This Economic Giant! January 17, 2009

In Numbers 13 of the Old Testament, God gives instruction to Moses to lead the people into the Promise Land. God instructs Moses to send scouts to check out the land that, “I am giving to the Israelites.” God is telling Moses that it’s pretty much a done deal, just go and spy out the land which I am giving you. God speaks with clarity and assurance. Yes the land will have its challenges, its battles, and its struggles and yes, even giants. It will also have an abundance of provision and blessing. And that is exactly what the scouts found when they spied out the land. They brought back a physical sign of the goodness of the land, but they also found that their were giants.

Numbers 13:31-33

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."  NIV

The scouts came back with evidence of God’s provision, but they also forgot the Word of the Lord and their assurance of victory. They placed their eyes on the giants, and as they focused on these giants, they began to see themselves as weak, insignificant, little, insects.  As Christians we have been given rock solid promises from the Lord -

Psalms 37:25

25 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken,

or their children begging bread.  NIV

Matthew 6:25-30

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

NIV

We read and believe these promises and then we flip on CNN and see an 8% unemployment rate. We turn on the radio and hear about long established institutions closing because of the economy. We read the Daily Press and see local school districts planning on slashing jobs. We hear about friends and family losing their jobs, and then it happens – We see ourselves as little grasshoppers, compared to these economic giants. Once we lose perspective of what God can do and what He has promised, fear will begin to take hold and then we not be able to walk in victory.  Victory is not a new Mercedes and a loaded bank account, victory is being able to say and believe –

2 Timothy 1:7

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. KJV

Let me encourage you. If you are part of a church, continue to pray and to encourage one another in the midst of this storm.  If you have not been going to church, please pray about attending and allowing the Lord to encourage you through His word and through the fellowship of other Christians. God bless you.

Pastor Rene De La Cruz

Living Springs Community Church – Hesperia

www.livingspringscc.com

The Root of Our Problems - January 29, 2009

    I almost started off this article with the statement – “Now I don’t want to sound preachy.” But, then I realized, that is what I do, I preach. So if you don’t want to read a preachy article, you can go back to the Food Section. As Christians, we should be looking at everything through the lens of scripture. Whether it’s the economy, marriage, culture, music or what have you, our thought should be – What does scripture have to say about this matter? Usually, when we approach a subject, we come at it with our own subjective view and then form an opinion. But, when that opinion does not line up with the Bible, then the Christian needs to admit that they are wrong.

   

    So the question is asked - What do you see as the most pressing issues facing the world, the United States and our community? Here comes the preachy part - When I look at all the issues facing mankind, I always look to the root of the problem. A bad root system produces bad fruit. When an apple tree is dying, you don’t treat the apples, you treat the root system. And today, when it comes to dealing with problems, we have been treating the wrong end of the tree. We have thrown money and programs at our crumbing economy, failing educational system, overloaded prisons and on and on.

  The root of all mankind’s problems is that we have turned our collective back on God. We have adopted a very strong independent spirit. Here in the United States we have successfully kicked God out of the classroom and the world is trying to remove God from almost every aspect of society. And in some churches, God has been replaced with 40 minutes of jokes, stories, movie clips, screaming guitars and fog machines. And man looks to the Heaven’s and yells, “No thank you! We can handle it ourselves!”  

    When we are wronged, we want to get even. When we make a mistake, we blame others. When we are critiqued, we lash out. When we don’t like our church, we simply walk away. When we hate our spouse, we commit adultery. When we are judged, we use the famous line, “You can’t judge me!” Mankind has not learned this one simple fact, that Jeremiah 17:9 says that man’s heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked…” Our hearts, our opinions and our independence have led us into more problems than we can count. We need to stop following our own emotions and self centeredness, and we need to look to God’s wisdom for guidance. And as for the phrase, “Just follow your heart” – I hate to rain on the parade, but Proverbs 28:26 says that the one who trust his own heart, “is a fool.”

    The Green Bay Packers football team had been losing for almost a decade, and morale and motivation was at an all time low. The new head coach, Vince Lombardy was brought in to turn the team around. After weeks of working with the team he was totally frustrated. During one practice he stopped and blew his whistle  "Everybody stop and gather around," he said. Lombardy knelt down, picked up a football, and said, "Let's start at the beginning. This is a football. These are the yard markers. I'm the coach. You are the players." He went on to explain the very basics of football, and from that talk the Packers became champions.

So today I blow a whistle and I say - America, stop and gather around. Let’s start at the beginning. This is a Bible, this is prayer…

Pastor Rene De La Cruz

Living Springs Community Church – Hesperia, Ca.

www.LivingSpringsCC.com

Living Springs Community Church

                                                                  Hesperia, California