Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God as moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: I want to look at a passage of scripture that man,
Speaker 1: it was months ago God started speaking to me through
Speaker 1: this text. It was at a moment in my life, Zach.
Speaker 1: You remember I was real discouraged and frustrated about some
Speaker 1: areas in my life where it felt like, rather than
Speaker 1: moving towards what God had intended for my life, it
Speaker 1: felt like I was moving away from it. And God
Speaker 1: really started to speak to me through this passage of scripture.
Speaker 1: But if it's any indication of how much the devil
Speaker 1: was fighting me these last few weeks as I was
Speaker 1: working on this sermon, I believe that I am on
Speaker 1: assignment today to release a word from God that will
Speaker 1: catapult someone into their God given destiny and purpose. I
Speaker 1: am fired up, ready to speak with God's put in
Speaker 1: my heart to speak with you. But how fit, how
Speaker 1: fitting that they would allow a Canadian to preach to
Speaker 1: you on this holiday weekend. Yes, yes, yes, I know
Speaker 1: it's Independence Day, Happy Birthday America. But did you know
Speaker 1: that is also Canada Day. Yes, we're celebrating a birthday too.
Speaker 1: I like your shirt right there, mister Canada. Someone's like,
Speaker 1: what's Canada? It's kind of our birthday too. But basically
Speaker 1: Canadians are going to just take Monday off to listen
Speaker 1: to the new Drake album. That's what we're all gonna
Speaker 1: do together. It's a good thing. But hey, since we're
Speaker 1: both celebrating, look at the person next to you, let's
Speaker 1: just make them blend them together, do a hybrid. Look
Speaker 1: at the person next to you and say happy Independence Day. Hey,
Speaker 1: that's right, that's right. Stay stand in for just a moment.
Speaker 1: I want to jump into our scripture for today. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be looking at numbers, chapter thirteen, just to give
Speaker 1: you a little context before we look at our key verse.
Speaker 1: Moses has led the Israelites out from under Egyptian slavery,
Speaker 1: oppression and captivity. He's leading them somewhere, though, He's taking
Speaker 1: them on a journey into the promised Land. This is
Speaker 1: the same land that God had promised generations ago. To
Speaker 1: their forefather Abraham. And after all that time in Egypt,
Speaker 1: they're finally on their way and they get to the
Speaker 1: edge of the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, and
Speaker 1: God gives Moses an instruction. He says, send twelve men,
Speaker 1: one leader from each tribe into the Promised land, and
Speaker 1: he sends them in to explore for forty days. So
Speaker 1: for forty days they are looking at the promise that
Speaker 1: God had given them so many generations before. And they
Speaker 1: come back to Moses after forty days, and they give
Speaker 1: them a report on what they had seen. And this
Speaker 1: is where we're gonna pick up numbers thirteen, verse twenty seven.
Speaker 1: It says they gave Moses this account. We went into
Speaker 1: the land in which you sent us, and it does
Speaker 1: flow with milk and honey. Here is its fruit. It
Speaker 1: tells us earlier that they picked up a cluster of
Speaker 1: grapes that was so big that it took two men
Speaker 1: to carry a single cluster of grapes out, and represented
Speaker 1: God's promises, God's provision. They lay that fruit in front
Speaker 1: and Jesus are in front of Moses and said, here's
Speaker 1: it's fruit. But the people who live there are powerful
Speaker 1: and the cities are fortified and very large. We even
Speaker 1: saw descendants of a knack there. The Amalekites live in
Speaker 1: the Nagive, the Hittites chevy Sites and Amorites live in
Speaker 1: the hill country, and the Canaanites live near the sea
Speaker 1: and along the Jordan. Then Caleb silenced the people before
Speaker 1: Moses and said, we should go up and take possession
Speaker 1: of the land, for we can certainly do it. But
Speaker 1: the men who had gone up with them said, we
Speaker 1: can't attack those people. They're stronger than we are, and
Speaker 1: they spread amongst the Israelites a bad report about the
Speaker 1: land they had explored. They said, the land we explored
Speaker 1: devours all those living in it. All the people we
Speaker 1: saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephelin there.
Speaker 1: They were believed to be giants. These are some big people,
Speaker 1: they said. We seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes,
Speaker 1: and we look the same to them. My sermon title
Speaker 1: for today's message is this, stay focused, and at any
Speaker 1: point during my message that the person next to you
Speaker 1: it looks like they're starting to doze off, or you
Speaker 1: catch them checking Instagram, you have my permission to nudge
Speaker 1: them in the side. Real hard right in the rib
Speaker 1: and give them my title again. Stay focused. In fact,
Speaker 1: why don't you practice right now at all our locations.
Speaker 1: As you take your seat, hit the person next to you,
Speaker 1: tell them stay focused, hey, real quickly. For those of
Speaker 1: you at are Valentine location, this is gonna be old
Speaker 1: news because you probably see my boys running around the lobby.
Speaker 1: But for other locations and those of you joining us online,
Speaker 1: let me show you a picture of my family real quick.
Speaker 1: Here we are up on the screen. That's a servant
Speaker 1: dur in love week. I got two little boys. My
Speaker 1: oldest his name is Zion, he's three and a half.
Speaker 1: My youngest, his name is Elias, he just turned one.
