Stay Focused

0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:04.400 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:06.880 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:10.200 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:12.280 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.160 see God as moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:19.680 I want to look at a passage of scripture that man, 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:22.120 it was months ago God started speaking to me through 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:24.480 this text. It was at a moment in my life, Zach. 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:28.639 You remember I was real discouraged and frustrated about some 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:31.320 areas in my life where it felt like, rather than 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:33.760 moving towards what God had intended for my life, it 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:36.680 felt like I was moving away from it. And God 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.959 really started to speak to me through this passage of scripture. 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:43.440 But if it's any indication of how much the devil 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:45.640 was fighting me these last few weeks as I was 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:47.680 working on this sermon, I believe that I am on 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:51.520 assignment today to release a word from God that will 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:55.880 catapult someone into their God given destiny and purpose. I 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:58.400 am fired up, ready to speak with God's put in 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:02.920 my heart to speak with you. But how fit, how 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:05.880 fitting that they would allow a Canadian to preach to 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:08.679 you on this holiday weekend. Yes, yes, yes, I know 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:11.800 it's Independence Day, Happy Birthday America. But did you know 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.920 that is also Canada Day. Yes, we're celebrating a birthday too. 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.080 I like your shirt right there, mister Canada. Someone's like, 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.480 what's Canada? It's kind of our birthday too. But basically 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:24.600 Canadians are going to just take Monday off to listen 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:26.520 to the new Drake album. That's what we're all gonna 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:29.759 do together. It's a good thing. But hey, since we're 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:31.880 both celebrating, look at the person next to you, let's 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.400 just make them blend them together, do a hybrid. Look 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:38.240 at the person next to you and say happy Independence Day. Hey, 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:44.880 that's right, that's right. Stay stand in for just a moment. 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:46.920 I want to jump into our scripture for today. We're 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.200 gonna be looking at numbers, chapter thirteen, just to give 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:53.160 you a little context before we look at our key verse. 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:58.280 Moses has led the Israelites out from under Egyptian slavery, 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:02.240 oppression and captivity. He's leading them somewhere, though, He's taking 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.280 them on a journey into the promised Land. This is 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:07.680 the same land that God had promised generations ago. To 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:11.280 their forefather Abraham. And after all that time in Egypt, 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.960 they're finally on their way and they get to the 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:16.799 edge of the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, and 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:20.240 God gives Moses an instruction. He says, send twelve men, 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:23.840 one leader from each tribe into the Promised land, and 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:25.840 he sends them in to explore for forty days. So 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.600 for forty days they are looking at the promise that 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:32.280 God had given them so many generations before. And they 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.200 come back to Moses after forty days, and they give 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:37.760 them a report on what they had seen. And this 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.920 is where we're gonna pick up numbers thirteen, verse twenty seven. 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.119 It says they gave Moses this account. We went into 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:45.880 the land in which you sent us, and it does 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.080 flow with milk and honey. Here is its fruit. It 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:51.200 tells us earlier that they picked up a cluster of 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:54.240 grapes that was so big that it took two men 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:56.960 to carry a single cluster of grapes out, and represented 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:00.000 God's promises, God's provision. They lay that fruit in front 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.239 and Jesus are in front of Moses and said, here's 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:05.480 it's fruit. But the people who live there are powerful 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:09.079 and the cities are fortified and very large. We even 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.560 saw descendants of a knack there. The Amalekites live in 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.360 the Nagive, the Hittites chevy Sites and Amorites live in 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.600 the hill country, and the Canaanites live near the sea 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.240 and along the Jordan. Then Caleb silenced the people before 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:23.440 Moses and said, we should go up and take possession 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:27.120 of the land, for we can certainly do it. But 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:29.960 the men who had gone up with them said, we 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.920 can't attack those people. They're stronger than we are, and 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.400 they spread amongst the Israelites a bad report about the 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:38.680 land they had explored. They said, the land we explored 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.200 devours all those living in it. All the people we 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.400 saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephelin there. 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.120 They were believed to be giants. These are some big people, 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.800 they said. We seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes, 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.520 and we look the same to them. My sermon title 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:57.920 for today's message is this, stay focused, and at any 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.000 point during my message that the person next to you 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:01.840 it looks like they're starting to doze off, or you 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.960 catch them checking Instagram, you have my permission to nudge 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.240 them in the side. Real hard right in the rib 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:09.640 and give them my title again. Stay focused. In fact, 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.080 why don't you practice right now at all our locations. 