This morning the title of my message is "The strength of meekness". Starting in Numbers 12:3, How many of you have come ready to receive the Word of the Lord? "The man, Moses, was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth".
Father, we thank you for your Word and we know that your presence is here this morning and the work you've begun in us we thank you that you will complete. We thank you also Lord for the confirmation that your Word doesn't return void. So Father, you are building us and strengthening us in this year of strengthening the things that remain.
Father, I thank you that your people are standing strong as oaks of righteousness, not being moved. Father, may we decrease and you increase in your name, amen.
When God chooses to use someone powerfully, one of the key characteristics in that life is meekness. When God first came to Moses he was a timid and insecure man but when God first began to work in Moses' life he was just a little baby who was supposed to be killed at birth. His mother, you know the story, took him and placed him in those reeds in the basket that she had coated with asphalt and pitch and placed him in the river. Then came the Pharoah's daughter that saw that baby and what a marvelous thing when God begins to do miracle after miracle at the very beginning of your life. Not only was his life spared but Pharoah's daughter went and found his own mother to come and raise him and keep him in Pharoah's house. How many of you believe that God can do some miracle things that are way beyond your expectations? This mom had some things happen that were beyond her wildest dreams. She cast her son upon the waters and how many of you know the bread came back. That life came right back. So Moses was raised in one of the most prominent homes of the time. He had the best education, the best food, got to see things happen and as he was raised he began to recognize that there were another people, God's people.
How many of you are beginning to recognize that you're a part of God's family in a greater way than ever before. I noticed that as I get older, my family means more and more to me. I've noticed as I get older the family of God means more and more to me as well. Moses was drawn to his people, the people of promise.
We know that he got into some trouble, he was cast into the wilderness, he went out there and ran from his grandfather because his grandfather had purposed to kill him, his adopted grandfather, the most powerful
man.
How many of you know that even when the most powerful man seeks your life, God can still protect you? He kept Moses. God did some things in Moses' life when he was out in that desert just caring for some sheep. Then when God came to him again in the burning bush and said, "Moses, I want to use you". He was such an insecure man that when he talked to other people he stammered. This is someone that was so raised in Pharoah's palace and even though he was around some of the rich and the wealthy and who was used to as a teenager strutting around and knowing his stuff, had become an insecure, stammering person. He said, "God, you could never use me". God said, "that's exactly why I'm about to do something powerful through your life". God used Moses to speak to the most powerful man in the world. He humbly stood before Pharoah and said, "You need to let my people go and if you don't, I'm going to send the plagues, God will send them".
God used Moses to part the Red Sea. He saw the Ten Commandments written by the very hand of God on the stone tablets and he brought them down. This was the man who met with the Lord in such a powerful way that his face and his body glowed with such radiance that people couldn't even look at him and it terrified them. This was a man who in the desert, the Lord told him to strike a rock and there was enough water that came out to quench the thirst and to supply the bathing needs of millions of people. Moses became a legend in his own time. People knew who he was and he grew confident in his relationship with the Lord. He grew powerful in the way that God would use him and his influence increased. The Bible says that if all the people in the world who could have become arrogant and egotistical, he stayed meek and humble.
Number 12 says, "Now the man, Moses, was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth". This was stated after the Red Sea, after all those miracles took place. God used him so much and believed so much in Moses' character that he spoke highly of him. If you've got your Bibles open, I want you to look down to verse 6-8. "Then God said, here now my words, if there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision, I speak to him in a dream, but not so with my servant, Moses. He is faithful in all my house. I speak with him face to face even plainly and not in dark sayings and he sees the form of the Lord". God was so impressed with the character that Moses had that He met with him face to face and Moses was confident in his call but never did he conduct himself in a way that was aloof or proud.
Listen, how many of you in this church this morning want to be used by God? One of the key things that we don't talk about in the body of Christ many times is the idea of meekness. Meekness is often misunderstood. We're a society that trumpets wealth. We love to shout about people's fame and we all want to have power. We hang our diplomas on our walls and we drop names because we want people to know who we know. We drive big cars so people know that we are blessed and we're careful in this society that each of knows our place and position in regards to other people.
