SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Sharper Sword, the publication ministry of White House Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.
SPEAKER_00: White House believes that individuals can reach their potential for the Lord as they grow in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We want to hear our Lord say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: Let's join Pastor Doug Fisher as he preaches another important biblical message from the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Take your Bibles today and let's go to Hebrews chapter number four in your New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews chapter number four, please.
SPEAKER_01: And then also, uh, would you pick up uh one chapter in your old testament, Hebrews chapter four in your new, and then go to Numbers chapter 13 in your Old Testament, please.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews chapter number four, and Numbers chapter number 13.
SPEAKER_01: And while you're turning there, uh our Spanish ministry, as was mentioned, is having a big day today.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, when you leave today, you might smell a little carne asada.
SPEAKER_01: You know I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_01: The real thing.
SPEAKER_01: But what I want to encourage you about is uh whatever you do uh as you're leaving today, don't complain because it's a little congested.
SPEAKER_01: Thank God people are coming to church.
SPEAKER_01: Thank God they're hearing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Uh I want to say this.
SPEAKER_01: I'd rather have a little congestion than uh, you know, 90 parking spaces out there and three cars.
SPEAKER_01: Praise the Lord, people are hearing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Right now, literally, hundreds of Spanish people are being picked up, Hispanic, and we appreciate the work going on there, and we need to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: I want to make sure that we are refreshed on a uh concept from the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse number 9, please.
SPEAKER_01: Verse number nine.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, there remaineth therefore a, would you say the next word, say it with me?
SPEAKER_01: Rest.
SPEAKER_01: Say it one more time.
SPEAKER_01: Rest to the people of God.
SPEAKER_01: For he that is entered into his rest, he hath also ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
SPEAKER_01: Let us labor therefore to enter into that, say the word, rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: It's an interesting concept, and what he's speaking about is in the Old Testament, the church that came across the Red Sea into the wilderness, they fell short of really what God intended for them.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason they fell short is in Hebrews chapter 3, the last verse, they fell short because of unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't believe that God was able to do what God promised them he would do.
SPEAKER_01: I want to make that statement again.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, God has left us promises.
SPEAKER_01: We should trust him on his promises.
SPEAKER_01: If he says he can do this, he can do it.
SPEAKER_01: And they did not believe that he could, and therefore they turned back away from following what they were supposed to do for God.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says this.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 11 again.
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting.
SPEAKER_01: Let us labor, let us work, let's be active.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: To enter into his rest.
SPEAKER_01: That's a little bit of an unusual way to put it, but we're supposed to be working towards resting more in him because here's the statement.
SPEAKER_01: We can do much more trusting what he can do than trusting what we can do.
SPEAKER_01: I realize we get to labor alongside of him, but I want to remind you that some of the more visionary things that God may give us in our life require us to trust in him and please listen and risk failing.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, risk failing?
SPEAKER_01: Some of the larger things that an individual will look at towards doing something for God, or that a family will look at doing something towards the Lord, or that a ministry or a church will look at, or a business, some of the bigger visions that God has given to us, there's an element of risk.
SPEAKER_01: There's a potential to fail.
SPEAKER_01: And if we didn't say that, we wouldn't be honest.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, genuine honestly says when you do something and you launch out and you're doing something bigger than you are.
SPEAKER_01: Greater than you're capable of.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, more uh significant in the way of maybe organization or management, or maybe you don't have the materials, or you don't feel like you're uh quite uh able to do that specific task.
SPEAKER_01: Uh may I say some of the bigger things are like that.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the bigger things, some of the things that uh that we don't have the total resources in hand to do it.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the things that we would look at ourselves and say, I don't think I'm adequate to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the things where we look and say, collectively, I don't know if we could really accomplish that.
SPEAKER_01: There's that element of risk, and rest means that we cease from our own labors and really trust in Him.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, we don't want to get to the place where, well, I can't figure it out, so I'm not gonna do it.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you can figure everything out, then where is God in all that?
SPEAKER_01: Now I know God gives us wisdom, and I know God gives us abilities, and I know God gives us gifts, but once in a while, God will say, I want you to do something greater than what I've given you so far.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I want you to do something greater than the faith that I've given you so far, trusting as you look back at my track record, that I'll take care of you on this one too.
SPEAKER_01: I've taken care of you all the way along the wow.
