WEBVTT 00:00:24.769 --> 00:00:26.931 I want to before I get into the message. 00:00:26.931 --> 00:00:36.353 As we were down here, we were just worshiping and praying and Alyssa stepped up and just encouraged us and she stepped out of their comfort zone and lead us. 00:00:36.353 --> 00:00:57.633 And I don't know, as we were down there, the Lord just kind of highlighted in my spirit that as we were leading, the people that were leading us in worship with Pastor Caleb were all Gen Z people this morning. 00:00:57.633 --> 00:01:03.487 I don't think that's amazing and here's why. 00:01:03.487 --> 00:01:04.670 Here's why I believe that. 00:01:04.670 --> 00:01:06.052 Really, two things. 00:01:06.052 --> 00:01:14.073 I believe that the next generation, gen Z, gen Alpha, is not just the next leaders, they're the now leaders. 00:01:14.073 --> 00:01:15.480 Amen. 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:41.376 And I saw this week I was reading in a study that said that Gen Z they just did the largest study of Gen Z on them and their characteristics and what they're all about really in light of religion, and this research said that they were more open to the gospel than any other generation that has ever come behind them, any other. 00:01:41.376 --> 00:01:44.531 They polled 50,000 Gen Zers and asked them where they were at in terms of religion and they said they were more open than any other. 00:01:44.531 --> 00:01:49.146 They pulled 50,000 Gen Zers and asked them where they were at in terms of religion and they said they were more open than any other. 00:01:49.146 --> 00:01:54.989 How many know we need to lean in to the next gen, the Gen Z, the Gen Alpha, all of them in our church? 00:01:54.989 --> 00:01:55.911 How many all believe that? 00:01:55.911 --> 00:01:58.700 Amen, amen. 00:01:58.760 --> 00:01:59.162 Will you do this? 00:01:59.162 --> 00:02:00.423 Will you stand with me this morning? 00:02:00.423 --> 00:02:02.626 Will you stand with me for God's word? 00:02:02.626 --> 00:02:09.515 Pastor Jeremy has labeled 2025 as the year of. 00:02:09.515 --> 00:02:12.168 Come on, say it louder the year of. 00:02:12.168 --> 00:02:15.588 We're gonna continue that thought this morning. 00:02:15.588 --> 00:02:25.490 We've been looking at different keys as we are crossing over into the thing that God has for you in 2025. 00:02:25.490 --> 00:02:30.010 Let me just ask you this how many are believing for great things in 2025? 00:02:30.010 --> 00:02:34.191 How many are believing for some promises in 2025? 00:02:34.191 --> 00:02:36.944 We're going to look this morning. 00:02:36.944 --> 00:02:37.707 We're going to take a moment. 00:02:37.707 --> 00:02:40.824 We're going to continue in the book of Joshua that we've been looking at. 00:02:40.824 --> 00:02:43.139 We're going to go to Joshua, chapter 14. 00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:45.062 If you've got your Bible, go to Joshua, chapter 14. 00:02:45.062 --> 00:02:48.549 We're going to get into God's word today. 00:02:50.051 --> 00:02:58.126 Joshua chapter 14, just to kind of give you a little bit of context before I read this, we're going to read for just a moment. 00:02:58.126 --> 00:03:03.818 Joshua 14 is a conversation between Joshua and Caleb. 00:03:03.818 --> 00:03:16.038 Everybody say Caleb, caleb, and what is happening in this conversation in Joshua chapter 14 is Joshua and Caleb are kind of looking back at what God has done. 00:03:16.038 --> 00:03:21.110 I want to know it's important for times in our life that we stop and we look back at what God has done. 00:03:21.110 --> 00:03:27.639 But it's also a conversation in Joshua chapter 14 about what God is going to do. 00:03:27.639 --> 00:03:37.227 So they're taking a moment here and they're looking back at what God has done, but they're also taking a moment to look forward to what God will do. 00:03:37.729 --> 00:04:03.171 And here's in Joshua chapter 14, we're going to start in verse six, joshua chapter 14, verse six, and it says now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal and Caleb said to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and the Kenizzite said to him you know what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, at Kadesh Barnea, about you and me. 00:04:03.171 --> 00:04:10.205 So Caleb's talking to Joshua in this moment about what happened when Moses commissioned them out. 00:04:10.205 --> 00:04:33.569 He says I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land and I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. 00:04:33.569 --> 00:04:39.713 I, however, followed the Lord, my God, wholeheartedly. 00:04:39.713 --> 00:04:44.449 I followed the Lord, my God, wholeheartedly. 00:04:44.449 --> 00:04:45.312 In verse 9,. 00:04:45.312 --> 00:05:00.812 So on that day, moses swore to me the land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed me, the Lord, my God, wholeheartedly. 00:05:00.812 --> 00:05:09.641 Now then, just as the Lord promised wholeheartedly. 00:05:09.641 --> 00:05:17.653 Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for 45 years, since the time he said this to Moses and while Israel moved about in the wilderness. 00:05:17.653 --> 00:05:28.896 So here I am today and I want you to catch this 85 years old Caleb's saying God gave me the promise. 00:05:28.896 --> 00:05:32.887 And I'm standing here at 85, still believing the promise. 00:05:32.887 --> 00:05:35.110 Verse 11,. 00:05:35.110 --> 00:05:36.994 I want you to hear this. 00:05:36.994 --> 00:05:39.023 He says this is Caleb talking. 