True humility is rarely seen and when it is, meekness is mistaken for weakness. I want to tell you that in the body of Christ, many times we buy into what the world says. If we're going to be used powerfully by God, if we're going to stand up and be used then somehow we need to have this air about us so that everyone knows that we're so anointed and so powerful and so used by God. The truth is this, the people that really are used by God the most are still powerful but are very meek.
Meekness means to be kind and gentle and to be humble. It involves the idea of a mild temperament and one who is patient and long suffering. How many of you know that you can be those things and not be weak? Meekness is not the absence of knowledge, wisdom or power. Listen to me, I believe that the people of God should be the wisest people in all the world, they should be. Sometimes in the body of Christ we think that being spiritual means that you're not intelligent. The truth is that the body of Christ should be the most intelligent people in all the world. They should make the wisest decisions. The people of God should be the most powerful people in the world. Why? Because we have the anointing of the Holy Ghost that gives us the power that is not our own but is power from on high.
The wisdom that we have is not the wisdom of the world but the wisdom of God. We pray and we ask every time that we gather, even in this room, that we would decrease and He would increase in our lives. How many of you know that if He is increasing that means the wisdom of this world that has somehow gotten into the fleshly part of us begins to take less impact in us and we have more influence in a way that reflects the body of Christ and the wisdom of God.
Those that are meek should have the power of God in the sense that not only are they able to gently go through life but they can speak to people and not be afraid. They can still be very humble whether they're speaking to kings and governors, mayors or just to their neighbor or a friend of the family. I want to say this again, it is not the absence of knowledge, wisdom or power, in fact, meekness is demonstrated by those who possess those things in abundance and don't parade themselves around. Those that are meek are balanced in their spirit, they have their passions and their emotions under control. I want to tell you no matter what happens in life, those who are meek know how to trust the Lord and depend on Him and still walk in victory and when the victories come they'll sing Him the praise and declare that they've just been obedient.
The person with meekness, the one who possesses that quality, knows how to pardon injury, correct a fault and to rule their own spirit well. It was interesting because when I was thinking about this a little bit, thinking about power and meekness, for whatever reason I said, Lord, I need a good illustration and He took me back to a movie I watched when I was a kid. How many of you remember "The Karate Kid" and Mr. Meaghi? He was in one of those Asian arts so he wasn't following God but how many of you can take the example from it? Understand I'm not asking you to become a Buddhist. If you believe that you need to get a grip.
Mr. Meaghi would teach Daniel-son, he would teach him and Daniel thought this guy was nuts, didn't understand the things he was asking him to do. So Daniel learned a few things and he thought he was getting powerful and some people came to pick on him. How many of you have been picked on by the enemy and have gotten knocked down a few times? He's come out ready to fight and thought he knew it all and all of a sudden was getting defeated pretty bad. Then out comes Mr. Meaghi, just an old man but spry, jumps over the fence and these 5 young boys go to attack him and with an expressionless face he just begins to take every one of them down. I love that. Daniel-son gets up and says, "Wow, I never knew you could do that". I thought what a marvelous example of meekness, a man who was very smart in the way he was teaching.
The world asks us to be completely different than that. The world says, "If you've got it, flaunt it". How many of you know that if you've got the Lord Jesus in your heart and you've got His power in your life, you don't need to prove it, you just need to use it. God has called us to be people who are meek. Meekness is a character quality that the Bible tells us we are called to pursue. In 1 Timothy 6:11 it says, "But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love and meekness". It's interesting because we preach a lot on righteousness, we talk a lot about godliness, we know that we need to be people of faith, we understand that we need to walk in love, but very rarely are we taught what it is to be meek.