SPEAKER_01: I've taken care of you when you didn't have the faith, your ability to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Like, like it starts out with, we can't save ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: We can't raise ourselves from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: We've trusted him for that.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, we we cannot understand this book without him.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody says, Well, I can read it and it's easy to understand.
SPEAKER_01: You might read the storyline and understand a little bit of the storyline, but I want to say, you won't be able to compare scripture here with scripture over here, with scripture over here, with scripture over here, and get the full meaning of it without the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_01: It takes the Spirit of God to teach us.
SPEAKER_01: It takes a Spirit of God revealing to us, a spirit of revelation, some of the different concepts of this book.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes God might say to you, uh, I want you to launch out to do something that's bigger than you are, that's greater than what your uh uh abilities are.
SPEAKER_01: That's gonna take a step of faith, not just you, but some people around you.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Uh some business associates.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, may I say uh a family.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna take a family with faith to do it.
SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna be a lone ranger deal.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna not just be you, it's gonna be collective.
SPEAKER_01: There's not just gonna be one of you, there's gonna be many of you, and you're gonna have to do this together.
SPEAKER_01: May I say a ministry has to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Our Spanish minister today has launched out into a friend day, and it's a lot of different people doing a lot of different things with a good spirit and attitude that God can.
SPEAKER_01: And he is still able.
SPEAKER_01: I want to ask you to study with me an individual today, just for a few moments.
SPEAKER_01: To some of you, the individual, you're you're familiar with him, but let's go back and recap just a moment this concept of rest and go back to Numbers chapter 13, please.
SPEAKER_01: Numbers chapter 13, thanks for being in church this morning and being faithful.
SPEAKER_01: Numbers chapter number 13.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to see this very, very special highlighted person, Numbers chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: And again, the concept of the message is we do not want to fall short of what God has planned for us because of a bad spirit or a lack of faith, or getting around people who discourage us.
SPEAKER_01: I'll say it again.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to fall short of what God has planned for us because of a lack of faith, lack of understanding, a bad attitude, or getting around people who say, You can't.
SPEAKER_01: You can't.
SPEAKER_01: It's depicted in the Old Testament a number of times.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Numbers chapter 13, please, and and notice verse number six.
SPEAKER_01: Verse number six, there were twelve spies sent out.
SPEAKER_01: They were to go out and recon the land.
SPEAKER_01: They were to view the land a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: They were to go out and they were leaders of all the different tribes, and the leader that went out representing the tribe of Judah, verse number six, his name was Caleb.
SPEAKER_01: Caleb.
SPEAKER_01: And what they were tasked to do was to go out and see the land.
SPEAKER_01: See what was in the land.
SPEAKER_01: See what kind of agriculture was there.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, see what kind of cities was there, uh, see what kind of people were there.
SPEAKER_01: They were to go out and see what was happening and what was there and what the people were like.
SPEAKER_01: May I say to you that uh if you've ever been in military, uh, sometimes uh if you're in kind of uh, I was in recon, so in special forces, they they said, we want you to go out and uh and observe this situation and come back and tell us what you see.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when we come back and we report, that's all they want to know.
SPEAKER_01: They don't ask us, well, how would you do it?
SPEAKER_01: The intelligence people, they gather the intelligence, and the operation people, the three-shot makes a decision, but sometimes when you come back, they don't say, Well, what would you do?
SPEAKER_01: They just say, What did you see?
SPEAKER_01: And all these spot spies were supposed to do was to come back and tell them what they saw.
SPEAKER_01: The how was going to be up to God.
SPEAKER_01: The how they were going to do it was going to be something God had planned.
SPEAKER_01: And who was God going to tell that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, God was going to tell Moses how to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And then Moses was conferred to the people how that was going to be done, how God was going to do it.
SPEAKER_01: But when they came back, they began stirring up the people and they began telling them that this could never be.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's fenced cities, there's walled cities, these people are giant people.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's no doubt the land bears great fruit.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the agriculture is phenomenal.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, they came back, and if I read this carefully, I don't know about you, but I take it literally.
SPEAKER_01: They came back with some grapes that they had to put on a pole, and two guys had to carry them.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's a grape vine, amen.
SPEAKER_01: You say, do you really believe that literally?
SPEAKER_01: I gotta tell you, grapes can get pretty large.
SPEAKER_01: Especially if God, if you would, is going to give them over to his chosen people.
