Talk Yourself Into It

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.360 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.080 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.600 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:19.400 Enjoy the message. Well, thank you, worship team. I want 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:21.480 to go into the Word of God today. I spoke 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:23.560 to you last week on the subject of confidence, and 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:25.919 I'm going to continue along those thoughts. From what I 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:28.920 could tell, the sermon help some people. I'm not saying 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:29.800 it helped everybody. 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:34.360 Some of y'all are beyond help. 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.920 No, I don't really believe that, but it resonated with 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:41.720 some people. So in a similar vein today, I want 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.040 to bring a message of encouragement. Let's look together at 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.919 Joshua chapter one. Normally I have you stand for the scripture, 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:49.720 but I kind of have a few scriptures today, so 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:51.520 I thought you could just sit there and I read 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:55.840 it for you and Joshua chapter one, verse six through nine. 0:00:56.760 --> 0:01:01.160 And this message that God gave me is a little 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:03.960 bit of a practical thing and something that's been helpful 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.720 in my life. And so I hope that it'll be 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:10.560 helpful to you. Very simple message. This is an epic text. 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:15.240 I can't speak for the sermon. The sermon may be good, 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:19.559 it may not be, but this text is legendary. 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.440 And we're going into the locker room where. 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:27.240 God is giving Joshua a halftime talk, and he's telling 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:28.920 him what he must do and how he's going to 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:33.760 do it, because Joshua has big shoes to fill, and 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:37.120 Joshua has a job to do, and Joshua has a 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.479 purpose to accomplish. And so God is getting his men 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:43.720 ready because how many know that God will never give 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:46.280 you a purpose, that he will not prepare you for 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.320 all of your life up until this point, the parts 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:52.240 that you like, the parts that you didn't like, the 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:54.840 parts that you understood, in the parts that you're still 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.760 trying to understand, you can know this that they were 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:02.680 all preparing you for God's purpose. The moment that you 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.560 believe that you can really embrace whatever comes into your life, 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.040 knowing that if God didn't send it, he'll still use it. 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:13.520 Anything that comes against you can become a weapon in 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:15.560 the hands of God fighting for you. 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:18.200 So God is telling. 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.520 Joshua in a period of transition for the nation of Israel, 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:25.080 that the job is too big for him, but the 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:28.000 God who is with him is bigger than the giants 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:32.040 that stand before him. In convincing him of this, he 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:35.080 tells him in verse six of Joshua chapter one, be 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:41.600 strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:47.280 inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. You. 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:48.640 Notice how good my eyesight is. 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:50.560 I can read my Bible from all the way back here. 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:53.360 How many of you over forty five verse extremely jealous? 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:53.919 Right now? 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.680 I'm going to employ my good eyesight while I've got it. 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.320 He said it again, be strong and courageous. This we 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:02.640 already said that God, remember in verse six. Yeah, but 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.639 I'm saying it again because I know how you are, 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.440 and I know how quickly your courage evaporates. I wish 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.160 rad Straup were here. He's on staff with our students, 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:16.919 and he asked me a profound question the other day. 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:19.440 He said, why is it that no matter how much 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:24.120 people encourage me, I can't keep myself encouraged. I'll find 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:27.519 some way if somebody compliments me, to disqualify the compliment 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.560 or to cancel it out. I'll tell myself. Well, they're 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:32.560 just being nice. They're saying that because they have to 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.080 say that. They're just saying that to make me feel good. 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.520 And so maybe there's something to the repetition factor here. 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.760 That God knows that between verse six and verse seven 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:46.360 something happened to make you discouraged, and so he encourages 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:50.280 you again, be strong and courageous, Be careful to obey 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:52.800 all the law my servant Moses gave you. 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.400 Don't turn from it to the right or to the left. 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:56.920 I know there's a lot of things trying to get 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.520 you off track and get you off course, but. 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.800 Don't beat this. You got a job to do. 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:06.680 I want you to be successful wherever you go. This 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:10.600 is God's heart for you, and in order to do it, 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:12.760 you got to keep this book of the Law always 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.960 on your lips. Meditate on it day and night, so 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:17.200 that you may be careful to. 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:21.479 Do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:22.360 and successful. 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:33.839 Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous, Do 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:38.799 not be afraid, do not be discouraged, For the Lord 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.640 your God will be with you wherever you go. 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:45.839 You're looking for something to write down, Write this down. 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:52.600 God's presence is guaranteed, but his promises are optional. I 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:57.040 will be with you wherever you go, But how far 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:01.800 you want to go is up to you. Even if 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.760 you don't go into the things that I have prepared 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:08.040 for you in your life, I'll be with you. 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.279 You make your bed in hell, I'll be with you. 