Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
Cool, so I have been gone for like two weeks, pretty rough two weeks. Maria and
the kids were all sick at the same time and so, well it was even worse, it was kind
of overlapping, so it's just constant sickness in the house. So we had Bo and
Van both had a hand, foot, and mouth two weeks ago, and a little over two weeks now,
and then they got better and like, while they're getting better right near the end,
Maria gets the stomach bug out of nowhere and she's down for a week and I'm like,
you know, like just trying to get things done at the around the house and work
and all that, so, and to put the icing on top of that is a week before all that
happened, my phone broke, and so like I didn't have insurance, so I'm figuring that
out. Anyway, I've been a month without a phone and two weeks without going out, so
if I'm a little awkward tonight, it's just I haven't seen humans, so don't hold
it against me, but everyone's doing better and my new phone comes in tomorrow,
so I'll be back in civilization, but honestly a month off of a phone, it's
pretty nice, it feels great, but yeah, so we are gonna be going over reading
through Numbers 13, which we can turn to, and I know we're, there's some fruit of
the land that the spies bring and I have bananas here, this actually wasn't a
prop for tonight until I just, you know, realized right now, but Gail said who,
Amelia brought some bananas, so if you guys love bananas like my kids do, grab
a few bushels over there, really random but delicious and free, so. Alright, let's
start in prayer and then we'll read Numbers 13. Alright, Lord, we thank You so
much, God, that You're here, Lord, that You want to speak, and I pray, God, that
yeah, just through all my preparation and despite it, God, I pray that You would
speak through Your Word, which I know You will, You promise to, Lord, and I
pray that Your presence would be here, speaking to our hearts, God, and just
making Your Word real to us, Lord, so we could walk in it, walk in faith, and I
pray that this true story, Lord, of the spies and the faith and the fear and all
of this, Lord, we could truly picture and see You in it, Lord, and see the beauty
of who You are, God, and we love You and worship You, in Jesus' name, amen. Alright,
so, before we read Numbers 13, the title is Faith over Fear. Really simple, faith
over fear. They have that on bumper stickers and t-shirts and things, it's not
unique, I didn't come up with it, but faith over fear, and that is such a theme
of life, right? On a daily basis, we're confronted with faith or fear, and it's
so easy to let fear in and slowly win in the battle of the mind, and everybody
deals with it, but we need to choose to have faith in defiance of this fear, and
Hebrews 11.1 tells us what faith is, it says, now faith is the substance of
things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith is not just a
vague hope or like, I wish this would happen, faith is truly something real, and
it's faith looking forward to something real as well, it's faith and
hope in Jesus, and from that we actually get something, and the terminology for
substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen that Paul
talks about is actually like a title deed, like you have the deed to your
house, it is proof and evidence that you own your house, same thing with a car, proof
and evidence that you own your car, so is the same for us with faith, it's proof
and evidence that we actually have salvation and we have the promises of
God, so fear is the exact opposite of that, and it's like, it's giving you
like random facts about reality and things that are scary and make you
slowly start to doubt your faith, doubt God, and next thing you know you're giving
over the title deed, you're handing it over to Satan, and you miss out on what
God has for you, and we see that here in Numbers 13 that Israelites literally
were this close to going into the Promised Land, they had it, it was
theirs, it was their inheritance, their right, and that generation, because of
fear, gave that title over, and they didn't get to walk in it, but the next
generation did, so to frame all of that, I want to give the hopeful verse of Isaiah
26.3, which is really the way that we keep our faith, the way we have faith
over our fear, and Isaiah 26.3 says, you will keep him in perfect peace, this is
mine is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. If the Israelites did that one
little thing, kept their mind focused on the Lord, and fixed on him, they would have
had peace, and they would have trusted him, and that generation wouldn't have
wandered for the 40 years, they would have been in the Promised Land. So let's
jump in to Numbers 13, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, send men to spy
out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel from each
tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, everyone a leader among them. So the
spies, it seems like it's God's idea, right? Like, oh yes, send some spies out,
but we actually find out that this is not God's idea, he didn't originate it,
he said it was okay, sure, you can do it, because we see in Deuteronomy 121,
which I'll read for you, is, this is Moses saying, every one of you, speaking to the
Israelites, came to me and said, let us send men before us, and let them search
out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go,
and of the cities into which we shall come. And that plan pleased me well,