SPEAKER_01: And they come back and they begin to explain everything that's out there.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say that when they do, you'll see it in verses number 28 and 29.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody gets stirred up a little bit about the obstacles in the way, the giants.
SPEAKER_01: And no doubt we've had giants in our life and gigantic things in our ways, and how are we gonna do that financially?
SPEAKER_01: And and and how can we ever do that with the amount of people we have, or how would we do that with our facilities, or how could we ever do that?
SPEAKER_01: And I want to make this statement to you that's what rest is all about.
SPEAKER_01: Rest is trusting that God is leading and he knows what he's gonna do, and he can do miracles.
SPEAKER_01: Brother, and I hope as a Baptist you still believe in miracles.
SPEAKER_01: I really hope you still believe in miracles, and not just miracles for others, miracles that God can do for us.
SPEAKER_01: May I say, when uh when that all began to happen, notice what the leader sent from the tribe of Judah said.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 30.
SPEAKER_01: Verse number 30.
SPEAKER_01: Caleb stilled the people before Moses.
SPEAKER_01: Let's stop there for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: The people were already having an attitude.
SPEAKER_01: The people were already discouraged.
SPEAKER_01: You could already hear the murmuring going on.
SPEAKER_01: What are we doing out here?
SPEAKER_01: How are we supposed to go up into that land?
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says that Caleb stood up and stilled the people.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: He stood up representing the Lord and kind of quieted everybody down and then made a statement, and his statement was this: Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and possess it.
SPEAKER_01: For we are well able to overcome them.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: There was no hesitation inside of him.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Hey, he said, he said this.
SPEAKER_01: You don't you don't understand, brother?
SPEAKER_01: He was thinking, he brought us through the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_01: He's been feeding us with manna.
SPEAKER_01: He brought the quails, he's already won some battles for us.
SPEAKER_01: We've seen his miracles.
SPEAKER_01: He's telling us to go up, let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Look at his track record.
SPEAKER_01: Look what he's done.
SPEAKER_01: Caleb was full of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, is that right?
SPEAKER_01: Caleb was believing.
SPEAKER_01: He knew the size of the cities, he saw them.
SPEAKER_01: He knew the size of the giants, he saw them too.
SPEAKER_01: But he said, God's bigger than all that.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just go and let's do it.
SPEAKER_01: He said this.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Let's do it at once.
SPEAKER_01: There's no hesitation.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Well, they all began to discourage each other.
SPEAKER_01: You ever been around discouraging people?
SPEAKER_01: You've ever been around negative people that just find scorning, scornful, murmuring reason why it can't be.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, come on, I'm okay with analyzing a little bit, looking at it a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: But brethren, if you look too close, we would have never moved into this building.
SPEAKER_01: In the year 2000, we moved into this building and we didn't have any money.
SPEAKER_01: You say, what kind of church was that?
SPEAKER_01: We wanted to go into his rest.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, his rest?
SPEAKER_01: We trusted he was following or he was leading us and that he was able.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, so far he's been able.
SPEAKER_01: Did he let us labor?
SPEAKER_01: Did he let us work?
SPEAKER_01: Of course he did.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, he wants our participation.
SPEAKER_01: He wants stewardship.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, when he gives you a vision, he wants you to own it.
SPEAKER_01: And there's there's some there's some uh prayer and there's some fretting.
SPEAKER_01: Fretting is a biblical word for worrying.
SPEAKER_01: If nobody else has done it, uh, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, brother Cal Brayley and I have done it for everybody, amen.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, worried?
SPEAKER_01: Worried about what?
SPEAKER_01: How are we gonna pay for it?
SPEAKER_01: But God is able.
SPEAKER_01: I I I appreciate your faithfulness and everything.
SPEAKER_01: Today, I don't know how many buses are running for the Spanish, but praise the Lord, the gas is paid for today.
SPEAKER_01: Is it about just getting people to church?
SPEAKER_01: It's about giving glory to God and seeing people saved.
SPEAKER_01: It's about doing it by faith.
SPEAKER_01: And Caleb said, We're let's let's do it at once.
SPEAKER_01: Well, by the time you get to Numbers 14, please turn there.
SPEAKER_01: Numbers chapter 14, and watch what happens.
SPEAKER_01: They start discussing it a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: In Numbers 14, there's murmuring going on.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: Stay right with me.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb.