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:14.280 As you take your seat, hit the person next to you, 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:21.200 tell them stay focused, hey, real quickly. For those of 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:23.679 you at are Valentine location, this is gonna be old 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.320 news because you probably see my boys running around the lobby. 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:29.120 But for other locations and those of you joining us online, 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:31.720 let me show you a picture of my family real quick. 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:33.760 Here we are up on the screen. That's a servant 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.200 dur in love week. I got two little boys. My 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.440 oldest his name is Zion, he's three and a half. 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:40.760 My youngest, his name is Elias, he just turned one. 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.320 And that's my wife Anna. We've been married for eight 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.600 years now, just celebrated eight years of marriage. That's pretty good. 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:51.600 She's my Georgia Peach. And as you're celebrating our anniversary, 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:54.360 it brought to mind right after we got engaged, held 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:56.320 the pastor who is marrying has set us down for 0:04:56.400 --> 0:05:01.160 pre marital counseling, and uh, I remember one unspecific session 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.240 where he kind of cautioned us and he wanted to 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.640 let us know that well, every couple will experience conflict 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:12.360 in their marriage. He he suspected that we would experience 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:15.919 a little bit more than usual. And here's why me 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:18.880 and Anna grew up very differently. We had very different 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:22.760 experiences growing up. I'm from Toronto, Canada. I have a loud, big, 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:26.400 obnoxious family. She's from rural Georgia. Her family's so sweet 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.680 and proper. Our experiences were growing up were so different, 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:31.680 and he just wanted to warn us that because of 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.359 our different experiences, we just might have a tendency to 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:36.480 experience some conflict. He thought we would see things a 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:38.919 little bit differently. Let me give you just a couple 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:41.920 examples real quick. I was thinking about the first time 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.200 we met each other's family, because it was a culture 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:46.719 shock for both of us. The first time I visited 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.280 Anata's family in rural Georgia, I met one of her 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.039 friends who asked me if I wanted to go mud 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:55.039 in mud In. I thought he met mudbath. I'm like, sure, 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:59.039 sometimes you just gotta treat yourself, you know. But no, no, no, 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:03.400 mud in is intentionally driving your jeep through mud, trying 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:06.280 to get your vehicle as dirty as you possibly can. 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.640 I don't understand this, Chris. That was foreign to me. 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.320 But Anna's first time visiting my family in Toronto wasn't 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:16.120 easy either. I remember she got in on a late flight, 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:17.880 so I picked her up from the airport brought her 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:19.920 home to meet my family. It was her first time 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:21.640 meeting them. It was already late, so my parents had 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:23.600 been in bed, and I remember when I walked her 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:25.560 in the house and my dad came down the steps 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:30.560 in his raggedy white boxer breeze. I remember how awkward 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:32.640 she looked. I was like, Anna, this is my dad. 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:35.680 Nice to meet you. And just to clarify, that is 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.480 not a Canadian thing. That is strictly a Mark Joseph's thing. 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:41.120 But it was hard for her. It was hard for her, 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:44.200 and so the counselor wanted us to know. The pastor said, hey, 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:48.240 you might experience more conflict in your relationship, because it 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:50.400 would make sense that you would see things so differently 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:52.480 as you go throughout your marriage. He just wanted us 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:54.760 to be mindful of it. And that made sense to 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:59.080 me that two people with two different experiences would just 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.880 come to different conclusions about things. That made perfect sense. 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:05.000 But what's always been interesting to me is how two 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:09.400 people can experience the same thing and come to two 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.840 very different conclusions. You can be looking at the same 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.720 thing and come to a whole different set of beliefs. 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.120 You know this when you go home at Thanksgiving. You're 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.080 sitting around the Thanksgiving table and you think you're talking 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:24.760 about the same issue, but somehow your uncle Carl comes 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.200 up with some crazy theories and you're life, are we 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:31.720 even talking about the same thing here. We recently had 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:35.280 this controversy around our office. It got bad, It got 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:38.880 pretty heated. It was a particular issue where I knew 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:43.160 my opinion represented the minority, but every time the issue 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:44.760 would come up, I always felt like I had to 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.200 say something. I couldn't keep my mouth shut and listen. 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:49.720 As a Canadian, it goes against my nature to disagree 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:51.520 with people, but I felt like I needed to stand 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.000 my ground on this one. And it got bad because 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.400 people were like I had coworkers losing respect for me, 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.760 and they're like questioning my salvation, like do you even 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.840 you're God? Man? But I felt like it was such 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:05.840 an important issue. I felt like I needed to speak 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:07.400 my mind on it. And I don't want to cause 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.520 division at any of our locations today. I don't want 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:11.840 to create a problem for you Terry at the Uptown campus. 