Calvary Christian Center Media: Photos and Video Messages

OUTLINE FOR SUNDAY MESSAGE, 5-31-26

“THE BACKSIDE OF THE DESERT,”

PR. 3:5-7 (KJV)

Proverbs 3:5–7 (KJV)

⁵    Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;

And lean not unto thine own understanding.

⁶    In all thy ways acknowledge him,

And he shall direct thy paths.

⁷    Be not wise in thine own eyes:

Fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

Trust, Pr. 3:5, defined

Hebrew batah, pronounced baw-takh, Strngs. H982, to trust, be confident or sure:- be bold (confident, secure, sure), careless (one, woman), put confidence, (make to) hope, (put, make to) trust.^[1]

Ways, Pr. 3:6, defined

Hebrew derek, pronounced deh-rek, Strngs. H1870, a road (as trodden); figurative a course of life or mode of action, often adverb:- along, away, because of, + by, conversation, custom, [east-] ward, journey, manner, passenger, through, toward, [high-] [path-] way [-side], whither [-soever].^[2]

Trials and tests come to make us strong. That saying has much truth to it. In the midst of trials and tests, God just wants us to trust Him, 1 Peter 1:6–7 (KJV): ⁶ Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: ⁷ That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Temptation, 1 Pet. 1:6, defined

Greek peirasmos, pronounced pi-ras-mos, Strngs. G3986, a putting to proof (by experiment [of good], experience [of evil], solicitation, discipline or provocation); by implication adversity:- temptation, × try.^[3]

Trial, 1 Pet. 1:7, defined

Greek, dokimion, pronounced, dok-im-ee-on, Strngs. G1383, a testing; by implication trustworthiness:- trial, trying.^[4]

Romans 8:35–39 (KJV)

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. ³⁷ Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, ³⁹ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Trials and tests come to make us strong but only as we trust in the Lord through them. It’s in trials and tests that are forged our greatest soldiers. The greatest leaders were birth out of the greatest sufferings. Sometimes God allows us on the back side of the desert. If we would have never went through some of the things we’ve been through we would have never found out what all God had in us and how tough we really are. There are things that happen to us on the back side of the desert that took our trust in Him to another dimension in our faith.

MOSES

Exodus 3:1–8 (KJV)

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. ² And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. ³ And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. ⁴ And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. ⁵ And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. ⁶ Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. ⁷ And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; ⁸ And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

God raised Moses up when his mother, in order to save him from pharaoh’s decree to murder all of the male children after pharaoh saw that the Israelites were increasing in number in Egypt, placed the child Moses in a basket and laid him in the river and his sister watched the basket as it floated into the presence of pharaoh’s daughter who, without realizing, had Moses sister get Moses mother to come and be paid to take care of him. Moses grew up in pharaoh’s court. He had to flee though after he murdered an Egyptian who was harsh on the Hebrew slaves and was seen by others. God put Moses on the back side of the desert for His glory as revealed in Hebrews 11:23–29 (KJV):

²³ By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. ²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; ²⁵ Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; ²⁶ Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. ²⁷ By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. ²⁸ Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. ²⁹ By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.

God’s commentary on Moses says it all, Deuteronomy 34:10–12 (KJV):

¹⁰ And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹ In all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, ¹² And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.

DAVID

1 Samuel 17:32–37 (KJV)

³² And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. ³³ And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. ³⁴ And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: ³⁵ And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. ³⁶ Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷ David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.

David, the man who penned Psalm 23:1–6 (KJV):

¹    The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

²    He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

³    He restoreth my soul:

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

⁴    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

⁵    Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶    Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

He testified to king Saul how the Lord had him on the back side of the desert tending his father’s sheep when a lion and a bear took one of the lambs and David repeated how God gave him the victory over a lion and a bear and the same God that gave him the victory over the lion and the bear will give him the victory over this uncircumcised Philistine. Sometimes we need to go back over our resume on what the Lord has done for us. I call them reference points when God delivered me out of this, He delivered me out of that, He delivered me out of the other thing, and surely He will deliver me out of this present situation. Hallelujah!

1 Samuel 17:41–51 (KJV)

⁴¹ And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him. ⁴² And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. ⁴³ And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. ⁴⁵ Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. ⁴⁶ This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷ And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands. ⁴⁸ And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. ⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. ⁵¹ Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.