SPEAKER_01: Now Caleb remembers of the tribe of Judah, which were of them that searched the land.
SPEAKER_01: They rent their clothes, and they spake unto the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, the land which we passed through to search it.
SPEAKER_01: It's an exceeding good land.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, we went out and saw it.
SPEAKER_01: It's a wonderful land.
SPEAKER_01: If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it us, a land which floweth with milk and honey.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, they didn't say we can figure it out.
SPEAKER_01: They said if the Lord delight in us and he wants to do this and we follow along, he is able.
SPEAKER_01: And we still need to believe that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is, but uh this morning uh I was up a little early, and uh, Brother Ed, uh, where are you at?
SPEAKER_01: Brother Ed, drop the temperature one degree up here if you don't mind.
SPEAKER_01: If you're chilly up front, just bundle up a little bit more, all right?
SPEAKER_01: That's Fernando, he's our friend, amen.
SPEAKER_01: He just keeps us all smiling a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, may I say to you that once in a while God will give us a task and it's bigger than we are, and it's bigger than the collective family, it's a bigger than the collective ministry.
SPEAKER_01: But when we sense that God would have us to do it, we must move forward.
SPEAKER_01: We must move forward.
SPEAKER_01: If you wait to figure out to do it, you'll be waiting all your life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying we should just, you know, throw caution to the wind and do something foolish.
SPEAKER_01: But brethren, these ones who are murmuring and said we can't go up, what they were saying is God is not able.
SPEAKER_01: He's not able.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, we saw impart the Red Sea, but he can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: We saw him kill the Egyptian army, but he can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: We saw him feed us with man in the wilderness, but but he can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: We see that cloud, that pillar of fire every night, but but he can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: Are you still with me?
SPEAKER_01: What I'm saying is look back at his track record in your life and see what he's able to do, and build upon that.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying go out and do something foolish, but I am saying let's not fall short of what he wants from us.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody in here is making a decision.
SPEAKER_01: As an individual, and it's bigger than you are.
SPEAKER_01: As a family or something like that, it's bigger than you are.
SPEAKER_01: Some ministry leaders thinking about a vision.
SPEAKER_01: It's bigger than you are.
SPEAKER_01: Now don't be arrogant about it.
SPEAKER_01: And don't blame God if it fails.
SPEAKER_01: And see if the river parts.
SPEAKER_01: What's it gonna hurt to go down to the river Jordan and stick your foot in and say, let's just see how it goes?
SPEAKER_01: Let's give it a go.
SPEAKER_01: Rather, we just stay back here with a bad attitude.
SPEAKER_01: If he says he wants us to possess something, let's let's just go with it.
SPEAKER_01: Let's have a good attitude about it.
SPEAKER_01: Let's have a good spirit about it.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says they they stilled the people and and said, If the Lord delight in us, notice if you would, chapter 14, stay with me, verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 14, verse 24, he said, But my servant, Caleb.
SPEAKER_01: Because he hath another spirit with him.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Because his attitude is different.
SPEAKER_01: Because Caleb has fully, has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land.
SPEAKER_01: What he just said was this.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: He just said, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, all these peers of Caleb, all these same-edged people as Caleb, that are murmuring and complaining, if they don't want to go in, fine, I'll just leave them here.
SPEAKER_01: But Caleb, because he has another spirit, because he trusts me, because he believes in me, because he's willing to go fully, because he's willing to stand up and say, let's go, I'm gonna take him on in.
SPEAKER_01: All of his peers, we'll just let them wander around out here and waste away and miss what I had planned for them.
SPEAKER_01: Are you still with me or not?
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, I don't want to be part of the group that misses it.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be part of the group that says, let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Let's give it a go.
SPEAKER_01: Let's send out some more missions, let's do a little bit more for God.
SPEAKER_01: Let's launch out into something that's bigger than we are.
SPEAKER_01: Let's let's do something as a family that's bigger than we are.
SPEAKER_01: Let's do something as a ministry.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Pastor, what do you have in mind?
SPEAKER_01: Nothing right now.
SPEAKER_01: Why are you preaching this?
SPEAKER_01: Because somebody in here is making a decision.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want you to fall short.
SPEAKER_01: And God doesn't want you to fall short.
SPEAKER_01: And be careful about being around the gamesayers, the ones that are talking negative.
