Overview of Numbers (AM)

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Good morning everyone. If you could take

a seat, we are just about to begin.

So, brothers and sisters, good morning.

Oh, I have an interesting echo.

Welcome to the gathering of God's

Yes. Uh, my name is Mark and I serve on

CRC's Council of Elders. Shall I stop

until we fix it? I think we should

Strangers

In a land

where our days begin

chosen.

We see our

lives found in the palm of your

but the delay.

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>> Huh? Turn

off.

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>> Yeah. Yeah. No, it's on.

The CD is I mean the CD is on, but

Sorry. Can I

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Our

passions

where our days begin

our lives in

We are just passing through a narrow

road that's We feel

Although we don't see him

My name is Mark. I serve on the Council

of Elders. We're glad to see you here

this morning. Welcome to the gathering

of God's people. If you are new here

this morning and you would like to find

out a bit more about our church, you can

scan the sticker that is on the chair in

front of you. If you scan that sticker,

it will take you to a link tree page and

it has a number of helpful links that

will tell you about the church. It's

where you can find sermon outlines,

slides for the sermons, and also find a

growth group. Now, today we will begin a

new preaching series on the book of

Numbers.

Numbers is the fourth book in the

pentitute and it recounts Israel's

journey from Mount Si right to the

borders of the promised land. a journey

that spans 40 years in the wilderness.

Now, these 40 years would later become a

source of rich reflection for other

writers in the Old Testament who would

draw on Israel's wilderness experience

to reinforce their own message as they

were speaking to the people of Israel.

And this includes a number of Psalms uh

two of which we'll be reading this

morning as part of our gathering. And

we're now going to read the first of

those two psalms, Psalm 99. We're going

to read this responsively. So, please

stand as we read this together.

So, I'll read the words in black and

then we'll all read the words in red

together.

Psalm 99.

The Lord reigns. Let the peoples

tremble. He sits enthroned upon the

cherubim. Let the earthquake. The Lord

is great in Zion. He's exalted over all

the peoples. Let them praise your great

and awesome name. Holy is he. The king

in his might loves justice. You have

established equity. You have executed

justice and righteousness in Jacob.

Exalt the Lord our God. Worship at his

foottool. Holy is he.

>> Moses and Aaron were among his priests.

Samuel also was among those who called

upon his name. They called to the Lord

and he answered them. In the pillar of

cloud, he spoke to them. They kept his

testimonies and the statute that he gave

them. Oh Lord our God, you answered

them. You were a forgiving God to them,

but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

Exalt the Lord our God and worship at

his holy mountain. For the Lord our God

is holy. Amen. Please be seated.

I'll now lead us in prayer.

Almighty God, in our gathering this

morning, we ask that you would reveal

yourself to us in your word, so that we

might learn to exalt you as you deserve.

Forgive us for how often we make you out

to be less than who you really are, for

how we create false gods in our own

image. May your truth confront and

comfort us that your glorious holiness

and grace in Christ will cause us to

grow in faith and hope and love. In

Jesus name we pray. Amen. Now, as is our

tradition, after we finish each sermon

series, we will hang up the sermon

artwork on the pillars here that you can

see on level one. Now, we just finished

the series on Titus in December. So,

we're going to be hanging up the Titus

sermon series artwork. Now, it was a

sermon preached by Joel, Adrian, and me.

And since I'm up here leading, I'm going

to get Joel and Adrian to do the honors

of hanging the sermon artwork up on this

side here.

>> Okay, Titus.

Okay, thanks guys. Now, today we'll be

starting a new series on the book of

numbers, but this is not actually

something totally new. In fact, our

journey through the pentitute began way

back in 2024.

Now when we started uh the Leviticus

series last year, I found this triangle

diagram from Michael Morales helpful how

he puts together the structure of the

pentetude, the first five books of the

Bible. Now although the words on this

triangle may be a little bit small for

you, I think u if you look at the bottom

of the triangle, you will be able to see

on the bottom left Genesis and Exodus.

All right. So that puts uh the beginning

on the left at the bottom and then on

the layer above you'll see Leviticus and

then on the bottom right you can see

numbers and Deuteronomy. Now what this

triangle shows us is helpfully that

these five books all work together as

one unified piece of writing. Right? You

have Genesis to the book of Deuteronomy

all five together. You have Leviticus

right in the middle. And in Leviticus,

as we saw last year, the pinnacle of

that is Leviticus 16 with the day of

atonement. So we began this journey

through the pentitute in 2024. We did a

series on Genesis.

And then we continued in Exodus,

continuing in 2024, right from February

to the middle of the year. And then for

Leviticus, we did that last year, the

first half of the year. And then now in

2026,

we have done Leviticus and we're now on

to the book of Numbers.

Now, if you look at this artwork behind

us here, the Numbers artwork, uh, for

those of you who have started reading

the book of Numbers, you'll probably be

able to work out what this is depicting,

right? If you've read Numbers 2, Israel

is given instructions on the layout for

the camp, right? You have the tabernacle

right in the center and then around the

tabernacle, do you know what this is?

>> Right. Okay. You have the Levites and

then outside you have stretching all the

way into the distance the other tribes

of the nation of Israel. Right. You have

this camp and the perspective that we

have as we view this artwork is what God

would have seen, right? looking down

onto the people of Israel and you have

the people of Israel laid out like this

great army. Yeah, this is a military

formation and they are ready to enter

the promised land. Right? If you think

back to Genesis at the end when Jacob

and his family went to Egypt, they went

as 70 people. But now some 400 plus

years later, they are this huge army

covering the land. So this year from

January to April, we will be beginning

the book of Numbers. We'll be preaching

through chapters 1 to 10. And Pastor

Jerome will be taking the lead in this

series joined by some of the apprentices

as well as David Caul who is on break

from seminary. So do pray for them as

they preach and labor in the ministry of

the word. For the remainder of the year,

what will we be doing? Well, once we're

done with numbers, we're going to be

doing Philippians from May to September

and then two Peter from September to

December. On top of that, we will be

having in 20 Sundays of this year GetIts

and Weight Watch. That's right. So,

we'll have six GetIts and 14 Weight

Watch. Okay. Six Getits, 14 Weight Watch

Watts. So, as you survey the year ahead,

I hope they're excited for all the

opportunities that it will give us to

reach out to our friends and family

while at the same time, the church

continues to be edified in the preaching

of the Old and New Testament. Now, since

we have just finished 2025 and it's the

beginning of a new year, I hope that you

have been able to take some time to

reflect on the year that has just been

and to plan and prepare for the year

ahead. For my wife and I, this is

something that we try to do at least

once a year. Ideally, we do it a bit

more frequently, maybe once a quarter.

Sometimes it doesn't happen, but at

least once a year. So, we sit down, we

think about how things have been going

the last one year, and then we think

about the next year. How should we be

planning our lives, investing in our

growth, and being on mission for Jesus.

So, if that's something you've already

done, good. If not, I would encourage

you to take some time before you get too

busy with the year. Right? January's

already started and things are starting

to get busy. Once you've done that, one

of the ways that you can make these

plans concrete is to think about the

calendar. So, think about all the things

that are happening the year ahead,

especially the evangelistic and outreach

events, and plan how to make the best

use of these things. Another way that

you can do it is to think about what

kind of training you would need to

better serve the Lord Jesus. So think

about how you've been doing in your life

and ministry and think maybe I should

grow in these areas. I need training. I

need to be equipped for these things. Uh

one way to do that is to commit to

joining one of our SOCUM classes. So

SOCUM stands for school of Christian

ministry and the tagline is get trained

to do God's work God's way. And this

focuses on practical ministry skills

with hands-on training. And in the first

half of this year we have three classes.

We have one on one-on-one disciplehip,

another one on growth group leading and

one more on evangelism. So think if

these are ministry skills that you need

to better serve the Lord, then do take

note of the dates and sign up for these

classes.

So as disciples of the Lord Jesus, we

are called to make the most of our days

to be zealous for good works and to do

all things to the glory of God. So may

we learn to live in this year 2026 with

this desire to serve the Lord this year

and every year that he gives us. Now

today for our first sermon in the book

of Numbers, Pastor Jordan will be giving

us an overview of the book of Numbers.

And to prepare us for that, we will be

reading one of the Bible's own summaries

of the reflection of the events in the

wilderness. Psalm 106. Joe will be

reading for us.

>> Good morning, church. I'll be reading

from Psalm 106. Uh we'll definitely need

a Bible. Uh if you need a physical one,

just raise your hands and the ushers

will hand you one.

Um,

as Mark mentioned, uh, Psalm 106 is, uh,

a reflection of what has happened in,

uh, Numbers. It's also a little bit more

than that. It's a whole history of

Israel's unfaithfulness

and God's faith versus God's

faithfulness. Um in it you'll see some

reference to the events in the book of

numbers but also what is also true is

that it contains a whole history of

Israelite una faithfulness and the

character of that would to some extent

be true of us uh when we consider God's

faithfulness. So as we read uh let us

reflect uh and be ashamed and thankful

to God who is merciful to us. Psalm 106.

Praise the Lord, oh give thanks to the

Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast

love endures forever. Who can utter the

mighty deeds of the Lord or declare all

his praise.

Blessed are they who observe justice,

who do righteousness at all times.

Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor

to your people. Help me when you save

them, that I may look upon the

prosperity of your chosen ones, that I

may rejoice in the gladness of your

nation, that I may glory with your

inheritance.

Both we and our fathers have sinned. We

have committed iniquity.

We have done wickedness. Our fathers

when they were in Egypt did not consider

your wondrous works. They did not

remember the abundance of your steadfast

love but rebelled by the sea at the Red

Sea.

