God's Sovereignty: Lessons from Balaam's Story

So as Christians, we have to be aware of false prophets. In our day and age, there's a lot of them. We need to be careful with who we put our trust in. There's only God. Put our trust in God, in his word. They will preach a gospel without power. Everything you hear needs to be based on the word of God, the Bible, and the scripture. [00:15:59] (29 seconds)


And we recognize in the story that God used this false prophet to fulfill his plan for Israel to come to the promised land. In the story here, Balaam, he said, he asked God if he would go. And God said, no. But then they sent other people. and Balaam had been told no by God and then he questioned it again so God allowed him to go but his intentions were not godly of course he was a false prophet he was just interested in the money that he was being offered so that's why in the story God sent an angel of of the Lord that was gonna kill him but the donkey was able to the donkey had more common -sense than Balaam and he wouldn't move so Balaam started beating on him and then he realized that there was an angel of God that was about to kill him so we asked in the story why did God say go and then he tried to kill him because of the intent that he had God had to make sure that he was going to hell and find a way to bring that angel of God into heaven so he was but he was going under God's guidance, not on his own. [00:16:45] (96 seconds)


I hoped that Balaam could manipulate spiritual forces to weaken Israel, but he discovered that one true God cannot be manipulated. Instead of turning God into his pawn, Balaam soon became an instrument of God's blessing. Balaam wanted to be a man of God, but he was not a man of God. Balaam wanted to manipulate God, or at least he thought, but God used his false prophet to complete his purpose for his people, Israel, to be able to conquer the promised land, the land that he had offered from way before. [00:21:37] (33 seconds)


So amazingly, Balaam had an encounter with God, who chose to speak to Balaam through a... He... He... He... Even though he had a... I'm sorry. Amazingly, Balaam had to encounter God, who chose to speak through Balaam, though his lifestyle and benefits were nothing like those of the prophets God would use to speak to his people in the coming years. [00:22:12] (30 seconds)


This is based on the story of Balaam being hired by Balak to curse his people Israel. So if we put in context, his people Israel is the nation that he chose. And we are grafted onto that nation, even though we are not. You, as Gentiles, we are grafted onto that tree. We feed off spiritually off of those roots. So we are. We are part of his people. [00:24:29] (29 seconds)


God put words into Balaam's mouth and he returned and delivered them this time a message was directed to Balaam himself so just as Balaam took Balaam to only see a portion of Israel the enemy sometimes will try to hurt us just a little bit at a time he does it through our finances through our health marriage it takes one person to cause division even among churches today we need to remain grounded in the word of God and the faith in Jesus Christ and follow the Holy Spirit's guidance the intention of Balak was to weaken Israel if he could get the Balak I'm sorry to curse Israel if he could get to only curse a portion of it if he could get to only curse a portion of it but God interceded and he again made a promise that he will only bless those who bless and curse those who curse you so we need to keep that in mind ourselves it doesn't matter where the devil tries to attack us we need to have the confidence that God is protecting us through the spirit he is always with us just as he made the promise to Israel he does make that promise to us each and every day [00:33:19] (101 seconds)


not only was God protecting his people but he was also preparing them for battle the conclusion of Balaam's second blessing must have sent chills down Balaam's spine as he heard in frightening detail just how dangerous his situation had become as he listened to Balaam's second message Balaam's hope of defeat of the Israelites was fading away while most of the decree described God's nature in his commitment to Israel the last set of heralds thoughts painting a vivid picture of Israel of the Israelites themselves so the imagery was shocking and terrifying the people of Israel will hunt their enemies like lions just as the verse says God had empowered Israel and had put the fear in Balak near the end of his life the Patriarch Jacob gathered his sons and pronounced a blessing over each one of them it was not theriath selfie the Messiah which heralds the destruction of Cain's children after that given her blasphemous testimony was Thot期 We see both the Balaam's story and the 마 vienen that GodThe tradition of Assyrianziehen in the story of Balaam that one day this man appeared with his young emperor and asked him why well when they took the scroll to give their very young child a antibiotic and we know in this world the Holy Spirit said this so they failed in knowing the truth of my word I shall not länguow Environmentalist clarifications will be today xxx. [00:38:19] (86 seconds)


The God of the Old Testament is viewed as a punishing God. He's viewed as a God that will, if you say a lie, he will come down and cut you in half, throw a thunder at you. But we need to realize that he's the same God today as he was yesterday, as he will be tomorrow. The only difference is he does not require any sacrifices. All he requires is our obedience. [00:39:33] (32 seconds)


So the Israelite strain was a direct result of their covenant relationship. The Israelite strain was a direct result of their covenant relationship with God. He faithfully kept his promises. He kept his promises to them. As God peoples today, we can be confident in God's strength and faithfulness as well. We need not fear our enemies. Those who oppose God, threaten his people, and try to subvert his will are far more dangerous than his children could ever be. [00:41:16] (30 seconds)


God's promises and blessings are available. Available to anyone who surrenders their life to him. Other people may fail and disappoint us, but we can have confidence in God, unshakable faithfulness, and power to keep his word. [00:50:12] (15 seconds)