00:05:39.023 --> 00:05:50.903 I'm still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out, as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. 00:05:50.903 --> 00:05:51.603 Can I read that again? 00:05:51.603 --> 00:05:52.987 I'm still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. 00:05:52.987 --> 00:05:53.987 I'm just as vigorous to go to battle. 00:05:53.987 --> 00:05:54.209 Now. 00:05:54.209 --> 00:05:57.774 Give me this hill country. 00:05:57.774 --> 00:06:01.665 Other translations say give me this mountain. 00:06:01.665 --> 00:06:04.632 The Lord promised me that day. 00:06:04.632 --> 00:06:08.521 You yourself heard that the Antichites were there. 00:06:08.521 --> 00:06:17.805 Their cities were large and they were fortified, but the Lord helping me, I will drive them out, just as he said, verse 13,. 00:06:17.805 --> 00:06:26.196 Then Joshua blessed Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. 00:06:27.701 --> 00:06:31.031 In this series, we've been looking at different keys to crossing over. 00:06:31.031 --> 00:06:40.240 We've looked at patience, we've looked at habits, we've looked at worship, and today we're going to look at the key of faith. 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:44.468 Everybody say faith, but not just any type of faith. 00:06:44.468 --> 00:06:48.062 I want to look at faith from a little bit of a different perspective. 00:06:48.062 --> 00:06:53.800 Today we're going to look at faith for the long haul, faith for the long haul. 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:58.360 I want you to turn to one person around you and I want you to tell them you need faith for the long haul. 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:04.028 You need faith for the long haul. 00:07:04.870 --> 00:07:07.192 Some of y'all said that with a little bit of sass in your voice. 00:07:07.192 --> 00:07:09.781 Let me pray, father. 00:07:09.781 --> 00:07:13.170 We thank you today for who you are in our life. 00:07:13.170 --> 00:07:15.706 Father, we give you praise. 00:07:15.706 --> 00:07:25.103 We thank you today, god, that your presence is here, it's speaking, your word is alive, it's active, god, and I pray, father. 00:07:25.103 --> 00:07:28.752 God, as we leave here today, god, you'd renew our faith. 00:07:28.752 --> 00:07:32.529 God, you'd put a spirit of endurance, father, for us to continue going. 00:07:32.529 --> 00:07:35.487 We ask all this in Jesus' mighty name. 00:07:35.487 --> 00:07:37.326 Amen and amen. 00:07:37.326 --> 00:07:38.088 You may be seated. 00:07:39.461 --> 00:07:49.613 Let me just ask you a question have you ever started something that you did not want to finish? 00:07:49.613 --> 00:07:52.103 Come on, just raise your hand. 00:07:52.103 --> 00:07:53.829 Have you ever started something? 00:07:53.829 --> 00:07:54.571 Oh, that's a lot of hands. 00:07:54.571 --> 00:07:57.045 Okay, started something. 00:07:57.045 --> 00:07:58.829 All the men I saw all y'all's hands. 00:07:58.829 --> 00:08:00.012 Y'all starting projects. 00:08:00.012 --> 00:08:01.262 Y'all ain't finishing around the house. 00:08:01.262 --> 00:08:06.492 We've all started things that we did not want to finish. 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:12.577 In 2019, I did something that I thought was very goal-driven at the time. 00:08:12.577 --> 00:08:13.901 It turns out it was just really stupid. 00:08:13.901 --> 00:08:32.230 In 2019, I ran a half marathon and, yeah, some of you know my pain and I had set it as a goal that year that I was going to run a half marathon, and it was in June of 2019 that I ran it. 00:08:32.230 --> 00:08:42.514 What you need to know is that I had just started running in May of 2019. 00:08:42.514 --> 00:08:53.924 That's how I felt too, and I had kind of run off and on, but I had really gotten serious there in May of 2019. 00:08:53.924 --> 00:09:00.763 And you need a little bit more of a lead up to run a half marathon than just a month. 00:09:00.763 --> 00:09:01.605 But I was driven. 00:09:01.605 --> 00:09:02.746 I put it in my goals. 00:09:02.746 --> 00:09:05.033 I had waited late to kind of get in shape. 00:09:05.033 --> 00:09:05.841 Spring had hit. 00:09:05.841 --> 00:09:07.445 I was like, hey, great, let's run. 00:09:07.445 --> 00:09:10.552 So I signed up for a half marathon. 00:09:10.672 --> 00:09:15.951 Honestly, to be 100% honest with you, I don't even fully, didn't even know how long a half marathon even was. 00:09:15.951 --> 00:09:19.222 I just said it. 00:09:19.222 --> 00:09:19.965 I'd heard people talk. 00:09:19.965 --> 00:09:21.711 I was like, man, it sounds great, it sounds cool, let's do it. 00:09:21.711 --> 00:09:37.331 And so I get there to the day to run this half marathon and again I you know, I'm so green have no clue what I'm doing, not in shape at all, and and so we get to the half marathon and everybody's all excited. 00:09:37.331 --> 00:09:41.207 And I didn't know that the fast people go to the front and the slow people go to the back. 00:09:41.207 --> 00:09:48.163 I didn't know that the slow people go to the back. 00:09:48.163 --> 00:09:48.764 I didn't know that. 00:09:48.764 --> 00:09:49.085 I know that now. 00:09:49.085 --> 00:10:11.966 So I'm all excited, I go to the front and I'm ready to go, and the gun goes off and I just see everybody's running a whole lot faster than me, like alarmingly faster than me, and so I'm just giving it everything I got, just giving it everything I got, everything I have for three miles and I get to the third mile and I'll never forget. 