Broadway Baptist Church Maryville Tennessee Rev. Tony Collins

This morning, on this “One Body” Sunday, we are going to move away from our series in Numbers and focus our attention on the subject of a “healthy church.” We recognize the immense differences that are present in our culture in relation to what a successful, healthy church or ministry might look like.

The dramatic narrative of Israel's rebellion is now interrupted by the giving of certain laws and commandments concerning purity and holiness. The question must be answered, “How can this holy God have a relationship with these rebellious, sinful people?”

This morning we bring to a close one of the saddest chapters in the Book of Numbers. This chapter marks the rebellion and unbelief of the people of Israel. The very people that the Lord had redeemed and sustained now refuse to trust and obey! Many are the lessons that the Lord teaches us concerning both His mercy and His wrath.

As we learned last Sunday, the majority is not always right! Ten of the twelve spies brought back an “evil or bad” report even though the land was exactly as the Lord had said. It was a fruitful and abundant land, a land that God had made a covenant to give them. Yet they refused!

The journey has now brought the Israelites to Kadesh-barnea and to a point of decision. These people, who had been delivered from slavery in Egypt, guided by a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, now stand at the door of the “promised land.”

Many are the wounds of a leader, but none more painful than the wounds of a friend (or even worse wounds from a family member). The wilderness experience so far has been filled with murmuring and grumbling.