Speaker 1: Amen, you can have a seat.
Speaker 1: We're going to be in Numbers, chapter 13 this morning, numbers 13.
Speaker 1: And the message is entitled this morning how to Defeat Negative Thoughts.
Speaker 1: How many of you have ever had a negative thought before?
Speaker 1: Okay, that means okay.
Speaker 1: Some of you are honest in the room this morning.
Speaker 1: I got another question for y'all this morning, for you spiritual people out there how many of you really like football, football fans in the room?
Speaker 1: Come on, let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are just a few things as amazing as watching 22 massive human beings try to kill each other on a Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 1: I mean it's just wonderful.
Speaker 1: And if you watch football or maybe you don't watch football they got something called instant replay Instant replay.
Speaker 1: So how many know what instant replay is?
Speaker 1: So what that is is the refs can see a play happen from a certain angle, and what instant replay will allow them to do is to look at the same play but from a different angle.
Speaker 1: So, for example, a lot of times this just makes a really, really big difference.
Speaker 1: The first game of the NFL season this year was between the Chiefs and the Ravens.
Speaker 1: Those stinking Chiefs, all right.
Speaker 1: And the very end of the game, lamar Jackson, the Ravens quarterback, made this incredible throw.
Speaker 1: In fact I think we got a picture of it.
Speaker 1: He made this awesome throw and the receiver made this amazing catch and Ravens fans everywhere like we won.
Speaker 1: It's going to be amazing.
Speaker 1: And then they took a closer look and the receiver's foot was actually out of bounds.
Speaker 1: Can we get that next picture up there?
Speaker 1: Oh boy, and those annoying Kansas City Chiefs won once again.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was hard.
Speaker 1: It was hard.
Speaker 1: I'm still recovering from the Super Bowl and the refs.
Speaker 1: When they see the play from a different angle, from a different frame, it changes what they see.
Speaker 1: As far as what happened didn't change, but how they see it changes.
Speaker 1: We're in a series right now entitled Change your Thinking, change your Life.
Speaker 1: We've been talking about our thoughts and today we're going to see specifically how do we overcome negative thinking and the way that you are going to overcome negative thinking and the way that you are going to overcome negative thinking and the way that we're going to see this in Scripture today is by learning something called the reframe principle, the reframe principle.
Speaker 1: Everybody say the word reframe together Ready, reframe.
Speaker 1: Can we get that reframe principle up on the screen?
Speaker 1: Here's what the reframe principle is.
Speaker 1: Groeschel says you can't control what happens to you, but you can control how you frame it.
Speaker 1: You can't always control that you lost your job, you can't always control that your kid is struggling or you got the medical diagnosis, but you can control how you frame it.
Speaker 1: Said another way, you can't change the facts, but you can change the frame, how you see a situation.
Speaker 1: You ever done this.
Speaker 1: You ever taken a picture and you put a filter on the picture.
Speaker 1: So maybe your picture you took the picture and it was a color picture or whatnot, and you made it black and white, or maybe you did one of those like ridiculous, ridiculous filters on it where you got like the dog ears or like the tongue sticking out.
Speaker 1: Y'all know what I'm saying, right?
Speaker 1: Well, the picture itself doesn't change, like it's still you, but the filter causes you to see the picture differently.
Speaker 1: It just changes how the picture is seen.
Speaker 1: And what the reframe principle tells all of us is we can't change the facts, we can't always change what happened or what we're going through, but we can cognitively determine how you choose to frame it.
Speaker 1: We're going to go to this really powerful place in Numbers, chapter 13, where there was a couple dudes faced a really tough situation with some really big, strong guys, with some really crazy fortified cities, and they framed this situation in such a way that not only changed their future, but it affected their mental health in a positive way and it allowed them to see what God could do.
Speaker 1: Because they framed it through the presence and promises of God and because they framed a situation through the presence and promises of God, it allowed them to see the situation differently.
Speaker 1: And the reason why this matters so much is because all of us have something called a cognitive bias.
Speaker 1: Who's ever heard of a cognitive bias before?
Speaker 1: Okay, some of you have heard of a cognitive bias.
Speaker 1: This is what a cognitive bias.
Speaker 1: Who's ever heard of a cognitive bias before?
Speaker 1: Okay, some of you have heard of a cognitive bias.
Speaker 1: This is what a cognitive bias is.
Speaker 1: It's just a mental filter for how we frame things.
