Census continued

Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions, take four. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2024, Lord willing, we'll make it through Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Hebrews. Good job. Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Hebrews. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Nothing, huh? All right, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. Please, God, help us to understand and help us to apply your word to our hearts and our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.
All right, so we're at Numbers chapter two. I was just saying last time that we are at the point in numbers where we're talking about the different camps. Okay, so last time I did Coffee and Devotions without you guys I talked about the three camps on the east side. Okay, so on the east side was Judah, And Issachar and Zebulun. Right, so there was 186,400 people on that side. Now we're going to talk about the next people. These are the people on the south camp. Okay, so Deborah can you read verses 10 and 11? 10 and 11.
The south side shall be the standard of forces with Reuben according to their armies. And the leader of the children of Reuben shall be Elazor the son of Shaduel. Shador and his army was numbered at 46,500. Those who will camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon. The leader of the children of Simeon shall be Shalumiel.
Good job. The son of Zorai shall die. Good job. And his army was numbered at 59,300. Okay, Daniel, can you read verse 14? Then comes the tribe of Dad, and the list of the children of Dad shall be Eliaseth, the son of Reuel. And his army was numbered at 45,650, all who were numbered according to their armies of the forces with Reuben, 151,450.
They shall be the second to break camp. And the tabernacle of meeting shall move out with the camp of the Levites in the middle of the camps, as they camp, so they shall move out everyone in his place by their standards. Alright, so you have Judah, right? And he's the first camp to break. And Issachar and Zebulun are there with him. And then the next camp is led by Reuben. And so you have Reuben and you have Gad and Simeon. Those are moving next. And then what's the third camp that's going to go?
The fifth? No, verse 17. The Levites, right? And what are the Levites carrying? The whole tabernacle. So they're going to carry the whole tabernacle. So you have Judah who's leaving first, and then in this section you have the second camp and the Levites coming after that. And in verse 17, what's it say? It says, the tabernacle meeting shall move out with the camp of Levites in the middle of the camp. So why do you think it's important that as they're marching That the Tabernacle and the Levites are in the middle of the camp.
Because they're not prepared for war. They're not people at war. Yeah, right. They're not the people prepared for war. What do you think it shows symbolically? That God is in the middle. That we should show glory to God. Yeah, that God is in the middle. That they were to show glory to God, right? That the king was in the midst of their camp. Their covenant Lord was in the middle of the camp. As they move out, so shall they move out everyone in his place by their standards. What do you think that means, by their standards? Did you know what a standard is? A standard is like a flag.
On the back of the church, well maybe it's the front doors of the church, as you walk in, above on the second floor in the balcony, there's a stained glass window. Do you know what's in that stained glass window? I forget. The blue banner? The blue banner. And the blue banner says for Christ's crown and covenant. Do you know the history behind that? Yeah, the Covenanters. When they went into battle against the king's forces, guess what they carried? The blue banner, the blue standard. Who were they fighting for? They were fighting for Christ and his covenant. That's what they thought they were fighting for. So they fought under that standard.
And so if you were to go with the camp of Judah, you would have his standard. If you were in the tribe of Zebulun, you would have that standard. If you guys went to my office, you would see a picture and it has all the different tribes named. And under it is a little picture for each tribe. And so like Joseph is an ox, and Levi is the breastplate, and Judah is a lion.
Something that corresponded to the people of that time. What is all this getting at then? What is all this about? What are they marching out as? They're marching out as an army, that's right. With the various camps and the different divisions, right? Who are they going to fight against? The Canaanites. The Canaanites, that's right. The Mites. Oh, the Hites, that's right. Hites and Mites. And the Midianites. And the Midianites, yeah.
So what do you think that this calls us to do? How do you think this shows us things in our day and age? Fight the good fight. Fight the good fight, okay. What do you think, Bubba? That we should be giving the glory to God. Give the glory to God? Yeah, I think both of those are great applications.
Okay, you guys ready to pray? Father, we thank you so much that you are in our midst. That you promise that you are in us, just as Jesus is in you, and so you have given us your spirit. Lord, we pray that as we go about our lives, we pray that we would fight the good fight, not fighting the ites and the mites, as Nathan said, Lord, but we pray that we would be going to battle against the principalities and the ruler of this world, but also knowing that you have conquered this world, and that we go to war against even our own sinful desires, knowing that we fight as the church militant now, under the standard of Jesus Christ. So, Lord, we pray that you would teach us to be faithful as we bear on the armor of God. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may God bless you as you put on that full armor of God, and may you know that your King has already conquered the world.
We'll see you next time. You guys wanna say bye? Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week.
If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.