SPEAKER_01: Ones that are murmuring about, you know, other questions and situations and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Brother, you can get so involved in stuff that you miss the vision.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear this?
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear this over there?
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_01: Brother, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Let's just go on for God.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I gotta tell you, uh, every church has problems.
SPEAKER_01: You say, no, I want to join a church that doesn't have any problems.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever you do, don't join.
SPEAKER_01: You'll mess it up.
SPEAKER_01: Because people have problems, especially when you want to do something for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you think principalities and powers would love to get us to doubt each other?
SPEAKER_01: Spend more time about, you know, uh uh different personality traits of so-and-so or so-and-so.
SPEAKER_01: May I say to you, brother?
SPEAKER_01: I gotta tell you, uh Caleb and Joshua had ten other men that went with them, and can't you hear the conversation as they're coming home?
SPEAKER_01: They got the grapes, they got the report, and can't you hear these ten men saying, Man, those giants are big.
SPEAKER_01: Those walled cities are big.
SPEAKER_01: We gotta go tell them we can't go.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Caleb and Joshua didn't listen to all that.
SPEAKER_01: Caleb and Joshua came back and said, Let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just go at once.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go get it now.
SPEAKER_01: But all the people voted in their hearts and said, Let us look at chapter 14, about verse 3 or 4, and they'll say, Let us make a captain, let us return back to Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: That's our vote.
SPEAKER_01: Our vote is let's go back to Egypt because we can't go that way because there's giants in the land.
SPEAKER_01: And God said, That's what I brought you out here for.
SPEAKER_01: To take over that land.
SPEAKER_01: I told you I'd give it to you little and little.
SPEAKER_01: I'd give it to you a little bit at a time, and I would drive them out in front of you.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I said I'll send the hornets, Exodus 23.
SPEAKER_01: I got hailstones, I got all kinds of things to use and tools that you don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I can I can move them on out.
SPEAKER_01: I can take care of that situation.
SPEAKER_01: I I can I can do that still today in business.
SPEAKER_01: I can still give you that church.
SPEAKER_01: I'm still capable.
SPEAKER_01: We still have a God that's the same God here.
SPEAKER_01: What we don't want to do is fall short.
SPEAKER_01: May I ask you to do this last scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Joshua 14.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua 14.
SPEAKER_01: We fast forward 45 years.
SPEAKER_01: Fast forward 45 years.
SPEAKER_01: We're in Joshua 14 now.
SPEAKER_01: Now, all of the peers, the same aged men and women of Caleb, they've died back in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: And Caleb and his crew have crossed over the River Jordan now, and Caleb's coming up on what he believes God promised him.
SPEAKER_01: And look at Joshua 14, stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: We're almost done, verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: You'll see Caleb's there.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say, we ought to be thankful that God put these stories in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua chapter 14, verse 6, you'll see Caleb.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadash Barney to spy out the land.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I was 40 years old when I was chosen of one of the twelve to go out and be one of the twelve spies.
SPEAKER_01: I was 40 years old.
SPEAKER_01: And I and I brought him word again.
SPEAKER_01: I brought him word again as it was in my heart.
SPEAKER_01: I brought him back genuine observation.
SPEAKER_01: I said, it's a wonderful land.
SPEAKER_01: I said they are giants in the land, but he also said in my heart that God is able to take care of this.
SPEAKER_01: So I brought him back the word, verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: Nevertheless, my brethren, that went up with me, or may made the heart of the people melt.
SPEAKER_01: That word melt, disheartened.
SPEAKER_01: The word melt means to dissolve, like dishearten, like discourage.
SPEAKER_01: Those under ten spies, they discouraged everybody.
SPEAKER_01: But I wholly, completely followed the Lord my God.
SPEAKER_01: And Moses swore on that day.
SPEAKER_01: He made a promise to me on that day.
SPEAKER_01: Please listen, it's 45 years later, and Joshua is there, and Joshua is one of the spies that went out, and now Joshua is the new leader in the place of Moses, and Caleb is saying to Joshua, 45 years ago, Joshua, where you're the leader now.
SPEAKER_01: You were there when Moses promised me and my family this land.
SPEAKER_01: You were there.
SPEAKER_01: And now Caleb, in a in a somewhat direct visionary way, not arrogant, but direct, verse 19, Moses swear on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just for me, it's for my family.