Speaker 1: So, for example, if growing up, every time you messed up, if you made a mistake, if you were condemned or you were put down, it's possible that you could have a cognitive bias as an adult that says I can't ever mess up or I can't ever make a mistake because if I do, I'm going to be put down and I'm going to feel condemned.
Speaker 1: So because of that, we have this filter, this cognitive bias of I can't make any mistakes.
Speaker 1: I can't do anything wrong.
Speaker 1: I can't even admit that I make a mistake.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because of the cognitive bias.
Speaker 1: It could be that you have a cognitive bias that every time I get close to somebody in a relationship, I get hurt every single time.
Speaker 1: So now what happens in your life is you have a really hard time having community with people.
Speaker 1: You have a really hard time having trust with people, because what is a very real defense mechanism you want to protect yourself can be a cognitive bias.
Speaker 1: So every time you view a relationship, you have this filter, this bias of I cannot get too close or else I'll get hurt, and that's how you see people.
Speaker 1: It's a bias.
Speaker 1: And here's the reality, before we get into the text is your filters and frames determine how you see and experience life, and all of us have filters and all of us have frameworks.
Speaker 1: We just have to admit that we do.
Speaker 1: This is exactly why you can have two people experience the exact same situation and respond in two completely different ways and explain it in two completely different ways.
Speaker 1: Did the facts change?
Speaker 1: No, like this happened.
Speaker 1: What changed Filter, the framework.
Speaker 1: And here's the incredible thing that can happen if we will change our filter, if we'll change our facts through the filter and the framework of the presence and promises of God, is when you change your filter, it changes the feels.
Speaker 1: Is, when you change your filter, it changes the feels.
Speaker 1: So we can feel a certain way about a certain situation and your feeling is valid and your feeling is real.
Speaker 1: But if you would change the filter for how you see that situation, you could change how you feel about it.
Speaker 1: Now this takes us to Numbers, chapter 13.
Speaker 1: We're 12 guys.
Speaker 1: We're doing something really, really cool.
Speaker 1: They were on a reconnaissance mission for 40 days.
Speaker 1: They were spying out of land.
Speaker 1: So they got their infrared goggles, they got their drone.
Speaker 1: They got their drone, they got their tactical plans and 12 guys spent 40 days spying out of land, hiding in the bushes, using their night vision goggles and after 40 days they had done a complete report on the land.
Speaker 1: They knew all about the land, they knew where things were, they knew what was happening there, and now they're going to go back and they're going to report on what they saw.
Speaker 1: They're going to share the results of the mission.
Speaker 1: And this is what it says in Numbers 13, verse number 26.
Speaker 1: Do you want to know their reports?
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, it says the men went back to Moses and Aaron those were the leaders and the entire Israelite community in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, and they brought back a report for them and the whole community and they showed them the fruit of the land.
Speaker 1: They reported to Moses.
Speaker 1: We went into the land where you sent us.
Speaker 1: Indeed, it is flowing with milk and honey, and here's some of its fruits.
Speaker 1: We know from earlier verses.
Speaker 1: They brought some clusters of grapes.
Speaker 1: How many of you like grapes in the room?
Speaker 1: Okay, come on, let's go Green grapes all day.
Speaker 1: How many of you like grapes in the room?
Speaker 1: Okay, come on, let's go Green grapes all day.
Speaker 1: All right, this is a great place.
Speaker 1: They just spied out a land that had lots of food, milk, honey.
Speaker 1: Come on, verse 28.
Speaker 1: However, the people living in the land are strong and the cities are large and fortified.
Speaker 1: I mean, this isn't just some little random encampment on the side of the hill.
Speaker 1: These are fortified cities.
Speaker 1: We also saw the descendants of Anak there Now.
Speaker 1: The sons of Annoch were literally giant people.
Speaker 1: These were like massive people.
Speaker 1: These are a bunch of NBA player seven-footers, shaquille O'Neals, walking around.
Speaker 1: These are big old boys, sons of Enoch.
Speaker 1: These are big.
Speaker 1: The Amalekites are living in the land of Negev, the Hethites, the Jebusites and Amorites.
Speaker 1: They live in the hill country and the Canaanites live by the sea along the Jordan.
Speaker 1: This is what the land is like.
Speaker 1: Then, caleb, he quieted the people in the presence of Moses Shh, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
Speaker 1: Caleb says let's go, let's go up now and take possession of the land, because we can certainly conquer it Now.
Speaker 1: Here's something I didn't tell y'all In the beginning of Numbers 13, god had clearly told these people that he wanted them to take this land.