so I took 12 of your men, one from each tribe. So here's what happened, the
Israelites were already fearful to go into the Promised Land, already were
doubting, and they said to Moses, can we spy it out first? Can we see if it's
actually good? Can we see if there's big cities there with armies, just to
like, feel it out and see? And Moses thought, that seems like a reasonable
idea, let me go to the Lord. And then we see in the verse we just read, the
So right off the bat, before anything even happens, I want to point out that
this was not actually God's idea originally, he blessed it, but he already
knew what was going to happen because of the report of the spies. He already knew
that faith and doubt was taking root in the people's hearts, and he said, if you
want to do this, sure, you can do it. So because they were already doubting, they
sent these spies. And we see Moses says in verse 3, Moses sent them from the
wilderness of Peron according to the command of the Lord, all of the men who
were heads of the children of Israel. And here are their names, it's, yeah, I'm
gonna try this. I'm just gonna hit the names, not the tribes. Shammuah, Shafat,
Caleb, Yigal, Hosea, Palti, Gadiel, Gadi, Amiel, Cethir, Nabiguel. These are the
names of the men who Moses sent to spout the land. And Moses called Hosea, the son
of Nun, Joshua. So he sends out the people, and it says that Moses sent them
to see whether, which we'll read here in a bit, but to see if the land was
good. Didn't they already know the land was good, though? They kept hearing it
over and over again, the land flowing of milk and honey, right? And they kept
hearing this was their land, that the Lord was going to give them. So why are
they already doubting? Why are they already afraid? And it just, it blows my
mind, they saw God lead them every single day by a cloud, a pillar of
cloud, who knows how tall, probably higher than they could see, and by night a
pillar of fire guarding them. They saw all of Egypt fall in the Red Sea, and like
God was doing miraculous, miraculous things constantly, and then as soon as
they come to the Promised Land, again, they doubt. And in this, this quote, it
says, unbelief often presents itself as being factual or practical or down to
earth. Yet the most factual, practical, and down-to-earth thing we can do is trust
the Word of the Living God. Their unbelief was not according to the facts,
but despite the facts. Despite the fact that God did all these things, they still
found a way to be afraid. And Jesus says, like, he doesn't want us to be
super factual-based and super logical and try to figure everything out before
we go and do something, right? When God says, do it, we should just go ahead and
do it. We need to have that faith. And he says, to inherit the kingdom of God, we
must be like a little one, like a child. We need childlike faith. Like, if he says,
do it, I'm not gonna start spying out the land and figuring out the best way,
and if it's too hard for me, this or that. Like, literally, if he says, do it,
just go for it. Like, our faith needs to be like that. If he says, do it, I
believe it. If he's called me to it, I'll go and do it. If he's leading me there,
I'm gonna move. And if he tells me to go and stand up for something, I'm gonna
stand up for it. And, you know, it's funny. I was thinking about this message and,
you know, with acts of faith, going and doing something when he hears, when you
hear the Lord say it. And I was walking in, and there's two kids walking down
on the other side. They're probably like 13. And I saw them, and immediately I felt
like, I feel like I'm supposed to pray for them. Like, this is gonna be really awkward.
I'm like, yeah, but I got to get in there, you know, where it's like 10 minutes
till I should probably get ready and pray. So, I come into the church, and I
immediately feel the conviction. I'm like, I'm about to talk about if God says
something, do it. And I just walked away from these people, these kids that I was
supposed to pray for. So, I'm like, alright, Lord. I didn't even say a word to
anybody. I just walked back out right over there in front of the house. And was it an
awkward conversation? Yeah. I was like, hey guys, wait up. And I don't remember what I
said. I asked them if they knew Jesus. I asked if they need a prayer. But, look,
like, I don't, you don't know what God is going to do through a simple act of
faith. A simple act of obedience. Those kids probably thought I was crazy, but
maybe when they're 30 years old, they're gonna be thinking back to that
little breadcrumb of the crazy guy standing outside of the church that
chased him down the block to pray with him. You never know, but really, like, God
has called all of us to sometimes awkward things, but sometimes very normal
things on a daily basis in our work, in our families, whatever we're doing. And
if he's called us to it, we should never look at the facts of if I'm
qualified, if I have the words, if I'm gifted in that area, if he's called
you to do it, just step up and do it. Amen. And in verse 17, which we just read, or
16, these are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses
called Hosea, the son of Nun, Joshua. Very interesting. Changed his name. Now, it's
interesting if you know the meanings of the names, which I do, so I read it, I
looked it up. So Hosea means salvation. It's a great name, but Joshua means Yahweh
is salvation. That's much better, right? It's attributing a truth and a hope.