Speaker 1: And that's my wife Anna. We've been married for eight
Speaker 1: years now, just celebrated eight years of marriage. That's pretty good.
Speaker 1: She's my Georgia Peach. And as you're celebrating our anniversary,
Speaker 1: it brought to mind right after we got engaged, held
Speaker 1: the pastor who is marrying has set us down for
Speaker 1: pre marital counseling, and uh, I remember one unspecific session
Speaker 1: where he kind of cautioned us and he wanted to
Speaker 1: let us know that well, every couple will experience conflict
Speaker 1: in their marriage. He he suspected that we would experience
Speaker 1: a little bit more than usual. And here's why me
Speaker 1: and Anna grew up very differently. We had very different
Speaker 1: experiences growing up. I'm from Toronto, Canada. I have a loud, big,
Speaker 1: obnoxious family. She's from rural Georgia. Her family's so sweet
Speaker 1: and proper. Our experiences were growing up were so different,
Speaker 1: and he just wanted to warn us that because of
Speaker 1: our different experiences, we just might have a tendency to
Speaker 1: experience some conflict. He thought we would see things a
Speaker 1: little bit differently. Let me give you just a couple
Speaker 1: examples real quick. I was thinking about the first time
Speaker 1: we met each other's family, because it was a culture
Speaker 1: shock for both of us. The first time I visited
Speaker 1: Anata's family in rural Georgia, I met one of her
Speaker 1: friends who asked me if I wanted to go mud
Speaker 1: in mud In. I thought he met mudbath. I'm like, sure,
Speaker 1: sometimes you just gotta treat yourself, you know. But no, no, no,
Speaker 1: mud in is intentionally driving your jeep through mud, trying
Speaker 1: to get your vehicle as dirty as you possibly can.
Speaker 1: I don't understand this, Chris. That was foreign to me.
Speaker 1: But Anna's first time visiting my family in Toronto wasn't
Speaker 1: easy either. I remember she got in on a late flight,
Speaker 1: so I picked her up from the airport brought her
Speaker 1: home to meet my family. It was her first time
Speaker 1: meeting them. It was already late, so my parents had
Speaker 1: been in bed, and I remember when I walked her
Speaker 1: in the house and my dad came down the steps
Speaker 1: in his raggedy white boxer breeze. I remember how awkward
Speaker 1: she looked. I was like, Anna, this is my dad.
Speaker 1: Nice to meet you. And just to clarify, that is
Speaker 1: not a Canadian thing. That is strictly a Mark Joseph's thing.
Speaker 1: But it was hard for her. It was hard for her,
Speaker 1: and so the counselor wanted us to know. The pastor said, hey,
Speaker 1: you might experience more conflict in your relationship, because it
Speaker 1: would make sense that you would see things so differently
Speaker 1: as you go throughout your marriage. He just wanted us
Speaker 1: to be mindful of it. And that made sense to
Speaker 1: me that two people with two different experiences would just
Speaker 1: come to different conclusions about things. That made perfect sense.
Speaker 1: But what's always been interesting to me is how two
Speaker 1: people can experience the same thing and come to two
Speaker 1: very different conclusions. You can be looking at the same
Speaker 1: thing and come to a whole different set of beliefs.
Speaker 1: You know this when you go home at Thanksgiving. You're
Speaker 1: sitting around the Thanksgiving table and you think you're talking
Speaker 1: about the same issue, but somehow your uncle Carl comes
Speaker 1: up with some crazy theories and you're life, are we
Speaker 1: even talking about the same thing here. We recently had
Speaker 1: this controversy around our office. It got bad, It got
Speaker 1: pretty heated. It was a particular issue where I knew
Speaker 1: my opinion represented the minority, but every time the issue
Speaker 1: would come up, I always felt like I had to
Speaker 1: say something. I couldn't keep my mouth shut and listen.
Speaker 1: As a Canadian, it goes against my nature to disagree
Speaker 1: with people, but I felt like I needed to stand
Speaker 1: my ground on this one. And it got bad because
Speaker 1: people were like I had coworkers losing respect for me,
Speaker 1: and they're like questioning my salvation, like do you even
Speaker 1: you're God? Man? But I felt like it was such
Speaker 1: an important issue. I felt like I needed to speak
Speaker 1: my mind on it. And I don't want to cause
Speaker 1: division at any of our locations today. I don't want
Speaker 1: to create a problem for you Terry at the Uptown campus.
Speaker 1: But I feel like it needs to be said, the
Speaker 1: Greatest Showman was a really bad movie. It was a
Speaker 1: really bad movie. No no, no, no, no no, it
Speaker 1: was a really bad movie. I walked out of the
Speaker 1: theater and I looked over and expecting her to be
Speaker 1: just as disappointed as me, and she was smiling. She
Speaker 1: was so happy. I was like, you loved it. She's like,
Speaker 1: I loved it. It was so good. I was like,
Speaker 1: Wolverine shouldn't be singing. Wolverine should be stabbing. That's why
Speaker 1: he should be doing. I didn't understand it, same version
Speaker 1: as everyone else. Two very different conclusions looking at the
Speaker 1: same thing, two very different beliefs. That's what initially drew
Speaker 1: my attention to this passage in numbers thirteen. Because for
Speaker 1: forty days, spies, these twelve great men of faith, these
Speaker 1: twelve leaders from one from each of the tribe, they
Speaker 1: go into the Promised Land for forty days they're exploring.