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:16.200 But I feel like it needs to be said, the 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:22.360 Greatest Showman was a really bad movie. It was a 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.120 really bad movie. No no, no, no, no no, it 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:28.520 was a really bad movie. I walked out of the 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:30.880 theater and I looked over and expecting her to be 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.080 just as disappointed as me, and she was smiling. She 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:36.679 was so happy. I was like, you loved it. She's like, 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:38.680 I loved it. It was so good. I was like, 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:42.360 Wolverine shouldn't be singing. Wolverine should be stabbing. That's why 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:46.120 he should be doing. I didn't understand it, same version 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:50.760 as everyone else. Two very different conclusions looking at the 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.240 same thing, two very different beliefs. That's what initially drew 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.640 my attention to this passage in numbers thirteen. Because for 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:03.920 forty days, spies, these twelve great men of faith, these 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:06.920 twelve leaders from one from each of the tribe, they 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.760 go into the Promised Land for forty days they're exploring. 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:14.720 This place is amazing. Can you believe that God said 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:19.800 He's gonna give this to us? Oh my goodness. Okay, okay, 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:22.280 over there, I see, oh man, those looks like some 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:25.360 some cities over there some big walls. But oh my gosh, 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:27.760 look at that. This place is flowing with milk and honey. 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.120 No one knew what that meant, but it sounded awesome. Well, 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:33.680 well what's that? Oh my, do you see that. That's 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.680 a big deal. Oh no, that's just a campus safety volunteer. Okay, okay, 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:38.760 oh no, no, no, no, whoa no, no, There really 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:42.240 are some big people in this land. They look like giants. 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:44.640 But whoa speaking a big Look at that. Look how 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:46.839 big those grapes are touching your neighbors say, those are 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:51.120 big grapes. Those are massive. I can't wait to tell 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.400 Moses about these grapes. In fact, rather than tell them 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:56.000 about it, why don't we show them to them? And 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.360 so two of them carry this cluster of grapes and 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:02.040 pontomegranates and figs. They represent God's blessing and provision in 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:04.040 the land, and they bring it back to Moses, and 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:06.040 they set it down in front of them, and they 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.480 begin to give their report. Ten of the spies come 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:12.520 to one conclusion. They start talking about the giants in 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.000 the land, the armies, the walls that they would have 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:18.800 to bring down, and two of the spies, Caleb, and 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:21.400 the text would later tell us Joshua felt the same way. 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:23.920 They had a whole different set of beliefs. They said, 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:26.959 we can do it, we can take this place. God 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.160 is with it with us. How is it that two 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:31.880 people can be looking at the same thing and come 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.080 to two different conclusions. I've come to believe in my 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.720 life that what I believe is not a product of 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:42.400 what I see. It's a product of my focus. That's 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:45.280 how two people can get the same diagnosis from the 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.840 doctor and one of them be absolutely devastated, while the 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:53.520 other person experiences hope and peace and strength and God 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.960 like never before in their life. That's why I've sat 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:59.119 down with two different couples going through the same situation 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:01.679 and once we're not gonna make it, We've got to 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:03.480 give up, and the other says, no, no, no, We've 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.280 got some battles to fight, but we can forgive each 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.040 other and we can move on, and we believe God 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.520 is with us and that God has something in store 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:15.800 for us. It's a matter of your focus. Your focus. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:20.160 It's not that Joshua and Caleb were is more spiritual 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.680 than the others. All of these were leaders from each 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.760 of the tribes. There were great men of faith, and 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.040 maybe today you are standing on the edge of something 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.679 God has been trying to bring you into. It might 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.600 not look like canaan. It might look like peace, it 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:37.400 might look like joy, it might look like freedom, it 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.480 might look like healing. God is always trying to bring 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:44.040 you into something, But so often we stand at the edge, 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:48.959 never possessing what God has promised us because we lack focus. 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.319 And maybe you're here today and you've been so discouraged 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:54.559 and you feel like everybody else is winning and everybody 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:57.480 else is getting ahead, and you feel like, maybe I 0:11:57.520 --> 0:11:59.360 don't have faith. I want to encourage you today. It's 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.400 not that you don't have faith. In fact, the Bible 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:04.720 says that God has given us each a measure of faith. 