Pursue meekness, pursue it. This isn't a quality that I've heard talked a lot about but when the disciples wanted to know, and said, "Jesus, who is going to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? How do we become powerful for you? Jesus didn't pick up a sword, he didn't pick up anything but a towel and he found a washbasin and said, "If you want to be great in the Kingdom of God, you need to be a servant of all" and began to wash their feet. Meekness is to be pursued because with it comes some wonderful promises. Listen to me, meekness is a result of a heart that is trained in the ways of God. Pursue it. Meekness is not something that you and I come by naturally. Humility is not something you and I come by naturally. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Who would just declare, "I am the humblest of them all in this room"? We're to pursue it.
The person who trains their heart and their life in the ways of God will begin to have their character changed into the likeness of God. With that character change, with that life of Jesus that flows in come all the promises of His Word. Pursue it. I want you to look at a couple of the promises of meekness. First, the Bible says that God will teach the meek His ways. In Psalms 25:9 it says, "The meek he guides in justice and the meek He teaches His ways". Why? Because God can trust the meek with His ways, with His power, with His authority and those who are meek are yielded to God, able to be taught by the Holy Spirit. Those who are proud aren't teachable.
Those who don't walk in meekness, who know that they can have the power of God, really won't be able to receive the fullness of God because they will abuse it. God will entrust His ways and secrets to those that are righteous. James 1:21 says, "Lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls". I love that Word that came out this morning that told us to lay aside our sins. The things that keep God's people from the greatness that God has for them in their life and the character of God in their life is when we taint what God has made pure.
How many of you have been saved and made clean by the blood of Jesus?
The moment that sin becomes to come in, we begin to step back into those things that we have no business getting into. God says to lay aside that stuff and with meekness receive the Word. How many of you have ever had a hard time receiving from God and realized that it's because you were doing some stuff you had no business doing. Those who are meek understand that you've got to get certain things out of the way so you can move forward in what God has for you. I believe that in these last days that we live in, God is raising up His people in great power, He is doing wonderful things through them but the thing that He is doing so clearly is purifying His church. Why? Because He wants a bride without spot or wrinkle. So lay aside all filthiness and receive the implanted Word. To those who do that, they receive the ways of God and understand His ways.
Second, the meek prosper. Here on earth the Bible says that those who are meek are blessed. In Matthew 5:5, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth". I like that. The word "blessed" means to be
happy, joyous, to be spiritually prosperous, to be filled with life and joy and satisfaction and the favor of God. How many of you think that's a pretty good thing to have? Psalm 37:11 says, "The meek shall inherit the earth and delight themselves in the abundance of peace". Psalm 22:26 says, "The meek shall eat and be satisfied, those who seek Him will praise the Lord".
God wants us to be blessed. We always look forward to the blessing of heaven but how many of you believe we can be blessed here and now? Those who walk in humility before the Lord, those who walk in meekness, begin to find that the life they're living now is something that they enjoy. I believe this. Who knows the motto of our church, "Love God, Love people, Love life". How many of you believe God wants you to be able to love the life that you're living? Jesus says, "I've come to give you life and that life abundantly so we might be able to live and enjoy the things that God has given us". Watch, those who follow and obey the Lord are meant to live happy and they're meant to live at peace.
What we're going to see is that meekness may at times be uncomfortable.
But it is possible for the Lord to make everything right in uncomfortable circumstances. Meekness is power under control. Certain things can only operate when its opposite are present. Fear must be present in order for courage to be exhibited. Meekness can only be demonstrated in the context of power, when we have the authority to do something and we withhold the right to do it. In Numbers 12:1-2, "Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. They said, "Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses, has he not spoken through us also"? And the Lord heard it. How many of you know Moses was about ready to be involved in a battle.
In verse 8: "I speak with him face to face even plainly and not in dark sayings, and he seized the form of the Lord", "Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses"? So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them (Aaron and Miriam) and He departed. When the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam and there she was a leper, so Aaron said to Moses, "Please do not lay this sin on us in which we have done foolishly and sinned. Please do not let her be as one of the dead whose flesh is half consumed when she comes out of her mother's womb".