Speaker 1: This place is amazing. Can you believe that God said
Speaker 1: He's gonna give this to us? Oh my goodness. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: over there, I see, oh man, those looks like some
Speaker 1: some cities over there some big walls. But oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: look at that. This place is flowing with milk and honey.
Speaker 1: No one knew what that meant, but it sounded awesome. Well,
Speaker 1: well what's that? Oh my, do you see that. That's
Speaker 1: a big deal. Oh no, that's just a campus safety volunteer. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: oh no, no, no, no, whoa no, no, There really
Speaker 1: are some big people in this land. They look like giants.
Speaker 1: But whoa speaking a big Look at that. Look how
Speaker 1: big those grapes are touching your neighbors say, those are
Speaker 1: big grapes. Those are massive. I can't wait to tell
Speaker 1: Moses about these grapes. In fact, rather than tell them
Speaker 1: about it, why don't we show them to them? And
Speaker 1: so two of them carry this cluster of grapes and
Speaker 1: pontomegranates and figs. They represent God's blessing and provision in
Speaker 1: the land, and they bring it back to Moses, and
Speaker 1: they set it down in front of them, and they
Speaker 1: begin to give their report. Ten of the spies come
Speaker 1: to one conclusion. They start talking about the giants in
Speaker 1: the land, the armies, the walls that they would have
Speaker 1: to bring down, and two of the spies, Caleb, and
Speaker 1: the text would later tell us Joshua felt the same way.
Speaker 1: They had a whole different set of beliefs. They said,
Speaker 1: we can do it, we can take this place. God
Speaker 1: is with it with us. How is it that two
Speaker 1: people can be looking at the same thing and come
Speaker 1: to two different conclusions. I've come to believe in my
Speaker 1: life that what I believe is not a product of
Speaker 1: what I see. It's a product of my focus. That's
Speaker 1: how two people can get the same diagnosis from the
Speaker 1: doctor and one of them be absolutely devastated, while the
Speaker 1: other person experiences hope and peace and strength and God
Speaker 1: like never before in their life. That's why I've sat
Speaker 1: down with two different couples going through the same situation
Speaker 1: and once we're not gonna make it, We've got to
Speaker 1: give up, and the other says, no, no, no, We've
Speaker 1: got some battles to fight, but we can forgive each
Speaker 1: other and we can move on, and we believe God
Speaker 1: is with us and that God has something in store
Speaker 1: for us. It's a matter of your focus. Your focus.
Speaker 1: It's not that Joshua and Caleb were is more spiritual
Speaker 1: than the others. All of these were leaders from each
Speaker 1: of the tribes. There were great men of faith, and
Speaker 1: maybe today you are standing on the edge of something
Speaker 1: God has been trying to bring you into. It might
Speaker 1: not look like canaan. It might look like peace, it
Speaker 1: might look like joy, it might look like freedom, it
Speaker 1: might look like healing. God is always trying to bring
Speaker 1: you into something, But so often we stand at the edge,
Speaker 1: never possessing what God has promised us because we lack focus.
Speaker 1: And maybe you're here today and you've been so discouraged
Speaker 1: and you feel like everybody else is winning and everybody
Speaker 1: else is getting ahead, and you feel like, maybe I
Speaker 1: don't have faith. I want to encourage you today. It's
Speaker 1: not that you don't have faith. In fact, the Bible
Speaker 1: says that God has given us each a measure of faith.
Speaker 1: Jesus says that all you need is faith the size
Speaker 1: of a mustard seed to be able to speak to
Speaker 1: these mountains and say move. If you have just a
Speaker 1: little bit of faith, he said, nothing would be impossible
Speaker 1: for you. It's not that you don't have faith. It
Speaker 1: just might be that you don't have focus. Even great
Speaker 1: people of faith have weak moments, and I think that's
Speaker 1: what happened to these tense spies in this passage forty
Speaker 1: days staring at the promise, and somewhere along the way
Speaker 1: they lost their focus. But I really believe that the
Speaker 1: reason Joshua and Caleb were able to keep their focus
Speaker 1: was because they practice so much discipline throughout this whole process.
Speaker 1: And I want to look at three things today that
Speaker 1: Joshua and Caleb did so well that I think will
Speaker 1: help someone who's here today that God is calling you
Speaker 1: into something. This might be the message that gives you
Speaker 1: the faith either confidence faith in yourself or hope faith
Speaker 1: in God to move forward and what He's promised. And
Speaker 1: the first thing is this focus. What you think When
Speaker 1: I was first started reading through this passage, I was
Speaker 1: judging these spies so hard. Man, I was judging them.
Speaker 1: I didn't understand how these ten men could spend forty
Speaker 1: days staring at grapes and pomegranates and figs after all
Speaker 1: this time in the desert. I would have thought they
Speaker 1: would have been so excited to be finally coming close
Speaker 1: to the promise God had given. I was judging them
Speaker 1: because I didn't understand how they were so preoccupied with
Speaker 1: these giants. Why do you keep talking about the giants? Man? Giants?