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:07.520 Jesus says that all you need is faith the size 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.760 of a mustard seed to be able to speak to 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.080 these mountains and say move. If you have just a 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:15.000 little bit of faith, he said, nothing would be impossible 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.480 for you. It's not that you don't have faith. It 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:20.280 just might be that you don't have focus. Even great 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:24.000 people of faith have weak moments, and I think that's 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.560 what happened to these tense spies in this passage forty 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:32.000 days staring at the promise, and somewhere along the way 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:35.440 they lost their focus. But I really believe that the 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.320 reason Joshua and Caleb were able to keep their focus 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.680 was because they practice so much discipline throughout this whole process. 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:45.200 And I want to look at three things today that 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.480 Joshua and Caleb did so well that I think will 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.400 help someone who's here today that God is calling you 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.080 into something. This might be the message that gives you 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:56.400 the faith either confidence faith in yourself or hope faith 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:58.760 in God to move forward and what He's promised. And 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:04.800 the first thing is this focus. What you think When 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:07.760 I was first started reading through this passage, I was 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:11.200 judging these spies so hard. Man, I was judging them. 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:15.520 I didn't understand how these ten men could spend forty 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.199 days staring at grapes and pomegranates and figs after all 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:20.720 this time in the desert. I would have thought they 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.240 would have been so excited to be finally coming close 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:25.920 to the promise God had given. I was judging them 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.520 because I didn't understand how they were so preoccupied with 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:33.560 these giants. Why do you keep talking about the giants? Man? Giants? 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:37.440 Sounded like Alan iverson practice giants. What you're talking about 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.800 these giants for They come back and they give their 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.640 report and they say, see, they give their report and 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.960 they say, Moses, look at these grapes. But then they 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.679 start going on about these giants and armies and the walls. 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:52.400 And I'm judging them because I'm like, I just don't 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:55.760 understand how they could miss the promises and be so 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.960 focused on the problems. And I thought about, I thought 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:00.920 about getting up here to appreciate you and be like, 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:04.120 if you just worry about devouring those grapes, God will 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:06.640 devour your giants or something like that. Don't tweet that, 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:10.560 but something like that. Judging these guys. But the more 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:13.680 I read through number thirteen, the more I was able 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:15.520 to get some context of what was going on in 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:18.160 their lives. And the more I got context, the less 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:20.800 I was judging them, and the more I was actually 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.400 able to relate to them. See. Context is a powerful thing, 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:27.040 because context is the key to compassion. It's real easy 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.760 to make snap judgments off of snapshots when you look 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:31.680 at someone's life, they should have done this, or they 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.320 should have done that. But if you can zoom out 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.400 and get some contexts. Instead of judging them, you start 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:39.600 having compassion on them. Look at your neighbors, say, if 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.280 you knew my story, snop, come on, say it. If 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.640 you knew my story, if you knew my story, you 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:48.120 wouldn't be judging me today. You'd be celebrating me today. 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:50.520 If you knew what I had been through, if you 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.200 knew what God had brought me through, how he kept me, 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:56.440 how he saved me, you wouldn't be standing here judging me. 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.720 You'd be celebrating me. You'd be thinking God for what 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:01.880 he'd in my life. Yeah. I know, I got a 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.520 waste to go, but by the grace of God, I'm 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:10.960 still standing here. Context is the key to compassion. And 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.160 I'm reading through this passage and I started to see 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:16.480 where things went wrong because at the beginning of numbers thirteen, 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:20.840 God speaks to Moses and he gives them a simple instruction. See, 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:24.280 you got to understand that Moses is, in an informal sense, 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.200 Israel's first king, but he's very much so a prophet 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:32.080 of mouthpiece to God, from God to the Israelites. God 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.840 would speak to Moses and then he would relay that 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.760 message to the people. And so at the beginning of 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:42.200 numbers thirteen, God gives him one specific instruction, take twelve spies, 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:44.920 send him into the land to explore one thing. So 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.120 Moses is writing down as to do list, to do 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:54.720 explore the land. Got it a simple instruction? You see, 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:56.520 God is always trying to bring us into things. But 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.000 God is not the author of confusion. God always makes 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:02.200 it real simple. We like to complicate our faith, but 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:04.840 God often just gives us one next step. He keeps 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.680 things real simple for us. He gives them one thing, 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.200 explore the land. Moses takes that list, and look at 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:13.800 this in numbers thirteen eighteen. Now he's passing on that 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.720 list to the twelve spies, and he takes the one 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:18.960 thing that God put on the to do list, and 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.360 he starts making things so complicated. Numbers thirteen eighteen. It 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.080 says what he says, See what the land is like, 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:26.960 and whether the people who live there are stronger, weak, 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:28.880 few or many? What kind of land do they live in? 