringing them out of Egypt's slavery to take them into a promised land. But the pathway through the wilderness was deliberate because there in the wilderness, you'd have to have manna. He let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know.
And this is why he did it, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. Merry Christmas.
I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series He Alone is Worthy, as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.
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Here is Alan Wright. There's a picture of this in the landscape of Israel's history that is one of the most famous and beloved stories in the narrative of the Old Covenant about a time which the people have been delivered from slavery in Egypt, and they come into a wilderness where they get hungry. And what is so interesting about it is that they seem to forget the oppression of their slavery because their hunger now physically is just taking over. And God gives them this flaky white substance called manna. And it is a story that is all pointing to Jesus, but we start with the Old Testament story so that then you can understand why Jesus applies this to himself. And so in Exodus 16, two, here's what we read. The whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the people of Israel said to them, would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full.
For you've brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. So they were hungry, they were angry, they were hangry. And they glamorized and sentimentalized their past because all they could think about was their bellies needing food.
And suddenly they didn't think about slavery for what it was as slavery. All they could remember was, well, we had food. We had food when we were slaves in Egypt.
And they did have food. But note this, well, the slave owners gave the slaves food not because they loved them and not because they cared for them, but because they wanted to use them. And I was thinking a lot about that this week, that of all of the gods of this world and everything that would offer you the illusion of real nourishment and freedom and peace, you must understand every demon of hell would be delighted to give you some substitute food not because you're loved, but because they want to use you. Exodus 16 four, the Lord said to Moses, behold, I'm about to rain bread from heaven for you. So notice this first, that God is the one who gives this manna. And what's amazing about the story of the manna is that He gives despite their horrible attitude. Aren't you thankful for a God who gives when we're at our worst? Or else we would have never had Jesus.
So the gift comes from God, and Jesus later, as we'll see in John 6 32, wants them to be reminded of this. Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father, my Father gives you the bread from heaven. Okay, back to Exodus 16 four, behold, I'm about to rain bread from heaven. This is the phrase that Jesus is going to echo in John six, bread from heaven, so remember that.
And then in 16 four, would you read this? And the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day. And so there's the everydayness of it. This is the picture of it, it's like this is a picture of grace, it is something that is continual, it's something that is every day, just like the nature of hunger. And He says at the end of that verse, that I may test them. It isn't a picture of God being a drill sergeant who's trying to give a hard exam that you won't pass. This is much more, when we talk about the testing of the Lord, it's much more like what our teachers used to say, this is a learning opportunity, or this is an opportunity to show all that you have been learning. But it really is that way with God.
And if people, I think, have the wrong idea of God, oh, He's just testing me, like He's just waiting for me to flunk, like some drill sergeant. I was thinking about my nephew, Christopher, who when he did basic training at Fort Jackson, he says the hardest 10 weeks ever in his life. And one of the things that's like, just the discipline around about every one of the rules, which included, you couldn't take any of the food from the mess hall, no contraband from the mess hall, but there was a Private Jones who just, he just couldn't do without his snack. So he kept pilfering snack bars and things, and he got caught hiding some under his bunk and got in real trouble. And Chris just hearing, tell him about the drill sergeant, just yelling, Private Jones, what are you doing with you? And it's like, and he was just on the edge of getting kicked out. And they came up to like the second to the last day of basic training.
And they were doing that thing, where you're skimming along on the ground, your elbows like this. And all of a sudden, he made a move like that, and Private Jones, a snack bar fell out of his pocket. That went, Private Jones, what are you doing? And I think a lot of people think of God's like that drill sergeant, you know, it's like, no, I think it's, and I may test them. I think what he's saying by this is that there's something happening in the manna story that God is saying, the principles here are essential.
You got to get this, the lessons learned through this, okay? And part of that is the dailiness of the manna and the provision of God. Exodus 16, 15, when the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, what is it?
They did not know what it was. Interestingly, manna means, well, in Hebrew, it means what is it? That's what, so the word manna is a word, is actually just the Hebrew words that mean, what is it? That's the word for manna.
What is it? And I got kind of a chuckle thing about like, you know, a lot of times the grace of God comes like that. And it's like, God's providing in a surprising way.
And it's like, what is this? You know, this isn't what I expected, but it's what you need, manna. And at the end of verse 15, it's the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
There it is again, it's a gift, gift, gift. And notice the instructions, verse 16. This is what the Lord has commanded. Gather of it, each of you. So it's a gift, but it needs to be gathered. It needs to be appropriated.
It doesn't just drop in your mouth. Grace is a gift, but there is, there's a gathering, right? It's, it's, there are spiritual disciplines. There is the corporate worship of the people of God.
Y'all, we need each other. We can't just say, well, oh, God's grace provides. I'm just gonna be separated from the body of Christ and never be with others.
