Do You Really Want This Freedom? By Brother Curtis Hansen

         Good morning. We are going to be reading from the book of Numbers. Turn your bibles to chapter 11. We will be reading starting at verse 1.

        And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost of the camp.

        2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched.

        3 And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.

        4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

        5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.

        6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.

        7 And the manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bdellium.

        8 And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.

        9 And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.

        This scripture reading is about Moses interceding for the people to God after their complaints displeased the Lord. It also details how the manna fell, what it looked like, and how the people prepared it for eating.

        There is a stewardship you have in every role you have in life. It's upon you to act upon it.

        People complained is a constant in our life. Do human beings really want to be free? This is a question I want you to meditate upon today. Our complaints are rooted in lust for comfort.

        I should hope that this message should convict you this morning. God has many blueprints for many things in life that is laid out in scripture. Freedom is a value that has to be taught. 

        Once we see that those principles and principalities are in place, we need to follow them in practice. Freedom will convict you, change you mindset. People aren't ready for that today. Freedom is a personal responsibility.

        Going back to the scripture. The Israelites had been delivered from slavery by God and into freedom. You and I have the freedom to choose his way or our way. If you see in verse 4, the multitude fell a lusting. In verse 5, the people remembered the foods they ate in Egypt. They had forgotten what they experienced in Egypt due to that lusting for the base simple comfort we all are born with in our life.

        So I will ask you again, do you really want this freedom? Instead of focusing on liberty, they were focused on bondage. There's an illusion of past comfort in verse 5. Sin is basically you know right from wrong and choose wrong. Ignorance is presented with facts and you reject it. Iniquity is not knowing better, The longer you are on your walk, you may sin less, but you hurt more.

        The illusion of comfort is sin coloring your memory of things. God instructs you to bridle your lusts in the bible. Sin paints a rosy picture in memory. Dissatisfaction with God's provision. The lusts which we carry in life, we need to lay these at God's feet.

        God gave the people manna from heaven. Bread from heaven is a true miracle. God provided so many miracles for them from the country of Egypt to the wilderness. The fire in the scripture reading wasn't the problem, nor was the people complaints, it was the lusting the people have.