SPEAKER_01: Because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.
SPEAKER_01: It goes on down in verse number 11.
SPEAKER_01: Look at it, verse number 11.
SPEAKER_01: As yet I am as strong this day, 45 years later, I'm 85 years old, as I was in the day that Moses sent me.
SPEAKER_01: As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war.
SPEAKER_01: Both to go out and to come in.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says these famous words Now therefore, give me this mountain.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, he was talking to Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: The giants were still possessing the mountain, and he said to Joshua, This is my mountain right here.
SPEAKER_01: This is for my children.
SPEAKER_01: I know you're delegating land to everybody.
SPEAKER_01: This is the one I want right here.
SPEAKER_01: You and I were out there, we saw this before, we spied out the land.
SPEAKER_01: Moses promised me where my feet had trod that he'll give me that, and I've been thinking about for 45 years.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's time.
SPEAKER_01: I want that mountain right there.
SPEAKER_01: That's vision, brother.
SPEAKER_01: That's entering in, resting, that God can do the work.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's what it says.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me, we're almost done.
SPEAKER_01: He says, verse 12, now therefore give me this mountain, not arrogant, whereof the Lord spake in that day.
SPEAKER_01: For thou heard in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great in fence.
SPEAKER_01: Now watch.
SPEAKER_01: If so be, the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out.
SPEAKER_01: They weren't gone yet.
SPEAKER_01: They were still possessing.
SPEAKER_01: But he said, Joshua, all I need is your permission, and if God be with me, we'll be able to take that mountain right there.
SPEAKER_01: That's the one for us.
SPEAKER_01: You say, why do you keep saying that?
SPEAKER_01: It's a special mountain.
SPEAKER_01: You say, what's special about it?
SPEAKER_01: It's a mountain that has a city on it named Hebron or Hebron.
SPEAKER_01: It's a very special place.
SPEAKER_01: If you look at Hebron in the Bible and study it, so many things had happened around Hebron or Hebron.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say, he said, I want that mountain right there.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: I hope our vision doesn't die.
SPEAKER_01: I hope our plans don't dry up.
SPEAKER_01: I hope we don't let the world and the state of the world or the state of our country or how everything's going stop us from the vision God has given us.
SPEAKER_01: If you're called to do something for God, don't, if you would, think, well, I can't do it now because the world's getting worse.
SPEAKER_01: Brother, I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: Your calling of God is still just as good now as it was 20 years ago or 40 years ago or 80 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: You say, but if it would have been the turn of the century, we were, our country was more conservative.
SPEAKER_01: Brother, I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: God can still use his people in this day, no matter how bad it gets, God's still working.
SPEAKER_01: We still need preachers, we still need missionaries, we still need families that say, Hey, I want to get behind that.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go do this for God.
SPEAKER_01: That can still happen.
SPEAKER_01: And don't look at the state of our country and say, well, it's too late now.
SPEAKER_01: It's never too late for God.
SPEAKER_01: Never too late.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's gigantic, I know.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we say, if God be for it.
SPEAKER_01: If God's in it, it can still happen.
SPEAKER_01: The work is still going on.
SPEAKER_01: You say, wait a minute, I I'm I'm I'm not planning on planting a church or being a missionary.
SPEAKER_01: Raise up a business that pays for it.
SPEAKER_01: I'll say it again.
SPEAKER_01: Raise up a business, make a lot of money, pay for a church plant.
SPEAKER_01: Pay for a missions going out.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a nice car, a nice house, but but but but plant a church with some money.
SPEAKER_01: Is that okay to say that?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, some of you guys, gals, go go make a million or two.
SPEAKER_01: Go after those Anakims.
SPEAKER_01: The Hivites, the Hivites, all the ice.
SPEAKER_01: Go spoil them.
SPEAKER_01: Bring back the money to the Lord and pay for something to be done.
SPEAKER_01: Buy a bus.
SPEAKER_01: Do something.
SPEAKER_01: Take care of your family.
SPEAKER_01: Have what you need, but do something for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And don't be afraid to enter into that rest.
SPEAKER_01: That he's doing the work.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's risky.
SPEAKER_01: I know.
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
SPEAKER_01: That way you gotta pray.
SPEAKER_01: That way we have to fast.
SPEAKER_01: That way we have to ask, seek, and knock.
SPEAKER_01: That way we have to submit.