Speaker 1: He wanted them to go to this place.
Speaker 1: This was God's desire for them.
Speaker 1: And Caleb here says guys, let's do it Like, let's roll up our sleeves.
Speaker 1: We got this, but the men who had gone up with them verse 31,.
Speaker 1: They responded we can't attack the people because they're stronger than we are.
Speaker 1: So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they'd scouted.
Speaker 1: The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants.
Speaker 1: All the people we saw in it are men of great size.
Speaker 1: We even saw the Nephilim there.
Speaker 1: The descendants of Enoch come from the Nephilim.
Speaker 1: To ourselves we seem like grasshoppers and we must have seemed the same to them Like man.
Speaker 1: Compared to those guys we're like well, it's any grasshoppers.
Speaker 1: He uses the word Nephilim here.
Speaker 1: Time prevents me from talking about this, but if you ever want to do a really interesting Bible study, go to gotquestionsorg and study Nephilim and look up Nephilim.
Speaker 1: It's pretty fascinating.
Speaker 1: They see Nephilim there.
Speaker 1: And God had clearly told these people he wanted them to go in the land, like it was undeniable.
Speaker 1: This was God's desire for them.
Speaker 1: But a lot of things happened in that land, a lot of challenges.
Speaker 1: Verse number one the whole community.
Speaker 1: Hearing about this, they broke out into loud cries and the people wept that night, all the Israelites.
Speaker 1: They complained about Moses and Aaron.
Speaker 1: The whole community told them if only we had died in the land of Egypt or if only we had died in this wilderness.
Speaker 1: Remember they had been in slavery in Egypt.
Speaker 1: Y'all, slavery is bad and they're saying if only we were there and had died there.
Speaker 1: Why is the Lord verse 3, bring us into this land to die by the sword Our wives and children?
Speaker 1: They'll become plunder.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?
Speaker 1: Hold on y'all, guys, guys, guys.
Speaker 1: There was blessing in this land, where God wanted them to go.
Speaker 1: There were some hardships, there were some challenges, but there was blessing.
Speaker 1: And these people, they're blaming God.
Speaker 1: They're like God.
Speaker 1: Why'd you bring us here blessing?
Speaker 1: And these people, they're blaming God.
Speaker 1: They're like God.
Speaker 1: Why'd you bring us here?
Speaker 1: Here's the deal.
Speaker 1: God wants these people to have victory.
Speaker 1: God wants these people to experience his blessing.
Speaker 1: God has something for these people.
Speaker 1: That's what he has.
Speaker 1: But these people can't see it In verse four.
Speaker 1: So they said to one another let's appoint a leader.
Speaker 1: Remember, moses and Aaron are their leaders.
Speaker 1: They're saying here let's appoint a leader.
Speaker 1: And what are those next two words?
Speaker 1: And let's go back to Egypt.
Speaker 1: They're thinking about overthrowing the leaders.
Speaker 1: They're like let's do a coup here, let's take over.
Speaker 1: Did they forget what Egypt was like?
Speaker 1: Did they forget how bad slavery was?
Speaker 1: Watch this.
Speaker 1: The frame in which they saw this situation caused them to be irrational and fearful, because your frame determines your feels.
Speaker 1: And their frame caused them to be so fearful because all they saw was the fortified cities and all they saw was these giant NBA players Shaquille O'Neal's walking around and they didn't see the presence and promises of God, and it had caused them to say we need, we, should we better go back?
Speaker 1: Look at Moses and Aaron's response.
Speaker 1: They're hearing this.
Speaker 1: They're like are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: What's Moses, aaron?
Speaker 1: In verse five, they fell down in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community, joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephthah, who were among those who scouted out the land.
Speaker 1: They tore their clothes.
Speaker 1: Tearing clothes in scripture is a sign of grief, a sign of sorrow.
Speaker 1: Joshua and Caleb, they tear their clothes.
Speaker 1: They say to the entire Israelite community the land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land.
Speaker 1: They're trying to convince the people.
Speaker 1: They're trying to say guys, guys, it's a good land.
Speaker 1: If the Lord is pleased with us.
Speaker 1: Can we see this?
Speaker 1: Through the framework of the Lord, he will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and give it to us.
Speaker 1: Only, don't rebel against the Lord verse 9,.
Speaker 1: And don't be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them.
Speaker 1: Their protection has been removed from them and the Lord is with us.
Speaker 1: Don't be afraid of them.
Speaker 1: That's what he says.