Yet he saved them for his name's sake

that he might make known his mighty

power. He rebuked the Red Sea and it

became dry and he led them through the

deep as through a desert. So he saved

them from the hand of the foe and

redeemed them from the power of the

enemy. And the waters covered their

adversaries. Not one of them was left.

Then they believed his words. They sang

his praise.

But they soon forgot his works. They did

not wait for his counsel.

But they had a wanted craving in the

wilderness and put God to the test in

the desert.

He gave them what they asked, but sent a

wasting disease among them.

When men in the camp were jealous of

Moses and Aaron, the holy one of the

Lord, the earth opened and swallowed up

Nathan and covered the company of

Abiram.

Fire also broke out in their company.

The flame burn up the wicked.

They made a calve in Horeb and worshiped

a metal image. They exchanged the glory

of God for the image of an ox that eats

grass.

They forgot God, their savior, who had

done great things in Egypt, wondrous

works in the land of Ham, and awesome

deeds by the Red Sea. Therefore, he said

he would destroy them, had not Moses,

his chosen one, stood in the breach

before him to turn away his wrath from

destroying them.

Then they despised the pleasant land,

having no faith in his promise. They

murmured in their tents and did not obey

the voice of the Lord. Therefore, he

raised his hand and swore to them that

he would make them fall in the

wilderness and would make their

offspring fall among the nations,

scattering them among the lands. Then

they yoke themselves to the bail of Peor

and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.

They provoked the Lord to anger with

their deeds and a plague broke out among

them. Then Phineas stood up and

intervened and the plague was stayed and

that was counted to him as righteousness

from generation to generation forever.

They angered him at the waters of Mebah

and it went ill with Moses on their

account for they made his spirit bitter

and he spoke rashly with his lips.

They did not destroy the peoples as the

Lord commanded them, but they mixed with

the nations and learned to do as they

did. They served their idols, which

became a snare to them. They sacrificed

their sons and daughters to the demons

and poured out innocent blood, the blood

of their sons and daughters, whom they

sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. And

the land was polluted with blood.

Thus they became unclean by their acts

and played the in their deeds.

Then the anger of the Lord was kindled

against his people and he abhored his

heritage. He gave them into the hand of

the nations so that those who hated them

ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed

them and they were brought into

subjection under their power. Many times

he delivered them, but they were

rebellious in their purposes and were

brought low through their iniquity.

Nevertheless, he looked upon them. He

looked upon their distress when he heard

their cry. For their sake, he remembered

his covenant and relented according to

the abundance of his steadfast love. He

caused them to be pied by all those who

helped them captive.

Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us

from among the nations that we may give

thanks to your holy name and glory in

your praise. Blessed be the Lord, the

God of Israel, from everlasting to

everlasting. And let all the people say,

"Amen." Praise the Lord. This is the

word of the Lord.

Good morning church and hello again. Uh

please stand.

Just now as I was reading Psalm 106, I

was thinking last night I um I got angry

with my son because for so long I've

been telling him to do the same thing

over and over again for a while. And I

lost I I kind of lost my patience and

scolded him. And then now reading Psalm

106, I see God God is is so patient with

his people. And I was thinking my son is

he can't do what he wants to do because

even I can't do what I want to do. I I

cannot fulfill what I need to do. He

can't fulfill what he needs to do.

Right? And then looking at God, God is

so patient and only he he can fulfill

these promises that he's done that he

said to Abraham, his promises

only he can do it. And then when you

read Psalm 106, you see that in Christ

and this promises we see in Psalm being

fulfilled. We see that God is the one

who is faithful, not us. God is the one

that took a people that was against him

and he made them into his people for his

purpose is to glorify him. So let us

sing to our glory to our glorified God.

Oh God, our help in ages past.

Our hope for years to come.

Our shelter from their stormy blast.

and our eternal home.

Under the shadow of your joy,

your saves have secure.

Sufficient is your army, Lord.

And our defense is sure.

And I

tell Every

generation

you're

seeing

We need the shelter of your

towering mountain stolasting.

And you are

together is the same.

Oh, a thousand aes in your sight.

A repeating moment gone.

One day is like a thousand years.

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat.

We need the shelter of your

together.

We sing to you.

We sing to you.

We sing to you.

to you.

Lord, you

have been a dwelling place in every

generation.

You're our king.

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.

darkness reach for me

from the raging sea

and I am safe on the solid

ground.

The Lord is my sales

walls.

I see the dawn of the rising

sun.

The Lord is my salvation.

Who is

the Lord our God?

Strong to save faithful

in love.

My de is great and the victory.

The Lord is my salvation.

My hope is G in the Lord.

He flies each proise of his word.

When winter face, I know spring will

come.

The Lord is my salvation.

In times of waiting times of me

when I go lost when I am we

know his grace will renew these days.

The Lord is my salvation.

Who is like the Lord our God?

Strong to save. Faithful

in love. My death is great and the

victory

won. The Lord is my salvation.

And when I reach my final day,

>> he will not leave me in the grave,

but I will rise and he will call me

home. The Lord is my salvation.

And who is like the Lord our God

strong to save me

in love. My dad is faith and the

victory.

The Lord is my salvation.

Glory be to God the Father.

Glory be to God the Son.

Glory be to God the Spirit.

The Lord is our salvation.

Glory be to God the Father.

Glory be to God the Son.

Glory be to God the Spirit.

The Lord is our salvation.

The Lord is our salvation.

The Lord is our salvation.

Blessed be to our everlasting God and

all praise to him. Please be seated.

Well, this morning you will have noticed

that we have done something special with

the seating. We are sitting in our

growth groups and the growth groups are

sitting according to geographical

location. We divided the hall up into

five regions, north,sou, east, west, and

central. Now, to make sure that we all

know which region we're sitting in, I'm

going to call out the regions. If you're

sitting or you're from that region, give

us a cheer. Okay? So, those from the

north, give us a cheer.

Okay, those up here in the front and

those in the south.

>> Okay, let's try the south again. Those

in the south.

>> That's better. Okay, now those in the

east.

>> Hello from the east. Those in the west.

>> Okay, you're definitely here. And last

but not least, those in central.

Okay. Now, we've done this today because

we want to celebrate the planting of

five new growth groups. So, we announced

these growth groups last week, but we

didn't really have time to dwell on it.

And so, today is a chance to do that.

Growth groups in CRC are a key part of

our way of fulfilling our Lord's

commission to make disciples. This is

both in the nurturing and maturing of

Christians in our own congregation as

well as in our desire to reach out and

to preach the gospel to non-Christians.

And so to that end, our adult growth

groups are distributed according to

geographical location. We don't do it by

demographic like age or by timing, but

by where you live. So it is our ambition

to keep doing this and to plant more

groups to cater both to the needs of our

own church, our own people here as well

as to make sure that non-Christians have

easy access to the gospel wherever they

are living in the Clang Valley. So we're

always thankful therefore when we can

plant new groups as we are doing this

month. We're going to be adding five new

groups. I'm going to call them up and as

I call out these new groups, I would

like the whole group to stand up and

show us where you're from. Okay. So, the

first one is in the north. It is North

Kiara.

It's Nikki and

>> they're all missing. There's a row of

empty seats.

>> No, it's not a bad thing. Nikki told me

why. He said that most of the group are

on duty this morning.

>> See, well done.

In fact, the leader of this new group is

Pastor Jerome, and he's preaching this

morning. So, he's busy getting ready for

the sermon. Okay, we have one more group

in the north. It is Stapak Gi,

where is Stap?

Those from Stapak,

we got one, two. Okay, Adrian is at the

back there. Um, he is the leader of this

new group. It is a split from the

current Wang sama ju. Now our third

group we have is in the west in the land

of bakut. It is clang.

Okay. Give him a hand. Okay. Clang gi.

Thank you. So this group is being

planted from the current clang and

kotakuming group which is going to split

into two. Clang and kotakamuning. Saman

is going to be leading this new group.

The fourth group is closer to HQ. It is

in the central region. It is TTDI

right over there.

Okay. So this group is being planted

from Filio Damasar Gigi and Jason Tan

will be leading the group. Now last but

not least the fifth group is a special

group. It is not a location based group

but it is one of those special groups

that we have started to cater for those

with requirements that are different

from normal adult GG's. It is a new

mom's GG.

Okay. It is led by Joy Gan and Robin

Lang. And if the technical setup is

working,

you will see them. So turn to the camera

behind and wave at them. That camera

will be back. Yeah. Wave to them at the

camera. They can see you. You can see

them. Okay. Very good. So we have these

five groups and I wanted to hear from

the leaders of these new groups so that

we can get to know the groups a bit and

also pray for them. So GG leaders,

please join me on stage. The five new

groups.

Okay, as you can see as they come up

there are quite a number of them. So I

have asked them to prepare answers to

three questions and to give us succinct

answers. Okay, the three questions are

what is notable or special about the

place you are planting your growth group

and then what are your vision? What is

your vision for the group and also how

can we pray for you? So we're going to

start in the west with Clang Gigi Saman.

>> Yes. Yeah. So actually before this uh

Mark asked us uh each of us to prepare

something that represent our location.

Okay. So obviously you all know Clang

famous for bakut right? But I can't

bring bakut here because it's going to

be messy.

>> So I bring this.

>> You guys know what's this?

>> Let me show you. Okay.

>> Wow.

>> Wow.

Okay. So if you guys didn't know this is

apple strudel. Okay. Ever is actually

quite famous in Clang. Okay. Because

there's this bakery called Fruity

Bakery. They actually sell this. They

actually influence all the other region

to start selling this. Okay. Yeah. So,

uh I brought two. So, later uh I'll put

it behind. Okay. Whoever sat to try you

get it. Okay.

