WE’RE still in our series, Wilderness. And we’re on the last two Talks on Numbers.The topic today is this:God Turns Curses into Blessings.Have you ever experienced something unfortunate? Have you?I remember one time, several years back, I was a campus missionary. And I was having dinner in a fastfood chain with one of our student leaders. So, we were ordering. So, here’s the counter. The student leader was in front of me. So, what he got was a big glass of soft drink, large fries, and a big burger. And after getting his order, as he was turning around, the large glass of soft drink tipped over. The hot and crispy fries, freshly cooked, were now drenched in soft drink, and the burger now also was drenched with soft drink.This student saved up for an entire week just to be able to buy that meal.Since I was a missionary, I didn’t even have the money to buy him another meal. So, what we did, we continued to our table, we sat down. He had no choice—he could not ask for a replacement for that meal, so he started eating the soft drink- drenched fries and burger.And while we were eating, he asked me, “Bro, why did this happen? Why did God allow this to happen? Is He punishing me for my sins? That’s why this happened? Am I cursed?”‘Over-spiritualizing’Believe you me, while he was asking those questions I was praying deeply to God because his questions were quite deep.So, I asked the Lord, “Lord, help me. Because my answer could either make or break this person’s faith… And light bulb…something appeared.The Lord answered me.So, I told him, “You know, Bro, you need not involve God in this. Notice that your glass is tall and narrow. Naturally, the center of gravity is higher than the height divided by two. And when you turned around, it was quite fast. So, the centrifugal force combined with the higher center of gravity caused it to tip over.” You know what he said after that?He said, “Oh, my gosh, it was just gravity. I was over-spiritualizing things.I was blaming God already.”And in my mind, I was thanking God, “Lord, thank You for the explanation.This man could have lost his faith if I had not answered that well.”Would you agree with me that it gives us peace when we find logic and understanding in the challenges that we face?How many of you wish to understand why these things have to happen? Have you prayed for that? I am also like you. I pray for that when challenges come.Look: Can you further explain what will happen? But would you also believe me if I say, that kind of a prayer is not answered always? Agree?What if it’s a more difficult, unfortunate event? I was talking to someone recently.He went through a breakup and he was telling me, “Bro, why did my girlfriend replace me with someone who has suicidal tendencies, is very jealous, and he’s not even

Talk This message is for someone who is looking for hope. If you need hope, this message is for you: the reason of the season of your life… This is the message: Celebrate your appointment. In the last few weeks, we have been walking through the wilderness and we’ve been seeing the Israelites—how they’ve been dealing with the situation that they’re in, and there’s one recurring theme. You notice, when you read the book of Numbers, how the Israelites just love to complain? They’re blessed, but… there’s something good, but… There’s always a reason for them to complain. In Talk No. 3, we saw how the Israelites had manna coming from Heaven— skybread, we said. And yet, they complained-- they wanted more variety, they wanted more options. That’s in Talk 3. And then last Sunday, in Talk 4, we showed you how the Israelites were complaining about this Land that God already promised them—and they were complaining that there were giants in that place. And so, they were afraid—they were operating in fear, not faith. Today, you’re going to see, we’re going to show you, how the Israelites will again complain, this time, about the Priesthood. They complain how Moses is being used by God. They cry out, “Why not us? Why? What makes Moses so special that he’s the only one that God is using?” When you read through the book of Numbers, from Chapters 1 to 10, you’ll note the Bible says that the Israelites did as the Lord commanded. But then Chapter 11 onwards, it went downhill from there. They became very disobedient. And it’s like when you’re reading the passage, you’re thinking, “Really? You’re going to complain? Again? Like, this is the third time you’re complaining…” This reminds me of the story of this man who’s walking around with two friends. The friends saw the guy had bandages on his ears. One friend, pointing on the guy’s right ear, asks, “Why do you have a bandage on your ear?” And he says, “I was ironing my shirt one day. The phone rang and I got confused—instead of picking up the phone, I picked up the iron…” The other friend, pointing at the guy’s other ear, asks, “What about the bandage on your other ear? What is it for?” “Well, my phone rang again…” It’s like, what is the intention of the author writing the complaints of the Israelites again and again? What is this pattern all about? And you’ll see this. It’s about the foolishness of the Israelites. And yet the author does not stop there. He creates another pattern that shows something else… When you read through all the chapters in the different books and the verses in the book of Numbers, you’ll see that there’s a recurring theme of foolishness. But you know what else there is? It’s the recurring theme of reminding all of us here of our own stupidity in life—how we repeat mistake after mistake, after mistake. And also, in