It's attributing faith to the place it's supposed to go, which is in God
himself. Now, Joshua, when he was Hosea, he was born in Egypt as a slave. His family
were slaves and they were hoping for one day to be saved, but they didn't
even know God personally. They didn't know Moses. He was just born in
slavery hoping one day they would be saved in some way. But now, Moses,
before he sends him into the Promised Land, changes his name to what it's
truly supposed to be. He's saying, you were saved by Yahweh and you will be
saved by Yahweh. Like, you are going to go into the Promised Land and before you
do, you have to have faith in him. We can't have a vague faith. We can't have
just hope. We need to have true faith in Jesus. We need to put our faith in
him. And, you know, we can trust Jesus. We can trust God, right? We have seen all the
amazing things he's done, just like he did for the Israelites. We have
stories in our own lives, I hope. Right? Does anybody have stories of how God's
provided, healed, taken care of us, led us through, done miracles? Like, we, when
we trust in him, we see he brings salvation. True salvation. And our God is
all-powerful, all-present, and all-knowing. So let's read verse 17 on,
Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up this
way into the south, and go up to the mountains, and see what the land is like,
whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many, whether the
land they dwell in is good or bad, whether the cities they inhabit are like
camps or strongholds, whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are
forests there or not. Be of good courage in bringing back some of the fruit of
the land. Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. Again, didn't
he know it was good? Didn't he know that it doesn't matter if there's enemy armies
there? God's gonna take care of them. He's already wiped out an enemy army in
Egypt. And here, already, there's an element of doubt. And now we don't know
if Moses saying this, that he was doubting himself, or if he was posing the
question to give them an opportunity for faith. I believe it's the second. I
don't think Moses was doubting. But I think when he was saying this, he's
like, you wanted to go spy it out. Why don't you see if it's good? Why don't you
see if God can handle this? Because faith needs to be personal. Like, we can't rely
on someone else's faith. And God will give us trials, tribulations,
persecutions, opportunities to have faith over fear. If we fall prey to fear
constantly, don't think that God's gonna just like, be like, okay, you can
live in fear. He's gonna give us another opportunity. He will never leave
you in failure. He's gonna say, hey, it's okay. I forgive you. Here's another
opportunity to have faith. Here's another opportunity to have victory. So Moses
sends them out. Verse 21, they went up and spied out the land from the
wilderness of Zen as far as Rehobo, near the entrance of Hamaf. And they
the descendants of a knock were there and the descendants of a knock were
giants. Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. I love all
the details that they give you. It's like, oh, that clears things up. I
didn't know Hebron was seven years. I thought it was six. Then they came
to the valley of Eschol and cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes
and they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some
of the pomegranates and figs. The cluster of grapes was so big they
needed two people to carry it on a pole. That's some good land right
there. That is crazy. One cluster, not even a vine. So they returned
from spying out the land after 40 days and they departed and came back
to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children. At
the time of the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then
they told him and said, we went to the land where you sent us. It truly
flows with milk and honey and this is its fruit. Should have stopped
there, right? Should have stopped with, yeah, we went, it's flowing
milk and honey. Here's some of the proof. And then they say, verse 28,
nevertheless. It's never a good sign when you hear nevertheless. It
basically negates everything you just said. So yes, it is good, right? Flows
with milk and honey. There's fruit there. It's amazing. Nevertheless,
the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified
and very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of a knock there,
the giants. And the Amalekites dwell on the land of the south.
The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites dwell on the mountains
and the Canaanites dwell by the sea along the banks of the Jordan.
So they're saying, it's filled with people. There's no like empty
spot. We can just pitch a tent and build our own city. There are
huge giants and armies covering this place. And so Caleb quieted
the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and take
possession for we are able to overcome it. But the men who had
gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the
people for they are stronger than we. And they gave the
children of Israel a bad report of the land, which they had spied
out saying, the land through which we have gone as spies is
a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people
whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw
giants, the descendants of a knock, and we were like grass
hoppers in our own sight. And so we were in their sight.