>> First come, first serve.

>> Yeah. First come, first serve. Yeah. So

uh beside bakote, beside apple strudel,

uh we also have yoyo ice and all the bit

of weather as well as I'm not sure you

know about this fried chicken called

clang jaya fried chicken. Those who know

it

>> don't know. Oh then you'll bring you

there. Okay.

>> It's all about the food.

>> Yes. All of our food. You can see us.

Okay.

All right. Okay. Besides food. Okay.

Besides food. So if you didn't know

where Clang is, Clang is the western

most of Clang Valley. Okay. And next to

it is C. So literally no one will go

there outside of Clang no one will go

there unless there's a reason right so

uh that means that the people there in

clang they have their own uh I mean we

have our own subculture and um the

people the Chinese there is many specken

and uh we also have a big community of

uh Indian friends as well yeah so for

our GG we are located at the south side

of plank uh at Bukitingi Botanic right

it's next to the famous mall where you

usually hear that all kind people go

there and lay one. Okay. Aon thingy.

Yeah. So that's something about Gigi and

uh my vision is okay. Before I talk

about vision um 3K GG clan Kotakun GG we

have been meeting uh in Kotakuning for

since 2019.

Okay. And it has been a challenge for uh

the clang people because for clang to

travel to Katakun uh it's 20 minutes

away it's still fine but the biggest

problem is there's actually a two ringit

toll at time you cross two ringit then

you go back two ringit again okay so now

uh thank you god god has uh blessed us

with a new gig now clang uh in clang gig

so I'll be heading there and uh Jeremiah

will be taking over the kotak meaning

gig

Okay. So yes, so some of the things that

you can pray for us um three things. So

one is um for us the members to be able

to connect into to the community there

because most of us even though we live

in clank not me I live here uh but the

members live in clank but we don't work

there. So uh our friends are mostly

colleagues uh from PJ or somewhere else.

So now uh it will be a slight challenge

for us to connect to them. So hopefully

with this new GG we able to do so. And

secondly also with this new clang GG we

have also God has also blessed us with a

few of our I mean friends uh who are

Indians and uh we we want to ask God to

give us the ability to minister to them

well. All right. Uh so that's the second

one. And the third one is definitely

also to pray for Jeremiah as the new

Gigi leader for Kotakun.

>> Yeah.

Uh so hi everyone I'm Jarro Maya I'll be

leading the Kota kamuning GG so please

pray that um it'll be a smooth

transition in Kotakumi is not new to me

I was there about 15 years ago playing

golf

uh Kotakuni is famous for their golf

course called Kotapay so if any of you

know uh but pray for me uh to be a good

leader to them uh not just for good

handicaps. Anyone knows of not not good

techniques, but to be a good leader.

Pray also that I stick to the text,

focus on the Bible, and not slice off

into the rough.

>> Okay, we got no golfers here. Scratch

it. Okay. Okay. Last one. Pray for me.

I'll pray for our group that uh like

doing a long drive,

>> the word of God reaches far and wide.

>> Yeah.

Okay, thank you. Next up, we have Nikki

representing

>> North Kara. Yes.

>> Uh, yeah. So, I'm the assistant to

Jerome. He's going to be the leader of

this GG. So, I know what you're think.

North Kara. Wow. Kiara. So, atas, right?

But um

maybe maybe if you think about it

strategically actually we are Monara

where Monara meets Sigour

you don't know where Sing or not okay so

Sagamort is actually a very like I would

say um family all the old houses are

over there a lot of people are has been

there for like 20 years over there okay

so we are where the city life meets the

suburban life where uh the busy

working-class people meet all the aging

family people who are raising their kids

or even some new families there as well.

So the thing about what you need to know

about Mona is that we always thought

Mona already full right wow you go there

all the buildings very tall already like

packed but no actually there's still a

lot of empty land so I watch E-hung a

lot all the property stuff so uh he has

been saying that got more and more condo

coming up okay so yeah that's uh one

reason why we also in a very strategic

location um that said our address is

still in Monara um so I didn't prepare

anything to

But if I would prepare and bring

something up, it will be a Korean ajuma.

Yes. Um she'll be holding her jajang

over here maybe serving all of you but I

cannot bring that. Uh so um I okay I

don't want to be disrespectful but we

know that Monara is largely and famously

international. A lot of Korean a lot of

Japanese over there and every time you

on foodie you'll see new authentic

location in Monara

right sorry and it was gonna be Korean

food and things like that. So um yeah

that's that's generally what we are at

or where we are at um the vision we have

for North Kara. So I spoke to Jerome a

little bit uh just recently and um let

me channel Jerome

North Kara the Gigi growth very easy

very simple the point of having a GG to

grow right so North Kara you're supposed

to grow in two years time I want to see

you guys expand and split again wow

sounds very simple but no I don't know

maybe okay

I'm not I'm not Jerma sorry I cannot I

know I you see my my hands just shaking.

Um

I know Jerome will shake. Um so anyway

yeah um it's a really again as mentioned

it's a very strategic location where we

have a lot of working-class people. So

we can meet both the working class and

also the uh city people. Uh so I give

you an example Kelly who is living in

Sagamut. She has been in first in BSDG

which is northern even more compared to

North Kara. Then after that when we got

a new Gigi plant Kapong she came down

south a little bit more and after that

Sento a little bit more south and then

now she is in North Kara. So finally she

found a place called home. Yay. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So yeah. So really we

have a lot of uh people we can reach out

to. Uh and yeah um that's that's mainly

it. um you can pray for us to u

meaningfully connect with the whole

community over there because I know

there's a lot of people we haven't

reached out to Sigamu Dalam. It's a

little little bit distant to all of us

over here. Um and also uh pray that God

will give us the wisdom to continue to

lead this GG faithfully. Uh pray for

myself also because uh I'm going to be

assisting Jerome and we all know that

Jerome is uh the pastor of this church.

So he won't have a lot of time with us.

So I pray that I will be able to uh lead

and groom this Gigi to be more and more

Christlike to be more and more like

God's uh sons. Yeah.

>> Thank you Nikki. We'll be praying for

you guys. Now next up is Stapak Gigi and

Wangui. Before you begin, please keep it

succinct.

>> Okay.

>> Okay. Wait. Condensing everything.

Okay. Go for it.

>> Okay. Ble. Okay. Hey church. Uh my name

is Adrian. I usually attend the PM

congregation and I'm the existing growth

group leader of Wangam Au GG. So uh sass

sing okay uh sata

um it's okay I didn't bring anything for

you guys here but it's okay because they

are already here all the t students

>> okay all but two but uh no there's more

of them there just uh probably PM

>> yeah so um uh this is actually a picture

of uh Gigi every Thursday night

>> um it looks warming and cozy, right? But

actually, it's really, really cramped.

Uh, it's hard. So, every time someone to

get to the toilet, they have to like,

"Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse

me, excuse me." Uh, it's a good problem

to have. It means it's time for us to

split. So, praise God for the growth,

especially for a GG that is so far away.

So, uh, I'm also here to explain a

little bit about the naming of it. So,

Wang Maju is like the bigger area. Sap

is the inner part. Is it opposite?

>> Yeah.

>> Oh, sorry. Clearly failed my geography.

But uh to make the naming more precise

uh we've made the Wanga Maju plant uh go

out. So that means uh we are keeping the

Satabak name for the old GG whereas the

new Gigi under Lii will be now called

Wanga Maju. So that means the same

Satabat GG now will be meeting now Wang

Maju changed to Satavat will be still

meeting at PV8.

>> That's not confusing at all.

>> Yeah, definitely not. So, the best way

to do this is to just check out the

growth group website and contact me

where I can hopefully make it less

confusing for all of you. But yeah,

PV18. Uh, that's where we're at. Uh,

okay. Yeah. You're ready for the new

Satap GG tagline.

>> We are set apart for Jesus.

>> Okay, Lizzy, take it away.

Yeah. So,

Hopefully that will help you remember

right the the existing Gigi is now Satak

and the new one is the old name Wangsa

Madu Gigi. Okay. So I brought something

to uh symbolize what Wangamu is about

and it's this shrub here. Why? Because

Wangamu is known for its greenery. Did

you know? I didn't until recently. Okay.

But what else is it also represents

growth. Okay. So, did you know Wanga

Maju is the most dense parliamentary

constituency in Malaysia?

>> Let me show you some stats. Okay,

it has 215,000 people in 16 square

kilometers, number one in Malaysia.

Around 50% of these people are less than

30 years old. 20% are fresh graduates.

Clankberry average is 15. Property

prices here are 20% lower than Clankbury

average. and DBKL has designated it for

development to become the first carbon

neutral town in KL. So needless to say

the potential for Wanga Maju Gigi's

ministry to Maju in the future is

obvious. Okay. Yeah. So that is Wang

Maju Gi. Our vision for it is um let me

hit you with another did you know. Did

you know what Wangam means? Wangsa

actually means royal house.

So we want to be the royal house of God

and maju with our godliness there.

>> Okay. Okay.

And also strategically speaking, right,

like like AJ mentioned earlier, we got

TMD.

>> So there's 30,000 students there. And if

you didn't know, it's kind of a big deal

for those of us who

so strategically we're probably going to

partner with them and also stop to try

and plant many godly trees there. Okay?

So you can pray for us uh to be big,

sturdy, strong trees in this area to

provide shelter, shade, and nutrients

and food to the people there. And also

since I am a new leader with an existing

group, pray that we'll be able to get up

to speed quickly so that we can be ready

to be doing good works in the part of

camp that God has set us in. Thank you.

>> Okay. Very good. Thank you.

>> Okay, we have two more groups and we

have Jason representing TTDI.