So Moses cried out to the Lord saying, "Please heal her, O God". Meekness is not possible unless power is at risk. Here's Moses fulfilling the promise that God had for his life and here were two people that became jealous of the position that he had. How many of you have ever had people rise up against you before? The thing that I like about Moses is that he never fought his own battles. He knew that the battle was the Lord's. I want to say that again, "The battle is the Lord's". So many times we are tempted as Christians to fight the devil. We need to resist the devil but we think that that battle is ours, we think many times when we get into relationship disputes or disagreements that all of a sudden we have to stand up and do something.
Well here's Moses, people had risen up against him, the Bible says he was meek out of all the people. Moses could have looked at Miriam and Aaron and said, "Don't you know who you're messing with"? Don't you know who I am? Wasn't I the guy who raised his hand and the sea parted and when I put it down the sea came in. Aren't I the one who prayed and God sent manna, then you whined a little more and God sent quail, and now you're going to mess with me? Moses, if he wanted to, could have gotten prideful and called God to send lightning on them. Moses stood back and in his meekness God proved himself.
I want to tell you when you are meek and you serve the Lord, you will know that God will fight your battles and you won't have to trumpet yourself. God will just powerfully do a work because you have humbly submitted to Him and you trust Him. The thing that I believe drew Moses to God was that that meekness that was so powerful as soon as Miriam was struck, Moses is standing there saying, "God, heal her. Lord, take it away". How many of you have ever watched God do something for you and you just stand back, and you know God is saying, "I love you". I've watched God do powerful things.
When I was younger I used to take joy when God would strike my enemies. Now listen to me, God promises that. How many of you believe that? Some of you aren't real sure. Maybe that's why the enemy is having victory over you because you don't believe that yet. I remember when I would watch God work, there would be times I'd get some joy out of it. The Bible tells you not to rejoice when your enemy is stricken but to pray. Moses heart was immediately towards that. He looked at her and God for a time wanted to make sure that His word was known that you don't stand up and mess with my people, but Miriam was healed. That was meekness. Meekness is willing to forgive even when forgiveness will earn no reward. Meekness is not easily provoked. When a little person hits a big person, a big person shows meekness by not pummeling the little person. That's not weakness, that's grace. Meekness is strength and power under control. I remember when I was working with those kids at "Real life Children's Ranch" and many of them we have great relationships with. I remember when one of those kids stood up and punched me in the face.
Understand, I've been a minister for a long time and my kids have never reached up and hit me. I remember being there and that kid just began to spout. I remember thinking, "Dude, I am 37 years old and you are like 11". He was swinging and swinging and I just grabbed his head. When you grab their head they can't hit you. It's great, they can do whatever they want but you've got control. I remember looking at him and the Lord said to me, "That kid is hurting, you can toast him if you wanted to". I looked at him and said, "Dude, what are you thinking"? He wasn't, he was hurting. Meekness understands that a lot of times hurting people lash out.
The reason some of those boys today are beginning to become whole and healed is because some people poured meekness in instead of taking advantage of the situation and looking beyond the offense and ministering to the hurt. How many of you have ever been hurt or been offended by a hurting person? God has said that you need to pray and treat them right and love them. You could squash them. How many have ever had someone say something so stupid to you and you know that they meant to hurt you and you could have turned around and verbally just cut them into pieces.
God said to you, "Hold your tongue, hold your peace, hold it".
The other week I was driving home and I like squirrels. We've got lots of squirrels in our backyard, I love them. When I was growing up, the reason I guess that I love squirrels is because at my mother's house we had squirrels up in the attic, we'd hear them and I found it comforting. We'd go up in our attic and you'd see holes in the flooring and they'd be running in there. All of a sudden you'd walk up and there would be a little squirrel peeking his head up. The other day I was driving up the street and I saw a squirrel that had just been hit, I knew he was dying, his tail was doing that last little flip before he died. It was sad. I thought about backing up and putting him out of his misery but I figured he was well on his way. But I didn't, I drove past.