I WANT to give to you our big message today. This is the message that we want you to take home, we want you to chew on, and digest, and we hope, by God’s grace, it will produce fruits in your life. Friend, Listen to God’s Voice. Today, God is going to speak over your situation. I don’t know where you come from, where you’ve been, where you’re going—but I believe that God has a Word for someone here, and I pray that the Holy Spirit will use this to convict you, to change you, and ultimately to transform you. This is our prayer, in Jesus’ Name. Amen. One more time: Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet And a Light unto my path. Two Ways of Questioning I want to lay down the foundation of our talk for this morning. The message is: Listen to God’s Voice. Just a quick story: If you visit our home, and you sit down with my wife, our kids, and me, this is the usual conversation that happens in our home every day now… We have a five-year-old son—very curious, very inquisitive, somebody who likes asking questions. So, he would often come to me, ask me a question. And it never fails that after he asked me a question and I gave him an answer, he would turn to his mom and ask her, “Mom, is that true? Is Dad telling the truth?” Raise your hand if you’ve got a dad like me whom you always doubt if he’s telling the truth. If you have a parent like that—you’ve got to have a second opinion with the mom. There always has to be a confirmation: “Mom, is that true?” See, that’s the season that we’re in. And I think that’s a good habit—of wanting to check if that’s really the truth. A very wise man by the name of Jon Escoto -- he’s one of our Feast Builders— said this to me a long time ago: “You know, Bro., there are two ways of questioning. The first is you question because you want to challenge the integrity of the statement of that person. You want to argue, you want to debate. But there’s a second type of questioning. You question simply because you want to appreciate, you want to understand better…” And so, a lot of people oftentimes get offended when somebody questions them because they think the person wants to argue with them. They think that they want to have a debate. The person wants to challenge what they said-- not knowing that the person really wants to ask questions because the guy just wants to understand what they are talking about. I believe that it’s good to never settle for the surface level – to continually seek for the truth. Because that’s how we develop wisdom—when we try to find the truth. Check Out the Source You see, I believe that in trying to find the truth and seeking

Talk RYAN CAPITULO: TODAY we shall continue with our life-changing and wonderful talk series called Wilderness: Lessons and Inspiration from the Book of Numbers. For Talk 2, we will preach the message: Move When God Moves; Stay When God Stays. Please extend your hands to the Word of God and let us glorify His Word by singing: God’s Direction In Numbers 9: 17-18, we learn the nation of Israel would move and stay as directed by God Himself. That’s wonderful, right? Because I looked back at my life, and I realized that I did not allow God to direct me when I was younger. I would impose my will on God. So, when I was young, this was how I prayed: Lord, help me. I want to get into the best schools. Lord, help me. I want to be a doctor. I want to be an obstetrician-gynecologist. I want to be successful. That’s how I prayed. But you know, when I got older, and my relationship with God matured, He made me realize that I should be allowing Him to direct my life. Yes, that’s what God told me: I should allow Him to direct my life. And when I did that, He led me to become a teacher. And I am so happy being a medical educator. When I did that, He led me to be an advocate for the marginalized. When I did that, when I allowed God to direct my life, He led me to be a Builder here in The Feast. Please extend your hands once more and let us glorify the Lord: A Walk in the Wilderness Whenever I hear the word wilderness, my mind automatically goes to these pictures I took when I went to the Yosemite Park, California, in the United States. This wilderness is so beautiful. It is so breathtaking. And I was really so blessed to be there. But mind you, 3,000 years ago, wilderness meant death. Why Leave Mount Sinai? During the time of the Israelites, 3,000 years ago, wilderness meant wild animals, vicious bandits, dry land, famine, and starvation. Look at this dry land (above). That’s wilderness. During the time of the ancient Israelites, it meant starvation and death. I’m sure, there are many questions in your mind: Why did they have to leave Mount Sinai? It was already a good place to live in. Why did they have to move? Why did God ask the Israelites to pack everything up and walk again through the wilderness? Why Walk in the Wilderness Well, there are two reasons: Take note: God promised the Israelites a land filled with milk and honey. He did not promise Mount Sinai. So, God was teaching the Israelites: Do not hold on to Sinai. Do not hold on to your comfort zone because you have to reach the Promised Land. You know, sometimes, before we achieve the best, we have to go through some difficulties, right? We have to go through some challenges. So,