>> Okay. Hello everyone. Uh I'm Jason. Most

of you may not know me because uh I

attend the PM gathering, but okay, I'm

here. So uh a bit about TTDI. Uh

actually who who don't know TTDI?

Everyone knows TTDI, right? But if you

don't know TTDI, if you you you've been

to One Utama, correct? The mall. You

look through the highway and then you

see the houses opposite. Those are TTDI.

Okay. Those those that area is TTDI. So

TTDI is known for being very affluent.

Uh there are a lot of big houses,

expensive houses, and also cool cafes.

Okay. So yeah. Right. Right. Agree.

Right. Yes. Okay. You all know. Okay.

Now, surely you ask, right, Jason, why

you dress like that? You look neither

affluent or like going to a cafe. Okay.

TDDI is famous for another thing.

>> Hiking to wear.

Yes. Okay. So, uh yes, this is a

picture. All right. Now, uh Oh, yeah.

TDDI is famous for TTDI park which uh a

lot of runners, joggers, hikers go to.

And let me give you a fun fact. This is

the entrance to TTDI park and it's just

opposite of the house where we are

gathering for GG.

>> Oh, so that means um you know where we

are going to GGT, right? As a GG most of

the time. Okay. That's why I'm dressed

like this to remind uh you all that if

you ever have hiking friends, you know

where to send them to. Okay. Yeah. Uh

right. So uh my vision for the GG uh in

TTDI there are about 20,000 people there

and there's only one GG. Okay, there's

only one GG. Enough or not?

>> Not enough, right? Definitely not

enough. Okay, so my vision is this GG

will not be the only GG there for a long

time. Okay, hopefully this is the first

of many GG's. That means as a GG we need

to start training leaders from among the

members and hopefully uh we will expand

into TTDI and to do the Lord's work

there. Okay. Yeah. So do keep us in

prayer. What can you pray for? Uh number

one you can pray for me because this is

my I think I'm I'm one of the greenest

leader here right? Uh yeah this is my

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Like compared with

Jerome Compared with Jerome, right? This

is my first uh uh first uh how say

appointment as a GG leader.

>> This is my first uh time leading GG

alone by myself. Okay. So uh yeah pray

that uh I can model godly leadership and

servantthood to my Gigi members right so

that hopefully they grow together with

me not in size but in godliness. Uh and

then uh second thing is uh to pray for

the Gigi. Our GG is relatively small. We

have only two couples, two aunties, and

one ironic. Okay. So, so there's only

seven of us, okay? But it it's a small

GG, but we don't want to just be a GG of

small mindset. Okay? We don't want to

just do small things. Okay? Hopefully,

we will do even better than what we used

to do in Filio Damasara where we split

form. Okay? And yeah, that keep us in

prayer for that. Right. Thank you so

much. Oh, sorry. I have one more thing

to say. Uh those of you who are friends

in TTDI, last time you cannot send them

to TTDI GG. Now finally you can say,

"Hey, there's a Gigi in your

neighborhood. Would you like to join

them or not?" Okay, so thank you so

much.

>> Okay, Mom Gigi.

>> Hi everyone. My name is Joy and I run

the Mom's Gigi. So we've been around for

the past 16 years and as God has

actually provided growth to this church,

so our moms GG has grown. We are famous

for moms who love the word over there

and in crash and lots of kids.

Yeah. So it started with Friday group

and as God again has brought lots of

marriages, lots of babies, uh we've had

to expand and therefore Tuesday group is

something that has been planted and

that's a group that Robin and I um are

leading. That's that's what was taken

just this week. And then uh Suen and Jen

are the new leaders for the Friday

group. So we are comprised of uh moms

who are stay at home and uh those who

are also working outside as well and all

that juggling that goes in between. So

this is our prayer that uh our group

will grow. Oh sorry actually Suen's

covering the prayer a bit. Um yeah that

we will reach out to uh the demographics

that comprise of these uh moms and that

we will grow in maturity in order to be

uh spiritual moms uh to all the rest of

the church. Um sorry sir and I took

>> yeah so so please pray for both groups

as well that amidst uh the busyiness of

family life and work as well especially

for the working moms is really tiring

sometimes um that we would still be on

mission and be concerned for the growth

of the church. Um please pray that all

the moms uh will actually model

godliness um at home to their children

and in their marriages and also um that

we would be spiritual mothers to the

younger ladies in church in the way that

we minister God's word to them and also

open up our homes and our lives to them.

Thank you.

>> Thank you. So there you have it. Yeah.

Now, I hope that we have all improved a

little bit in our knowledge of the

geography of the Clang Valley, but even

more that we have been encouraged by

seeing the fruit of God's work in and

amongst us, both growth in maturity as

well as in number. Now, one of the ways

that we can celebrate this also is with

this journal.

Okay, this is the CRC 2026 journal and

the cover is designed to show the spread

of the gospel in the Clang Valley. All

right, so the lights there in the

darkness spreading and this is our

growth group map. Right? So if you want

to celebrate the growth of these groups,

then this is one of the ways you can do

this. It includes the calendar for CRC

for the year as well as events by

ministries that we support. So, if you'd

like to look at a physical copy of this,

you can look for Rebecca or Ronnie here

this morning, or you can buy one online

at crc.com.mmy/

merchandise. We're now going to commit

our work to the Lord in prayer, asking

that he would supply our needs to

fulfill our ministry right here in the

Kang Valley where he has placed us. Joy

is going to lead us in prayer.

I forgot to mention earlier that if you

do know any moms who are working from

home or working outside, please invite

them to mom. So now we have two groups

Tuesday morning and Friday night. Thank

you. Uh let's go to God uh in prayer for

all the exciting things that are

happening.

Our God and heavenly father, you are our

king who reigns and rules over this

world and our lives. You make nations

great and destroy them. You enlarge

nations and lead them away. To you

belong all wisdom, glory, power, and

praise. We do not deserve your abiding

presence with us, Lord, but yet thank

you for your son's atoning death so that

we can be your people.

Please forgive us for our sin and cause

us to repent daily before your throne.

and to tremble at your word. Act and

fulfill your will in us for our good and

your glory.

Lord, as you began your good work in us

18 years ago, please continue to lead

and guide us by your powerful word. And

as we begin the book of Numbers, may we

see your sovereign, wise, and righteous

rule over your people, causing us not to

rely on our strength, but on you. Give

wisdom to Pastor Jer Rome, the

apprentices, and David as they preach

and teach us.

Rule over us by your word, oh God and

king, and grant us a humble heart that

fears you and lives in wholehearted

devotion and obedience.

Cut our hearts, Lord, when we sit under

your word and sanctify us by your truth,

so that we will be an army strengthened

to do your will.

God, you alone determine the times and

places where we live. And so, thank you

for the five new Gigi plants across the

Clank Valley. Thank you for raising up

new leaders to lead your people.

Direct their hearts to love your word

and so model godliness and therefore

rightly handle your word of truth.

Mature every member in that group in

those groups in your word and then their

love for each other.

May they also persevere in reaching out

to their new community and so mission

where you have placed them. For the moms

in the two groups, may we be intentional

in building relationships with other

moms who work at home and outside.

And while we struggle to juggle juggle

many responsibilities, remind us of the

task before us and that your grace has

saved us so that we can continue to be

your faithful servants.

Father, thank you for the seven

newcomers you brought to the Lucy Lucy

last Friday. Thank you that they got to

hear the gospel.

Please open their hearts and minds so

that they would hear and accept your

word. Cause genuine repentance in their

hearts and that they would trust in your

son. Give wisdom to Penny as she leads

and points them to you and cause new

life to grow in them.

We also pray for ourselves that as uh we

brought friends for Christmas that we

will be diligent in following them up.

Remind all of us of the urgency of your

son's return so that we will make the

most of every opportunity and be zealous

to make disciples for your sake.

Lord, thank you for helping us to find a

new home where we can continue the work

of the kingdom

as you have added people into our midst.

Please Lord, provide us the funds we

need in order that we might reach the

deadline at the end of this month. May

every one of us be engaged in raising

funds for our church. And may you direct

us to people who will be generous and

supportive to your work here.

We appeal Lord that you please move the

hearts of those who are in charge of our

bank loan so that they would approve our

application.

Be glorified in all of this we pray.

And lastly, we thank you for the

upcoming Fellow Workers Conference.

We're grateful, Lord, that your truth

endures throughout all time and that

faithful men have stood firm in the

faith. May we learn from the reformers

in the past and like them be shaped in

our lives by your word.

Grant wisdom to your servants Bradley

Green and Robin as they prepare their

talks and that we as fellow workers as

we come that we would be built up and

zealous to fulfill the ministry you've

given to us. Please draw many men and

women from churches in Clang Valley and

beyond to see the urgency of this task.

May we be bold, Lord, in our gospel

proclamation.

Father, may your kingdom come and your

will be done on earth as it is in

heaven. We humbly ask for all this in

Jesus name. Amen.

Good morning church.

Uh our New Testament reading is taken

from 1 Corinthians chapter 10 to 11:1.

This passage is incredibly helpful

because the Apostle Paul shows us how to

read Old Testament books like Numbers

and to connect the book to our lives

today. In First Corinthians, Paul uses

numbers to point out the kind of people

God expects Israel to be is no different

from what God expects from his churches

today.

Paul urges the Corinthians to see that

what happened to Israel in the

wilderness was a warning for all of

God's people. He wants us that being

part of the church is more than just

going through the motions because even

their forefathers have fallen away

because of unbelief. So instead, what

God wants is a heart that remains

faithful to Christ, our true rock in the

wilderness. If you need, if you do not

have a Bible, please raise your hands

and your ushers will hand you one.