Speaker 1: Sounded like Alan iverson practice giants. What you're talking about
Speaker 1: these giants for They come back and they give their
Speaker 1: report and they say, see, they give their report and
Speaker 1: they say, Moses, look at these grapes. But then they
Speaker 1: start going on about these giants and armies and the walls.
Speaker 1: And I'm judging them because I'm like, I just don't
Speaker 1: understand how they could miss the promises and be so
Speaker 1: focused on the problems. And I thought about, I thought
Speaker 1: about getting up here to appreciate you and be like,
Speaker 1: if you just worry about devouring those grapes, God will
Speaker 1: devour your giants or something like that. Don't tweet that,
Speaker 1: but something like that. Judging these guys. But the more
Speaker 1: I read through number thirteen, the more I was able
Speaker 1: to get some context of what was going on in
Speaker 1: their lives. And the more I got context, the less
Speaker 1: I was judging them, and the more I was actually
Speaker 1: able to relate to them. See. Context is a powerful thing,
Speaker 1: because context is the key to compassion. It's real easy
Speaker 1: to make snap judgments off of snapshots when you look
Speaker 1: at someone's life, they should have done this, or they
Speaker 1: should have done that. But if you can zoom out
Speaker 1: and get some contexts. Instead of judging them, you start
Speaker 1: having compassion on them. Look at your neighbors, say, if
Speaker 1: you knew my story, snop, come on, say it. If
Speaker 1: you knew my story, if you knew my story, you
Speaker 1: wouldn't be judging me today. You'd be celebrating me today.
Speaker 1: If you knew what I had been through, if you
Speaker 1: knew what God had brought me through, how he kept me,
Speaker 1: how he saved me, you wouldn't be standing here judging me.
Speaker 1: You'd be celebrating me. You'd be thinking God for what
Speaker 1: he'd in my life. Yeah. I know, I got a
Speaker 1: waste to go, but by the grace of God, I'm
Speaker 1: still standing here. Context is the key to compassion. And
Speaker 1: I'm reading through this passage and I started to see
Speaker 1: where things went wrong because at the beginning of numbers thirteen,
Speaker 1: God speaks to Moses and he gives them a simple instruction. See,
Speaker 1: you got to understand that Moses is, in an informal sense,
Speaker 1: Israel's first king, but he's very much so a prophet
Speaker 1: of mouthpiece to God, from God to the Israelites. God
Speaker 1: would speak to Moses and then he would relay that
Speaker 1: message to the people. And so at the beginning of
Speaker 1: numbers thirteen, God gives him one specific instruction, take twelve spies,
Speaker 1: send him into the land to explore one thing. So
Speaker 1: Moses is writing down as to do list, to do
Speaker 1: explore the land. Got it a simple instruction? You see,
Speaker 1: God is always trying to bring us into things. But
Speaker 1: God is not the author of confusion. God always makes
Speaker 1: it real simple. We like to complicate our faith, but
Speaker 1: God often just gives us one next step. He keeps
Speaker 1: things real simple for us. He gives them one thing,
Speaker 1: explore the land. Moses takes that list, and look at
Speaker 1: this in numbers thirteen eighteen. Now he's passing on that
Speaker 1: list to the twelve spies, and he takes the one
Speaker 1: thing that God put on the to do list, and
Speaker 1: he starts making things so complicated. Numbers thirteen eighteen. It
Speaker 1: says what he says, See what the land is like,
Speaker 1: and whether the people who live there are stronger, weak,
Speaker 1: few or many? What kind of land do they live in?
Speaker 1: Is it good as a bad? What are the towns
Speaker 1: like that they live in? Is it on wall they're fortified?
Speaker 1: How's the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there
Speaker 1: trees in the land? Or not do your best to
Speaker 1: bring back some of the fruit of the land. Moses
Speaker 1: starts complicating the very simple thing that God asks them
Speaker 1: to do. It's like when my wife sends me to
Speaker 1: the grocery store to pick up salsa, and along the
Speaker 1: way she starts texting me about diapers and bananas. Of
Speaker 1: course I forgot the salsa. I can only think about
Speaker 1: one thing out a time. I'm a simple person, Moses complicates.
Speaker 1: It's the simple instruction that God gave them to pass on.
Speaker 1: The difference between God's lists and Moses's list is the
Speaker 1: difference between what dads have to think about when they
Speaker 1: go on vacation and what moms have to think about
Speaker 1: when they're packing. Moms are like, I need clothes for
Speaker 1: myself and close for the kids, and towels for the beach,
Speaker 1: and toys for the beach and snacks for the car
Speaker 1: and a first eight kit, and dads are like bathing suit, toothbrush.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to go yet? It's not fair. Moses
Speaker 1: has them considering things that God never asked them to consider.
Speaker 1: No wonder they were talking about armies and walls and giants.
Speaker 1: Moses sent them into the land thinking about things that
Speaker 1: God never asked them to think about. And what I've
Speaker 1: realized in my own life is that so often my
Speaker 1: self consciousness is a product of my failure to be
Speaker 1: God conscious. When I start thinking about things that God
Speaker 1: never asked me to think about, I start undermining the
Speaker 1: very confidence that I need to move forward into what
Speaker 1: He's called me to. We do what Moses did all
Speaker 1: the time. God gives us a simple instruction and we
Speaker 1: start adding all kinds of considerations. God speaks to you
Speaker 1: and he puts it on your heart. He says, I
Speaker 1: want you to make church a priority because I want
Speaker 1: you to set a legacy of faith for your family.