00:10:11.966 --> 00:10:15.331 I remember my life flashing before my eyes. 00:10:15.331 --> 00:10:20.192 Have you ever had one of those moments where you're like this is the stupidest thing I've ever done? 00:10:20.192 --> 00:10:22.903 I have no clue why I'm doing this and I'll never forget. 00:10:23.082 --> 00:10:35.149 I hit mile three and at mile three there was this little water station and I'm bent over as everybody's passing me and I don't know, I don't know what to do and I'll never forget this sweet old lady. 00:10:35.149 --> 00:10:41.006 She comes up to me and she's tapping me on the back and she's just giving me water and Gatorade. 00:10:41.006 --> 00:10:43.410 And then she gave me some pickle juice. 00:10:43.410 --> 00:10:44.734 I don't even I still. 00:10:44.734 --> 00:10:46.163 I'm still kind of confused about the pickle juice. 00:10:46.163 --> 00:10:48.568 It's supposed to help with muscles or something. 00:10:48.568 --> 00:10:51.886 And so she just taps me on the back and she goes, son, she says keep going. 00:10:51.886 --> 00:10:53.510 She says you got 10 more to go. 00:10:53.510 --> 00:11:01.804 It's like, boy, this is gonna be fun. 00:11:01.804 --> 00:11:11.429 And and every water station I stopped and I just had to keep going and I am happy to report that I finished it. 00:11:11.429 --> 00:11:12.493 Okay, I finished it. 00:11:12.493 --> 00:11:15.225 Yeah, yeah, it's great. 00:11:15.225 --> 00:11:20.190 I don't know how I finished it in a half a day, but it was great. 00:11:23.561 --> 00:11:44.294 And I got home and in my phone I have just a note section in my phone that I'm just putting life lessons in, just things that I'm learning, things that I'm drawing from, and the Lord reminded me of something that I put, and it was just kind of a raw thought that I put in my note section when I got home that day, because I learned so much, I learned so many lessons from it. 00:11:44.294 --> 00:11:52.904 As I was, you know, once I caught my breath and I could you day, because I learned so much, I learned so many lessons from it is I was, you know, once I caught my breath and I could, you know, regain composure, I just simply put into my notes section. 00:11:52.904 --> 00:11:56.153 Just, it was kind of a raw thought, but it was just this. 00:11:56.153 --> 00:11:56.559 It was. 00:11:56.559 --> 00:12:02.826 It wasn't what I could do for three miles, it was what I needed to do for 13 miles. 00:12:02.826 --> 00:12:04.187 It was what I needed to do for 13 miles. 00:12:04.187 --> 00:12:11.493 It wasn't about what I could do for a mile or three or five, it was what I had to do. 00:12:11.493 --> 00:12:13.995 It was what I needed to do for 13 miles. 00:12:14.956 --> 00:12:27.855 Right, and I want to just kind of speak to that this morning, because God has called us to run this race of faith and it's a test of endurance. 00:12:27.855 --> 00:12:49.447 Can I just say that that faith for the long haul that we see in the life of Caleb is a test of endurance, because God is not really interested in what we can do for a week or six months or following him for two years and then burn out. 00:12:49.447 --> 00:12:56.573 God's interested in us serving him decade after decade after decade. 00:12:56.573 --> 00:12:58.466 Can I get an amen right there? 00:12:58.466 --> 00:13:07.448 So it's not necessarily what we can do for a short period of time, for a few months or a few days or even a couple years. 00:13:07.448 --> 00:13:11.789 It's about having a faith for the long haul. 00:13:11.789 --> 00:13:12.753 Everybody say long haul. 00:13:12.753 --> 00:13:14.946 It's about endurance. 00:13:14.946 --> 00:13:21.553 So faith for the long haul, it's trusting God's promises when the journey feels long. 00:13:21.553 --> 00:13:23.567 Has the journey ever felt long? 00:13:23.567 --> 00:13:25.264 Come on somebody. 00:13:25.264 --> 00:13:33.611 Faith for the long haul is about keep going when the road seems incredibly hard. 00:13:33.611 --> 00:13:41.931 Faith for the long haul is about trusting the promises of God when they feel delayed. 00:13:41.931 --> 00:13:43.956 It's about trusting the promises of God when they feel delayed. 00:13:43.956 --> 00:13:49.591 It's about trusting the promises of God when they feel delayed in your life. 00:13:49.591 --> 00:13:59.427 And so this morning we're gonna take some time and we're gonna look at the life of Caleb, and this week, as I've been studying him and just looking at his life, there's so many things that we could cover. 00:13:59.427 --> 00:14:25.693 We're not gonna have time, but his life is a life of faith over decades, and I want you just to write this statement down this morning because it really helps us to kind of give some thought to the life of Caleb, and it's this is that Caleb's life was defined by unwavering faith in God's promises over decades. 00:14:25.693 --> 00:14:40.099 Okay, caleb's life was defined by an unwavering faith, not for four years, not for 10 years, not for 15. 00:14:40.099 --> 00:14:49.095 His life was defined by someone who believed God's promises for over 40 years. 00:14:49.095 --> 00:14:52.869 And I don't know about you, I want that kind of faith in my life. 00:14:52.869 --> 00:15:00.413 I want that kind of faith to believe that God can do what he has promised he will do. 00:15:00.413 --> 00:15:03.067 How many of y'all believed that this morning? 00:15:03.067 --> 00:15:08.162 So that is how God's, that is how Caleb's life is defined. 