1 Corinthians chapter 10. For I do not

want you to be unaware, brothers, that

our fathers were all under the cloud,

and all passed through the sea, and all

were baptized into Moses in the cloud

and in the sea, and all ate the same

spiritual food, and all drank the same

spiritual drink. For they drank from the

spiritual rock that followed them, and

the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with

most of them, God was not pleased, for

they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things took place as examples

for us, that we might not desire evil as

they did. Do not be idolattors as some

of them were, as it is written, the

people sat down to eat and drink and

rose up to play. We must not indulge in

sexual immorality as some of them did

and 23,000 fell in a single day. We must

not put Christ to the test as some of

them did and were destroyed by serpents,

nor grumble as some of them did and were

destroyed by the destroyer.

Now these things happened to them as an

example, but they were written down for

our instruction on whom the end of ages

has come.

Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he

stands take heed lest he fall. No

temptation has overtaken you that is not

common to man. God is faithful and he

will not let you be tempted beyond your

ability. But with the temptation, he

will also provide the way of escape that

you may be able to endure it. Therefore,

my beloved, flee from idolatry.

I speak as to sensible people. Judge for

yourselves what I say. The cup of

blessing that we bless, is it not a

participation in the blood of Christ?

The bread that we break? Is it not a

participation in the body of Christ?

Because there is one bread. We who are

many are one body. For we all partake of

that one bread.

Consider the people of Israel. Are not

those who eat the sacrifices

participants in the altar? What do I

imply then? That food offered to idols

is anything or that an idol is anything?

No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice

they offer to demons and not to God. I

do not want you to be participants with

demons. You cannot drink of the cup of

the Lord and the cup of demons. You

cannot partake of the table of the Lord

and the table of demons. Shall we

provoke the Lord to jealousy?

Are we stronger than he?

All things are lawful, but not all

things are helpful. All things are

lawful, but not all things build up. Let

no one seek his own good, but the good

of his neighbor.

Eat whatever is sold in a meat market

without raising any questions on a

ground of conscience. For the earth is

the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

If one of the unbelievers invites you to

dinner and you are disposed to go, eat

whatever is said before you without

raising any questions on the ground of

conscience. But if someone says to you,

"This has been offered in sacrifice,"

then do not eat it for the sake of the

one who informed you and for the sake of

conscience. I do not mean your

conscience, but his. For why should my

liberty be determined by someone else's

conscience? If I partake with

thankfulness, why am I denounced because

of that for which I give thanks? So

whether you eat or drink or whatever you

do, do all to the glory of God. Give no

offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the

church of God, just as I try to please

everyone in everything I do, not seeking

my own advantage, but that of many that

they may be saved. Be imitators of me as

I am of Christ. This is the word of the

Lord.

Now, we've just seen how the Apostle

Paul used the Old Testament in pastoring

the Corinthian church. Given his

statement in 10:6, please take some time

to work with the person next to you. How

should we treat Old Testament books like

numbers?

So think about the cross tonight is

where the man called Jesus died. My eyes

fixed on that rugged tree where Jesus

died in agony.

Thank you.

When was the time we prayed with

humility?

When we feared the Lord because we saw

his glory.

When we worshiped him for what he could

give, but we praised our

crushed by our sin because he is holy.

The church

must be born.

Have we made a god we never fear cuz

he's like me friendly

who loves us more than his glory shows

no anger from above. Have we loved

Christ who only lived to show me one way

of life am

who only came to die for you as an

expression of his love. Tell me what's

this God our hands

have made.

This is not the God.

When was the time when Christians

shouted?

Well, Jesus is Lord.

And his words

and his teachings were not

the gospel he preached and the kingdom

he brings in

the church today must be

Have we made a god we'd never fear cuz

he's like more friendly

who loves us more than his own glory

shows no anger from above. Have we loved

the Christ who only lived to show me one

way of life among the many who only came

to die for you as an expression of his

love. Tell me was this God our hands

have made.

This is what the God

gave.

Tell me, was this God he loved and

obeyed?

This is not the God his word

displayed.

When was the time we saw the crosses

unjust?

Why

should

our faith reject

me? When we suffered with joy and hope

we could give up our lives because

Christ meant everything.

But where snow

is gone?

The church today must be worn.

We must go.

>> Morning church. Hello again. Sorry to

interrupt your discussion.

Uh would you please stand? Thank you.

Um I think I personally wouldn't

appreciate the Old Testament a lot if um

if we didn't go through the books,

right? I would fail to see uh God's word

truly dwelling in me. So let me

encourage you that God can only be truly

understood if you dwell richly in his

word and only then will you appreciate

God's grace for you and behold his

wondrous mystery who is Christ. So let

us sing.

Come behold the wondrous mystery in the

dawning

of the king.

He the theme of heaven's praises.

Rolled in frail humanity.

In our longing,

in our darkness,

now the light of life has come.

Look to Christ who call descended.

Took our flesh to ransom.

Come behold the wondous mystery. He's

the perfect son of man.

In his living,

in his suffering,

never trace nor stain no sin.

See the true and better Adam

come to save the hell man.

Christ the great and sure fulfillment

of the law. In him we stand.

Come behold a wondrous mystery. Christ

the Lord up upon the tree

in the state of sinners

the lamb in victory.

See the prize of our redemption.

See the father's

men of glory

sons to glory.

Praise God,

love untold.

Come behold the wondous mystery sing by

death of the God of life.

But no grave could ever have restrain

him. Praise the Lord. He is alive.

What a forest

of deliverance.

How unwavering

our hope

in power

resurrected

as we will be when he comes.

What a foreign

deliverance.

How unwavering

our hope.

Christ in power,

resurrected

as we will be when he comes.

>> Church, as we all learned last year in

Leviticus, I saw how I was just like the

Israelites. so unholy and dead in my

sins,

unable to approach God's holiness.

But it is only in Christ who died on the

cross and rose again that we can all now

live for him. So let us all fight hard

for God's glory as we go through numbers

together. Let's sing in Christ alone.

I sing in Christ the Lord my hope is

found.

He is my light, my strength, my song.

This corner store, this solid ground

firm through the fiercest drought in

stone. What has of love but death of

peace? When fears are still, when

striving cease, my comfort,

my all in love.

Here in the love of Christ I stand

in Christ the Lord who took on flesh.

Fullness of God in helpless

grace

gift of love and righteousness.

Scorned by the ones he came to save.

Till on that cross as Jesus died, the

wrath of God was satisfied.

For every sin

on him was laid.

Here in the death of Christ I am

his body l

of the world by darkness

flame then bursting

in glorious

I'm from the king. He rose again.

And as he stands in victory,

his curse has lost his victory on me.

And as he stands in victory,

his curse has lost his victory on me.

For I am his and he is mine.

The blood of the precious blood

of Christ.

No fear in death.

This is the power of Christ in me. From

life was cry to final breath.

And Jesus will my destiny.

No power of hell. No scheme of hell can

ever

me from his hand. No power of hell. know

him again

from his head till he resold

here in the power of Christ our

Let this next song be a prayer for God's

word to dwell richly in us and let God's

word speak to us and change us to be

more like him. So when you sing, think

of the person that you need to talk to

later and encourage them. So let us

sing.

As we gather, come and teach us.

Spirit, come and speak to today.

You delight to lead and guide us.

It's your word that lights the way.

So come awaken our hearts,

illuminate our minds,

magnify Jesus

Christ.

Come renewing our faith,

changing our lives

with your words

of life.

together.

>> Let your truth sink deep within us.

Let the foolish

learn your ways.

We are often prone to wonder

as we give. May we be changed.

So come awaken our hearts,

illuminate our minds,

magnify Jesus

Christ.

Come renewing our faith,

changing our lives

with your words.

Awaken our hearts.

Illuminate our minds.

Magnify Jesus

Christ.

Come renewing our faith.

changing our lives

with your words

of life.

>> We need to see you. We need to hear you.

We want to know you. Word of life.

We need to see you. We need to hear you.

We want to know you. Word of life.

We need to see you. We need to hear you.

We want to know you.

Word of life.

We need to see you. We need to hear you.

We want to know you. Word of life.

So come awaken our hearts.

Illumin our minds.

Magnify Jesus

Christ.

Come. Renewing our faith.

changing our lives

with your words

of life.

>> God's word is sharper than any sword on

earth. So let it pierce you. Let it

pierce your thoughts and shape us to be

his image. Please be seated.

Morning

church. Uh we'll now be reading from

Numbers chapter 1. Uh you need a

physical Bible, you don't have it, just

raise your hands and uh one of the

ushers will hand it over to you.

Uh if you were here at the beginning of

um our gathering, you would have heard a

kind of summary, a kind of overview from

uh Psalm 106. If if you're not there,

I'll just give a quick overview of uh

what has led up to numbers.

So if you remember in Exodus 32, there

was the incident of the golden calf

uh which after which God was pretty much

threatening to reject his people. And

then uh Moses uh interceded

um and as a result of that uh we have

the temple uh which is how God's

presence could be with them without his

holiness consuming uh the people. So on

the temple of course we have the book of

Leviticus uh by which the people can

somewhat be acceptable to God.

And um in numbers

I mean later I'm going to read a long

list of names and numbers which might

mean nothing to all of us. Um but in

numbers we have uh the people getting

into some kind of army formation which

Jerome will uh speak more about. Uh what

I just want to call out is that some of

you might know that uh taking a census,

counting the number of people is

something that's generally forbidden um

in the Old Testament because uh the king

is not supposed to simply take God's

people to war or to consider

war in terms of Israelite army strength

because God is the one who fights for

them. which is why I suppose taking a

census here is

it's a kind of exception. Uh it calls

for our attention as to why God is doing

this and you'll later see that uh God is

speaking about his people um as an army.