Speaker 1: A simple thing, and we go, yes, God got it,
Speaker 1: make church a priority. And then we start adding all
Speaker 1: kinds of considerations. What's the weather like this week? And
Speaker 1: how's the parking lot going to be? Is pastor Stephen
Speaker 1: going to be there? Is it the Canadian guy again?
Speaker 1: How were the kids? Were they crazy or extra crazy?
Speaker 1: God speaks to you through his word and he says,
Speaker 1: I need you to start trusting me with the tithe
Speaker 1: And remember, every time God gives you an instruction, it's
Speaker 1: not because he's trying to keep you from something He's
Speaker 1: always trying to bring you into something. Every good and
Speaker 1: perfect gift comes from God, so he puts it on
Speaker 1: your heart. I need you to start trusting me with
Speaker 1: the tithe and we go, yes, God, I got it.
Speaker 1: I'll do what you say. And then we start considering
Speaker 1: all these other things. Did I get the promotion I wanted?
Speaker 1: What were the bills? Like? Do I have all this shoes?
Speaker 1: What kind of vacation do we want to take this year?
Speaker 1: What kind of school do we want to put the
Speaker 1: kids in? And we start considering things that God never
Speaker 1: asked us to think about. That's where the ten Spies
Speaker 1: went wrong. They undermined the confidence that they needed. God
Speaker 1: was sending them into the land because he wanted them
Speaker 1: to bring back a report to be able to encourage
Speaker 1: the Israelite community about what God had in store for them,
Speaker 1: and instead Moses had them thinking about all kinds of things,
Speaker 1: giants and walls, and instead of encouraging the people, they
Speaker 1: discouraged the people because of what they were sent into
Speaker 1: the land, thinking about, so what do we do real? Practically?
Speaker 1: We need to focus our thoughts because I think so
Speaker 1: many of us we have thoughts that end up dictating
Speaker 1: what we believe in the conclusions we come to, and
Speaker 1: we never stopped to ask the question where did this
Speaker 1: even come from? What would it look like if you
Speaker 1: took time to actually think about what you're thinking about.
Speaker 1: Look what Tewod Corinthians ten fives says at the end
Speaker 1: of it. Paul says, we take captive every thought and
Speaker 1: make it obedient to Christ. In other words, he says,
Speaker 1: every thought that passes through my mind, I grab hold
Speaker 1: of it, and I make it to submit to what
Speaker 1: God has spoken over my life. If God hasn't said it,
Speaker 1: I don't need to think about it, because what I
Speaker 1: believe is not a product of what I see. It's
Speaker 1: a product of my focus. I need to focus what
Speaker 1: I think. But the second thing that I see. The
Speaker 1: two spies do so well in this passage, and this
Speaker 1: is number two. Focus what you hear, because look what
Speaker 1: happens in the text. They come back from the land.
Speaker 1: They're giving their report to Moses, and they start talking
Speaker 1: at first about the promises that he had given them,
Speaker 1: and he says that they say this in verse twenty seven,
Speaker 1: it says, we went into the land in which you
Speaker 1: sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey,
Speaker 1: here is its fruit. But but, but, but but the
Speaker 1: people who live there now they're talking about the problems
Speaker 1: are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.
Speaker 1: But look what Caleb does. In verse thirty, he says,
Speaker 1: shut up. He focused what he heard. He looked at
Speaker 1: them and said, I don't need to hear all that.
Speaker 1: It wasn't that Caleb wasn't aware of the giants and
Speaker 1: what was in the land. He knew about it. He
Speaker 1: had spent forty days looking at the same thing as
Speaker 1: they did. But he looked at him and said, I
Speaker 1: don't need to hear all that. Man. There are some
Speaker 1: things in my life that things I need to deal
Speaker 1: with that I am very aware of. I don't need
Speaker 1: someone always coming in my ear just telling me about
Speaker 1: all the things that are wrong. I need people in
Speaker 1: my life who can speak God's promises over my life.
Speaker 1: Tell me what God's declared over my life. God said
Speaker 1: he would give us the slan. I don't need to
Speaker 1: hear about all these giants. You gotta focus what you hear. Man.
Speaker 1: And we pollute our faith, we pollute our hearts, we
Speaker 1: pollute our spirits because we expose ourselves by what we
Speaker 1: hear these ten spies come back, and they're talking about
Speaker 1: grapes and promises at first, and then they're talking about
Speaker 1: giants and walls. But in the moment they start sounding
Speaker 1: like Sir mix a lot instead of men of faith
Speaker 1: talking about butts. Caleb has the fortitude to say, stop
Speaker 1: talking about that, man, I don't need to hear all that.
Speaker 1: Touch Your neighbors say, I don't need to hear all that.
Speaker 1: See there are some of us in this place today
Speaker 1: that God has put some things on your heart. There
Speaker 1: are things that God has called you to. But the
Speaker 1: reason you haven't had the confidence to move forward is
Speaker 1: because there are still voices in your life that are
Speaker 1: talking you out of what God is calling you into.
