WEBVTT - 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