Um you'll

if you're familiar with the Old

Testament I suppose you you'll know that

they are on their way to the promised

land. they will have to uh make war on

the way. But you'll find that the I

suppose the war that involves flesh and

blood is actually the much simpler part

because if you know Jericho is like

trumpet circling around and God fights

for them anyway. Uh the much more

difficult war is the spiritual warfare

uh that is within.

Uh so let me uh read from chapter 1

verse one onwards.

The Lord spoke to Moses in the

wilderness of Si in the tent of meeting

on the first day of the second month in

the second year after they had come out

of the land of Egypt, saying, "Take a

census of all the congregation of the

people of Israel, by clans, by father's

houses, according to the number of

names, every male, head by head, from 20

years old and upward, all in Israel who

are able to go to war. You and Aaron

shall list them company by company. And

there shall be with you a man from each

tribe, each man being the head of the

house of his fathers.

And these are the names of the men who

shall assist you. from Reuben, Elizar,

the son of Shedur. From Simeon, Shalom,

the son of Zurishai.

From Judah, Nashon the son of Aminadab.

From Isachar, Nathaniel the son of Zuir.

From Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helen.

from the sons of Joseph from Ephraim,

Elishama the son of Amihood and from

Manasseh Gamal the son of Perazor

from Benjamin Abidan the son of Gideon

from Dan Ahazer the son of Amishai from

Asher Pegel the son of Aran from Gad

Alasaf the son of Duel from Napali Ahira

the son of Anan

These were the ones chosen from the

congregation, the chiefs of their

ancestral tribes, the heads of the clans

of Israel.

Moses and Aaron took these men who had

been named. And on the first day of the

second month, they assembled the whole

congregation together, who registered

themselves by clans, by father's houses,

according to the number of names from 20

years old and upward, head by head, as

the Lord commanded Moses. So he listed

them in the wilderness of Si.

The people of Reuben, Israel's

firstborn, their generations, by their

clans, by their father's houses,

according to the number of names, head

by head, every male from 20 years old

and upward, all who were able to go to

war, those listed of the tribe of Reuben

were 46,500.

of the people of Simeon, the

generations, by their clans, by their

father's houses, those of them who were

listed according to the number of names

head by head, every male from 20 years

old and upward, all who were able to go

to war, those listed of the tribe of

Simeon were 59,300.

of the people of Gad, their generations,

by their clans, by their father's

houses, according to the number of the

names, from 20 years old and upward, all

who were able to go to war. Those listed

of the tribe of Gad were 45,650.

of the tribe of Judah, their

generations, by their clans, by their

father's houses according to the number

of names from 20 years old and upward,

every man able to go to war, those

listed of the tribe of Judah was 74,600.

of the people of Issachar, their

generations, by their clans, by their

father's houses, according to the number

of names from 20 years old and upward,

every man able to go to war, those

listed of the tribe of Issachar were

54,400.

of the people of Zebulun, their

generations, by their clans, by their

father's houses. According to the number

of names, from 20 years old and upward,

every man able to go to war, those

listed of the tribe of Zebulun were

57,400.

of the people of Joseph, namely of the

people of Ephraim, their generations, by

their clans, by their father's houses,

according to the number of names, from

20 years old and upward, every man able

to go to war, those listed of the tribe

of Ephraim were 40,500.

of the people of Manasseh, their

generations, by their clans, by their

father's houses. According to the number

of names, from 20 years old and upward,

every man able to go to war, those

listed of the tribe of Manasseh were

32,200.

of the people of Benjamin, their

generations, by their clans, by their

father's houses, according to the number

of names, from 20 years old and upward,

every man able to go to war. Those

listed of the tribe of Benjamin were

35,400.

of the people of Dan, their generations,

by their clans, by their father's

houses, according to the number of names

from 20 years old and upward, every man

able to go to war, those listed of the

tribe of Dan were 62,700.

of the people of Asher, their

generations, by their clans, by their

father's houses, according to the number

of names, from 20 years old and upward,

every man able to go to war. Those

listed of the tribe of Asher were

41,500.

of the people of Naphali, their

generations, by their clans, by their

father's houses, according to the number

of names from 20 years old and upward,

every man able to go to war. Those

listed of the tribe of Napali were

53,400.

These are those who were listed, whom

Moses and Aaron listed with the help of

the chiefs of Israel, 12 men, each

representing his father's house. So all

those listed of the people of Israel by

their father's houses from 20 years old

and upward, every man able to go to war

in Israel, all those listed were 63,550.

But the Levites were not listed along

with them by their ancestral tribe. For

the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Only

the tribe of Levi you shall not list,

and you shall not take a census of them

among the people of Israel, but appoint

the Levites over the tabernacle of the

testimony, and over all its furnishings,

and over all that belongs to it. They

are to carry the tabernacle and all its

furnishings. And they shall take care of

it, and shall camp around the

tabernacle.

When the tabernacle is to set out, the

Levites shall take it down. And when the

tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites

shall set it up. And if any outsider

comes near, he shall be put to death.

The people of Israel shall pitch their

tents by their companies, each man in

his own camp, and each man by his own

standard. But the Levites shall camp

around the tabernacle of the testimony,

so that there are there may be no wrath

on the congregation of the people of

Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard

over the tabernacle of the testimony.

Thus did the people of Israel. They did

according to all that the Lord commanded

Moses.

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron,

saying, "The people of Israel shall camp

each by his own standard with the

banners of their father's houses. They

shall camp facing the tent of meeting on

every side." This is the word of the

Lord.

Uh we'll now have Pastor Jerome up to

preach to us God's word.

Good morning, church. It's good to be

back on the pulpit. It's been um a long

time since Leviticus and uh I'm aware

that there are many new faces uh new new

folks joining us today. So, welcome to

our church. I am Pastor Jerome. I'm one

of the pastors here. Um the the main

pastor uh is Pastor Robin, and you can

hear from him uh once we're done with

the book of Numbers as we go to our New

Testament series. So, welcome to our

series on the book of Numbers.

I'm glad you're excited.

We're going to continue our study of the

Pentetuk, the first five books of the

Bible. And if you're new, I just want to

say uh all our sermons are available

online. So, you can go to our website to

watch our previous sermons uh to keep

up. Our church is committed to go

through the Bible. So, we we hope to

cover every single passage. Well, at

least that's uh Pastor Robin's goal for

for his pulpit ministry. I hope to at

some point as well, but we'll see. Okay.

between the two of us who can do what,

you know, uh but Lord willing, God will

bless us and we're able to go through

all of the Bible. Uh you're here today

for the overview sermon on the book of

Numbers. And if you're new, it's a good

Sunday to join us. Uh we're starting a

new series. And if you're looking to

take the Bible seriously, uh to be part

of a church that will go through the

Bible systematically, you're you're in a

good place. Okay? Okay. So, I hope today

will help you and in the upcoming weeks

uh you will grow deeper into God's word.

So, let me pray. Ask God to help us and

uh we'll jump straight into our sermon

for today.

Lord, every word that you have said to

us is precious.

Every word confronts us with the reality

of who you are and who we are.

And

from what we see in the way you have

interacted with our ancestors in the

past, previous generations of people who

have followed you, you have taught us so

much, oh Lord, about what it means to be

chosen, to be redeemed, to be called

to serve you. And so we pray that

as a church

as we go through the book of numbers

that we will have a more glorious vision

of the church

and our calling

and what you have given us to do in this

world.

to be your people who will raise the

banner of Christ proudly

to have courage

to speak the gospel to to live boldly

for that gospel

and so Lord we pray that to that end we

we ask for your blessing as we study the

scriptures together so be with us this

morning oh Lord in Jesus name we pray

amen

okay I hope you have an outline and if

you do we're at the first section Couple

of things I want to say about the book

of numbers before we get into um the

material itself.

Now, how many of you have heard a sermon

series on the book of numbers before in

your life outside CRC?

Okay.

Um the book of numbers is a neglected

book among Christians like the book of

Leviticus.

Okay. If you to go online to find

sermons on Leviticus and Numbers, quite

rare. And if you think about it, perhaps

all the books of the Pentitute are

somewhat neglected except maybe for

certain favorite portions of Genesis, uh

certain favorite portions of Exodus and

maybe the Ten Commandments. And as

churches of God, we have to ask

ourselves if we actually have any plans

or not to cover the pentitute at least

once in our life together as God's

people. Because if you think about it,

if if this is the first five books of

the Bible, dependent to you, how can we

as a church not cover it?

Doesn't matter when you do it. You maybe

do it at your 17 year, 18 year or 50th

year, but at some point

will you do it? Our Lord Jesus himself

makes the point in Luke 24 that the law

of Moses points to him. And when Jesus

speaks about the law of Moses, he is

speaking about the first five books of

the Bible. So we mustn't think that the

first five books of the Bible are

irrelevant to our understanding of Jesus

and the gospel. They point to him. And

so much of the entire Bible depends on

our knowledge of these books. So church,

for those of you who have been with us,

you've been here for Genesis, Exodus,

Leviticus, I hope you've already seen

how foundational those books are to our

understanding of the gospel and the

Bible. Okay, for those of you who did

not and you really want to, you can go

online. Okay. Now, technically,

uh, the book of Numbers is the last book

in the Pentituke that we're covering in

CRC. Did you know that we've already

covered Deuteronomy before?

Some of you are wondering where. Well,

look at the ceiling. It's somewhere

there. Okay, the evidence is there.

Okay, where is it? Actually,

there. There. Moses with arms raised.

There you go. Wow, that's really early

on. So, we have already did Deuteronomy,

so we're actually covering the last book

in the pentitute. So, she's like, "Oh,

man." But, um, I think I hear Pastor

Robin might want to do Deuteronomy

again. So, we'll see. We don't know.