SPEAKER_01: Submit to his will.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's bigger than I am.
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
SPEAKER_01: Ask somebody to come with you.
SPEAKER_01: One will chase a thousand.
SPEAKER_01: Two will chase ten thousand.
SPEAKER_01: And with God, how many multiple thousands can we chase?
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying, don't go backwards.
SPEAKER_01: There was a group that he was not pleased with.
SPEAKER_01: It was those that wouldn't go forward.
SPEAKER_01: Let's not be those that won't go forward.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying being arrogant, I'm not saying being proud.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying being foolish, but by faith we need to continue to trust God.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, what kind of example are our children and grandchildren going to see if all they see is us complaining about each other and not going forward?
SPEAKER_01: They need to see, by the way, this summer we're renovating rooms, we're planning on some expansion, we're reaching out.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, take your children and let them see all the Hispanic people getting off the buses.
SPEAKER_01: We'll give you a little report tonight.
SPEAKER_01: Brother Northcut just took a group over to Benson and Sierra Vista and Tucson.
SPEAKER_01: We'll give you a little report tonight.
SPEAKER_01: They need to know that God's work is still going on.
SPEAKER_01: And they can participate and they can get in on this.
SPEAKER_01: If that was their doing is watching the news and how bad everything is, man, they might get discouraged.
SPEAKER_01: I want to tell you, uh, even though the news is bad, the news was bad in 1920 too.
SPEAKER_01: The news was bad in 1890, too.
SPEAKER_01: The news has been bad for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: The news is going to get worse.
SPEAKER_01: But God can still do, and people are still getting saved, and God is still getting the glory.
SPEAKER_01: And we want to say, we want to be a church that says we are well able.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go at once and keep going.
SPEAKER_01: And see what God will do.
SPEAKER_01: If God be for it.
SPEAKER_01: So he went up.
SPEAKER_01: Look what it says, and we'll finish Joshua 14.
SPEAKER_01: Verse number 13.
SPEAKER_01: Watch it.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua blessed him.
SPEAKER_01: He gave him the agreement.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua said, You want that mountain?
SPEAKER_01: It's yours.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb, the son of Jephunah, Hebron or Hebron, for an inheritance.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, he did go out and possess it.
SPEAKER_01: And God blessed him and his children.
SPEAKER_01: And if you ever want to do a great study, just study the city of Hebron or Hebron in the Bible, and you'll see all kinds of things happen in and around that city.
SPEAKER_01: It became a city of refuge, a wonderful city.
SPEAKER_01: And God, by faith, gave it to a man that stilled the people and said, Stop the murmuring.
SPEAKER_01: We can do it.
SPEAKER_01: By God, we can do it.
SPEAKER_01: And then he stilled them again and said, We're well able.
SPEAKER_01: Don't rebel against what God can do.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just repeating what the book said.
SPEAKER_01: And our young people need to hear, we're still being blessed of God.
SPEAKER_01: God is still powerful.
SPEAKER_01: The word of God is still powerful.
SPEAKER_01: The blood of Christ is still powerful.
SPEAKER_01: But we have to move forward by faith.
SPEAKER_01: And faith requires actions.
SPEAKER_01: Faith without work, faith without actions upon that faith.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says faith will die.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to say to you, when you put actions with it, and God authors this faith and builds our faith in the book and says, now you have to exercise it.
SPEAKER_01: Now you have to put it into play.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Well, you're a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: This is just not for pastors, this is for members.
SPEAKER_01: This is not for just young or or or uh people that have high intelligence.
SPEAKER_01: This is for people of high faith.
SPEAKER_01: This is people who believe.
SPEAKER_01: People in all different walks of life, in all different ages, all different conditions.
SPEAKER_01: We all have failures that wish we could go back and turn back time and fix that.
SPEAKER_01: But you know God's grace is sufficient.
SPEAKER_01: Don't give up on something because it didn't work the first time.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you learned something.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe God wants you to go do that again.
SPEAKER_01: But maybe He wants you to do it with a different spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And whatever you do, I'm gonna say this one more time.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be around the murmurers, the complainers, the gainsayers, the busybodies, the enviers, the backbiters.
SPEAKER_01: I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna end up wandering around in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: God's gonna take care of them.
SPEAKER_01: God's gonna feed them.
SPEAKER_01: God's gonna clothe them.