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:30.360 Is it good as a bad? What are the towns 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.040 like that they live in? Is it on wall they're fortified? 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:35.800 How's the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:37.640 trees in the land? Or not do your best to 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:39.680 bring back some of the fruit of the land. Moses 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.120 starts complicating the very simple thing that God asks them 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:45.200 to do. It's like when my wife sends me to 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:47.760 the grocery store to pick up salsa, and along the 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:50.840 way she starts texting me about diapers and bananas. Of 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.680 course I forgot the salsa. I can only think about 0:16:53.720 --> 0:17:00.000 one thing out a time. I'm a simple person, Moses complicates. 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:03.120 It's the simple instruction that God gave them to pass on. 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:07.119 The difference between God's lists and Moses's list is the 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.479 difference between what dads have to think about when they 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.000 go on vacation and what moms have to think about 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.280 when they're packing. Moms are like, I need clothes for 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.360 myself and close for the kids, and towels for the beach, 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:18.160 and toys for the beach and snacks for the car 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:20.840 and a first eight kit, and dads are like bathing suit, toothbrush. 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:27.120 Are you ready to go yet? It's not fair. Moses 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:31.040 has them considering things that God never asked them to consider. 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.000 No wonder they were talking about armies and walls and giants. 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:38.120 Moses sent them into the land thinking about things that 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:41.240 God never asked them to think about. And what I've 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:43.560 realized in my own life is that so often my 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.840 self consciousness is a product of my failure to be 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:50.919 God conscious. When I start thinking about things that God 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:54.320 never asked me to think about, I start undermining the 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.520 very confidence that I need to move forward into what 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.600 He's called me to. We do what Moses did all 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.479 the time. God gives us a simple instruction and we 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.680 start adding all kinds of considerations. God speaks to you 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.320 and he puts it on your heart. He says, I 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:12.560 want you to make church a priority because I want 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.280 you to set a legacy of faith for your family. 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.159 A simple thing, and we go, yes, God got it, 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.720 make church a priority. And then we start adding all 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:22.879 kinds of considerations. What's the weather like this week? And 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:24.879 how's the parking lot going to be? Is pastor Stephen 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:26.680 going to be there? Is it the Canadian guy again? 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:31.160 How were the kids? Were they crazy or extra crazy? 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:37.200 God speaks to you through his word and he says, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.240 I need you to start trusting me with the tithe 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:43.120 And remember, every time God gives you an instruction, it's 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.560 not because he's trying to keep you from something He's 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.480 always trying to bring you into something. Every good and 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:50.800 perfect gift comes from God, so he puts it on 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:52.439 your heart. I need you to start trusting me with 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:54.320 the tithe and we go, yes, God, I got it. 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.520 I'll do what you say. And then we start considering 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.240 all these other things. Did I get the promotion I wanted? 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:00.680 What were the bills? Like? Do I have all this shoes? 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:02.360 What kind of vacation do we want to take this year? 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:03.720 What kind of school do we want to put the 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:06.960 kids in? And we start considering things that God never 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:10.479 asked us to think about. That's where the ten Spies 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:14.280 went wrong. They undermined the confidence that they needed. God 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:16.760 was sending them into the land because he wanted them 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:19.960 to bring back a report to be able to encourage 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.480 the Israelite community about what God had in store for them, 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.480 and instead Moses had them thinking about all kinds of things, 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:31.320 giants and walls, and instead of encouraging the people, they 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.760 discouraged the people because of what they were sent into 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:39.760 the land, thinking about, so what do we do real? Practically? 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:42.399 We need to focus our thoughts because I think so 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:45.480 many of us we have thoughts that end up dictating 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:48.719 what we believe in the conclusions we come to, and 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:51.520 we never stopped to ask the question where did this 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:54.280 even come from? What would it look like if you 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:57.399 took time to actually think about what you're thinking about. 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:00.520 Look what Tewod Corinthians ten fives says at the end 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:04.000 of it. Paul says, we take captive every thought and 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.359 make it obedient to Christ. In other words, he says, 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.640 every thought that passes through my mind, I grab hold 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.520 of it, and I make it to submit to what 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:17.439 God has spoken over my life. If God hasn't said it, 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:23.840 I don't need to think about it, because what I 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:25.800 believe is not a product of what I see. It's 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:28.600 a product of my focus. I need to focus what 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:32.119 I think. But the second thing that I see. The 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.399 two spies do so well in this passage, and this 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:37.840 is number two. Focus what you hear, because look what 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.600 happens in the text. They come back from the land. 