So this nevertheless comes in not because the land is bad. It's
not like, hey, it's empty. It's a desert just like this. And
there's no one there. We don't want to go there. It is a land
filled with blessing, but it's going to be hard. We're going
to have to fight, right? We have to actually exercise faith in
God and fight armies that look like we can't take them. And
the problem was in that last line is they looked at
themselves. They said, we were like grass hoppers in our own
sight and in theirs. Like we know they think we're small and
we think we're small. Like that's not good, right? And
the whole thing is fear crept in because they looked at
themselves. They looked at their own limitations, their
own inabilities. I'm not that strong. I'm not that tall
I don't have the right armor or swords. We've never fought a
major battle. We don't even know what we're doing, right?
They looked at themselves and they realized we can't do
it. The fear crept in because they looked at themselves.
But we know he will keep you in perfect peace, him whose
mind has stayed on you, who trusts in the Lord. Had they
just kept their eyes fixed on God, they would have
realized he was going to do it all. Like he is the one
who fights our battles. You see David in Goliath, he
never should have been able to take him. But you
realize he was promised he was going to be king. So
he knew he wasn't going to die. That's why he knew he
could take Goliath, right? He was promised you will
be king one day. And he looked at himself and said,
I'm not king yet. And this guy is defying God. So
I'm going to win this battle. I trust in him. He
threw that little stone, killed him, one blow. And
so the Israelites could have thought the same thing.
They said, God did all this. God promised to fight
our battles. God is making the way here. We just
need to go, just like he did in Egypt. But instead
they looked at themselves. And you know, fear,
though it uses facts, is a liar, right? Have you
ever had someone like bring up things about you
that are like, certain things are true, but it's
framed in a way that you make me someone I'm not,
right? Like these act, sometimes people can accuse
you and be like, you're late, you were late this
week, you forgot to do that. You are a horrible
person. Like you, you know what I mean? Like
people can just like make up things. And
that's what the enemy does. It's like, you
failed in this area. You did this. You did that
in the past. You should never be able to live
for God. You should never be able to serve in
this area. You don't deserve that position.
You're not capable. And sure, some of those
things are true. David was not capable in his
own strength to take out Goliath. But he knew God
said he was going to become king and God was
going to fight his battles. So we need to
remember that faith in ourselves will, we will
fail. We will see ourselves as grasshoppers,
just like everyone else does, right? But if we
have faith in God, something switches. Suddenly
we realize it's not about us. It's about him.
And when I was thinking about this, I was
picturing like being in a room, right? If it's
dark, like it's, you know, you're fearful,
like of the darkness, whatever. Fear is like
drawing the curtains closed, like, and you're
making it darker and you're just sitting in
it. You're sitting there. There's nothing you
can do to make this darkness go away. Like
you can't suddenly create light yourself.
You're in the darkness. But the only thing
you can do is open the curtains and let the
light in. That's what faith is. You can't
fight your own battle and muster up the
strength to win, but you can throw open
the curtains and let the light of Christ
shine in, right? That's what faith is. It
is turning to him, realizing he's the way,
he's the truth, he's the life, he has our
victory. And when we throw open the
curtains, darkness and fear must leave. And
we see here too with Caleb. I love Caleb.
He is the man. He, in the midst of
everybody being afraid, saying, let's
just, like, you'll see next chapter,
they're so afraid, they say, let's get a
new leader and go back to Egypt. Like,
they just went through the wilderness and
all this stuff, they, you know, that God
wiped out the Egyptian army and now they
want to go back there and be like, can
we be slaves again under you? Like, what
are they thinking? That fear makes you
think crazy things. If you're living in
fear, you will do crazy things that you
never thought you would. But Caleb
didn't care. He didn't care about the
giants. He didn't care about, like,
getting together a strategic plan. He
just jumps right in and says, let us
go up at once and take possession, for
we were, are well able to overcome. He
was not well able to overcome in his
own strength, but in the strength of
the Lord he was. He didn't even have a
plan yet, but he says, let's go right now.