But we're gonna miss something, right? His word is part of his gift to us. We're in his word, not because we're, we're like, okay, I'm gonna check off a box. I've been in, we're in his word because it's part of his manna to us, see? So everything in the Christian life is a gift, but the gift is nonetheless appropriated.
That's part of the picture you've got of the manna. You just gather it. You don't make it, you don't create it, you don't cause it, you don't deserve it, you didn't earn it, but gather it up and eat it. Gather it up, eat it.
Verse 16 says, gather it, each of you. So it's to the person. You can't have someone else eat for you. You can't have someone else eat your food for you and you get the nourishment. Each of you eat of it. And verse 16 says, as much as he can eat, and also you shall take each an omer according to the number of persons that you have. So people are taking and eating different amounts of manna, some more, some less.
The manna matches the need. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. In a world that often feels overwhelming, we all seek moments of encouragement and hope. As a heartfelt thank you for becoming a monthly partner with Alan Wright Ministries, we're excited to send you our blessing box featuring 24 beautifully crafted cards filled with encouraging blessings from Pastor Alan. Each card offers daily inspiration and scripture on themes such as hope, strength, your identity in Christ, Thanksgiving, and much more.
These blessings are designed to uplift your spirit, providing encouragement whenever you need a boost. This unique resource can be yours with our thanks as we welcome new monthly partners to the support family of Alan Wright Ministries. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastoralan.org.
Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. God's grace is sufficient for you. And you might need something different than someone else, but that's the way God works. Verses 17 and 18, the people of Israel did so. They gathered some more, some less. But when they measured with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over. And whoever gathered little had no lack.
Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. So no one had any lack as long as they counted on the food being there every day. And nonetheless, if they tried to, the one thing you couldn't do is hoard it. Because if you did, it rotted. In verse 19, Moses said to them, let no one leave any of it till the morning. They didn't listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning and it bred worms and stank.
And Moses was angry with them. So wouldn't it be nice to be able to hoard God's grace and say, boy, that was just great. I've got that and now I know that I've got provision from the Lord and I trust him today, but it's just wonderful. I won't have to trust him tomorrow.
He just doesn't do that, does he? You can't hoard it. Grace is daily. Give us this day our daily bread. If it's what we need today, Lord, God loves a trust relationship. It's the orphan part of our hearts that has a hard time with this, right? I've always loved all the beautiful stories of adoption. I just, my heart's just moved by all the people I know have adopted. Some of you have. But I was talking to a dad one time with a little boy that they had adopted when he was about two.
He'd been through a lot of troubled times in his life. And you know, one of the things is like, children that have been in orphanages, most of the time they don't have their own toys. They share the toys.
And so it's real hard to get the concept that you could have something that's yours. And so this little boy, when he got adopted, he loved to have toy cars. He loved, they had these little toy cars he'd play with and they kept disappearing. And till finally his dad found them, they were all tucked up under his mattress. This mattress is full under the little cars, you know, like he was afraid. Because if you've never had the experience of I'm provided for today and I get up tomorrow and I'm provided for, and I get up the next day and I'm provided for, if you don't have that, your heart, your orphan heart thinks I need to hoard.
Hold on to it now, cause it might not be here tomorrow. And God didn't give him this object lesson. It's like you try to pile up some manner in the corner of your tent and it's got worms in it. Yeah. So every day, and sometimes God just will surprise you with a provision that you could have never imagined.
Like what is this and where'd this come from? And you feed off of that experience in your life. I was thinking about a story that maybe I told some years ago, but what a beautiful, miraculous kind of provision stories from our friends, Ron and Sandra Block.
Ron Block's arguably one of the best folk guitarists in the world. He and his wife, Sandra, they're just wonderful people of God. We love them. And Sandra told a story that their daughter, Erica, all these pieces fit together, but she wanted some chickens. They lived out in a rural area. Mother said, no, we've already got too many animals. They had horses and a dog and all this. And some mother kept saying, no, we're not going to raise chickens.
The little girl wanted chickens. Once around this time, they were given some hardwood flooring that had come from an old building. And so it was going to be cool. They're going to restore some things in their house and put down this new floor. And so they had to box up everything in order to put down a new floor. And you just get different boxes and bins and stuff. And so one big bin that they boxed up and it was in some corner of the house.
They never looked at it again. You know how that is. You got boxes in your attic. Like once you load it in there, it's like, are we ever going to look at this thing again?
That's one of those things. Well, so that's why there was a bin that was tucked in the corner somewhere. Well, years later, their beloved dog died. And now Erica comes and goes, now the dog has died. Can we get chickens?
Well, Sandra's heart was tender. And she said, okay, we'll get some chickens. So this is all leading somewhere, by the way.
I'm telling you a Providence story. And they get these baby chicks. And so the chicks go into like a little shoebox at first.