00:15:08.162 --> 00:15:21.043 And I want to just take a moment and I want to give you some background on both the life of Caleb and the Israelites, because I think this will kind of help to give some context as we look at the life of Caleb this morning. 00:15:21.563 --> 00:15:30.587 In Exodus, chapter one, we see that the Israelite people are in slavery, they're in bondage to the people of Egypt. 00:15:30.587 --> 00:15:32.312 Okay, so they're in slavery. 00:15:32.312 --> 00:15:48.763 And then, in Exodus chapter three, we get to this moment Many of you know it as the burning bush moment where God comes to Moses and he says my people are in slavery and you're going to be the one that's going to help to deliver them. 00:15:48.763 --> 00:16:02.041 But not only are you going to help them get out of this, you're also going to help take them into this place that I'm promising them, called the promised land. 00:16:02.041 --> 00:16:15.163 So God speaks to them and Moses, and it's just this miraculous moment, and God says you're going to be the guy to do it, but you're also going to take them into this place called the promised land. 00:16:15.163 --> 00:16:24.951 And so we see then in Exodus, chapter 14, that in this moment there is this incredible delivery of God's people, its power. 00:16:24.951 --> 00:16:28.889 It's just an incredible moment where God supernaturally delivers his people. 00:16:28.889 --> 00:16:33.565 We continue going and you can read the rest of the book of Exodus of all that God does. 00:16:34.519 --> 00:16:37.330 And then we fast forward to Numbers, chapter 13. 00:16:37.330 --> 00:16:54.929 Numbers, chapter 13, is when Moses pulls together 12 people, commissioned by the Lord, and he tells them guys, we're gonna go and we're gonna inspect the land that God has called us to possess. 00:16:54.929 --> 00:17:07.060 He brings everybody together and he says there's an area, there's a land, there's this place that God's called us as the Israelite people to have, and we're going to go check it out. 00:17:07.060 --> 00:17:12.531 So they go and 10 go and spy out this land in Numbers, chapter 13. 00:17:12.531 --> 00:17:20.192 10 say there's absolutely no way we can do it, absolutely no way that we can take the land. 00:17:20.192 --> 00:17:24.731 It's full of giants, it's fortified, their walls are high. 00:17:24.731 --> 00:17:28.362 There's absolutely no way we could ever take this land. 00:17:28.362 --> 00:17:31.528 So tens say that. 00:17:31.528 --> 00:17:44.305 But then there's two that come back with a good report Joshua, but mainly Caleb and Caleb comes back and he tells Moses he says we absolutely should go take the land. 00:17:44.305 --> 00:17:46.961 I don't know what the other 10 are talking about. 00:17:46.961 --> 00:17:47.863 They're crazy. 00:17:47.863 --> 00:17:48.944 We should go take it. 00:17:48.944 --> 00:17:51.990 And so here's what happens. 00:17:51.990 --> 00:18:07.213 So he tells them all of these things and what ends up happening is that the words of the 10 spread faster than the words of Caleb and they end up wandering in the desert for 40 years. 00:18:07.213 --> 00:18:16.644 They're standing there looking at what God could do, but the words of the 10 spread faster than the positive words of Caleb and Joshua. 00:18:17.847 --> 00:18:21.481 Okay, now here's what I want you to see in Numbers, chapter 14. 00:18:21.481 --> 00:18:30.208 Go with me to Numbers, chapter 14, because we see God and Moses commissioned them out to spy out this land in Numbers 13. 00:18:30.208 --> 00:18:41.060 But then I want you to see a promise in Numbers, chapter 14 that God spoke over Caleb, because it has significance for our life this morning. 00:18:41.060 --> 00:18:50.554 And here's what God says, and I want you just to almost receive this as your own this morning. 00:18:50.554 --> 00:18:53.480 This is in Numbers, chapter 14, verse 24. 00:18:53.480 --> 00:19:14.587 But because my servant has had a different spirit everybody say different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, everybody say wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to. 00:19:14.587 --> 00:19:20.182 I'm going to bring him into that land and his descendants will inherit it. 00:19:20.182 --> 00:19:22.484 Can I just pause right here for just a moment? 00:19:23.727 --> 00:19:29.695 One of the characteristics of Caleb and I didn't have time to get into this was two things. 00:19:29.695 --> 00:19:38.551 Is that God said he had a different spirit, and six times the Bible says that he followed the Lord wholeheartedly. 00:19:38.551 --> 00:19:40.542 I don't know. 00:19:40.542 --> 00:19:48.990 I've seen a lot of different people through my life, just people that I've been able to be around that have followed God for the long haul. 00:19:48.990 --> 00:19:55.365 They've believed God for decades, whether it's a promise, a miracle, something they're believing for. 00:19:55.365 --> 00:20:04.086 And all of those people had these two characteristics they had a different spirit and they followed God wholeheartedly. 00:20:04.086 --> 00:20:18.644 And can I just tell you this morning, I think those are two things the Lord is calling us as believers to possess that Caleb had, that we should follow God not only wholeheartedly, but we should also have a different spirit. 00:20:18.644 --> 00:20:18.905 I don't know. 00:20:18.905 --> 00:20:21.512 We should carry something different around than what the world carries around. 00:20:21.512 --> 00:20:31.920 Amen, and God said there's something different about this Caleb guy. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:33.220 He's got a different spirit. 00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:35.801 He follows me wholeheartedly and I don't know. 00:20:35.821 --> 00:20:55.297 I was just praying through that this week, just personally, and I was praying that over you, that God would give you that Amen, that whatever you're believing for this year, in 2025, that God would give you a different spirit than those you're surrounded by, but that you would also find it in your heart to follow him wholeheartedly. 00:20:55.297 --> 00:20:56.570 How many of y'all believe that this morning? 00:20:56.570 --> 00:21:04.538 So he calls him and he tells them this Caleb guy's different. 00:21:04.538 --> 00:21:10.054 So God gives him this promise and I want you to see this, because I want us for just a second. 00:21:10.054 --> 00:21:17.075 I want us to kind of camp out here for just a moment, because this is where the faith for the long haul comes into play. 00:21:17.075 --> 00:21:23.877 Because in Numbers 13, he tells the people we should go take the land. 00:21:24.865 --> 00:21:25.848 The next chapter. 00:21:25.848 --> 00:21:27.694 God says I'm going to give you. 00:21:27.694 --> 00:21:28.815 He tells Caleb he says I'm going to give you. 00:21:28.815 --> 00:21:32.512 He tells Caleb he says I'm going to give you that because you came back with a good report. 00:21:32.512 --> 00:21:33.296 Okay. 00:21:33.296 --> 00:21:34.760 So numbers 14,. 00:21:34.760 --> 00:21:37.288 God says I'm going to give you the promised land. 00:21:37.288 --> 00:21:39.674 And then I want you to see what happens. 00:21:39.674 --> 00:21:46.459 I don't have it in here, but three verses later is when it tells us that they began to walk around in the wilderness. 00:21:46.459 --> 00:21:51.186 So he receives the. 00:21:51.247 --> 00:21:52.894 Caleb receives the promise I'm gonna give you the land. 00:21:52.894 --> 00:22:07.298 A few verses later is when they begin to walk around the wilderness for 40 years, after he had just received the promise. 00:22:07.298 --> 00:22:24.652 But I want you to know that deep inside of Caleb, as he was walking around the wilderness, he was holding on to the promise that God had given him that he would possess the land, that he would possess the land. 00:22:24.652 --> 00:22:30.718 Now, here's why I'm so interested in the life of Caleb. 00:22:30.718 --> 00:22:41.420 It's because he held on to a promise that God gave him for 40 years and his faith did not waver. 00:22:41.420 --> 00:22:44.347 I want you to think about this church. 00:22:44.347 --> 00:23:01.736 He held on to a promise that the Lord gave him for 40 years and his faith didn't weaken, his faith did not falter. 00:23:01.736 --> 00:23:14.460 And I don't know about you, but it gives me hope to believe that if Caleb could do it for 40 years, I can do it for a few weeks, a few months, or even a few years, to believe what God has promised. 00:23:14.460 --> 00:23:15.001 How many of you believe? 00:23:15.001 --> 00:23:17.271 How many God has promised you something this year? 00:23:17.271 --> 00:23:19.019 Come on, just raise your hand. 00:23:19.019 --> 00:23:20.625 How many of you are believing for something? 00:23:20.625 --> 00:23:23.790 Well, this message is for you this morning. 00:23:25.553 --> 00:23:35.230 So Caleb receives the promise and then he begins walking around the wilderness, and I want to show you this on the map because I think it will. 00:23:35.230 --> 00:23:40.827 It is going to give you just a little bit of a perspective for what happened. 00:23:40.827 --> 00:23:42.549 We see, up here, at number one. 00:23:42.549 --> 00:23:48.596 We see this is where the exodus begins and they go around. 00:23:48.596 --> 00:23:51.560 Number eight down with Mount Sinai. 00:23:51.560 --> 00:23:52.181 They go up. 00:23:52.545 --> 00:23:57.738 Well, kadesh Barnea is where he receives, where Caleb receives the promise from the Lord. 00:23:57.738 --> 00:24:02.354 Okay, he receives the promise there, at number 12. 00:24:02.354 --> 00:24:10.175 And then from there, historians and scholars would argue exactly where the route is of the wilderness. 00:24:10.175 --> 00:24:14.615 Here's one thing we know for sure is they just walked in circles. 00:24:14.615 --> 00:24:21.173 We know that we can theologically say they just walked in circles for a while. 00:24:21.173 --> 00:24:39.220 Okay, and here's why I show you this, because at number 12, kadesh Barnea, caleb receives the promise from the Lord, but then from there, moses, joshua and Caleb all walk through the wilderness for 40 years. 00:24:39.220 --> 00:24:50.834 For 40 years, he's walking through, holding true to the promise that God gave him that one day I'm going to possess the land. 00:24:50.834 --> 00:24:56.176 Now, the land that he's going to ultimately go and possess is Hebron, up there at the very top. 00:24:56.176 --> 00:25:02.268 So he's walking circles, he goes all the way around, way up there, and we'll walk through that journey here in just a moment. 00:25:03.150 --> 00:25:28.194 But I wanted you to visualize this because I think it shows us wanted you to visualize this because I think it shows us how far and how long Caleb had to believe the promise that God spoke into his life, that he had to believe God for the long haul, that he had to hope and trust that God was doing what he had promised. 00:25:28.194 --> 00:25:31.700 Now here's what I want to do for just the next few moments. 