Speaker 1: Now here's the facts of the situation.
Speaker 1: We just walked through the text together.
Speaker 1: People were strong and the cities were strong.
Speaker 1: The people were really big and tall, unlike me.
Speaker 1: There were challenges.
Speaker 1: This was also a place that God wanted them to go and this was a great place.
Speaker 1: These were the facts.
Speaker 1: Now, joshua and Caleb saw the facts through a God-centered frame.
Speaker 1: So, joshua and Caleb, they saw these facts through the reality of, well, god is with us.
Speaker 1: That's what they saw.
Speaker 1: It's coming up there.
Speaker 1: I promise Next slide.
Speaker 1: There we go, thank you, god is with us, god will guide us.
Speaker 1: God has a blessing for us through this challenge.
Speaker 1: That's how Joshua and Caleb saw the facts.
Speaker 1: This is how they saw the facts.
Speaker 1: The other 10 over here they saw the same facts, but through a different frame.
Speaker 1: Here's how the other 10 spies saw it.
Speaker 1: This is impossible by a thought.
Speaker 1: This is impossible.
Speaker 1: This feels really hard and is uncomfortable and God is not for us and we should turn back.
Speaker 1: By the way, let me just say this Isn't it so cool that we have young families coming to our church with babies and kids?
Speaker 1: Let's go, sorry.
Speaker 1: Hey, kids and babies are always welcome in our services.
Speaker 1: Okay, I just want to say that.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 1: I think that's amazing.
Speaker 1: Just remind us the guys just bringing people here.
Speaker 1: This is how the other 10 spies saw the.
Speaker 1: They framed it.
Speaker 1: So Joshua and Caleb saw it through one frame.
Speaker 1: These 10 spies saw it through another frame.
Speaker 1: They saw the exact same thing.
Speaker 1: These 10 spies.
Speaker 1: All they saw was the challenges.
Speaker 1: All they saw was the difficulties.
Speaker 1: That's how they framed it, and the challenges in their mind were in the way of their plans.
Speaker 1: And did you know this for all of us?
Speaker 1: And did you know this for all of us Is that challenges sometimes are in the way of our plan, but at times they're actually a part of God's plan.
Speaker 1: I don't like challenges and difficulties and hardships and they're almost always in the way of my plan, but sometimes they're actually a part of God's plan.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they're not there accidentally.
Speaker 1: Sometimes this is what God wants to do, because sometimes God brings the challenges to grow us and to mold us and to shape us, and it's through the challenges that we're going to grow and be molded and be shaped.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just about the promised land, but it was about what God wanted to do in the people as they walked through the challenges to get to the promised land, but it was about what God wanted to do in the people as they walked through the challenges to get to the promised land.
Speaker 1: I remember when I was growing in my faith and I was a teenager and I was starting to own my faith, where my faith no longer was my parents' faith.
Speaker 1: That became my faith and I was looking at people that were very mature in their faith.
Speaker 1: And I was looking at people that were very mature in their faith, people that had almost this like peace and confidence, and they were filled with faith and you could just tell they walk with the Lord and you can just tell they knew God.
Speaker 1: And I remember thinking how do I be like that?
Speaker 1: Is there a magic prayer that you pray?
Speaker 1: Is there like a pill that you take?
Speaker 1: How can I have this like resolute faith, like how can I have this strong walk with God?
Speaker 1: How can I have this that these people have?
Speaker 1: And as I got closer to these people and started asking them questions, I learned that every single one of them had walked through hardships and difficulties Every single one of them.
Speaker 1: And in the face of hardships and difficulties and challenges, they chose to walk by faith.
Speaker 1: They chose to be faithful and trust God.
Speaker 1: They chose to rely on God's word.
Speaker 1: They chose to see the situation through the framework of the promises and presence of God.
Speaker 1: And now what they had in their life was this undeniable and inspiring peace and confidence and emotional stability in their life that came on the other side of their hardships.
Speaker 1: But the way they got on the other side of the hardships and the way they grew through those hardships is they saw it through the framework of the presence and the power and the promises of God.
Speaker 1: And then, on the other side of the hardships, god has produced something in them.
Speaker 1: God has grown them in great ways.
Speaker 1: And I'm like a teenager, like trying to figure out faith, trying to figure out Jesus, trying to figure out scripture.
Speaker 1: And I'm looking at them and I'm like those people are incredible.
Speaker 1: I want what they have, but here's what they had.
Speaker 1: They just had this resolute faith, this dependence on God, this heart.