Speaker 1: Dreams He's put in your heart, dreams he's put in
Speaker 1: your spirit. And every time you get ready to believe
Speaker 1: him in, every time you get ready to take that step,
Speaker 1: there's someone in your ear saying, but but but but
Speaker 1: but but but but but but didn't the doctor tell
Speaker 1: you wouldn't be able to conceive again? But but but
Speaker 1: but but but but do you really want to put
Speaker 1: yourself through all that heartbreak again? After what you've been through?
Speaker 1: But but but, but do you really think you're qualified
Speaker 1: for that job? And we let these voices talk us
Speaker 1: out of what God is calling us into because we
Speaker 1: lack focus. But you gotta become selective with your hearing.
Speaker 1: Man like my kid, It's amazing how he can hear
Speaker 1: me when he wants to hear me, and doesn't hear
Speaker 1: me when he doesn't want to. You gotta become selective
Speaker 1: in your hearing because your faith is a product of
Speaker 1: your focus. You gotta focus what you hear. The Bible
Speaker 1: says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
Speaker 1: word of God. In other words, my faith is not
Speaker 1: determined by what I see. My faith is determined by
Speaker 1: what I hear. I gotta submit my life under the
Speaker 1: words that God has spoken over my life. I need
Speaker 1: friends who will stand in my corner and claire what
Speaker 1: God has said over my situation. God said, I belong
Speaker 1: to him. God said he I'm a child. God said
Speaker 1: no weapon formed against me would prosper and prevail. Hallelujah,
Speaker 1: Thank you God. I don't need people to talk me
Speaker 1: out of the battle. I need friends who will come
Speaker 1: into battle with me declaring what God has spoken over
Speaker 1: my life. He said he would give it to me.
Speaker 1: Faith comes by what you hear. What you hear, what
Speaker 1: you hear. Encourage the person next to you. Look him
Speaker 1: dead in the eye at every campus, and with faith,
Speaker 1: look at him. Say God is with you. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no, say it with faith, God is with you.
Speaker 1: You can do it. I don't know what it is
Speaker 1: that God has calling you today, but God is with you,
Speaker 1: and you can do it. I don't need to hear
Speaker 1: all that. I'm a friend and mine school who is
Speaker 1: so good at pointing out people's little mannerisms that they
Speaker 1: did things I would never notice. But he had a
Speaker 1: way of picking up on those little things you do,
Speaker 1: those little weird things you do. I remember one time
Speaker 1: he was like, hey, do you notice how this guy
Speaker 1: clears his throat between every other word? Hey man, how
Speaker 1: you do it? I never noticed it before, but once
Speaker 1: he said it, it was all I could hear. And
Speaker 1: we wonder sometimes why we're so focused on the wrong things.
Speaker 1: It's because we haven't become selective enough in what we hear.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying you can't be friends with the person,
Speaker 1: but I had a friend the other day who started
Speaker 1: talking real negatively about something I care about. And it's
Speaker 1: not that I don't want to be friends with him anymore.
Speaker 1: I love the dude, but I just have to say
Speaker 1: I don't need to hear all that. Some of you
Speaker 1: wonder why you're so anxious, and it's like, maybe it's
Speaker 1: because you're listening to the same news cycle every night
Speaker 1: at eleven o'clock. Maybe you need to change up the
Speaker 1: music you listen to, because faith comes through what you hear.
Speaker 1: So if it's not pure, if it's not true, if
Speaker 1: it's not excellent, if it's not praiseworthy, if it's not honorable,
Speaker 1: then I don't need to be hearing that kind of stuff. Man,
Speaker 1: Caleb silenced the people. Number three. This is my last point.
Speaker 1: Focus what you say. There's a real difference between the
Speaker 1: way that Joshua and Caleb talked about their situation and
Speaker 1: the way the other ten Spies did. When I first
Speaker 1: started reading through this passage, I just assumed that those
Speaker 1: ten Spies were lying about what they saw. I could understand. Man,
Speaker 1: They'd already been through a lot. Maybe they just didn't
Speaker 1: want to go into another battle. Maybe they didn't feel
Speaker 1: like fighting again. So maybe they thought, hey, if we
Speaker 1: just kind of exaggerate about what's in the land. Maybe
Speaker 1: we can talk them out of it. You know, we'll
Speaker 1: get there eventually, but we're just not up for it
Speaker 1: right now. I thought they were maybe making up what
Speaker 1: they saw, because Joshua and Caleb are saying, like, man,
Speaker 1: we are stronger than they are. God is with us.
Speaker 1: We should go up. We can certainly do it. And
Speaker 1: they're saying, these people are so big, we seem like
Speaker 1: grasshoppers in their own eyes. Who's right who's wrong? In
Speaker 1: this situation? I thought one was telling them the truth
Speaker 1: and one was lying. But then I noticed a small
Speaker 1: detail in verse thirty two. Look at this, it says,
Speaker 1: and they spread amongst the Israelites a bad report. Did
Speaker 1: you catch that? A bad report? Not a false report,
Speaker 1: not a wrong report, a bad report. What they saw
Speaker 1: in the land was very much real. There were big walls,
Speaker 1: there were big cities, there were big people that they
Speaker 1: would have to conquer. They weren't deceived in what they saw.