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.279 Belly of the fish, I'll be with you. Hide out 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.960 from Jezebel in a cave. I'll be with you. Murder 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:19.680 an Egyptian and run to the desert. 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:21.080 I'll be with you in Midian. 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.240 So the fact that God will be with you, his 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.440 presence is guaranteed, it is not conditional. 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:29.400 But the way that you. 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:33.840 Experience his promises, well, a lot of that is up 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:37.800 to you. And so God mentions to Joshua with two things. 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.080 Can I teach you a little bit today? He says, 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:48.520 don't be afraid, don't be discouraged. Don't be afraid, don't 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:50.240 be discouraged. I'll talk to a friend the other day, 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.240 and we were laughing at each other about how we 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.520 insert ourselves into biblical stories and shrink down the magnitude 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:58.880 of the stories to fit our situations, which are sometimes 0:05:58.880 --> 0:05:59.680 not that big of a deal. 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:00.840 Do you know what I mean. 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.440 It's like David killed Goliath and. 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.320 You can lose fifteen pounds too, do you know what 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:06.680 I mean? 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.200 Like Goliath just becomes whatever you need him to be. Right, 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:14.160 Goliath can be your student loan. He's no longer this 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:19.240 life threatening nation defying giant. Now we've got Goliath representing 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.200 your car payment. You can take him down in the 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:26.720 name of the Lord. That's what we do in the 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:28.280 case of I don't know. I could use a lot 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:30.120 of examples and't I was talking to a friend the 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:32.360 other day and he was negotiating a real estate contract 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.760 and he was comparing himself to Moses and the guy 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:39.200 who owned the land to Pharaoh, and he said, I 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:42.240 feel like Moses going before Pharaoh and it's just a 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.000 little thirty thousand square foot building, you know. But he's 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.280 now got this contonstruct where in his mind he's kind 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:49.880 of like put himself in the biblical story. 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:51.560 It's easy to do that with Joshua. 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.360 So now God's telling Joshua, I'm gonna lead you into 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.279 this land. You're gonna have to lead millions of vagabond 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:58.440 nomadic people who love to complain and forget what I 0:06:58.480 --> 0:06:58.920 do for them. 0:06:58.920 --> 0:06:59.720 The moment I do it. 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:01.839 So I want you to go get them ready and 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:03.320 go do that, okay, and by the way, don't be afraid, 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:04.040 don't be discouraged. 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:05.200 And it's easy for us. 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.080 To make the jump because we want to personalize the 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.320 Bible and all of a sudden, now instead of taking 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:11.280 over the land and leading millions of people, it's just 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:11.920 symbolic of. 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:13.040 Whatever we need to do in our lives. 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:14.760 So it's like the apartment that we hope we get 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.160 or the college we want to get into, and so we. 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:18.360 Can shrink it down. But I think part of that 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:18.720 is good. 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:20.920 Maybe sometimes I go too far with it because I 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:22.720 have a passion as a preacher to make it personal. 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:24.240 I feel like I failed if all of that did 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:26.120 is teach you a history lesson about somebody who lived 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.200 a long time ago called Joshua. So there's a part 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.360 of me that wants to make it personal. Perhaps sometimes 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:34.800 I take it too far, and we forget the magnitude 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.120 of the miracles that the Bible illustrates. 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:40.280 That Joshua going. 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:42.720 Into the Promised Land wasn't like you asking a girl 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:43.360 out on a date. 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:47.440 But we can do that in our. 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:49.320 Desire to personalize the Bible, which I think is a 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.520 good thing. We can well, we can miss the point 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:55.200 or loose the perspective, and so I just want to 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:59.400 bring it into perspective here that Joshua. 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:05.560 Must have been terrified. You know what, I read that scripture. 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:07.360 That feel while I was reading it that you're like, yeah, 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:09.760 get over it, Joshua, go do it, you know, just 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:12.280 get up and do it. Get up and do it, 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.720 Get up and do it. I got to defeat the Jebusites, 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:24.720 the Hitsites, the Parasites, the Canaanites, the Cellulites, those most 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:30.840 dreadful enemies of all. And God tells him to do something. 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:33.559 He tells him to do something in the face of 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:35.400 all of these enemies that he knows he must encounter. 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.400 God says, be strong and courageous. Then he tells him 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:39.479 what not to do. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:47.160 Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:55.839 Something within me rises to Joshua's defense. I can't help 0:08:55.880 --> 0:09:01.840 it if I feel afraid. I can't help it if 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:07.960 I feel discouraged. How can you tell me not to 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:12.640 feel afraid? God, when all of these battles that I've 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.520 never fought before waiting in front of me, How can 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.400 you tell me not to be afraid when I'm leading 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:19.680 people who have only known. 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.320 The wilderness into warfare. How can you tell me not to. 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.720 Be discouraged when I have to go in under resource 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:28.559 then may be overwhelmed. 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:30.360 How can you tell me. 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.719 Not to feel afraid and not to feel discouraged? But 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:37.679 God didn't say don't feel afraid, and he didn't say 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:39.000 don't feel discouraged. 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:40.559 I think the. 