Speaker 1: That said, I'm going to view my difficulties through the framework of the presence and the promises of God.
Speaker 1: And these people understood that their hardships were time of stretching and pulling and maturing and shaping.
Speaker 1: And here's my question for all of us this morning what would your life look like if, when you faced a hardship, you saw the hardship through the framework of the presence and the promises of God.
Speaker 1: What would your life look like if, every time you walked into a hardship, what would your life look like if, every time you walked into a hardship, you said okay, god, I know you're real, I know you have a plan for me.
Speaker 1: What are you going to do in this situation?
Speaker 1: What are you trying to teach me?
Speaker 1: How different, how much more clarity would we have if we viewed things through that?
Speaker 1: Some of us are at a place in our life where God has brought some hardships to you.
Speaker 1: Maybe, honestly, maybe you've brought some hardships on yourself and maybe you're at a place where you're at rock bottom.
Speaker 1: And can I say that sometimes God has to allow us to hit rock bottom so we can discover that he's the rock at the bottom.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we can give Tony Evans a hand for that one.
Speaker 1: That's a good one.
Speaker 1: And some of you might be at a place where you are at rock bottom.
Speaker 1: Sometimes God has to allow us to do it so you can see and experience that God is the rock at the bottom.
Speaker 1: So you can see and experience that God is the rock at the bottom so you can see and experience and understand your need for Jesus, your need to come to Jesus Christ by faith.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're spiritual or maybe you're religious, maybe you're just a good-hearted person and all those things are great, but that doesn't mean that you're a true Christian, that doesn't mean that you're a true follower of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And to be a follower of Jesus that means I turn from my sin and I put my faith in Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Savior.
Speaker 1: And sometimes God allows us to hit rock bottom to show us how much we need him.
Speaker 1: And sometimes it's his loving goodness and mercy that allows us to get to that place.
Speaker 1: Because once we discover our need for him, life will never be the same.
Speaker 1: And there are times when our hardships are part of God's plan.
Speaker 1: And there are other times where we experience challenges and hardships that are not necessarily a part of God's plan and are part of, maybe, the brokenness of this world and the brokenness of sin.
Speaker 1: And in those times, more than any other time, it's really important that we frame it.
Speaker 1: Through what can God do?
Speaker 1: Through what does God want to do?
Speaker 1: Because how we frame those seasons and those trials often determine our future.
Speaker 1: Joshua and Caleb.
Speaker 1: They viewed this situation through a God-centered framework and because of that, it allowed them to go into the promised land.
Speaker 1: Get this 40 years later, years later, 40 years later that's probably longer than they wanted to wait.
Speaker 1: And because they saw this challenge through God's presence and God's promises in Joshua 1, they're about to enter the promised land.
Speaker 1: And the other 10,?
Speaker 1: They didn't get in, the other 10, they didn't go to the promised land.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because they were like nope, can't do it, nope, can't do it, no, nope.
Speaker 1: So they wander around for 40 years, 40 years, 40 years.
Speaker 1: Joshua and Caleb said no, no, we're going to see this through the presence of promises of God.
Speaker 1: We know that God's going to do something.
Speaker 1: We know that God's not done.
Speaker 1: Yes, the challenges are big, yes, the giants are big, but our God is bigger.
Speaker 1: We're going to obey God, we're going to take steps of faith and now they're walking in the promised land.
Speaker 1: And for some of us, we have proverbial promised lands in our life where God wants to take you and God wants to take your family, and the challenges are big and the sons of Anak are all around and you hear all the naysayers and your feelings are telling you all these things, but if you will keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, if you will see it through a framework of who God is and what God can do, I say on behalf of the word of God the best is yet to come.
Speaker 1: It is so.
Speaker 1: How do we do this, though?
Speaker 1: Like, how do we actually do this?
Speaker 1: Because it's one thing for us to be in a church service and, you know, pastor Nate, get a little rah-rah and getting all excited, but when we walk out of the door and we face the real world and we face hardships and we face issues, how do we find God's goodness?
Speaker 1: Here's some reframing questions I think can help you God's goodness.
Speaker 1: Here's some reframing questions I think can help you.
Speaker 1: What are the things that God is teaching you in the hardship?
Speaker 1: God wants to teach you something.
Speaker 1: What is God teaching you?
Speaker 1: Where are the places in your life where God is showing his goodness to you?