And then they start growing fast and they're going to need something else. Now to understand the power of this story, there are three things that start happening that are all going to be expenses that come along in their lives that weren't really budgeted for. Their son, Ethan, is getting ready to graduate from high school. And they wanted to give Ethan a really big graduation party. And so they had started planning on that. It was going to be expensive. And then to their surprise, Sandra's sister who lived in Canada called and said, we, our family with our five kids, we want to come visit you this summer.
And we want to stay for a couple of weeks. Well, Sandra was very excited about that because she loved her sister. But you know, if you're going to host somebody else and their five kids for a couple of weeks, now you've got some more expenses because there's going to be a lot of things that are going to be going on. So they got the graduation party for Ethan. And now Sandra's sister's coming.
And that's going to be an expense they hadn't expected. And then a third thing happened. A friend I'll call Bessie approached Sandra and said that she had a need, a financial need. And Sandra didn't hesitate. She said, yes, we'll help you. And so three things, Ethan's graduation, Sandra's sister and Bessie.
And they all came the same time and unexpected financial expenses. Okay, back to the chickens who grow fast and they outgrow their shoebox. And so she's looking around for another place to put the chickens while they're growing. And she sees this bin sitting in the corner.
Says that'd be a perfect place for them. Put the chickens in the bin. So she goes to empty out the bin. And she's emptying out the bin that's been cluttered up with stuff for years. And she starts going down memory lane. She empties the bin.
And at the bottom of the bin is a wooden box. And on top of the wooden box is a picture of Ethan when he was a baby who's getting ready to graduate. And so she's sentimental about that. There's Ethan. She thinks about Ethan.
She thinks about the upcoming graduation party. She remembers the expense coming up of that also. And then under Ethan's picture is a piece of cardboard. I'm talking about in the middle of this big bin that hadn't been open for years. And then there's a wooden box.
And on top is Ethan's picture. And then there's a piece of cardboard. And in the cardboard are all these pins. And they are pins for curling events that her sister had participated in because her sister was on the Canadian national curling team. You know that thing we see once every now and then on the Olympics where they're, I don't know, they're brushing the ice and the little disc or whatever.
I still don't understand what they're doing. But she was very good at this. And she had these pins.
They're like metals. And for some reason, she'd given them to Sandra. And they were all pinned into this piece of cardboard. And so first she saw this about Ethan. And then, oh, there's her sister who's getting ready to come visit.
And y'all, you can't make this kind of stuff up. She pulls up the cardboard. And underneath the cardboard is a picture, an old picture of their dear friend Bessie who had just come that week needing financial help. So there they were, Ethan and her sister and Bessie at the bottom of a bin that hadn't been opened for years. And then this wooden box. And she pulled up the picture of Bessie and looked in the bottom of the little wooden box. And there was $4,000 in cash.
You can't make this stuff up. She said she thought she maybe had a faint, faint memory of stuffing some cash down there. Maybe Ron had a gig sometime that paid him in cash. And they thought, well, maybe we'll need some cash around sometime. And so they had a great graduation party.
They had a wonderful time for two weeks with their sister's family. And they helped out Bessie and had just about the right amount of money left over. Sometimes God just wants to show you, I can provide and I will provide.
You just don't necessarily know where it's coming from tomorrow until you get into tomorrow. That's the story of manna. And he says this in Deuteronomy 8 three, the word says, he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna. The wilderness experience was not happenstance. He was bringing them out of Egypt's slavery to take them into a promised land.
But the pathway through the wilderness was deliberate because there in the wilderness, you'd have to have manna. Alan Wright, our good news message. Worthy is the bread of heaven.
And it's from the series, He Alone is Worthy. Hey, stay with us. Pastor Alan is back joining me in the studio. Sharing his parting good news thought for this Christmas season and today in just a moment.
Hope, strength, your identity in Christ, Thanksgiving and much more. These blessings are designed to uplift your spirit, providing encouragement whenever you need a boost. This unique resource can be yours with our thanks as we welcome new monthly partners to the support family of Alan Wright Ministries. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Back here in the studio to share Pastor Alan's parting good news thought for the day as we place this bookmark in this teaching. Worthy is the bread of heaven.
Pastor Alan, what's our good news as you leave us today? Well, the fact that you are hungry, I'm talking now spiritually, is in a sense the greatest evidence that what you need exists. In the same way that if you're physically hungering, it sort of proves, does it not, that there must be such a thing as food. If you're thirsting, there must be something that satisfies it.
So I just have this encouragement. Maybe you're in an advent season and life is on a mountaintop, but you might be walking through more valley times. You might be through some difficult circumstances, but through it, you're hungering for something and you feel that.
And it's like, what is this? Well, the good news is that that hunger is the thing that draws you to God. Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. God uses our hunger, uses it physically. It's a sign of health and He uses it spiritually. So I'm blessing your spiritual hunger. Don't despise it.
Be thankful for when you're hungry for something more in your life. Be in touch with it and let it draw you to God. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.