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:42.920 Essence of what God wants to say to you is 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:47.560 just because you feel afraid doesn't mean you have to 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:48.280 be afraid. 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:51.320 Just because you feel. 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:56.480 Discouraged doesn't mean you have to be discouraged. Just because 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.440 you have fear doesn't mean fear has to have you. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:04.200 Come on, talk to me somebody. And for most of us, 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:08.960 our default setting is fear and discouragement. 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:13.160 Our default setting. 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:17.640 In the situations that are unfamiliar to us is anxiety 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:25.360 and discouragement. You see, God has given you a destiny. 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:28.720 I want you to believe that, even if you can't 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.680 see it right now, even if it's not your destiny 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:34.920 to lead millions of people into the Promised land, God 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:39.440 has given you a destiny as a parent. God has 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:43.280 given you a destiny on your job. It's part of 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:47.320 your destiny. God has given you a job to do. 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.280 And know you're not Joshua, but you have a job 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:53.200 to do. I would like for you to repeat after 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:58.280 me the following declaration, I have a destiny all right now. 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:00.000 I need you to know that the bigger the death, 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:01.520 the bigger the enemies. 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:09.719 That was helpful for me to. 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:14.760 Realize because in seasons of my life I was hard 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:18.400 on myself, feeling like there was something wrong with me. 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:24.200 And it's because God's promises in my life, while they 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:29.720 seemed attractive, sometimes aren't so automatic as we think that 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:34.760 they should be. In the text that I read to you, 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:39.760 God is telling Joshua that the real enemies to your 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:45.120 destiny are not the Canaanites. The real enemy of your 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.119 destiny are not the Hittites. 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:48.560 The real enemies of. 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.080 Your destinies are not the Jugsites. These are all the 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.200 people that he would face as he moved forward in faith. 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:59.920 But God wants Joshua to know that your real enemy 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:01.280 is not another person. 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.439 Your real enemy is not even a situation. 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:09.240 Because if you don't know this, you'll spend your whole 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:14.520 life fighting the wrong things. God says, let me tell 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:18.040 you what to fight. Fight your fear. Let me tell 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:22.160 you what to fight, fight your discouragement. If you can 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.319 fight discouragement, you can fulfill your destiny. 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:27.600 I'm gonna say it over my shoulder, to the left 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:30.200 side of the room. If you can fight your fear, 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:30.880 if you. 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.839 Can face your fear, you can move forward into your destiny. 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:38.400 And this is important for Joshua to know. See, because 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:39.760 Joshua has been around a while. 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.280 By the time that God is calling him Bible background, 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:43.160 he's already. 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:44.960 Served under Moses. He served under Moses as. 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:47.319 A commander, and he won some great battles under Moses, 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:49.400 and he did some great things under Moses. But now 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:51.880 Moses has left the building, and so God is talking 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:53.200 Joshua into Now. 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.320 God is very persuasive, Okay, So when. 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.840 God tries to talk you into something, as we've already seen. 0:12:57.679 --> 0:12:58.600 He'll use repetition. 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:00.400 But he also knows how to locate the thing that 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:02.280 is keeping you from doing what you're called to do. 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:03.640 Now the people of. 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:05.920 God are standing at the edge of something. They are 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:08.559 out of Egypt, but they are not yet into Canaan. 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:10.640 That's where so many Christians live. 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.400 I've come out of some things, but I haven't moved 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:17.520 into the things. I've made some progress, but I have 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:21.960 not fully possessed the promise. I've become aware of God's presence, 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:27.080 but I haven't fully accessed his promises. And that's where 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:36.760 Joshua stands. And he's been here before forty years ago, and. 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.680 Moses was in a position to possess the promised land, 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:43.760 and he sent some spies into the land. 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:46.600 A lot of people don't know this part of the story, 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.000 you know. I mean, they may have heard a little 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.080 bit about it, but they don't know the details, the 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:56.880 details that kept them from experiencing their destiny, the details 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.440 that caused hundreds of thousands of them to die in 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:02.320 the desert looking at promises that they could have possessed, 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:07.160 The details that keep you from being the dad that 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.840 God called you to be, doing the things God called 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:12.800 you to do, enjoying the life that Christ himself. 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:14.199 Died to give you. I feel a. 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:17.760 Holy burden on this message today because somebody is looking 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:22.520 at a promise that you're not living in. And the 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:24.640 reason that you're not living in it has nothing to 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.000 do with creditors, and it has nothing to do with 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.400 seventh grade teachers and it doesn't even have anything to 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.400 do with what you experienced in your past. 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:36.000 It is your fear and discouragement. 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.920 And so Joshua goes into the land forty years ago. 