So as I'm driving down the road, no kidding, a hundred yards down the road, another one runs in front of me. I'm thinking, "Stupid, I've got the power to just run you over, don't you understand that"? Instead, I found myself doing just what my mother did and I'm glad there's no one behind me because I jammed on the brakes and swerved to miss the thing. That's meekness. I had the power of life and death right there, that could have been the end of his day. Meekness is love in the driver's seat. I loved that squirrel. We would take in squirrels, my mom was like the animal hospital of the neighborhood. We'd fix up these little squirrels and I remember when a momma squirrel died we had all the little baby ones. We were feeding 6 squirrels and they were climbing up and down our legs, they were the coolest thing.
Listen, meekness is love in the drivers seat. It takes a secure person to make sure that it puts love in the driver's seat. As a matter of fact when meekness and weakness are confused, it always puts the most defenseless among us at risk. Why? Because we won't reach out to help them because it makes us look weak or those who are weaker than you are will take advantage of those who are weaker than them until it translates all the way down into someone that has absolutely no hope of helping themselves. When meekness is confused as weakness it hurts everyone.
I want to say this, insecurity is the hallmark of those who are not meek. It takes a secure person to be humble, to listen to the advice of others, even with those who don't always agree with them or when things don't go your way. Those who are meek don't seek to impress others but to help them fulfill their full potential. Maybe you know the story of Rehaboam, he was the son of Solomon. When Solomon passed, the wisest man in all of history, his son Rehoboam, came and took his place. Rehoboam had a lot to live up to because of what his dad had done. If he had walked in his father's ways he would have had his father's results, but he was insecure. He went to the advisor of his father and asked, "What should I do"? He said to go to the people and let them know that you're going to help them, you're going to love them, you're going to make them prosperous and successful. You're not going to lay a load on them and you're going to make sure that they've got a life that is going to be better than what they had.
Then he went to his young friends, to the young advisors. Young people, listen to me for a minute, because I want to tell you this generation looks at the gray hair and thinks that they don't have a lot to offer. The truth is, the gray hair is a whole lot smarter than us. Rehoboam chose to ignore the advice of his father's advisors and went to the young people and they told him to tell those people, "if you thought my dad was tough, you wait until you see what I am. Immediately that kingdom began to fall. Things began to fall apart in his life because Rehoboam was insecure.
Those who are insecure fall into a couple of categories. One is this, those who are not meek cannot be approached, they think they are infallible and mistake free. Those who are meek are authentic and real. Those who are insecure might become a macho man, thumping their chest. These are the people who are threatened by their own inadequecies and their own mistakes and shortcomings. Instead of being humble and compassionate, they might become the chest thumping husband that says, "I'm the man of the house, woman, no matter what you see me do I'm right", Or it might be the controlling woman that says, "Husband, I don't care what you think, I'm going to do things my way". Or it might be the
child that says, "I'm not going to listen anymore to what you have to say". It might be the suffering martyr, and that's the person who has become so insecure in their own life that even when their inside is challenged they respond with wounds or with hurt. They become manipulative. The suffering martyr is not meek but they become so upset, they say, "You could never understand the pain that I've been through". Instead of being meek, they use that as a weapon.
Those who are meek know how to take humor in themselves. Humor is not knowing what is funny. Humor is being able to know how to laugh at yourself. Funny is when someone is walking down a flight of stairs and all of a sudden they lose their balance and fall and you begin to laugh. That's funny. Humor is when you fall down that flight of stairs and you laugh at yourself. That's meekness. Instead of getting mad and angry or embarrassed when you fall or make a mistake, meekness says, "I know, that's kind of funny". How many of you have ever had to laugh at yourself? Meek people are trusted by God to do great things for Him. I want you to listen to this, I'm going to close, "It is only the meek that can help restore other people to wholeness".