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:43.679 They're giving their report to Moses, and they start talking 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:46.720 at first about the promises that he had given them, 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:51.480 and he says that they say this in verse twenty seven, 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:53.280 it says, we went into the land in which you 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:55.040 sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey, 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:57.959 here is its fruit. But but, but, but but the 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:00.360 people who live there now they're talking about the problems 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.359 are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:06.640 But look what Caleb does. In verse thirty, he says, 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:12.199 shut up. He focused what he heard. He looked at 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:14.800 them and said, I don't need to hear all that. 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:20.480 It wasn't that Caleb wasn't aware of the giants and 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:22.959 what was in the land. He knew about it. He 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:25.120 had spent forty days looking at the same thing as 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:28.199 they did. But he looked at him and said, I 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:31.160 don't need to hear all that. Man. There are some 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:34.600 things in my life that things I need to deal 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:38.800 with that I am very aware of. I don't need 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:41.880 someone always coming in my ear just telling me about 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:44.600 all the things that are wrong. I need people in 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:47.480 my life who can speak God's promises over my life. 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.600 Tell me what God's declared over my life. God said 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:52.600 he would give us the slan. I don't need to 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:56.879 hear about all these giants. You gotta focus what you hear. Man. 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:00.040 And we pollute our faith, we pollute our hearts, we 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:03.959 pollute our spirits because we expose ourselves by what we 0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:08.919 hear these ten spies come back, and they're talking about 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:12.000 grapes and promises at first, and then they're talking about 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:16.639 giants and walls. But in the moment they start sounding 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:18.879 like Sir mix a lot instead of men of faith 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:26.240 talking about butts. Caleb has the fortitude to say, stop 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:28.959 talking about that, man, I don't need to hear all that. 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:30.800 Touch Your neighbors say, I don't need to hear all that. 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:36.160 See there are some of us in this place today 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:38.120 that God has put some things on your heart. There 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:40.560 are things that God has called you to. But the 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:43.000 reason you haven't had the confidence to move forward is 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:46.160 because there are still voices in your life that are 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:49.720 talking you out of what God is calling you into. 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:56.600 Dreams He's put in your heart, dreams he's put in 0:22:56.600 --> 0:22:59.560 your spirit. And every time you get ready to believe 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:01.480 him in, every time you get ready to take that step, 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:03.159 there's someone in your ear saying, but but but but 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:06.480 but but but but but but didn't the doctor tell 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:09.400 you wouldn't be able to conceive again? But but but 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:12.080 but but but but do you really want to put 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:14.960 yourself through all that heartbreak again? After what you've been through? 0:23:15.280 --> 0:23:18.000 But but but, but do you really think you're qualified 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:21.320 for that job? And we let these voices talk us 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:24.280 out of what God is calling us into because we 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:27.800 lack focus. But you gotta become selective with your hearing. 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:30.680 Man like my kid, It's amazing how he can hear 0:23:30.720 --> 0:23:32.760 me when he wants to hear me, and doesn't hear 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:35.600 me when he doesn't want to. You gotta become selective 0:23:35.800 --> 0:23:38.399 in your hearing because your faith is a product of 0:23:38.440 --> 0:23:41.720 your focus. You gotta focus what you hear. The Bible 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:45.159 says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:47.760 word of God. In other words, my faith is not 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:51.560 determined by what I see. My faith is determined by 0:23:51.600 --> 0:23:54.719 what I hear. I gotta submit my life under the 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:57.400 words that God has spoken over my life. I need 0:23:57.520 --> 0:24:00.560 friends who will stand in my corner and claire what 0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:04.119 God has said over my situation. God said, I belong 0:24:04.200 --> 0:24:07.440 to him. God said he I'm a child. God said 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:11.720 no weapon formed against me would prosper and prevail. Hallelujah, 0:24:11.720 --> 0:24:18.080 Thank you God. I don't need people to talk me 0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:20.360 out of the battle. I need friends who will come 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:24.160 into battle with me declaring what God has spoken over 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:26.159 my life. He said he would give it to me. 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:32.280 Faith comes by what you hear. What you hear, what 0:24:32.320 --> 0:24:34.520 you hear. Encourage the person next to you. Look him 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:36.960 dead in the eye at every campus, and with faith, 0:24:36.960 --> 0:24:40.120 look at him. Say God is with you. No, no, no, 0:24:40.119 --> 0:24:43.280 no no, say it with faith, God is with you. 0:24:43.280 --> 0:24:45.800 You can do it. I don't know what it is 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:48.359 that God has calling you today, but God is with you, 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:56.960 and you can do it. I don't need to hear 0:24:57.000 --> 0:25:00.679 all that. I'm a friend and mine school who is 0:25:00.720 --> 0:25:03.360 so good at pointing out people's little mannerisms that they 0:25:03.359 --> 0:25:05.280 did things I would never notice. But he had a 0:25:05.280 --> 0:25:07.320 way of picking up on those little things you do, 0:25:07.359 --> 0:25:09.600 those little weird things you do. I remember one time 0:25:09.640 --> 0:25:11.320 he was like, hey, do you notice how this guy 0:25:11.359 --> 0:25:14.720 clears his throat between every other word? Hey man, how 0:25:14.760 --> 0:25:18.400 you do it? I never noticed it before, but once 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:23.399 he said it, it was all I could hear. And 0:25:23.440 --> 0:25:26.760 we wonder sometimes why we're so focused on the wrong things. 