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.520 Remember he was serving under Moses at this time. And 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:50.000 he goes into the land and he looks at it, 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.480 and there's eleven other spies. There's Joshua and Caleb and 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:55.720 ten other spies. And they go into the land and 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.040 they look around. They come back and it's interesting. I 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:01.040 want to show you this. Can I show you? Look 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:10.960 at numbers Chapter fourteen, The Bible gives a recording of 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:14.280 the report that the men brought back, and this is 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.840 kind of sad to me. It says in numbers thirteen, 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:22.000 thirty one and thirty two that the men who had 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:26.920 gone up with him said, we can't attack those people. 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:32.680 They are stronger than we are. And they spread among the. 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:36.880 Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:41.920 And they said, the land we explored devours those living 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.800 in it. All the people we saw there are of 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.560 great size. Let me point out something to you that 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:50.600 you may miss on the surface. They were being realistic. 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.600 Most of what they're saying is true. They are bigger, 0:15:57.480 --> 0:15:58.720 They are stronger. 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.680 We can't do it on our own. 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:08.280 On our own, but Joshua knew something that those spies 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:09.080 had forgotten. 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.880 We're not on our own. We have a promise. 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:17.240 We have a promise of God's presence, and if he's 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:18.960 with us, he's more than the. 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:19.880 World against us. 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.040 And so these spies are trying to talk Moses out 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.320 of the very thing that God brought them here for. 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:26.800 These spies are trying. 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:27.880 To, let me ask you a question. 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.440 What have you talked yourself out of that God. 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:33.920 Is trying to bring you into? 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:43.040 What are you talking yourself out of right now that 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:47.440 God is trying to bring you into in your relationships? 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.720 What are you talking yourself out of that God is 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:56.080 trying to bring you into in your personal life? And 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.440 I don't care what category you use. We've all got 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:03.560 something that we're talking ourselves out of. 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.480 The message God gave me today is that. 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:12.400 You can talk yourself into it. Just like you've been 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:18.520 talking yourself out of it, you can talk yourself into it. 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.000 One thing I noticed about myself from an early age 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:23.280 is that I can be persuasive when I need to be. 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.080 And so sometimes in school, when I would need an 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.640 extension on a paper I knew I could usually get 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.160 one because I have this way of talking myself out 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:31.679 of things. 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.639 To understand. It comes in handy as a preacher to 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:36.440 be persuasive because you have to get people. 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:37.480 To do things that they need to do that they 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:39.560 don't want to do. And so you're trying to tell 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:41.159 people to trust God and their finances. And problem with 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:42.680 that is they already feel broken. So now that you 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:44.359 tell them that they want to trust God with their finances, 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:45.919 if they need to trust God with their finances, they 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:47.960 don't want to trust God with their finances because they 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:49.719 don't have many finances. But you want to get them 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:51.320 to see that the reason you don't have any finances 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.040 because you're not trusting God in your finances. And if you 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:54.600 trust God and your finances, it would open your eyes 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:56.240 to the supply that He has available for you. And 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.320 if you see Khi first as his kingdom and his righteousness. 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.520 All these things. I'm preaching. My watch off my wrists. 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:04.399 That's how excited I am about the Word of God. 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.040 Just hold it rus so I don't even want it back. 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:09.320 I don't even care what time it is. I might 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:12.800 preach through lunch, because there's some things in your life 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:15.240 that you've been talking yourself out of. One time, my 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:17.080 senior year of high school, they put me in an 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:21.440 ap English class with Eunice Cox, and Eunice Cox was 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:23.560 rumored to be a tough teacher. But it's no problem 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:25.760 for me. I got this because I got the gift. 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.000 And so I came upon my first book report and 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:30.960 I wasn't going to finish it on time. I knew 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:32.720 wouldn't fish it on time, but I wasn't worried about 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.480 it because I could talk my way out of it. 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:38.880 I've always talked my way out of things, speeding tickets 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.280 and all kinds of things I've talked myself out of. 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:44.399 Why not this paper too. But Eunice Cox was waiting 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:46.320 for me at the door and she said, I noticed 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:48.680 you didn't turn your assignment in. And I smiled real 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:50.679 sweet because I got some southern charm. I grew up 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:52.639 in a small town. I know how to talk to people, 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:54.920 I said, miss Cox, I said I was going to 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:57.080 talk to you about this, and she said, I don't 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:02.600 want to hear it. And she said, she said, Stephen Furdet, 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:11.760 you have met your match in Eunice Cox, I said, 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:12.280 but miscop. 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:12.800 She said no. 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:19.199 I said, but I was gonna no, And I said, 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:21.919 I said, well, what can I do? She said, well you, 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:23.480 if I were you, I'd try to get a good 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:25.080 gread one on the other ones, because you did a 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:28.199 zero on this one, and you might want to bring 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:30.720 up your average. 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:33.119 So now I want you to understand something. 