00:25:31.700 --> 00:25:42.277 I want to take just a few minutes and I want to give you what I'm calling three keys from the life of Caleb for the long haul. 00:25:42.277 --> 00:25:59.310 Three things that we find in the life of Caleb that will really position us to be able to possess the promise that God has given us, because there's, like I said, there's so many things from the life of Caleb that we can learn, and here's the first one. 00:25:59.310 --> 00:26:05.625 I think this is so important that if we're going to have faith for the long haul, number one, we need to have the right words. 00:26:05.625 --> 00:26:12.386 Everybody say the right words, the right words. 00:26:12.386 --> 00:26:13.087 Everybody say the right words. 00:26:13.087 --> 00:26:19.720 The right words and we know this as you look at the life of Caleb is that Caleb had the right words, caleb said the right things. 00:26:19.720 --> 00:26:31.743 Caleb's heart was postured in the right way to have faith for the long haul, in the right way to have faith for the long haul. 00:26:36.384 --> 00:26:39.108 Now, recent statistics show us that as Americans, we talk a lot. 00:26:39.108 --> 00:26:40.832 We talk a lot as Americans. 00:26:40.832 --> 00:26:53.849 There used to be an old statistic when it came to men and women and it said that women spoke 20,000 words a day and men spoke 7,000 words a day. 00:26:53.849 --> 00:27:04.530 Now, I'm not trying to cause a fight up here, okay, but there is now there's recent research that was done that kind of debunked some of that, and here's what it found. 00:27:04.530 --> 00:27:11.559 It found that women spoke approximately 16,200 words per day. 00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:23.839 Okay, but men it shows that men spoke approximately 15,500 words per day, okay. 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:32.376 Now let me ask you this Kind of gets you married people fighting a little bit, husbands how many of you think that your wife would speak more than 16,000 words per day. 00:27:32.376 --> 00:27:35.634 Okay, some of them, hands in the back popped up really fast. 00:27:35.634 --> 00:27:36.765 Okay. 00:27:36.765 --> 00:27:43.199 Now, wives, how many of you think your husband speaks less than 15,000 words per day? 00:27:43.199 --> 00:27:48.294 Okay, I'm just trying to get you fighting before marriage night on Friday. 00:27:48.294 --> 00:27:52.211 Okay, that's all I'm trying to do Get you fighting so we can work it out. 00:27:54.846 --> 00:27:56.268 Now here's what it comes down to. 00:27:56.268 --> 00:27:57.690 Is that? 00:27:57.690 --> 00:28:04.019 That's an average of 930 words per hour. 00:28:04.019 --> 00:28:06.770 That's a lot of words, y'all. 00:28:06.770 --> 00:28:15.747 930 words per hour. 00:28:15.747 --> 00:28:16.689 That's a lot of words, y'all. 00:28:16.689 --> 00:28:19.093 930 words per hour. 00:28:19.093 --> 00:28:21.517 And can I just kind of put it into context of what we're talking about today? 00:28:21.517 --> 00:28:25.704 That's 930 chances an hour for our words to be full of faith. 00:28:25.704 --> 00:28:35.414 930 chances for our words to build up instead of tear down. 00:28:35.414 --> 00:28:45.045 930 chances for what we say to be full of life, to be full of faith instead of doubt. 00:28:45.045 --> 00:28:50.887 930 chances for us to speak the words of God over the people in our life. 00:28:50.887 --> 00:28:52.230 930 chances. 00:28:52.931 --> 00:29:09.951 Now here's what we need to know and I want you to get this, this one, I want you just to write this statement down Is that the words you speak shape your God-given destiny. 00:29:09.951 --> 00:29:11.414 I need this to get into your heart. 00:29:11.414 --> 00:29:13.807 We're going to see this from the life of Caleb in just a moment. 00:29:13.807 --> 00:29:26.146 But the words that you're currently speaking, they are shaping your God-given destiny and I just want to tell you this everybody in this room has a God-given destiny. 00:29:26.146 --> 00:29:27.311 Everybody in your family has a God-given destiny. 00:29:27.311 --> 00:29:29.963 Everybody in your family has a God-given destiny. 00:29:29.963 --> 00:29:42.657 Everybody you work with, the people you like and the people you don't have a God-given destiny, and what we're saying over those people and yourself are shaping their lives. 00:29:42.657 --> 00:29:46.109 That's how powerful what we say are. 00:29:46.109 --> 00:30:02.212 So we've got to have the right words In Joshua, chapter 14, I want us to go back to that for just a moment, to verse 11 and 12, because I want you to see the words of Joshua I'm sorry, the words of Caleb for just a moment. 00:30:03.586 --> 00:30:05.532 They're so powerful in how he says it. 00:30:05.532 --> 00:30:13.078 He says I'm still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. 00:30:13.078 --> 00:30:15.151 I'm just as vigorous. 00:30:15.151 --> 00:30:19.375 Then he makes the statement now give me this hill country. 00:30:19.375 --> 00:30:31.530 You yourself heard that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but the Lord helping me, I will drive them out. 00:30:31.530 --> 00:30:33.680 I want to give you for just a second. 00:30:33.700 --> 00:30:36.970 I want to give you just three characteristics of Caleb's words, real quick. 00:30:36.970 --> 00:30:39.616 Just three characteristics of Caleb's words. 00:30:39.616 --> 00:30:42.067 Number one his words were full of faith. 00:30:42.067 --> 00:30:47.794 His words were full of faith. 