Speaker 1: They were deceived in what they said because they spoke
Speaker 1: about what they saw on the land, and then they
Speaker 1: started saying all kinds of crazy things, like, man, we
Speaker 1: are so small, we seem like grasshoppers. In their own eyes. Now,
Speaker 1: how could they know that? How do they know what
Speaker 1: they're thinking? They didn't know that. And often where the
Speaker 1: enemy will deceive us in our life is he'll have
Speaker 1: us looking out a very real situation but coming to
Speaker 1: very false conclusions. And what you say is a reflection
Speaker 1: of what you believe. There's very little space between what
Speaker 1: you say and what you believe. And the more they
Speaker 1: started saying we're so small, we're so inferior, we can't
Speaker 1: do it, we can't take them. They're bigger, they're stronger,
Speaker 1: the more they started to believe that that's where the
Speaker 1: enemy deceived them in what they said. And I am
Speaker 1: so guilty about this in my own life, where I
Speaker 1: can be looking at a very real situation, something that
Speaker 1: I have to deal with and something that I need
Speaker 1: to face, but I undermine the faith I need to
Speaker 1: do it by the words that I say. And it
Speaker 1: gets crazy sometimes. The other day we got into an argument,
Speaker 1: just a little argument. Don't worry about us, just a
Speaker 1: little argument. We got into an argument. But I remember
Speaker 1: walking away saying to myself, like, I'll never be good
Speaker 1: enough for Anna, I'll never be the husband she deserves.
Speaker 1: I lost my patient with the boys picking him up
Speaker 1: from school the other day, and instead of just saying
Speaker 1: the easy thing to say, I'm sorry, you know what,
Speaker 1: I started saying to myself in the car. They're gonna
Speaker 1: grow up believing their dad's a hypocrite, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: hate God, and they're gonna hate Church, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: hate me. Crazy conclusions, real simple situation. But we inject
Speaker 1: all these thoughts and we start saying things that contradict
Speaker 1: what God has spoken over our lives. I need to
Speaker 1: do something different. Yeah, I've got to deal with it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've got to address it and say sorry sometimes, but
Speaker 1: I need to declare over my life the truth of
Speaker 1: what God has spoken. I am a good husband, I
Speaker 1: am a good dad. See, there's someone today that you
Speaker 1: are looking at a very real situation. But what God
Speaker 1: is calling you to do is change the way you
Speaker 1: talk about it. He wants to tell you to focus
Speaker 1: what you say and make sure every word that comes
Speaker 1: out of your mouth is in accordance with what He's spoken.
Speaker 1: Paul Rowe, he said, I believe, therefore I have spoken.
Speaker 1: What you say is a reflection of your beliefs. For
Speaker 1: some of you, you're looking at a very real sickness.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean you can't declare the truth over
Speaker 1: your situation. I am healed by his stripes. I am healed,
Speaker 1: I am whole, I am redeemed. Yeah, you might have
Speaker 1: lost some years, but you can declare over your life
Speaker 1: that my God is a redeemer, that there is nothing
Speaker 1: too difficult for him, that my best days are ahead
Speaker 1: of me. Yeah, you made some mistakes, that's real, But
Speaker 1: you don't need to believe that God has done with you.
Speaker 1: He has more in store for you. He has plans
Speaker 1: to prossper you, not to harm you. Sometimes you gotta
Speaker 1: look your situation right in the face and say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know you're there. But what Mike, God has spoken
Speaker 1: is true. And if he said he would give me
Speaker 1: the land, he will give me the land. Talking about
Speaker 1: giant walls numbers fourteen eight, Joshua and Caleb speak up
Speaker 1: and they say, if the Lord is pleased with us,
Speaker 1: he will lead us into the land again. Talking about
Speaker 1: the blessings, they say, a land flowing with milk and honey,
Speaker 1: and look at this. They repeat the promise that God
Speaker 1: initially gave to Moses, and even before that, gave to Abraham,
Speaker 1: and he will give it to us. Don't rebel against
Speaker 1: the Lord. Don't be afraid. We will devour them. See
Speaker 1: the ten spots kept saying, this land is gonna devour us.
Speaker 1: Surely God's brought us out here to die. We can't
Speaker 1: defeat them. We're so small in their eyes. But Joshua
Speaker 1: and Caleb, they focus what they said. They kept repeating
Speaker 1: the promise that God had said he will give us
Speaker 1: this land. There's some things we're gonna have to fight,
Speaker 1: There's some battles that we're gonna have to go through.
Speaker 1: But if God said he'd give it to us, then
Speaker 1: I believe that he'll give it to us. Stand to
Speaker 1: your feet at all your other locations. I'm want to
Speaker 1: close this thing down. See what you believe is not
Speaker 1: a product of what you see. For forty days, they
Speaker 1: were all looking at the same thing and yet came
Speaker 1: to very different conclusions. Because what you believe is a
Speaker 1: product of your focus. You got to focus what you think,
Speaker 1: focus what you hear, and focus what you say. Because
Speaker 1: what you believe is not a product of what you see.