0:25:26.800 --> 0:25:29.880 It's because we haven't become selective enough in what we hear. 0:25:30.640 --> 0:25:32.639 I'm not saying you can't be friends with the person, 0:25:32.680 --> 0:25:34.560 but I had a friend the other day who started 0:25:34.560 --> 0:25:37.320 talking real negatively about something I care about. And it's 0:25:37.320 --> 0:25:38.919 not that I don't want to be friends with him anymore. 0:25:38.960 --> 0:25:40.560 I love the dude, but I just have to say 0:25:40.560 --> 0:25:43.800 I don't need to hear all that. Some of you 0:25:43.880 --> 0:25:46.320 wonder why you're so anxious, and it's like, maybe it's 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:48.600 because you're listening to the same news cycle every night 0:25:48.680 --> 0:25:50.920 at eleven o'clock. Maybe you need to change up the 0:25:51.000 --> 0:25:54.000 music you listen to, because faith comes through what you hear. 0:25:54.520 --> 0:25:57.440 So if it's not pure, if it's not true, if 0:25:57.480 --> 0:26:01.359 it's not excellent, if it's not praiseworthy, if it's not honorable, 0:26:01.520 --> 0:26:03.880 then I don't need to be hearing that kind of stuff. Man, 0:26:05.240 --> 0:26:12.040 Caleb silenced the people. Number three. This is my last point. 0:26:12.119 --> 0:26:17.679 Focus what you say. There's a real difference between the 0:26:17.680 --> 0:26:21.439 way that Joshua and Caleb talked about their situation and 0:26:21.520 --> 0:26:25.440 the way the other ten Spies did. When I first 0:26:25.480 --> 0:26:28.360 started reading through this passage, I just assumed that those 0:26:28.400 --> 0:26:33.359 ten Spies were lying about what they saw. I could understand. Man, 0:26:33.359 --> 0:26:35.359 They'd already been through a lot. Maybe they just didn't 0:26:35.359 --> 0:26:37.840 want to go into another battle. Maybe they didn't feel 0:26:38.080 --> 0:26:39.960 like fighting again. So maybe they thought, hey, if we 0:26:40.080 --> 0:26:43.640 just kind of exaggerate about what's in the land. Maybe 0:26:43.680 --> 0:26:46.240 we can talk them out of it. You know, we'll 0:26:46.280 --> 0:26:48.879 get there eventually, but we're just not up for it 0:26:48.960 --> 0:26:51.240 right now. I thought they were maybe making up what 0:26:51.280 --> 0:26:54.680 they saw, because Joshua and Caleb are saying, like, man, 0:26:54.720 --> 0:26:57.080 we are stronger than they are. God is with us. 0:26:57.119 --> 0:26:59.359 We should go up. We can certainly do it. And 0:26:59.400 --> 0:27:02.359 they're saying, these people are so big, we seem like 0:27:02.400 --> 0:27:05.840 grasshoppers in their own eyes. Who's right who's wrong? In 0:27:05.880 --> 0:27:08.480 this situation? I thought one was telling them the truth 0:27:08.520 --> 0:27:10.320 and one was lying. But then I noticed a small 0:27:10.320 --> 0:27:13.080 detail in verse thirty two. Look at this, it says, 0:27:13.440 --> 0:27:17.000 and they spread amongst the Israelites a bad report. Did 0:27:17.040 --> 0:27:20.679 you catch that? A bad report? Not a false report, 0:27:21.359 --> 0:27:25.880 not a wrong report, a bad report. What they saw 0:27:25.880 --> 0:27:30.120 in the land was very much real. There were big walls, 0:27:30.359 --> 0:27:33.239 there were big cities, there were big people that they 0:27:33.240 --> 0:27:37.240 would have to conquer. They weren't deceived in what they saw. 0:27:37.840 --> 0:27:42.920 They were deceived in what they said because they spoke 0:27:42.960 --> 0:27:44.600 about what they saw on the land, and then they 0:27:44.600 --> 0:27:47.800 started saying all kinds of crazy things, like, man, we 0:27:47.840 --> 0:27:51.440 are so small, we seem like grasshoppers. In their own eyes. Now, 0:27:51.480 --> 0:27:53.800 how could they know that? How do they know what 0:27:53.840 --> 0:27:57.240 they're thinking? They didn't know that. And often where the 0:27:57.359 --> 0:27:59.520 enemy will deceive us in our life is he'll have 0:27:59.600 --> 0:28:02.600 us looking out a very real situation but coming to 0:28:02.760 --> 0:28:06.760 very false conclusions. And what you say is a reflection 0:28:06.880 --> 0:28:10.479 of what you believe. There's very little space between what 0:28:10.520 --> 0:28:13.120 you say and what you believe. And the more they 0:28:13.119 --> 0:28:17.000 started saying we're so small, we're so inferior, we can't 0:28:17.000 --> 0:28:20.440 do it, we can't take them. They're bigger, they're stronger, 0:28:20.640 --> 0:28:22.760 the more they started to believe that that's where the 0:28:22.840 --> 0:28:27.400 enemy deceived them in what they said. And I am 0:28:27.480 --> 0:28:31.520 so guilty about this in my own life, where I 0:28:31.560 --> 0:28:34.320 can be looking at a very real situation, something that 0:28:34.359 --> 0:28:36.640 I have to deal with and something that I need 0:28:36.680 --> 0:28:40.440 to face, but I undermine the faith I need to 0:28:40.480 --> 0:28:44.920 do it by the words that I say. And it 0:28:44.960 --> 0:28:49.920 gets crazy sometimes. The other day we got into an argument, 0:28:50.000 --> 0:28:51.920 just a little argument. Don't worry about us, just a 0:28:51.920 --> 0:28:54.880 little argument. We got into an argument. But I remember 0:28:54.920 --> 0:28:58.600 walking away saying to myself, like, I'll never be good 0:28:58.680 --> 0:29:01.280 enough for Anna, I'll never be the husband she deserves. 0:29:02.000 --> 0:29:04.840 I lost my patient with the boys picking him up 0:29:04.880 --> 0:29:08.840 from school the other day, and instead of just saying 0:29:08.880 --> 0:29:11.880 the easy thing to say, I'm sorry, you know what, 0:29:11.920 --> 0:29:14.800 I started saying to myself in the car. They're gonna 0:29:14.800 --> 0:29:17.040 grow up believing their dad's a hypocrite, and they're gonna 0:29:17.040 --> 0:29:18.960 hate God, and they're gonna hate Church, and they're gonna 0:29:18.960 --> 0:29:24.200 hate me. Crazy conclusions, real simple situation. But we inject 0:29:24.200 --> 0:29:27.680 all these thoughts and we start saying things that contradict 0:29:27.960 --> 0:29:30.520 what God has spoken over our lives. I need to 0:29:30.720 --> 0:29:33.240 do something different. Yeah, I've got to deal with it. Yeah, 0:29:33.240 --> 0:29:35.640 I've got to address it and say sorry sometimes, but 0:29:35.760 --> 0:29:38.280 I need to declare over my life the truth of 0:29:38.320 --> 0:29:41.280 what God has spoken. I am a good husband, I 0:29:41.320 --> 0:29:47.920 am a good dad. See, there's someone today that you 0:29:47.960 --> 0:29:51.320 are looking at a very real situation. But what God 0:29:51.400 --> 0:29:53.200 is calling you to do is change the way you 0:29:53.280 --> 0:29:55.480 talk about it. He wants to tell you to focus 0:29:55.560 --> 0:29:58.120 what you say and make sure every word that comes 0:29:58.160 --> 0:30:01.120 out of your mouth is in accordance with what He's spoken. 0:30:03.680 --> 0:30:07.280 Paul Rowe, he said, I believe, therefore I have spoken. 0:30:08.280 --> 0:30:10.520 What you say is a reflection of your beliefs. For 0:30:10.600 --> 0:30:12.800 some of you, you're looking at a very real sickness. 0:30:13.040 --> 0:30:15.280 But that doesn't mean you can't declare the truth over 0:30:15.320 --> 0:30:19.440 your situation. I am healed by his stripes. I am healed, 0:30:19.600 --> 0:30:22.320 I am whole, I am redeemed. Yeah, you might have 0:30:22.400 --> 0:30:24.800 lost some years, but you can declare over your life 0:30:25.000 --> 0:30:27.840 that my God is a redeemer, that there is nothing 0:30:27.880 --> 0:30:31.320 too difficult for him, that my best days are ahead 0:30:31.360 --> 0:30:35.840 of me. Yeah, you made some mistakes, that's real, But 0:30:35.960 --> 0:30:38.080 you don't need to believe that God has done with you. 0:30:38.400 --> 0:30:40.960 He has more in store for you. He has plans 0:30:40.960 --> 0:30:44.320 to prossper you, not to harm you. Sometimes you gotta 0:30:44.360 --> 0:30:47.960 look your situation right in the face and say, yeah, 0:30:48.040 --> 0:30:50.720 I know you're there. But what Mike, God has spoken 0:30:51.200 --> 0:30:53.360 is true. And if he said he would give me 0:30:53.440 --> 0:30:59.600 the land, he will give me the land. Talking about 0:30:59.640 --> 0:31:04.640 giant walls numbers fourteen eight, Joshua and Caleb speak up 0:31:04.640 --> 0:31:07.000 and they say, if the Lord is pleased with us, 0:31:07.160 --> 0:31:09.680 he will lead us into the land again. Talking about 0:31:09.680 --> 0:31:13.000 the blessings, they say, a land flowing with milk and honey, 0:31:13.120 --> 0:31:15.520 and look at this. They repeat the promise that God 0:31:15.640 --> 0:31:19.160 initially gave to Moses, and even before that, gave to Abraham, 0:31:19.440 --> 0:31:24.520 and he will give it to us. Don't rebel against 0:31:24.560 --> 0:31:30.600 the Lord. Don't be afraid. We will devour them. See 0:31:30.600 --> 0:31:33.200 the ten spots kept saying, this land is gonna devour us. 0:31:33.240 --> 0:31:35.240 Surely God's brought us out here to die. We can't 0:31:35.280 --> 0:31:38.440 defeat them. We're so small in their eyes. But Joshua 0:31:38.440 --> 0:31:41.600 and Caleb, they focus what they said. They kept repeating 0:31:41.640 --> 0:31:43.479 the promise that God had said he will give us 0:31:43.480 --> 0:31:46.520 this land. There's some things we're gonna have to fight, 0:31:46.560 --> 0:31:48.640 There's some battles that we're gonna have to go through. 