Speaker 1: Maybe God is showing his goodness to you in the fact that I'm in a really hard situation, but I see his goodness through other people that are loving me and caring for me and praying for me and supporting me, and I see God's goodness through other people through the body of Christ being what the body of Christ does, and that's what I'm seeing.
Speaker 1: I'm seeing God's goodness through other people, through the body of Christ being what the body of Christ does, and that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I'm seeing God's goodness there.
Speaker 1: Here's another question what good can come from this hardship?
Speaker 1: I think a really healthy exercise for some of us may be for you to actually take out your iPhone notes or take out your journal or something and actually write down.
Speaker 1: Maybe this is a really hard, bad situation, but what are things that can possibly good come from this?
Speaker 1: And you will be surprised how many things can possibly come from that.
Speaker 1: It might be something as simple, as there are people that I'm praying will come to faith in Christ and they're going to see my life and my dependence on God, and this could be the very thing that's going to draw those people to Christ.
Speaker 1: It's a possibility.
Speaker 1: It could be that you're going to learn to trust God in ways that you've never been able to trust God before.
Speaker 1: That could happen.
Speaker 1: It could be that there's a piece of your character that God wants to mold and God wants to change, and this is going to be the thing that's going to change your character.
Speaker 1: It may be because of this hardship.
Speaker 1: There may be a relationship or a person or some connection that you make because of this that you wouldn't make any other ways.
Speaker 1: It may be an opportunity that comes across your path because of this that you wouldn't have any other way.
Speaker 1: These are reframing questions that we have to ask ourselves, and if you reframe a situation through the presence and the promises of God and you look for that, I promise you'll find God's goodness, because something that I've learned is we often find what we're looking for.
Speaker 1: If you're looking for something negative, it's easy to find something negative.
Speaker 1: It's super easy.
Speaker 1: I'll help you find something.
Speaker 1: But if you're looking for God's goodness, you can find that too.
Speaker 1: I'll give you a really silly illustration.
Speaker 1: My grandparents live in the country, in a rural area of South Carolina, and you drive around those old country roads, it's a common occurrence that you'll see some type of animal carcass on the side of the road and usually what you'll see at some point is you'll see some vultures Vultures going down and they're having a buffet.
Speaker 1: You know, and having a good old time.
Speaker 1: You know, and having a good old time, and I've never seen and I've never even heard of when you have the vultures doing their thing.
Speaker 1: I've never seen a hummingbird coming down to the dead carcass.
Speaker 1: They don't go to dead carcasses.
Speaker 1: In fact, when I go out there if I want to see a hummingbird this is what I do I go sit on my grandma's porch, my Mimi's porch.
Speaker 1: Sit on Mimi's porch.
Speaker 1: She's got a hummingbird feeder just right outside the porch and she's got all kinds of whatever the sweet stuff is that all the hummingbirds like.
Speaker 1: And this is what happens.
Speaker 1: The hummingbirds go right there and they find it.
Speaker 1: But you know what has never been there off Mimi's porch in that feeder?
Speaker 1: I ain't never seen a vulture.
Speaker 1: Tell you what Mimi would bring out her 22 if that happened.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm allowed to say that here, but you never see that.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because a vulture intentionally looks for a dead carcass.
Speaker 1: A hummingbird intentionally looks for something sweet.
Speaker 1: Joshua and Caleb intentionally look at God's promises and God's presence and guess what?
Speaker 1: They found it.
Speaker 1: And when we intentionally look for the goodness of God, we will see it.
Speaker 1: We will see what God is doing.
Speaker 1: We will believe that the best is yet to come and this is not like new age manifestations, like I'm gonna speak it into existence.
Speaker 1: On this cool TikTok Instagram reel, just give manifestations.
Speaker 1: No, no, this is what this is.
Speaker 1: This is living your life based on the presence and promises of the word of God.
Speaker 1: That's what this is.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna end with a question for all of us to ask what do you need to reframe?
Speaker 1: What do you need to reframe?
Speaker 1: Maybe in your life it's a health struggle, maybe it's a job loss, maybe it's a relational issue.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a job loss, maybe it's a relational issue, maybe it's a financial issue.
Speaker 1: If you were to reframe that through the presence and the promises of God, how differently would you experience that?
Speaker 1: And if you change how you frame it, you can often and it often changes the feels of it Because, remember, you can't always control what happens to you, but you can control how you frame it.
Speaker 1: And when you frame things through the presence, promises of God and you look for the goodness of God, it changes everything.
Speaker 1: Let me pray for you this morning that we would do this.
Speaker 1: Let's pray.