Okay. Uh, if you're new, there's so much

to catch up on. Actually, if you're

interested to learn the Bible, and I

encourage you to do so, okay? You won't

be wasting any time if you give time to

studying the pentitude.

Now, most people only know the famous

stories in numbers. As a Christian, you

would have heard of the story of the

spies. Yes. And how Israel refused to

enter the land. only two spies were

allowed. And that's why many Christian

boys were named Caleb and Joshua.

Uh, and they were granted the privilege

to enter the land because they trusted

the Lord to help them conquer Canaan.

And then there's that famous story of

Balam's donkey. Okay, everybody loves

donkey story and how God spoke through

an animal to confront a pagan sorcerer

on his journey to curse the people of

Israel. So these are the two most famous

stories in the book of Numbers.

Unfortunately, the rest of the material

is largely not taught, especially the

ones with all the laws. Okay? People

really don't like them. Uh for a book

with a title like numbers, people hardly

know anything about the meaning of the

numbers in the book. Many people assume

that once they say numbers, I'm not good

at mathematics. Okay, I give up already.

Okay, the book of numbers is the

mathematical whatever whatever I give

up. Well, actually, if you just look at

the book of Numbers, uh there's chapter

1, chapter 2, chapter 3, and then maybe

26, and that's it. That's all the

numbers that you'll see in the book.

Okay? There there's a lot of other

material in the book of Numbers. Now,

you might wonder why uh pastors don't

teach the book of Numbers. I mean, there

are many reasons for why. Um but regards

to seminary, let me bring this up,

right? Even in seminaries, uh you won't

necessarily even have a class on the

book of numbers. Did you know that you

might have one class? So if you thought

that your pastor might know a lot more

than you, he has one class worth more of

knowledge than you maybe or maybe one

extra chapter or a little book or unless

he did a special elective in seminary

and that is if it was offered in

seminary. Um, your pastor might not be

taught the book of Numbers at seminary.

Okay, but they always say like, you

know, seminary, you're not meant to

learn everything. We're meant to give

you the tools.

Okay, I have a lot to say about that,

but never mind. So, at the end of

seminary, many pastors actually have a

very elementary knowledge of the book.

They would have to study the book of

Numbers postseminary as they are to

preach in the church. So in my setting,

this is the this is I'm actually really

grateful every time when I get to

preach, as much as it is um um uh

weighty on the soul, I'm grateful that

that I have the opportunity to to give a

lot of time to study some of these

books.

And so the book of Numbers is actually a

very important one. Now, the other

preachers of this series and myself, um,

well, I hope they see it the same way as

I do, that we are actually very blessed

to do this. Okay? So, we're going to do

this together as a church as we go

through the book of Numbers. If you

really believe that every book of the

Bible is inspired by God, you would want

to listen to a sermon series on every

book of the Bible. Yes. No. Okay. You

may come from a church environment where

you're listening to topics. Nothing

wrong with topical preaching, but we

believe that that shouldn't be your main

diet. Your main diet as a Christian

should be a careful study of every book

in the Bible to learn every verse and

chapter in its context. And once you go

through a book of the Bible taught well

once in your life, I think you will be

sold that that is the better way, a

better diet to have as a Christian.

Okay. So, here we are together studying

the book of Numbers. And those of you

who studied the book of Leviticus

together are with us, I hope you have

seen how crucial it was to understand

the book of Leviticus. How foundational

it was to understand the priesthood of

Christ, his atoning sacrifice. What it

means when the New Testament used

language like you have access into the

holy of holies, into the presence of

God. That is all from the book of

Leviticus.

The book of numbers,

I hope, will have a similar impact on

your life, on your understanding of the

gospel, the church, the world, and God's

purpose in it. If you have the spirit,

and if you study the scriptures

intentionally, you will be changed for

the better. I I believe that. Do you

believe that?

As you give your time and attention to

the study of God's word, God will teach

you. He will change your heart.

So let's go right in now, okay, to the

book of numbers. The first thing that

you must understand about this book that

it is the fourth book of the pentitute,

which means that you must have some

prior knowledge and understanding of the

pentitute from Genesis, Exodus, and

Leviticus. And so as an overview sermon,

I'm going to pull various things to help

you and to guide you. Okay? But let's

look at the first two verses in chapter

one. The book of numbers starts out by

identifying the people of Israel as

those who came out of Egypt and entered

into a covenant with the Lord God at

Mount Si. Now, everything you need to

know about the context for the book of

Numbers is in the first verse. Okay? So,

the first few phrase itself, I I'll I'll

expound on this more next week, but just

to make the point, God spoke to Moses.

This tells us that the contents of this

book are theological. It's revelation

from God. God's word delivered to his

people through his chosen mediator,

Moses. Now, over and over again in the

pentitute, you will see this phrase. And

the Lord spoke to Moses.

And then God spoke to Moses in the

wilderness of Si. I'll come to that

soon. In the tent of meeting. Now that

is significant.

The preposition in there is significant

because previously when God spoke to

Moses, he spoke to Moses from the tent

of meeting. But now Moses speaks God

speaks to Moses in the tent. A reality

that was made possible because of what

happened in the book of Leviticus.

God made a point that you cannot come

near me unless you have a representative

priesthood. Unless you have an atoning

sacrifice for your sins and then you may

come in my presence. And this is what we

have attentive of meeting. And the

tabernacle that that that tabernacling

reality has been the main focus of the

pentitute since the second half of

Exodus. I know many of you know the

prince of Egypt story, okay? The 10

plagues and all that. But nobody knows

what happens after that. Correct? Just

check your brain. It's like actually

what happened after that? Huh? Yeah. Why

after that?

Well, that's half of Exodus and that's

Israel traveling to Mount Si receiving

revelation from God. Revelation that God

speaks through Moses. So, understanding

this tabernacle reality of God's

presence among the Israelites is key to

understanding this covenant relationship

that God establishes with his people.

And as you will see in the first section

of Numbers, we're talking chapters 1 all

the way to 10. Numbers has three major

sections. In the first section which

we'll look at,

God is continuing his teaching at Si.

Okay. So, the Israelites have not moved

yet from Sinai. The setting of the

wilderness of Si as verse one says,

uh, sorry, that's the setting for them.

Okay. Only in chapter 10 do we see the

people of Israel moving towards the

promised land. So in terms of the flow

of the story, we're not going to make

any movement until chapter 10. Okay? So

for the first 10 chapters, we basically

have to listen listen to what God is

teaching his people. No traveling, no

walking, no action. Okay? Usually we all

love stories because of all the action,

right? Well, try to enjoy the parts

where people are talking. You know who

who really loves watching movies where

there's a lot of dialogue.

Okay? And then okay, I only mean Lii the

lawyer. Okay. And Hongay lii and Hongay.

Oh man the

sorry those of you who know those guys

who are like ah that's why I don't like

okay can we all like together okay we

all like together. Okay so before they

can continue their journey here's why

it's so important for them to listen

because they must understand what God is

teaching them about who they are and

what they must do. Now there I entice

you. When people talk about you in front

of you, you like or not all the good

ones, all the good stuff about you.

You're so handsome. You're so wonderful.

You're so smart. You like right. You

like right. Correct. There. There.

There. Okay. There. Numbers 1 to 10. God

is talking to them about them. About the

church being the church. And in so

doing, of course, he's talking about

himself and what he's doing through

them. But here he is telling them what

it means for them to be them.

By the end of Numbers, the people of

Israel are on the plains of Moab on the

border of Canaan. So, you have to have

maps. Um, those of you, you know, who

invested in ESV study Bibles, you can

finally, you know, uh, get your money's

worth. Please look at the map, okay?

Look at the distance that they have to

travel. Mount Si, somewhere at the south

of that Sinai region, and they travel

all the way to the top uh of Kadesh

Barnea. Okay, that's that's a very

important stopping point because that's

at the border of Canaan and that will be

significant when we come to the spy

story that everybody likes in chapter 13

and chapter 14. But then by the end of

the book of numbers, they go further up

north to Moab. Okay. Now, isn't it

interesting because

the whole point of their movement is to

enter into Canaan, but any of you took a

trip where you just need to drive

straight. Okay, just drive straight. But

you then you drive to the other entry

point. You know what I mean? You don't

enter. You just like take a long detour

to the other site, another entry point.

What's going on?

And what could have taken them weeks or

months took them 40 years.

40 years. And we know it's because they

actually refused to enter the land of

Canaan at Kardesh Barnea.

God judged that rebellious generation

with death. So for 40 years, they waited

until every single one from the Exodus

generation died.

Okay? The generation that witnessed the

mighty plagues of God in Egypt, every

single one of them died except for a

handful of leaders like Moses, Caleb,

and Joshua

very well died. So the ending of the

book of Numbers doesn't seem much like a

proper ending, you know. Have you seen

the ending? So, if you have your Bibles

open, just just look at the ending,

okay? You'll be very surprised because

there you're looking at a bunch of women

thinking about their marriage.

Opening chapter, census, arrange, go to

war, ending. Hey, uh, got a few bunch of

women here. The father names their

lawful head and then, uh, they need to

get married.

What was it? Some Shakespeare story like

like you know, some romance story. What

was it? on that on that note what's

going on here now when a book ends that

way and you know pro tip when reading

the Bible anytime when you see a very

weird chapter to you right the problem

is is is us right when we read it's not

that it's weird to the Bible it's that

we have to then conform our expectations

to what the Bible is teaching us and

understand the Bible according to its

own terms when you read the final

section of the book of numbers you start

to realize that the daughters of

Zealofahad

are actually key characters. They don't

talk a lot. All you really see is their

concern.