SPEAKER_01: God's gonna make sure they're taken care of.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says in Hebrews that he was not pleased with the church in the wilderness that turned back.
SPEAKER_01: Please don't interpret that by thinking somebody's gonna lose their salvation.
SPEAKER_01: You get saved, I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: That which was against us, that which was contrary to us, Jesus Christ nailed to the cross and took it out of the way.
SPEAKER_01: That which imputed sin towards us, he nailed it to the cross and took it out of the way.
SPEAKER_01: But listen to me, after salvation, we are his workmanship created into Christ Jesus unto good works, not for salvation, not for maintaining salvation, to glorify him.
SPEAKER_01: And we're supposed to work to glorify him.
SPEAKER_01: Collectively, let's have a spirit of wanting to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And let's encourage our young people, they can still do it.
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell them, well, the world's worse now, you can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever say that.
SPEAKER_01: God's bigger than the world.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: You ought to see in the days I had, boy, we did this, we did that.
SPEAKER_01: Don't discourage them by saying what it used to be.
SPEAKER_01: Give them what they could do.
SPEAKER_01: When they rebuilt that temple and and got that thing back up in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah and Haggai, uh, God says, I can put my glory in that new rebuilt temple.
SPEAKER_01: It may not look like the first one with all the gold and the silver.
SPEAKER_01: I understand that, but I can put my glory in there.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not restricted by gold or silver or what kind of building is this.
SPEAKER_01: As long as the people have a good spirit and a good attitude, I can glorify that place.
SPEAKER_01: I believe God can still empower.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that that happens for the Spanish today.
SPEAKER_01: Just a just an hour and a half, two hours from now, in this auditorium, it'll be full of Hispanic people, and the word of God will be preached, and people will come forth for salvation.
SPEAKER_01: We ought to rejoice in that.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, if you've not received Christ as Savior, I want to tell you, it's time to get in.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean it's time to get in?
SPEAKER_01: It starts with salvation.
SPEAKER_01: It starts, what do you mean get in?
SPEAKER_01: Get into this thing called eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: Eternal life is just not for heaven, although, brethren, we can't raise ourselves from the dead, but wonderful thing that God can raise us from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: But why waste life wandering around down here looking for contentment?
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, looking for contentment?
SPEAKER_01: One of the greatest things we get thrilled about is seeing God use you and I in some little way.
SPEAKER_01: Just some little way.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to get to the end of our life, take that last breath and say, Is that all there is?
SPEAKER_01: We want to look and say, it's been a pleasure to serve our God.
SPEAKER_01: It's a bit of pleasure to redeem the time.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm glad I didn't hang around the gainsayers and the naysayers and the and the murmurers and the ones that wanted to just wander in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: I want to cross over with Caleb.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'd like to be part of Caleb's mountain uh family.
SPEAKER_01: I'd love to be part of that when Joshua said, All right, I'll bless you, Caleb, that's yours.
SPEAKER_01: I'd love to be part of Caleb's family, where he said, Let's go.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, let's go?
SPEAKER_01: Let's go up.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go up and get what's ours.
SPEAKER_01: Let's all have a word of prayer and let's go up and get what's ours.
SPEAKER_01: God's able.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't say how God did it, but he did it.
SPEAKER_01: And Caleb and his family possessed that land.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder what it was like that first night that they were living in one of those giants' homes.
SPEAKER_01: High ceilings.
SPEAKER_01: Big bed.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, big grapes in there already plucked and picked.
SPEAKER_01: You say, no, the Bible says they moved in.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't destroy it, they moved in.
SPEAKER_01: God drove them out.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes he used hornets, sometimes he used hailstones.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what he did, but I wonder what it was like that first night Caleb was in there at 85 years and old and said, I've been waiting on this.
SPEAKER_01: Good to have my family around.
SPEAKER_01: Everything's a little large and out of proportion.
SPEAKER_01: You talk about a great room.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what he said, but I'll guarantee you he was thanking God that night.
SPEAKER_01: I pray today, if you're not saved, this would be the day of your salvation.
SPEAKER_01: If you're already saved, that you'd not lose vision and that you would enter into rest.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing that he can't go before us.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Doug Fisher of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.
SPEAKER_00: To learn more about Lighthouse Baptist Church, visit our website at www.lighthousebaptist.com or call 619 461 5561.