0:31:48.960 --> 0:31:50.760 But if God said he'd give it to us, then 0:31:50.800 --> 0:31:58.320 I believe that he'll give it to us. Stand to 0:31:58.360 --> 0:32:00.360 your feet at all your other locations. I'm want to 0:32:00.400 --> 0:32:04.560 close this thing down. See what you believe is not 0:32:04.600 --> 0:32:07.840 a product of what you see. For forty days, they 0:32:07.880 --> 0:32:10.560 were all looking at the same thing and yet came 0:32:10.560 --> 0:32:14.480 to very different conclusions. Because what you believe is a 0:32:14.480 --> 0:32:17.360 product of your focus. You got to focus what you think, 0:32:18.600 --> 0:32:24.080 focus what you hear, and focus what you say. Because 0:32:24.120 --> 0:32:26.200 what you believe is not a product of what you see. 0:32:26.200 --> 0:32:29.479 But get this, the way God works, what you believe 0:32:30.360 --> 0:32:37.800 will determine what you see. For the ten Spies who 0:32:37.840 --> 0:32:40.800 believe that they couldn't defeat them, who believe that they 0:32:40.800 --> 0:32:43.959 would die in the wilderness, who believe that God couldn't 0:32:44.000 --> 0:32:46.479 do it through them. For the tense Spies and the 0:32:46.640 --> 0:32:50.920 entire generation of Israelites who believe their bad report, they 0:32:50.920 --> 0:32:55.000 would never step foot into that promised Land again, because 0:32:55.040 --> 0:33:00.880 what you believe determines what you see. But for Joshua 0:33:00.960 --> 0:33:03.600 and Caleb, the ones who have the courage, the confidence, 0:33:03.640 --> 0:33:07.080 the focus to believe God for what he had spoken, 0:33:07.760 --> 0:33:11.520 because they believe God, they would see that promised Land again. Yeah, 0:33:11.600 --> 0:33:13.680 it would take some time, and yeah there would be 0:33:13.720 --> 0:33:16.440 some fights, but they would have the opportunity to lead 0:33:16.480 --> 0:33:20.080 the next generation of God's people into the promise. Because 0:33:20.320 --> 0:33:26.880 what you believe determines what you see. And there's someone 0:33:26.920 --> 0:33:29.240 here today under the sound of my voice. You've lost 0:33:29.280 --> 0:33:33.120 your focus. You've let too many voices talk you out 0:33:33.520 --> 0:33:37.320 of what God was calling you into. You've been considering things, 0:33:37.360 --> 0:33:40.640 getting all insecure, thinking about things that God didn't ask 0:33:40.680 --> 0:33:44.240 you to think about, and you've been saying some crazy things. 0:33:45.040 --> 0:33:47.400 Yeah they're based on what you see, but they don't 0:33:47.440 --> 0:33:49.600 align with what God has spoken over your life. You 0:33:49.640 --> 0:33:52.560 need to focus what you say. I believe that God 0:33:52.640 --> 0:33:55.480 is bringing you into something today. You're on the edge 0:33:55.520 --> 0:33:57.920 of a breakthrough. You're on the edge of a miracle, 0:33:58.160 --> 0:34:00.479 You're on the edge of a blessing. Don't lose your 0:34:00.520 --> 0:34:05.719 focus now, because what you believe will determine what you'll see. 0:34:05.800 --> 0:34:08.000 And if you would believe God for it, then by 0:34:08.080 --> 0:34:11.680 His grace, you will see it. I don't know who 0:34:11.719 --> 0:34:13.719 this message was for, but it's for someone who was 0:34:13.760 --> 0:34:17.399 giving up, someone who felt so frustrated that they were 0:34:17.400 --> 0:34:19.239 on the edge of something God had put in your 0:34:19.239 --> 0:34:22.560 heart so long ago. Now it's time to possess what 0:34:22.600 --> 0:34:30.000 God has promised. Focus, focus in his presence today, right now, 0:34:30.040 --> 0:34:33.759 I want to actually give a very specific invitation for 0:34:33.880 --> 0:34:36.200 someone under the sound of my voice. Maybe you're in Ashville, 0:34:36.200 --> 0:34:40.560 Maybe and you're in Morrisville, maybe you're in Raleigh. You've 0:34:40.600 --> 0:34:43.640 never made a decision to make Jesus Christ your Lord 0:34:43.719 --> 0:34:47.399 and savior. You've seen his grace, He's been in your 0:34:47.400 --> 0:34:51.000 life the whole time. You've experienced his goodness and his mercy, 0:34:51.040 --> 0:34:54.359 but you've never surrendered your life to him. It is 0:34:54.440 --> 0:34:56.720 possible that you could have been looking at your savior 0:34:56.760 --> 0:35:00.720 your hope all along and completely missed it. When Jesus 0:35:00.800 --> 0:35:03.279 hung on the cross with a crown of thorns and 0:35:03.719 --> 0:35:06.920 blood running down his face as he poured out his 0:35:07.000 --> 0:35:10.760 blood for our forgiveness, there was a thief on either side. 0:35:11.400 --> 0:35:15.360 Two people looking at the same promise, the same promise, 0:35:15.440 --> 0:35:19.560 one the same savior of the world. Two people looking 0:35:19.600 --> 0:35:23.400 at the same promise, but came to two very different conclusions. 0:35:24.120 --> 0:35:26.880 One thief on the side of Jesus looked at him 0:35:26.920 --> 0:35:30.719 and said, if you're really the son of God, he 0:35:30.760 --> 0:35:33.920 didn't have the faith to believe, and because he didn't believe, 0:35:34.560 --> 0:35:37.560 he wouldn't see Jesus again. But on the other side 0:35:37.600 --> 0:35:40.040 of Jesus was a thief who deserved to be on 0:35:40.120 --> 0:35:42.440 that cross. But he looked at Jesus and said, I 0:35:42.520 --> 0:35:44.799 want to be with you in paradise. I believe in you. 0:35:45.040 --> 0:35:47.400 I believe you're the savior of the world. And because 0:35:47.440 --> 0:35:49.560 he believed, Jesus says, you will be with me today. 0:35:49.800 --> 0:35:52.520 God not only wants to spend eternity with you, but 0:35:52.640 --> 0:35:57.080 God wants to come into your life right now. God 0:35:57.160 --> 0:36:00.320 is with you in this moment. Don't miss him, render 0:36:00.360 --> 0:36:02.760 your life to him. Choose to believe it. That's you today. 0:36:02.920 --> 0:36:05.880 This is your moment, your moment of salvation, your moment 0:36:05.920 --> 0:36:07.799 of faith. I want to lead you in a prayer 0:36:07.880 --> 0:36:10.640 right now to surrender your life to Christ, to receive 0:36:10.719 --> 0:36:14.240 the promise of his grace and his forgiveness. With heads 0:36:14.280 --> 0:36:17.160 bowed and eyes closed, all over this place, pray with me. 0:36:17.280 --> 0:36:21.440 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God 0:36:22.160 --> 0:36:25.000 in the savior of the world. I believe he died 0:36:25.719 --> 0:36:30.160 and rose again to forgive my sin and give me life. 0:36:30.400 --> 0:36:34.560 I receive your grace by faith. Come into my life, 0:36:35.120 --> 0:36:38.760 made me new. I'll follow you with head still bowed 0:36:38.760 --> 0:36:41.360 and eyes still close at every location. If you just 0:36:41.400 --> 0:36:44.280 prayed that prayer. When I count to three, boldly shoot 0:36:44.320 --> 0:36:46.879 your hand up in the air. Do it courageously. Man, 0:36:47.040 --> 0:36:49.320 we want to celebrate what God's done in your life. 0:36:49.400 --> 0:36:53.080 On three, one, two, three, shoots your hand up. Don't hesitate. 0:36:53.320 --> 0:36:57.600 Come on across all the locations. Let's celebrate the miracles, 0:36:57.840 --> 0:37:01.840 a new beginning. And Jesus said, come on, lift their voices, 0:37:02.200 --> 0:37:05.880 give God praising this play. He's so faithful his promise, 0:37:05.960 --> 0:37:11.160 still saying well. I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. 0:37:11.320 --> 0:37:13.160 If you did. There are just a couple of things 0:37:13.239 --> 0:37:16.359 I'd love for you to do. Number one, subscribe to 0:37:16.400 --> 0:37:19.560 our show. That way, the most recent episode will always 0:37:19.600 --> 0:37:22.719 be in your feed, waiting for you ready when you are. 0:37:23.200 --> 0:37:26.359 And Secondly, if this ministry has impacted you and you'd 0:37:26.400 --> 0:37:28.680 like to help us continue to reach others, you can 0:37:28.680 --> 0:37:30.919 click the link in the description and you can give 0:37:31.000 --> 0:37:34.960 now and I'll see you next time on the Elevation podcast.