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:38.920 When God called Moses, Moses was reluctant to do what 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:42.439 God had called him to do. And Moses had a 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:46.080 million excuses, and so do you Why you can't be it, 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.520 why you can't do it, why you can't go forward? 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:50.600 And it come on, how many of you are good 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:52.520 at talking yourself out of things? 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:55.240 How many of you, by the time I get done 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:58.280 preaching sometimes and you've even had your lunch, you have 0:19:58.359 --> 0:19:59.960 forgotten what the sermon. 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:02.200 Is e than about. Shame on you. And I'm just kidding. 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:04.160 It's how it works. 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:07.840 We are so quick to talk ourselves out of things. 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:11.080 But when Moses started telling God, you know, I can't speak, 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:13.639 and I can't do it, and I'm not eloquent, and 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:17.120 I'm not trained, and I'm not equipped, and I'm not able. 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:21.840 God said to Moses, you have met your match in Eunus. 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:26.320 Cos you have met your match in the Lord your God. 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:30.000 Have I not commanded you? I don't even want to 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.840 hear it out of your mouth. Why you can't. I 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:36.040 am the greater one, I am the power within you. 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:39.240 I am the one who calls you by name. I 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:41.160 know what's in God because I put it in you. 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:43.760 I know what you don't have because I left it out, 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:45.280 and I command you. 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:54.960 To be courageous. So it occurs to me. 0:20:56.600 --> 0:21:00.480 That maybe the reason that God is speaking to Joshua 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:05.479 on this level is because Joshua has seen firsthand the 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:10.720 devastation that it causes when God's people talk themselves out of. 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:14.439 What God is trying to bring them into. 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:18.000 You know, those spies said to Moses, we can't do it. 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:21.480 They're stronger, they're bigger. And Joshua spoke. 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:25.000 Up and he got everybody's attention. The Bible says in 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:30.720 numbers fourteen six that he tore his clothes and said 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:36.000 to the entire Israelite assembly, Hey, come. 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:36.480 On, guys. 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:41.560 The land we passed through and its lord is exceedingly good. 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:45.200 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:47.399 us into that land, a land flowing with milk and 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:49.080 honey and will give it to us only. 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:50.200 Do not rebel. 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:56.840 Don't do this, don't die outside of your destiny. Don't 0:21:56.920 --> 0:22:04.440 let your fear keep you from your future. Don't be discouraged, 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:07.520 don't rebel. If the Lord is pleased, he'll leave us 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:09.159 in land us sloan milkod out even give it to us. 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:09.400 Only. 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:11.159 Do not rebel against the Lord, and do not be 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:13.800 afraid of the people of the land. And stop get 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:18.200 forfeiting your future for your fear of people. Stop forfeiting 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:20.360 your future, for your fear of failure. 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:21.880 You hear me, stop. 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:25.120 Forfeiting your future because of what they might think about you. 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.640 Their protection is gone. But the Lord is with us. 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:31.920 I mean, you gotta believe down deep in your soul 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:35.760 that God is with me in this moment. He's with 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:38.240 me when I'm feeling, He's with me when I don't. 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:40.880 He's with me when I'm faithful. He's with me when 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:43.639 I'm faithless. He's with me when I'm right. He's with 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:46.160 me when I'm wrong. He's with me when I'm a whole. 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:49.000 He's with me when I'm broken. Somebody shout, God is 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:52.160 with me. Touch your neighbors say he's with you too. 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:58.600 He's with you too. No matter how hard Joshua tried, 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:01.280 he couldn't talk Moses into it. 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:04.160 You know why, because nobody. 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:13.960 Can talk you into your destiny. But you touch your neighbors, 0:23:13.960 --> 0:23:19.320 say talk yourself into it, talk yourself into it. 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:22.040 It is interesting that when God speaks. 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:24.920 To Joshua, he tells him what to do, lead these 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:27.280 people to inherit the land. Now, the problem with a 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:29.600 lot of us is that we have shrunk our lives 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:34.879 down to the size of our own personal interest. We 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:38.399 don't have anything bigger than us worth fighting for, so 0:23:38.520 --> 0:23:42.879 it doesn't take much to discourage us. If I didn't 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:45.800 preach every time I don't feel like preaching, you would 0:23:45.800 --> 0:23:49.080 hear from me three times a year. You know how 0:23:49.119 --> 0:23:55.400 I preach every week. I talk myself into it, and 0:23:55.440 --> 0:24:00.439 I tell myself, there's somebody come into church today who's suicide. 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:03.680 There's somebody coming to church today whose kid is on drugs. 0:24:04.040 --> 0:24:06.680 There's somebody coming to church today that has been told 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:09.160 all their life they're workless, and you get to tell 0:24:09.200 --> 0:24:11.560 them God loves them, and maybe you can smile at 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:14.560 them and make them feel through your countenance that God 0:24:14.600 --> 0:24:16.320 has not forgotten them, that he. 0:24:16.400 --> 0:24:19.400 Knows them by name. But by the time I stopped. 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:22.240 Talking to myself, I'm ready to talk to you. Now. 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:24.959 We can preach, now we can do it. Now we 0:24:25.000 --> 0:24:25.440 can go. 0:24:26.760 --> 0:24:31.560 But see, you've got to talk yourself into your purpose. 0:24:32.760 --> 0:24:33.640 I have a purpose. 0:24:33.680 --> 0:24:35.680 I don't need to ask God to give me a purpose. 0:24:35.920 --> 0:24:39.639 I have a purpose. You have a purpose to glorify God, 0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:43.000 to be transformed into the image of Christ, to be 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:44.960 conformed into the image of Christ. 0:24:46.840 --> 0:24:50.159 It's not that you don't have a purpose, is it. 0:24:50.160 --> 0:24:51.600 Every time God truest to bring you into it, you 0:24:51.680 --> 0:24:52.640 talk yourself out of it. 0:24:56.119 --> 0:24:58.720 And so he says, this is not just a value, Joshua. 0:24:59.080 --> 0:25:03.440 There are people to you. 0:25:00.560 --> 0:25:06.440 Your destiny is connected to something much bigger than you. 0:25:08.080 --> 0:25:10.439 So go do it and be strong and courageous. 