00:30:47.794 --> 00:30:57.494 I mean, there's a huge difference in someone's words that are full of doubt and full of faith. 00:30:57.494 --> 00:31:05.896 You can feel it, right, when someone is full of faith and they speak it. 00:31:05.896 --> 00:31:09.472 You can feel it in your heart. 00:31:09.472 --> 00:31:17.974 But when someone speaks words of doubt, it's like a blanket of despair over your life. 00:31:17.974 --> 00:31:21.733 Right, you can sense it, you can feel it. 00:31:21.733 --> 00:31:27.214 But Caleb was someone who spoke words of faith. 00:31:27.214 --> 00:31:28.397 And here's what he says. 00:31:28.397 --> 00:31:35.679 I'm not gonna have them on the screen, but I just kind of bullet pointed them in my notes because they're so strong and they're so full of faith. 00:31:35.679 --> 00:31:40.690 He says I'm still as strong I love that. 00:31:40.690 --> 00:31:52.777 I'm still as strong as I'm standing here at 85, but I'm still as strong as I once was, I'm just as vigorous as I once was. 00:31:52.777 --> 00:31:59.575 And then he proclaims give me this mountain, give me this hill country. 00:31:59.575 --> 00:32:08.394 And then he also speaks I will drive them out, as God said, I just want. 00:32:08.394 --> 00:32:10.618 Those are words of faith, not words of doubt. 00:32:10.618 --> 00:32:17.550 Those are words of hope, those are words of life. 00:32:18.846 --> 00:32:24.936 Here's the second characteristic of Caleb's words not just full of faith, but they were also consistent. 00:32:24.936 --> 00:32:28.589 His words were consistent. 00:32:28.589 --> 00:32:29.251 His words were consistent. 00:32:29.251 --> 00:32:38.556 I want you to see this in Numbers 13, which is where they go and they spy out the land, and then Joshua 14. 00:32:38.556 --> 00:32:41.388 I want you to see this for a moment because it's so interesting. 00:32:41.388 --> 00:32:45.157 Caleb's words here's what he says in Numbers 13, 30. 00:32:45.157 --> 00:32:53.729 He says Caleb silenced the people before Moses and he said we should go up and take possession of the land. 00:32:53.729 --> 00:32:55.332 For we can certainly do it. 00:32:55.332 --> 00:32:57.897 It's words of faith, okay. 00:32:57.897 --> 00:33:01.497 And then I want you to see what he says in Joshua 14, what we just read. 00:33:01.497 --> 00:33:08.273 He then says now give me this mountain, now give me this hill country. 00:33:08.273 --> 00:33:16.817 Here's what that says to me is that Caleb was saying the same thing at 85 that he was saying at 40. 00:33:16.817 --> 00:33:20.247 Think about this for a moment. 00:33:20.247 --> 00:33:36.557 Caleb was speaking the same thing as he's standing there about to cross into Hebron at 85, as he was when he was standing there with Joshua at the age of 40. 00:33:36.557 --> 00:33:42.377 So for 40 plus years his words were consistent. 00:33:44.008 --> 00:33:44.631 I don't know about you. 00:33:44.631 --> 00:33:51.479 I want to be known as someone who just has consistent faith and consistent speech. 00:33:51.479 --> 00:33:58.459 I think one of the most underrated values in life is consistency. 00:33:58.459 --> 00:34:03.634 It's just showing up every day. 00:34:03.634 --> 00:34:12.639 It's just doing the same things God's called you to do every day in the mundaneness of life. 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:25.016 This is why we push you as best we can to be in God's word every day, whether it's a chapter, whether it's a few verses, whatever you're reading every day. 00:34:25.016 --> 00:34:29.175 Because I've learned this in my life is that consistency compounds. 00:34:29.175 --> 00:34:41.552 So it may not be necessarily that there's this huge revelation that God speaks through the word right here today, but it compounds over time. 00:34:41.552 --> 00:34:53.715 And if you're consistent in what God's called you to do, you started here, you end up here and you look back on your life and you say, my gracious, how far has God brought me. 00:34:53.715 --> 00:35:02.599 But it was only because you were consistent in what God called you to do. 00:35:02.599 --> 00:35:09.693 Consistency and the words that we speak should go hand in hand. 00:35:09.693 --> 00:35:12.659 He spoke positive words. 00:35:12.659 --> 00:35:15.070 He spoke words of faith. 00:35:15.070 --> 00:35:27.534 Parents, can I just encourage you be consistent with the words that you speak over your kids Say godly things full of life. 00:35:27.554 --> 00:35:33.869 The other day, my little boy's about to be seven and he has quickly gotten into that. 00:35:33.869 --> 00:35:48.193 I'm too cool for school age, or he doesn't really want me to hug him and all of that and um, and so the other day we had done something I don't remember what it was and he was running off and I said Judah, come back. 00:35:48.193 --> 00:35:51.693 And he didn't want to come back and he's all squirmy and he's awkward. 00:35:51.693 --> 00:35:57.737 And so he came in and just I hugged him and I grabbed his face and I looked at him. 00:35:57.737 --> 00:35:59.231 Of course he's doing this number. 00:35:59.231 --> 00:36:03.648 Just hold your head still for 10 seconds. 00:36:03.648 --> 00:36:04.889 This is not going to hurt 10 seconds. 00:36:04.889 --> 00:36:09.394 And I just said I love you, buddy, and I'm proud of you. 00:36:09.394 --> 00:36:21.965 And he did not respond back to me Father, I love you so much, Thank you for all of the blessings that you have bestowed upon my life. 00:36:21.965 --> 00:36:23.148 That was what I wanted. 