And from their concern, you're meant to

discern the theological

understanding about what they finally uh

get from, so to speak, the whole book of

numbers.

The daughters of Zilafad show that there

is hope,

that there is a future for the people of

God. So given what I just said about

them dying in the wilderness for 40

years, ending with a bunch of women

thinking about marriage and their

inheritance in the land, that is

anticipation,

hope for a future of an inheritance.

We realize that God has not rejected his

people completely.

He will fulfill his promise to bring

them to the land of their forefathers as

his blessed people. Then after numbers

you have the book of Deuteronomy which

consists largely of Moses sermon to the

people before they cross into the border

of Canaan. Then we have the book of

Joshua and finally we see some action.

Okay, where the people finally enter the

land. So something that should have

happened in Numbers 13

only took place in Joshua chapter 1.

So how how do you understand the

material in between that? What are you

meant to learn so that when you come to

chapter one of Joshua,

you are you are ready now to continue

the story of God. We have to consider

what the punishment of their deaths in

the wilderness means.

Yes, we know the goal was for them was

for them to enter the land. You know,

the tagline for this series is bound for

the promised land. Uh, honestly, I had a

hard time thinking about a good tagline

for this series. I had a few other

ideas, but

uh, B for the promised land seems like

the most obvious one. Correct. I had

another one, by his name you shall

swear, you know, but I don't think

people will really understand. Uh, but

anyway, it was tough. The goal seems

like they just have to enter into a

place.

But God does not want us to simply think

that the whole point of this story is

for them to get into a place. No, the

backdrop of their entry into the land

was the Exodus. And not only that, but

also the death of an entire generation

in the wilderness. So, not only must we

think of why and how they entered the

land, we must also think of how and why

they did not enter the land.

Okay, that's very important. They all

died in the wilderness.

And that would be the main context of

Israel's story in the Pentituke, not the

land, the wilderness.

Like I said, they only really entered

the land in Joshua. So the first five

books of the Bible, okay, the people of

Israel, I mean, you have the the the

story of the patriarchs, their entry

into Egypt, and then their slavery in

Egypt, and after that, it's all just

wilderness for a long period of time.

Now, do you know that in the Hebrew

Bible, the name for the book of Numbers

is actually not numbers. Uh we got that

the the name Numbers from the Latin

Vulgate. So, it's just a translation

into the English. But in the Hebrew

Bible, well, they tend to pick a word

from the first sentence of the book.

Okay? And for the book of numbers, the

word that they've chosen was bidbah,

which means in the wilderness.

Okay? So the title for the book of

numbers in the Hebrew is actually in the

wilderness. So we have to understand the

wilderness context.

We will see that in the wilderness,

Israel must learn what it means to have

Yahweh as their God. They must learn to

have his voice as their guidance. They

must be able to recognize his voice and

follow through with his commands through

the preaching of Moses. And if they do

so, they will then grow in holiness as

they respond in obedient faith to God in

the wilderness.

So they're expected to, so to speak,

perform not in a context where the odds

are favorable, where circumstances are

great, where things are comfortable. God

expects them to be an obedient people in

a place of significant hardship and

death.

You understand? Some of us don't like

that. You know, when we go through

something really difficult, how can you

expect me to do that? I'm not good

enough. It's so hard.

If there's one place in the world that

you've been to perform that is super

hard, it is the wilderness. Okay, I'll

soon show you.

All Israel had in the wilderness was

God. Really, if you think about it, in

Exodus 15, immediately after they

crossed the Red Sea, guess what

happened? They entered the land. No,

they didn't. Okay. After they crossed

the Red Sea, God brought them to the

wilderness.

Mo then Moses made Israel set out from

the Red Sea and they went into the

wilderness of Shure for 3 days in the

wilderness and they found no water

rations you know so I they they packed

in a hurry I don't know how much water

they brought and plus if you got

livestock and let's say your son likes

to drink a lot of water you know and

then he also very hungry one okay so no

food no water it's been three days in

the wilderness you guys gone camping

before sometimes When I go camping, I

have to carry water, you know. I go to a

Shell station there, then I buy one box,

you know, uh 12 bottles of 1.5 liter for

our camping trip. This just for over a

camping trip. Imagine being in the

wilderness for god knows how many days

and weeks and months.

So we we realize in verse 25 that that

was intentional.

God brought them there to test them and

he made a clear point to them right from

the outset after you crossed the Red

Sea. He brought you to the highest place

he could possibly bring you and then he

tells you his expectations. Verse 26, if

you will diligently listen to the voice

of the Lord your God and do that which

is right in his eyes and give ear to his

commandments and keep all his statutes.

I will put none of the diseases on you

that I put on the Egyptians, for I am

the Lord your healer.

Here in the wilderness, we see a

paradigm for God's people, which is that

they are meant to be disciplined to

listen to God,

to be a people ever ready to follow his

voice no matter how hard the situation

is.

There's only one way to survive the

wilderness conditions and that is to

follow the voice of God. Now the

wilderness represents the place of death

and judgment. Uh as I said earlier, you

know, it's an environment that is

extremely hostile to life. It is

completely opposite to the promised

land. You know, when you think promised

land, you think abundance, you think

prosperity. You know, if our artist were

to redesign this banner, everything will

be green and blue. But brown, nobody

likes brown, okay? In terms of like

where we want to buy property, you know,

and live, everything green, you know,

green, echo, whatever. Is this

completely non-echo? Okay, so look at

this first picture here. I think this is

uh this is obviously fake. Okay, because

who who took a photo of them walking in

the woods anyway?

But I think it makes the point, okay?

That's why I chose the picture uh just

to kind of give you a sense of what it's

like you know maybe for your holiday

just for like a spiritual pilgrimage

journey you want to go one day right go

to the Sahara desert okay but you must

fully test yourself don't bring any

resources you know just kind of like

feel what it's like just try one day

enough okay suffer enough already now in

terms of climate it was extremely hot

during the days sharply cold at night

and there was you know very little

natural control shade. Those of us

living in Malaysia, right, we always

like to walk in the shadows. You who

like to walk in shadows, okay? That's

the only time in life we can walk in in

people's shadow, okay? And feel

comfortable with it. You know, if I'm

short, I would love to walk with all the

tall people because they are constantly

blocking all the light because prolonged

exposure can mean dehydration. You lose

a lot of water. And then at night,

there's the risk of hypothermia,

especially for the elderly, especially

if you're a child. Just think of all the

mothers, you know, mothers that crash.

Think if you're in this wilderness,

how how you have to hold your baby so

tight, you know, all the mothers hug

together, keep all the babies warm

together. It's so cold. Then all the old

people, how okay, every night your papa

ask you, boy, can you hug me?

Papa, very cold. Okay, it's like papa.

And then water sauces were rare. It was

unreliable. And then for a large

population with livestock, I mean you've

read the census, men from the age of 20

upward, that list was already 600,000.

What about the women and the children,

you know? So that's why we think, you

know, that the the population here could

be upwards of maybe a million plus,

almost 2 million walking in the desert,

everybody looking for water. Can you

believe it? Everybody got no water.

Everybody looking for water. Any of you

been so thirsty before fighting for

water? You know how scary it is

to not have enough resource to share. So

the logistical problem of water was

unsolvable.

Uh you know they say that modern hikers

in these regions would carry liters of

water per person per day. The Israelites

had no such capacity. Okay. So they are

bound to thirst. And then the desert

could not support agriculture which

means that wild game and edible plants

are minimal. So once their provisions

that they brought from Egypt and it was

very rushed they couldn't bring a lot

starvation was a real and imminent

danger. And then the land was rocky

uneven and mountainous in places

and with certain locations that could

could flood suddenly.

And you know last time where got like A6

shoes

uh Brooks what New Balance

last time they just wear simple shoes

only you know every there's actually a

verse I can't remember where what is it

Deuteronomy I think it's definitely

Deuteronomy where God just to make a

theological point right your sandals did

not wear out it's like praise the Lord

okay you try walking on that same

sandals of 40 years in this wilderness I

also buy I buy your sho okay I buy your

sandals because my stupid teas my stupid

kins cannot survive this okay I'll

definitely buy shares in your in your

company because wow it can last so long

you know so the land was rocky uneven so

foot injuries any of you have foot

injuries before cuz you were running

uneven grounding you sleep ah yeah

cannot run properly

you think got got nurse there in the

desert to help you verse aid verse aid

ask uncle Matusilla uncle please help me

verse a I don't know how I feel Okay.

Broken limbs would have been common,

often fatal. Imagine your children

running around. Oh my gosh.

No medical care. I mean, traveling with

children, the elderly, animals greatly

magnified the danger. And last time, you

know, you travel your livestock. I'm not

talking about your cat Fifi, you know,

or or your your dog, you know, uh, Shane

or whatever. We're talking about I just

made that up. Okay. We're talking about

like your livestock. Okay, your children

running around and there were no

permanent settlements. You have to keep

moving. You have to keep going. Imagine

how strong the guys must be constantly

carrying all the tent equipment. Okay,

nowadays the tent equipment so nice, you

know, can fold with sticks and all that.

Last time they have to use don't know

what batang some wood I went uh holiday

recently uh visit my father-in-law and

then he set up a tent on his balcony for

us, right? Because my boys wanted to

stay outdoors. Okay. And then the tent

he used was a very very old tent. Okay.

And then I look, wow, last time the tent

like that one. So big, you know, so

clunky. All the batang batang. And this

is such a long time ago.

No supply routes, no rescue operation.

If you get lost here, you'll be lost for

sure. And there was also constant

exposure to hostile groups, bandits, no

defensive infrastructure. I mean, so

when you just look at this, right, what