0:25:11.520 --> 0:25:13.160 But God is a good coach, and a good coach 0:25:13.200 --> 0:25:15.040 doesn't just motivate you. He instructs you. 0:25:15.440 --> 0:25:18.479 Wow yea. And so he gives him the mechanics. And 0:25:18.480 --> 0:25:20.880 this is what I was excited about. I mean that part. 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:23.880 I was excited about that part too, But I really 0:25:23.920 --> 0:25:24.280 wanted to. 0:25:24.200 --> 0:25:25.520 Show you this. He said in verse A. 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:28.960 Keep this book of the Law always on your lips. 0:25:30.640 --> 0:25:34.280 This this stood out to me in Deuteronomy thirty one, 0:25:35.200 --> 0:25:36.639 I told you I have a lot of scripture today. 0:25:37.920 --> 0:25:40.440 Isn't that kind of what you came for? Though? Okay, 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:41.879 us are. 0:25:46.359 --> 0:25:48.359 In don me thirty one Before Moses died and climbed 0:25:48.400 --> 0:25:50.439 up on Mountaineebow, and he died. And God didn't let 0:25:50.440 --> 0:25:52.640 the Israelites find his body because he knew that if 0:25:52.680 --> 0:25:55.200 they found his body, they would continue to worship his bones. 0:25:55.200 --> 0:25:56.600 Because sometimes the only way for God to get you 0:25:56.640 --> 0:25:58.640 to move past something in your life is completely taken away. 0:26:00.040 --> 0:26:04.080 Before he died, he called the nation together, he said, 0:26:05.400 --> 0:26:06.639 and he gave him a little speech. He gave him 0:26:06.640 --> 0:26:08.240 a little talk. He gave him a little uh. He said, 0:26:08.240 --> 0:26:09.920 I'm not going into the land, but you are. Joshua's 0:26:09.920 --> 0:26:12.240 gonna lead you. He pulls Joshua beside him, and he 0:26:12.280 --> 0:26:17.199 tells him be strong and courageous, for you must go 0:26:17.240 --> 0:26:19.199 with this people on the land. The Lord swore to 0:26:19.240 --> 0:26:21.520 their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it 0:26:22.480 --> 0:26:24.760 among them as their inheritance. 0:26:26.080 --> 0:26:32.520 Not you may, but you must. Not you should, but 0:26:32.600 --> 0:26:36.359 you must, and you must do it. 0:26:36.400 --> 0:26:38.600 And as you do it, know that the Lord himself 0:26:38.640 --> 0:26:40.480 goes before you and will be with you. 0:26:40.520 --> 0:26:43.199 He will never leave you, nor forsake you. Do not 0:26:43.359 --> 0:26:47.080 be afraid. Do not be. 0:26:49.000 --> 0:26:52.840 So. When God speaks to Joshua after the death of Moses, 0:26:53.600 --> 0:26:54.800 Joshua has heard. 0:26:54.600 --> 0:26:58.000 This speech before. It's not his first time here yet. 0:26:59.440 --> 0:27:02.240 But when God gives the speech, he adds one thing 0:27:02.359 --> 0:27:06.200 that Moses left out. See, Moses told him what to do, 0:27:07.119 --> 0:27:11.160 told him why to do it. God showed Joshua, how 0:27:12.280 --> 0:27:15.280 would you like to know how to keep yourself encouraged? 0:27:16.320 --> 0:27:19.879 Because you need to know they aren't always going to 0:27:19.920 --> 0:27:21.639 text you encouragement when you need it. 0:27:22.119 --> 0:27:24.440 That's part of being a grown Christian. 0:27:25.080 --> 0:27:29.400 You need to learn to encourage yourself. 0:27:30.440 --> 0:27:31.280 I gotta tell you. 0:27:31.359 --> 0:27:36.040 Touch your neighbor and say, I can encourage myself. If 0:27:36.080 --> 0:27:39.000 you encourage me, I appreciate it. If you're nice to me, 0:27:39.200 --> 0:27:41.800 I appreciate it. If you say kind things to me, 0:27:41.960 --> 0:27:44.680 that's cool. But I need you to know that even 0:27:44.720 --> 0:27:46.840 if you don't, if you get too busy, or if 0:27:46.880 --> 0:27:48.960 you forget about me, or if you don't know what 0:27:49.000 --> 0:27:51.399 to say to me, I need you to know I 0:27:51.440 --> 0:27:53.240 can encourage myself. 0:27:53.680 --> 0:27:55.960 Greater is he that is in me than he that 0:27:56.080 --> 0:27:56.840 is in the world. 0:27:57.000 --> 0:28:01.000 I learned to encourage myself because I can't always count 0:28:01.080 --> 0:28:03.720 on a text, and I can't always count on a hunk, 0:28:03.960 --> 0:28:04.720 and I can't. 0:28:04.480 --> 0:28:07.120 Always count on a man, and I can't always even 0:28:07.119 --> 0:28:08.520 count on my own friends. 0:28:08.960 --> 0:28:15.040 But I can encourage myself. So God, God tells Joshua, 0:28:15.359 --> 0:28:18.160 He says, I'm not always gonna speak to you like this. 0:28:18.640 --> 0:28:19.760 You know you have moments in. 0:28:19.720 --> 0:28:22.520 Your life where God himself will speak to you, and 0:28:22.560 --> 0:28:23.200 they're awesome. 0:28:23.400 --> 0:28:24.160 One time, I was. 0:28:24.080 --> 0:28:26.359 Coming home to Charlotte when we were first starting the church, 0:28:26.600 --> 0:28:29.760 and I was nervous, and I was afraid and discouraged. 0:28:29.840 --> 0:28:34.879 I was discouraged because people weren't showing up yet, and I. 0:28:34.760 --> 0:28:37.040 Was afraid because I didn't know if they ever would. 0:28:37.600 --> 0:28:40.760 And so I was afraid and discouraged. And those are 0:28:40.760 --> 0:28:43.440 two states. You cannot fulfill your destiny. And let me 0:28:43.480 --> 0:28:45.960 show you something. If you are afraid right now, it 0:28:46.040 --> 0:28:50.280 is not because the devil is making you afraid. There 0:28:50.320 --> 0:28:53.000 is somebody on your road that has more to be 0:28:53.080 --> 0:28:56.560 afraid of than you, and yet the confession of their 0:28:56.600 --> 0:29:00.800 life is I have fear, but fear to doesn't have me. 0:29:01.960 --> 0:29:03.840 If you are discouraged. It is not. 0:29:03.920 --> 0:29:07.080 Because of your conditions or your circumstances. They may have 0:29:07.120 --> 0:29:10.400 been a contributing factor, but they are not the deciding factor. 0:29:10.760 --> 0:29:16.560 Discouragement is a decision that I make. Discouragement is a conversation. 0:29:16.000 --> 0:29:17.400 That I have with myself. 0:29:17.960 --> 0:29:20.800 Discouragement is that thing inside of me that says this 0:29:20.880 --> 0:29:23.280 is the way it will always be. See it's not 0:29:23.320 --> 0:29:25.920 getting any better. See that woman right there doesn't like 0:29:25.960 --> 0:29:26.440 your sermon. 0:29:26.480 --> 0:29:28.600 Look how she's looking at you, and that guy's asleep. 0:29:28.960 --> 0:29:33.280 Discouragement is a little voice inside of your head that 0:29:33.320 --> 0:29:37.240 you listen to. And our problem Doctor Martin Lloyd Jones, 0:29:37.280 --> 0:29:40.720 the great Welsh preacher, once said, our problem is that 0:29:40.760 --> 0:29:45.600 we spend too much time listening to ourselves and not 0:29:45.840 --> 0:29:50.080 enough time talking to ourselves. Now, y'all are about to 0:29:50.120 --> 0:29:54.280 think I'm crazy, but I talk to myself all the time. 0:29:54.880 --> 0:29:55.960 How many of you talk. 0:29:55.880 --> 0:29:58.280 To yourself all the time? Well, sure you do. 0:29:58.640 --> 0:30:01.960 You've been doing it since you were three mm boom 0:30:01.960 --> 0:30:05.680 boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom 0:30:05.680 --> 0:30:06.800 boom boom boom. 0:30:06.800 --> 0:30:11.080 But somewhere along the way between putting together legos and 0:30:11.160 --> 0:30:14.000 the big one Gules hit and the widowing Gules hit, 0:30:14.160 --> 0:30:15.640 and you talked yourself through it. 0:30:15.960 --> 0:30:18.120 Now somewhere along the way. 0:30:18.040 --> 0:30:23.200 You turned against yourself wood, and. 0:30:23.200 --> 0:30:24.160 So now you're. 0:30:23.960 --> 0:30:26.880 Listening to yourself like the sawmistead. He was having a 0:30:26.920 --> 0:30:30.800 bad day, and so he started talking about the day 0:30:30.840 --> 0:30:33.720 he was having. And he said in Psalm forty two, 0:30:34.040 --> 0:30:38.240 verse four, he said, these things I remember as I 0:30:38.280 --> 0:30:40.560 pour out my soul, how I used to go to 0:30:40.600 --> 0:30:44.440 the House of God under the protection of the mighty 0:30:44.440 --> 0:30:47.280 one shouts of joy. You know, right before this, he said, 0:30:47.480 --> 0:30:51.320 my tears have been my food day and night. And 0:30:51.360 --> 0:30:54.080 he's he's in this cycle. But he did something in 0:30:54.200 --> 0:30:59.520 verse five. It's kind of a strange technique. And and 0:30:59.520 --> 0:31:01.800 and if you do this, people might think that you're crazy, 0:31:02.840 --> 0:31:05.960 but if you don't do it, you really will be crazy. 0:31:06.680 --> 0:31:08.120 So you can decide. 0:31:07.760 --> 0:31:10.040 Whether you want people to think you're crazy or whether 0:31:10.080 --> 0:31:13.440 you really want to be crazy. Because he's been listening 0:31:13.480 --> 0:31:16.840 to himself for four verses, he's been listening to his tears, 0:31:17.040 --> 0:31:19.560 he's been listening to his trials, he's been listening to 0:31:19.600 --> 0:31:23.920 his past. But in verse five he totally shifts and 0:31:24.160 --> 0:31:26.520 instead of listening to himself. 0:31:27.960 --> 0:31:35.040 He starts preaching to himself. It's very powerful. Why my 0:31:35.280 --> 0:31:41.520 soul are you so downcasted? What did you see the shift? 0:31:41.960 --> 0:31:45.479 He's like, I'm done with this. If I wake up 0:31:45.520 --> 0:31:47.600 in the morning and ask myself how. 0:31:47.480 --> 0:31:51.640 You feel, I'm gonna be fifty to fifty at best. 0:31:52.440 --> 0:31:54.920 So I'm gonna wake up in the morning and tell 0:31:55.040 --> 0:32:01.000 myself this will change your life, and tell myself today 0:32:01.280 --> 0:32:05.760 we're gonna be blessed today. We're going to be favored today. 