00:36:23.148 --> 00:36:24.851 That is not what I got. 00:36:24.851 --> 00:36:26.797 You know what he told me. 00:36:26.797 --> 00:36:34.043 He said Dad, he said you told me that yesterday. 00:36:34.043 --> 00:36:40.704 He said you're sleeping outside tonight. 00:36:46.224 --> 00:36:47.755 But I found that just speaking things consistently shapes people's lives. 00:36:47.755 --> 00:36:59.929 The people, if you're a boss, the people that you oversee how you speak into their life consistently Parents, coworkers, whatever it may be, consistency matters. 00:36:59.929 --> 00:37:01.072 Everybody say consistency. 00:37:01.072 --> 00:37:03.690 And then here's the last one, with Caleb. 00:37:03.690 --> 00:37:08.474 He was full of faith, he was consistent, but his words also revealed his heart. 00:37:08.474 --> 00:37:11.331 His words revealed his heart. 00:37:11.331 --> 00:37:15.871 His words revealed his heart. 00:37:17.565 --> 00:37:23.018 Have you ever been in a moment where maybe things got heated and you said something? 00:37:23.018 --> 00:37:24.871 Maybe it was a word that you shouldn't have said? 00:37:24.871 --> 00:37:33.592 And you then said I don't know where that came from Some of y'all too holy in here. 00:37:33.592 --> 00:37:38.052 Whatever happened, then the next statement comes out. 00:37:38.052 --> 00:37:38.994 I don't know where that came from. 00:37:38.994 --> 00:37:41.170 Well, it came from the heart. 00:37:41.170 --> 00:37:42.896 It came from the heart. 00:37:42.896 --> 00:37:55.097 Caleb's words revealed what was in his heart, and I just want to ask you this this morning, maybe a question for you just to process is what words are you speaking over your situation right now? 00:37:55.097 --> 00:37:58.954 What words are you speaking over your situation right now? 00:37:58.954 --> 00:38:03.436 Are you speaking life, faith, doubt? 00:38:03.436 --> 00:38:05.110 Are they consistent? 00:38:05.110 --> 00:38:08.570 What words are you speaking? 00:38:08.590 --> 00:38:15.646 Number two things that we're learning from the life of Caleb on how to have faith for the long haul is you've got to have the right words. 00:38:15.646 --> 00:38:17.875 But number two, you've got to have the right people. 00:38:17.875 --> 00:38:38.005 You've got to have the right people, and I just want to say this that if you're going to have faith for the long haul and you're going to believe the things that God has called you to believe, you're going to have to have the right people in your life. 00:38:38.005 --> 00:38:41.112 I don't know if the right people make a difference. 00:38:41.112 --> 00:38:45.565 The right people make a difference. 00:38:45.565 --> 00:38:53.206 So in Numbers 13, they're sent out, and I want you to see the beginning part of this. 00:38:56.713 --> 00:39:11.440 In Numbers 13, 26, it says they came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh and there they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 00:39:11.440 --> 00:39:13.590 Okay, this is talking about the ten. 00:39:13.590 --> 00:39:16.992 They gave Moses this account. 00:39:16.992 --> 00:39:23.038 We went into the land to which you sent us and it does flow with milk and honey. 00:39:23.038 --> 00:39:28.952 What you said is there, it is the promised land. 00:39:28.952 --> 00:39:30.891 Here's the fruit. 00:39:30.891 --> 00:39:45.445 Then in verse 28, but the people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and they're very large and we even saw descendants of Anak there. 00:39:45.445 --> 00:39:51.780 Amen, so the 10 are coming back and this is the report that they're giving. 00:39:51.780 --> 00:39:57.922 And then verse 30 is what we read earlier of Caleb silencing the crowd and telling them. 00:39:57.922 --> 00:40:00.599 I know what they said, but we should surely go take it. 00:40:00.599 --> 00:40:05.280 This is what we have. 00:40:05.851 --> 00:40:25.132 You really have two different groups of people in Numbers, chapter 13 and Numbers 14, and really throughout their journey Numbers, chapter 13 and Numbers 14 and really throughout their journey is you have Caleb and Joshua, and then you have all the rest of the Israelites, who were really just murmurs, not murderers. 00:40:25.132 --> 00:40:26.635 Murmurs, okay, they're just kind of talking. 00:40:26.635 --> 00:40:32.902 They're just kind of talking, they're just kind of speaking things that are just. 00:40:32.902 --> 00:40:36.045 Some may be true, some may not be true. 00:40:36.045 --> 00:40:39.139 It's a little bit of both. 00:40:39.139 --> 00:40:40.932 And it gives us Numbers. 00:40:40.932 --> 00:40:55.331 13 gives us this incredible picture of two types of people that you can have in your life, because you can either have a Caleb and be surrounded by a Caleb, or you can have murmurers who fill your life with nothing full of doubt. 00:40:55.331 --> 00:41:14.023 You can have one or the other, and I want you to see this because Caleb represents a voice in your life of faith, trust and belief, trust and belief. 00:41:15.449 --> 00:41:17.744 Caleb is a voice in your life that you need that speaks faith. 00:41:17.744 --> 00:41:20.759 How many of you need people in your life that speak faith? 00:41:20.759 --> 00:41:41.862 There are also people that trust God for you when you can't trust God yourself, because there's times when maybe God's called you to take possession of something, maybe you're believing for a miracle, whatever it may be, and your trust level is low. 00:41:41.862 --> 00:41:46.818