Speaker 1: But get this, the way God works, what you believe
Speaker 1: will determine what you see. For the ten Spies who
Speaker 1: believe that they couldn't defeat them, who believe that they
Speaker 1: would die in the wilderness, who believe that God couldn't
Speaker 1: do it through them. For the tense Spies and the
Speaker 1: entire generation of Israelites who believe their bad report, they
Speaker 1: would never step foot into that promised Land again, because
Speaker 1: what you believe determines what you see. But for Joshua
Speaker 1: and Caleb, the ones who have the courage, the confidence,
Speaker 1: the focus to believe God for what he had spoken,
Speaker 1: because they believe God, they would see that promised Land again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it would take some time, and yeah there would be
Speaker 1: some fights, but they would have the opportunity to lead
Speaker 1: the next generation of God's people into the promise. Because
Speaker 1: what you believe determines what you see. And there's someone
Speaker 1: here today under the sound of my voice. You've lost
Speaker 1: your focus. You've let too many voices talk you out
Speaker 1: of what God was calling you into. You've been considering things,
Speaker 1: getting all insecure, thinking about things that God didn't ask
Speaker 1: you to think about, and you've been saying some crazy things.
Speaker 1: Yeah they're based on what you see, but they don't
Speaker 1: align with what God has spoken over your life. You
Speaker 1: need to focus what you say. I believe that God
Speaker 1: is bringing you into something today. You're on the edge
Speaker 1: of a breakthrough. You're on the edge of a miracle,
Speaker 1: You're on the edge of a blessing. Don't lose your
Speaker 1: focus now, because what you believe will determine what you'll see.
Speaker 1: And if you would believe God for it, then by
Speaker 1: His grace, you will see it. I don't know who
Speaker 1: this message was for, but it's for someone who was
Speaker 1: giving up, someone who felt so frustrated that they were
Speaker 1: on the edge of something God had put in your
Speaker 1: heart so long ago. Now it's time to possess what
Speaker 1: God has promised. Focus, focus in his presence today, right now,
Speaker 1: I want to actually give a very specific invitation for
Speaker 1: someone under the sound of my voice. Maybe you're in Ashville,
Speaker 1: Maybe and you're in Morrisville, maybe you're in Raleigh. You've
Speaker 1: never made a decision to make Jesus Christ your Lord
Speaker 1: and savior. You've seen his grace, He's been in your
Speaker 1: life the whole time. You've experienced his goodness and his mercy,
Speaker 1: but you've never surrendered your life to him. It is
Speaker 1: possible that you could have been looking at your savior
Speaker 1: your hope all along and completely missed it. When Jesus
Speaker 1: hung on the cross with a crown of thorns and
Speaker 1: blood running down his face as he poured out his
Speaker 1: blood for our forgiveness, there was a thief on either side.
Speaker 1: Two people looking at the same promise, the same promise,
Speaker 1: one the same savior of the world. Two people looking
Speaker 1: at the same promise, but came to two very different conclusions.
Speaker 1: One thief on the side of Jesus looked at him
Speaker 1: and said, if you're really the son of God, he
Speaker 1: didn't have the faith to believe, and because he didn't believe,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't see Jesus again. But on the other side
Speaker 1: of Jesus was a thief who deserved to be on
Speaker 1: that cross. But he looked at Jesus and said, I
Speaker 1: want to be with you in paradise. I believe in you.
Speaker 1: I believe you're the savior of the world. And because
Speaker 1: he believed, Jesus says, you will be with me today.
Speaker 1: God not only wants to spend eternity with you, but
Speaker 1: God wants to come into your life right now. God
Speaker 1: is with you in this moment. Don't miss him, render
Speaker 1: your life to him. Choose to believe it. That's you today.
Speaker 1: This is your moment, your moment of salvation, your moment
Speaker 1: of faith. I want to lead you in a prayer
Speaker 1: right now to surrender your life to Christ, to receive
Speaker 1: the promise of his grace and his forgiveness. With heads
Speaker 1: bowed and eyes closed, all over this place, pray with me.
Speaker 1: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
Speaker 1: in the savior of the world. I believe he died
Speaker 1: and rose again to forgive my sin and give me life.
Speaker 1: I receive your grace by faith. Come into my life,
Speaker 1: made me new. I'll follow you with head still bowed
Speaker 1: and eyes still close at every location. If you just
Speaker 1: prayed that prayer. When I count to three, boldly shoot
Speaker 1: your hand up in the air. Do it courageously. Man,
Speaker 1: we want to celebrate what God's done in your life.
Speaker 1: On three, one, two, three, shoots your hand up. Don't hesitate.
Speaker 1: Come on across all the locations. Let's celebrate the miracles,
Speaker 1: a new beginning. And Jesus said, come on, lift their voices,
Speaker 1: give God praising this play. He's so faithful his promise,
Speaker 1: still saying well. I hope you enjoyed the podcast today.
Speaker 1: If you did. There are just a couple of things
Speaker 1: I'd love for you to do. Number one, subscribe to
Speaker 1: our show. That way, the most recent episode will always
Speaker 1: be in your feed, waiting for you ready when you are.
Speaker 1: And Secondly, if this ministry has impacted you and you'd
Speaker 1: like to help us continue to reach others, you can
Speaker 1: click the link in the description and you can give
Speaker 1: now and I'll see you next time on the Elevation podcast.