0:32:06.040 --> 0:32:09.120 We're going to be a blessing today. We're gonna take 0:32:09.200 --> 0:32:13.600 new ground today. We're gonna encourage somebody else today, we're 0:32:13.600 --> 0:32:15.240 gonna see the goodness of the court morning, the land 0:32:15.240 --> 0:32:18.520 of the living today. Why are you so downcast on 0:32:18.680 --> 0:32:21.880 my soul? Why so disturbed in me? And then he 0:32:21.920 --> 0:32:26.520 does something very powerful. He puts himself in his place. 0:32:27.840 --> 0:32:32.960 Puts your hope in God, for I will yet praise him. 0:32:33.440 --> 0:32:36.120 Sometimes you gotta put yourself in your place. 0:32:36.680 --> 0:32:37.880 Sometimes you gotta. 0:32:37.720 --> 0:32:41.760 Make discouragement bow its need in the presence of God, 0:32:42.040 --> 0:32:43.760 and fear must battle. 0:32:43.440 --> 0:32:46.280 To faith in the presence of God. Somebody give him 0:32:46.320 --> 0:32:56.959 a praise right now, Hey, Joshua, here's how you do it. 0:32:59.080 --> 0:33:02.880 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips. 0:33:04.440 --> 0:33:06.440 There's a land I'm taking you to. There's a promise 0:33:06.480 --> 0:33:10.360 that I'm leading you to, but you're going to have 0:33:10.480 --> 0:33:18.520 to talk yourself into it. Meditate on the Law day 0:33:18.560 --> 0:33:21.160 and night. The Law was five books of the Bible 0:33:21.280 --> 0:33:23.480 that we have now, Genesis, Exodus, Levic as numbers do 0:33:23.600 --> 0:33:27.760 run me Torah. It was a bible that Joshua had. 0:33:28.160 --> 0:33:33.880 God said, your life will follow the direction of your conversation. 0:33:35.200 --> 0:33:40.280 Your courage comes from your conversation, so does. 0:33:40.160 --> 0:33:43.200 Your fear, So does your discourage. 0:33:43.200 --> 0:33:48.400 Man, not just your conversations with others, but your conversation 0:33:48.560 --> 0:33:54.320 with your self. So keep this Book of the Law 0:33:54.400 --> 0:33:59.920 on your lips, not just in your mind, on your lips. 0:34:01.480 --> 0:34:06.560 The Hebrew word for meditate is haga, and it means 0:34:06.560 --> 0:34:09.719 to mutter, because there was a Hebrew tradition that while 0:34:09.719 --> 0:34:11.640 they studied the text and reflected upon it. 0:34:11.640 --> 0:34:16.719 They would mutter love the Lord. You go your heart. 0:34:22.480 --> 0:34:26.759 See, it's not enough to read the Bible. You have 0:34:26.800 --> 0:34:34.200 to rehearse the Bible. Come on Gaston Campus. It is 0:34:34.239 --> 0:34:37.719 not enough for you to hear this word. It is 0:34:37.760 --> 0:34:41.040 not enough for you to listen to me. Speak if 0:34:41.080 --> 0:34:43.560 you are going to live in that place. 0:34:43.680 --> 0:34:46.680 What place? I'm not going to the land of Canaan. No, no, no. 0:34:46.719 --> 0:34:48.480 But God has promised you his peace. 0:34:50.719 --> 0:34:53.040 If you are going to have his peace in your life, 0:34:53.080 --> 0:34:58.919 you're going to have to talk yourself into peace. God 0:34:58.960 --> 0:35:01.359 has given you his If you are going to live 0:35:01.400 --> 0:35:05.120 in courage and fulfill your purpose, you're going to have 0:35:05.200 --> 0:35:08.520 to talk yourself into your purpose. 0:35:09.920 --> 0:35:11.920 Keep it on your lips. 0:35:12.760 --> 0:35:14.920 Yeah, So what you need and I'm going to get 0:35:14.960 --> 0:35:18.200 very practical now, because what good is all this screaming 0:35:18.239 --> 0:35:22.759 and shouting if the moment it leaves my lips, it 0:35:22.840 --> 0:35:27.520 leaves your heart. The way that you keep it is 0:35:27.680 --> 0:35:29.719 you need a phrase to fight with. 0:35:31.400 --> 0:35:31.719 Hear me. 0:35:32.280 --> 0:35:35.560 Your mind is always going to be murmuring and muttering. 0:35:35.640 --> 0:35:38.600 Have you noticed that? Okay, it's always going to be 0:35:38.680 --> 0:35:38.960 doing it. 0:35:39.200 --> 0:35:42.359 So what you want to do is take control of 0:35:42.400 --> 0:35:46.200 the conversation by the spirit of God. And the way 0:35:46.239 --> 0:35:48.440 you do that, you need a phrase to fight the 0:35:48.520 --> 0:35:51.799 devil with. Here's my current phrase to fight the devil with? 0:35:52.320 --> 0:35:54.920 This How I fight fear because I have a lot 0:35:54.960 --> 0:36:00.640 of fear. I know I'm not supposed to. I know 0:36:00.800 --> 0:36:05.680 I'm the pastor of the church. But I get scared sometimes, 0:36:06.360 --> 0:36:10.239 scared of big stuff and scared of stupid stuff. But 0:36:10.440 --> 0:36:13.080 I have learned that if I'm in a state of fear, 0:36:13.120 --> 0:36:16.480 the reason I'm there is because I talk myself, And 0:36:16.560 --> 0:36:23.360 if I talk to myself, then I can talk myself. 0:36:25.200 --> 0:36:27.680 There are really only two fears. They all fall under 0:36:27.719 --> 0:36:30.759 these categories. It's the fear of falling short and the 0:36:30.800 --> 0:36:34.520 fear of running out. Any fear you have in your 0:36:34.560 --> 0:36:37.839 life falls into one of those two categories. If you're 0:36:37.880 --> 0:36:40.799 scared to lose a relationship, it's because you're afraid of 0:36:40.840 --> 0:36:43.560 falling short in someone's eyes, or you're afraid of running 0:36:43.560 --> 0:36:45.520 out of love, and if they're not there, you won't 0:36:45.560 --> 0:36:45.960 have love. 0:36:46.239 --> 0:36:47.680 Every fear that you've ever had in. 0:36:47.640 --> 0:36:50.719 Your life falls under those two categories. Fear that I 0:36:50.719 --> 0:36:52.960 will fall short or that I will not be enough, 0:36:53.280 --> 0:36:55.000 and fear that I will run out, that I. 0:36:54.960 --> 0:36:57.799 Will not have enough. So, since I know. 0:36:58.600 --> 0:37:01.960 That the key to me person and encourage and in 0:37:02.040 --> 0:37:05.440 strength and in purpose is to fight. 0:37:05.239 --> 0:37:06.600 Back, somebody say fight back. 0:37:07.400 --> 0:37:10.239 You are not going to take the land automatically, and 0:37:10.280 --> 0:37:12.879 you are not going to live in peace and purpose automatically. 0:37:13.120 --> 0:37:14.960 So I've got a phrase that I do, and his 0:37:15.200 --> 0:37:18.000 four syllables on the front and his four syllables on 0:37:18.040 --> 0:37:19.880 the back, and I did it in four. 0:37:19.920 --> 0:37:22.200 Because you can breathe in four times and breathe out 0:37:22.239 --> 0:37:24.640 four times. So I do it all the time. And 0:37:24.680 --> 0:37:27.319 the devil doesn't like it. He really really hates it. 0:37:27.520 --> 0:37:29.600 So I'm doing it more and more because I like 0:37:29.680 --> 0:37:31.600 to make it mad and I like to fight back. 0:37:31.640 --> 0:37:33.000 I like to let him know he can't just push 0:37:33.080 --> 0:37:35.120 me around and keep me stuck in the wilderness. And 0:37:35.160 --> 0:37:37.200 he's not going to have my destiny and he's not 0:37:37.239 --> 0:37:40.080 going to disrupt God's dream for my life with discouragement. 0:37:40.200 --> 0:37:42.000 And anytime he rolls up on me and tries to 0:37:42.000 --> 0:37:44.399 make my soul downcast, I got some for him because 0:37:44.440 --> 0:37:47.120 he's trained my fingers for war and my hands for battle, 0:37:47.239 --> 0:37:48.799 and he will not keep me out of the land 0:37:48.800 --> 0:37:51.040 God's promise. He will not keep me out of the purpose. 0:37:51.120 --> 0:37:53.359 I am going to raise my kids to love God. 0:37:53.440 --> 0:37:56.000 I am going to serve God and my generation. I 0:37:56.040 --> 0:37:58.280 am going to complete the calling that God has placed 0:37:58.320 --> 0:37:58.960 on my life. 0:37:59.040 --> 0:38:01.319 I am going to go forward in Jesus' name. I 0:38:01.360 --> 0:38:01.719 am going to. 0:38:01.719 --> 0:38:03.600 Build the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. 0:38:03.800 --> 0:38:05.560 I am going to see it come to pass. 0:38:06.400 --> 0:38:09.799 So I just do this. I say Christ is in me. 0:38:11.200 --> 0:38:14.240 That's the first half. I am enough. 0:38:18.120 --> 0:38:20.000 Why don't you try it? You know, if you send 0:38:19.960 --> 0:38:21.400 in a restaurant and so I says, here, taste this, 0:38:21.440 --> 0:38:23.320 taste this, taste this, you try it. 0:38:23.360 --> 0:38:27.439 Say Christ is in me. I am enough. 0:38:28.920 --> 0:38:32.760 Tell them to your neighbor, tell them Christ is in you. 0:38:32.760 --> 0:38:36.480 You are enough. I love people who absolutely refuse to 0:38:36.520 --> 0:38:38.759 participate with anything you do in church. 0:38:41.640 --> 0:38:43.719 Do they have a secret meeting before church? Where does 0:38:43.760 --> 0:38:44.840 this happen in the lobby? 0:38:45.120 --> 0:38:52.360 When he says, touch your neighbor, do nothing, It's okay, 0:38:52.400 --> 0:38:56.359 it's okay. Let's go for ninety seven percent participation. Okay, 0:38:56.360 --> 0:38:58.320 I think we're about eighty. Touch your neighbors. 0:38:58.320 --> 0:39:01.000 Say Christ is in you. 0:39:01.000 --> 0:39:01.760 You are enough. 0:39:02.920 --> 0:39:04.400 Now you gotta get it in that order, because if 0:39:04.440 --> 0:39:06.040 you start with you are enough, it's just a matter 0:39:06.040 --> 0:39:08.360 of time before you find out that is just not true. 0:39:08.520 --> 0:39:11.399 They're stronger than we are. Yeah, but didn't you hear 0:39:11.440 --> 0:39:11.960 the verse. 0:39:11.960 --> 0:39:16.480 Level Christ is in me, I am enough. 0:39:17.680 --> 0:39:20.080 Let's take the volume up a little bit. Christ is 0:39:20.120 --> 0:39:25.120 in me, I am enough. Think about that. 0:39:25.120 --> 0:39:27.520 Fear that you have. Look at it and say Christ 0:39:27.640 --> 0:39:30.520 is in me, I am enough. 