Galatians 6:1 says, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted". In the church today, many times we see people saying, "I'd never do that, I could never make that mistake". Get ready, when you say those things because "but for the grace of God, there go I". The Bible says, "that you who are spiritual", because in the church, especially in pentecostal, many times those that we look to who think they are spiritual begin to carry themselves like they're all that. You kind of think they're going to float. Then when someone messes up, they look down their nose at you, kind of snotty. They say, "O brother, I'm going to pray for you" and the prayer isn't one of sincerity, it's so condescending it's disgusting. How many of you have ever seen that at work in the body of Christ? "That person who had an affair, I never did that, that person who got into pornography, I never did that, that person who stole, I never did that, that person who talks so nasty about everyone else, I never did that, I'm so spiritual". The Bible says, "you who are spiritual should restore those who have fallen in a spirit of meekness, taking heed to yourself, lest you fall".
The reason why Moses was able, is because in meekness Moses helped restore people time and time again, even when he was angry at someone.
How many of you have ever gotten angry at someone who messed up? How many just wanted to slap them up the back of the head? Meekness doesn't do that. You say, "I have all the power in the world because I've been so right, so holy, I can look at you and I can tell you what it is, the way it is and how to get there". Meekness says, "I love you and I want to see you whole". You know what, some people are embarrassed, you're embarrassed to go out in public. If you're not sure who wants to be with you, I'm going to walk with you. My prayer is that when people come to this church and they've messed up and if you know they've messed up, you should be the first one to walk in with them. Hold their hand and say, "You know what, I love you, I don't care what anyone else says, I love you, I'm standing with you and we're going to see you restored". How many of you believe that when that starts to happen in the body of Christ, powerful, powerful things begin to happen.
Church, God has been doing some great things in this place, powerful things. How many of you have seen it? How many of you have felt it? You look at what God's doing, the things that He has prepared for us, we're being able to enter in to that thing that God has prepared us for, but He's looking for a people like Moses that He can use. If you want Jesus to meet with you face to face, you're humble. Moses didn't walk out and say, "Hey, look what God told me". He just walked and ate with people, he was normal. God met with him because he was humble.
Precious, Heavenly father, we thank you that you're here this morning.
Father, you encouraged hearts as we worshipped, we were able to sing "Blessed be your name". Lord, this morning, we do bless you, we honor you and we give you all the glory for the things you've done in our lives.
Lord, we are a people that are serious about being used by you. Lord, we look at the lives of those that you set as an example for us to follow. Father, we want to be like that, we want to be like you. Holy Spirit, this morning when you would look at Harvest Community Church, when you look at us, we're asking for your presence in this church. We're asking that you would revive the things that are dead that need life, we're asking that your life would flow through us to reach a community for you. Lord, week after week we see your faithfulness as you heal our bodies, as you restore our families and Lord, we stand in awe of all of that.
Father, I pray that when you look at us, you'll see you, that we would be a reflection of Jesus. I pray Lord that in this place, you would rid us of all pride, of all sin, and Father, that we would receive that word that would change us, that would have it's perfect effect in our life. I thank you Lord for those in this room that have been walking in humility, that have been walking in meekness. I thank you Lord that you fight their battles for them. I thank you that the battle is the Lord's and not ours, that it's not by might, not by power but it's by the spirit of the Lord. I pray Lord, that you would rise us up in that power, that people would be healed, people would be saved and lives would be changed. Lord, in the midst of that, that we wouldn't get cocky, we wouldn't become arrogant.
Father, I pray that you would examine our hearts and if there is any of that in any of us, Father, that you would remove it. Lord, I pray that love would be in the drivers seat of our life again. Lord, when we could run people over who have done us wrong and they've gotten in our way and we're moving full speed ahead, that Father, we would take the time to slow down and love them, to not be in such a hurry all the time. May we swerve and jive so that others can know you, not so that we can try and make life better for ourselves. Lord, we commit ourselves to you afresh today and we thank you for these things. In the precious name of your son, Jesus, amen.
May the Lord bless you. Go out and encourage a few people on your way and have a great and marvelous week.