0:39:31.800 --> 0:39:35.160 Think about what was discouraging you last night, robbing you 0:39:35.239 --> 0:39:38.160 of your sleep, robbing you if you're tolling, robbing you 0:39:38.239 --> 0:39:41.320 of your peace, robbing you of your purpose, and shout 0:39:41.320 --> 0:39:43.239 it out last say Christ is in me. 0:39:44.640 --> 0:39:49.600 I am enough. Now, now break it down. 0:39:50.880 --> 0:39:54.839 If you walk around shouting like that, it's gonna cost 0:39:54.880 --> 0:39:57.680 some trouble for you at your job. 0:39:59.280 --> 0:40:04.120 So God tells Joshua. He says, keep it on your. 0:40:03.920 --> 0:40:10.240 Lips, as the background, as the soundtrack. 0:40:10.280 --> 0:40:12.640 And take it into any situation that you face. 0:40:13.719 --> 0:40:16.640 I love it because God at once gives him a 0:40:16.680 --> 0:40:19.600 big destiny. How many of you believe that God has 0:40:19.680 --> 0:40:22.560 a destiny for you? How many of you want to 0:40:22.600 --> 0:40:24.239 believe that God has a destiny for you. 0:40:24.400 --> 0:40:26.440 It's kind of hard sometimes because. 0:40:26.160 --> 0:40:27.680 I thought i'd be there by now, and I'm not 0:40:27.680 --> 0:40:32.560 there by now. Well, well, he gives him a big destiny, 0:40:33.360 --> 0:40:36.480 but he gives him a small direction. He said, for 0:40:36.600 --> 0:40:39.759 you to fulfill your destiny, you're going to have to 0:40:39.880 --> 0:40:45.360 talk yourself into it. So I was flying into Charlotte. 0:40:45.400 --> 0:40:51.720 You can stand I'm closer. I was flying into Charlotte 0:40:51.760 --> 0:41:00.120 one time. Did you get blessed by this word at all? Today? 0:41:01.560 --> 0:41:04.680 I was, I was flying into Charlotte one time, and 0:41:05.840 --> 0:41:07.440 I started to tell you the story how I was 0:41:07.480 --> 0:41:08.520 discouraged and afraid. 0:41:10.040 --> 0:41:13.000 And while we were landing, I opened my window. 0:41:14.160 --> 0:41:16.799 And I remember it real clearly because the guy next 0:41:16.840 --> 0:41:18.880 to me had been sleeping and he was kind of 0:41:18.880 --> 0:41:21.520 mad when I opened the window. But I opened the 0:41:21.520 --> 0:41:25.000 window and looked out and it was a perfect setting, 0:41:25.040 --> 0:41:28.200 like the sun was setting. And remember I was afraid 0:41:28.239 --> 0:41:30.640 and discouraged. And I'm not comparing myself to Joshua. Why 0:41:30.640 --> 0:41:33.759 I don't have some kind of grandiose idea of what 0:41:33.800 --> 0:41:34.359 God put me. 0:41:34.280 --> 0:41:34.799 In the earth to do. 0:41:34.800 --> 0:41:37.239 But you know, for my calling, for my part to 0:41:37.239 --> 0:41:40.680 play in the kingdom, I take it very seriously. And 0:41:40.719 --> 0:41:42.480 I believe that God has given me a promise, and 0:41:42.520 --> 0:41:45.680 I believe that God has given me a purpose, and 0:41:45.719 --> 0:41:47.720 I believe that He desires me to live in peace 0:41:49.120 --> 0:41:53.000 as I fulfill that purpose and possess that promise. And 0:41:53.040 --> 0:41:56.560 so I was we were landing, and it was like men, 0:41:56.760 --> 0:41:58.719 like a scene out of Thomas Kincaid. You know what 0:41:58.719 --> 0:42:00.680 I'm saying? Like that, do you know that the guy 0:42:00.719 --> 0:42:01.600 who paints all this stuff. 0:42:01.719 --> 0:42:02.520 It was like the. 0:42:02.960 --> 0:42:05.560 City of Charlotte was bathed in the orange sunset. 0:42:06.239 --> 0:42:07.120 And orange was our. 0:42:07.040 --> 0:42:09.600 Church color, and it's also the color of God's team, 0:42:09.640 --> 0:42:13.759 the Clemson Tigers. And so these two things served to 0:42:13.880 --> 0:42:15.520 confirm to me that God, God was speaking. 0:42:15.600 --> 0:42:16.360 I just felt something. 0:42:16.360 --> 0:42:17.799 I got my notebook out that I had and I 0:42:17.840 --> 0:42:20.080 just wrote down, just fast as I could write the 0:42:20.080 --> 0:42:21.600 impressions that I was receiving. 0:42:21.239 --> 0:42:23.319 As we were landing in Charlotte. And it started with 0:42:23.360 --> 0:42:24.960 this idea, this is your city. 0:42:25.120 --> 0:42:26.960 I have given it to you for influence, not that 0:42:27.000 --> 0:42:28.759 it is in other people's city too, but just that 0:42:28.840 --> 0:42:30.480 God had called me here. You made the right decision, 0:42:30.480 --> 0:42:31.759 you did it, and I want to give it. And 0:42:31.800 --> 0:42:33.240 it was about a page and a half of stuff 0:42:33.239 --> 0:42:35.560 that I wrote down, and a couple of days later 0:42:35.600 --> 0:42:38.080 I read it to our team. It's very encouraging, very inspiring. 0:42:38.280 --> 0:42:42.319 The reason I told you that story is because I 0:42:42.360 --> 0:42:46.879 have landed in Charlotte many times since then. Almost every 0:42:46.880 --> 0:42:49.360 time I'm landing, I opened my window just in case 0:42:50.880 --> 0:42:52.640 that can happen again. And you know what, It's never 0:42:52.760 --> 0:42:55.560 happened like that again ever ever. 0:42:55.719 --> 0:42:57.439 I mean I've even put my notebook out and gotten 0:42:57.480 --> 0:42:57.920 my pen. 0:42:57.800 --> 0:43:05.200 Ready, and what I see is, but see, you can't 0:43:05.239 --> 0:43:08.239 live in a place where you're depending on God to 0:43:08.280 --> 0:43:15.200 always give you a sunset and a poem. And the 0:43:15.280 --> 0:43:19.160 since I get from the Lord is I've already spoken my. 0:43:19.280 --> 0:43:20.200 Promise to you. 0:43:21.719 --> 0:43:32.600 Now you've got to speak it to yourself. There are 0:43:32.640 --> 0:43:36.080 some promises in your life that you have not yet possessed. 0:43:37.280 --> 0:43:39.759 And you're waiting on somebody, or you're waiting on God, 0:43:39.840 --> 0:43:41.960 or you're waiting on a circumstance to a line. 0:43:42.120 --> 0:43:45.960 It's not going to happen that way. If you are 0:43:46.040 --> 0:43:47.480 going to experience the. 0:43:47.440 --> 0:43:50.279 Peace of God, it won't be because God gives it 0:43:50.320 --> 0:43:54.040 to you. He's already given you peace. In John fourteen 0:43:54.160 --> 0:43:55.600 twenty seven, when. 0:43:55.520 --> 0:43:59.320 Jesus, like Moses, was preparing his followers for his departure 0:43:59.520 --> 0:44:01.960 and telling them about the Holy Spirit that was coming 0:44:02.239 --> 0:44:04.680 and not only to live with them, but to live in. 0:44:04.560 --> 0:44:07.919 Them, God told Joshuah, I'm with you, but God tells 0:44:07.960 --> 0:44:11.280 you something even better. He says, I'm in you, Christ 0:44:11.400 --> 0:44:15.880 is in me, and I'm more than enough. And he 0:44:15.960 --> 0:44:20.320 tells his followers peace I leave with you my peace. 0:44:20.440 --> 0:44:23.520 I give to you. I don't give like the world gifts. 0:44:23.880 --> 0:44:28.120 Don't let your hearts be troubled. Don't let them be afraid. 0:44:28.560 --> 0:44:31.600 You see it, You see it. Don't let your heart 0:44:31.640 --> 0:44:35.319 be troubled. Don't let it be afraid. Why are you 0:44:35.440 --> 0:44:38.520 so downcast? Stop listening to. 0:44:38.400 --> 0:44:43.640 Your situation and start preaching to your situation. In the 0:44:43.719 --> 0:44:47.399 name of the Lord, tripones will live in the name 0:44:47.440 --> 0:44:48.000 of Lord. 0:44:48.320 --> 0:44:50.120 The promise will come to pass. 0:44:53.440 --> 0:45:00.160 So Jesus said, I have given you my peace. I'll 0:45:00.200 --> 0:45:08.080 talk yourself into it day and night, the refrain of 0:45:08.120 --> 0:45:11.680 my heart. You need a phrase to fight the devil with. 0:45:13.280 --> 0:45:17.400 I'm not afraid anymore. I feel fear, but I'm not afraid. 0:45:18.400 --> 0:45:21.439 He didn't say I couldn't feel it. He just said 0:45:21.440 --> 0:45:25.000 I had to face it. He didn't say that the 0:45:25.000 --> 0:45:26.920 fear wouldn't come upon me. He just said that it 0:45:26.920 --> 0:45:30.799 shouldn't define me. Come on, I'm preaching to somebody. You've 0:45:30.840 --> 0:45:34.879 been stuck, you've been afraid, you've been terrified, you've been 0:45:34.920 --> 0:45:35.960 worried about it. 0:45:35.960 --> 0:45:36.760 You've been stressed. 0:45:36.760 --> 0:45:39.000 But lift your hands in the presence of the Lord, 0:45:39.320 --> 0:45:40.640 and say, Christ is in me. 0:45:41.760 --> 0:45:44.799 I am enough. Say it again, Christ is in me. 0:45:45.840 --> 0:45:48.120 I am enough one more time. 0:45:48.239 --> 0:45:50.200 God said it three times to Joshua. 0:45:50.400 --> 0:45:52.880 I want you to say it three times too. Christ 0:45:52.960 --> 0:45:56.560 is in me. I am enough. Now. 0:45:56.640 --> 0:46:00.520 Clap your hands and thank God. Clap your hands and 0:46:00.600 --> 0:46:05.160 praise God. Open your mouth and speak, pray, speak peace. 0:46:06.719 --> 0:46:11.640 I will yeah, pray so my God and my God. 0:46:13.840 --> 0:46:14.960 Thank you for joining us. 0:46:15.280 --> 0:46:17.719 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:46:17.800 --> 0:46:21.280 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:46:21.760 --> 0:46:24.239 You can click the link in the description to give now, 0:46:24.840 --> 0:46:28.160 or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more 0:46:28.200 --> 0:46:32.000 information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:46:32.280 --> 0:46:33.600 You can share it with your friends. 0:46:33.880 --> 0:46:36.160 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:46:36.239 --> 0:46:38.359 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:46:38.360 --> 0:46:39.200 Elevation Church. 0:46:39.280 --> 0:46:40.920 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.