That is childlike faith right there. And
the amazing thing is that after the 40
years of wandering are over, he's about
80 years old and he leads the charge to
fight the giants in the mountains and
he wins. Isn't that incredible? Like, he
made it through and almost 40 years
later he was finally able to take the
fight to the giants and he was finally
able to walk in that faith that he
desperately desired to 40 years earlier.
And it makes me think, in Matthew 11,
have you heard that verse where Jesus
says, the kingdom of heaven suffers
violence and the violent take it by
force? It is the coolest, most
interesting verse that I've heard in
the Gospels and it's mysterious. I
love it and a lot of theologians have
very mixed reviews of what they think he
meant, but when I look at Caleb, I think
about that verse, that the kingdom of
heaven suffers violence and the violent
take it by force. What I believe it's
saying, and a lot of people believe this
isn't just my idea, but there's
opposition, right? There are opposing
forces to people entering the kingdom of
heaven, but there is an equal and
opposite reaction that must happen. If
you want to enter the kingdom of
heaven, there's a violent and extreme
reaction that someone goes through when
they become Gods, when they throw off
sin in the world and they die to
themselves and they enter the kingdom of
heaven. So it says, even though you're
facing opposition, right, even though
there are forces against you, you can
walk right into the kingdom of God. And
it takes that type of person to truly
lay hold of that for which Christ
Jesus has laid hold of them. To truly
walk in the kingdom of God, it takes an
extreme reaction where you die to
yourself and you live for him. And think
about all of it, right? All of the verses,
like I just said, I am laying hold of
that for which Christ Jesus has laid
hold of me. God is grabbing you. You
need to grab onto him. Also about
running the race with endurance,
throwing off every single weight and
sin that wants to entangle you, pick
up your cross and follow him. Being
crucified is no longer I who live but
Christ who lives in me. That is a visceral
response to the gospel. That is extreme
and that's what it means that the
violent take it by force. Don't you want
to take the kingdom of God like that
with that level of enthusiasm? And
that's what Caleb is doing here. He has
an immediate boldness and faith that
says, let's just go right now. And
but Joshua, he is commended as being
faithful because he was. But he's not
mentioned in these verses here, if you
notice. He didn't say anything
immediately. He did not give a bad
report. But he kind of let Caleb, you
know, speak up first and he kind of
like waited until verse six, it says
in chapter 14, Joshua, the son of
Nun and Caleb, the son of
Jeff, you know, were among those who
had spied out the land and they tore
their clothes. And they spoke to all
the congregation of Israel saying, the
land we pass through to spy out is an
exceedingly good land. So he did speak
up in the end. And that's what faith
does. When someone has faith near you,
you slowly start to grow into faith as
well. And we need to be surrounded by
people that have faith. Because if
we're surrounded by people who doubt,
we're going to be just like the rest
of the Israelites who said, let's get
a new leader. Let's go back to slavery
in Egypt. It's less scary there, but
we want to be people who overcome. And
that's what Caleb says. We are well
able to overcome it. And Joshua was
filled with the same faith in the
end and was with him. Now, after 40
years, just like Caleb goes in and
fights the Giants, well, Joshua, once
Moses dies, becomes the leader to
bring them in. And God says to him
directly in Joshua one nine, it says,
have I not commanded you be strong
and of good courage, do not be afraid
nor be dismayed for the Lord your God
is with you wherever you go. He's
reminding him, he said, hey, you
had faith back then continue to have
faith now. Do not be afraid. Do not
be disturbed, discouraged, but be of
good courage because I'm with you.
And we need to constantly have that
faith like moments of faith in the
past, though they're good and
there's something to look back on.
They can't be the entire experience
of our Christian life. It can't
always be remember 20 years ago.
Remember in the early days, we
need to be having that faith every
single day because we can't it's
like eating it 10 years ago. Is
that going to sustain you
through the rest of your life?
Like we need to eat daily. We
need to exercise daily to stay
healthy. We need to move and do
things. And that's what faith is.
It's like a muscle. You need to
exercise it. You need to move.
You need to stay alive. And
that's why like, like faith
requires action. That's why it
says faith without works is dead.
Works does not, it's not
required for heaven. But if you
don't know works, you don't
believe like you don't. Faith
without works is dead. So here
Joshua is after 40 years, he
had an opportunity again to now
lead the faith filled Israel
lights into the promised land.
Now, if you've heard me speak
before, you know, I always love
to bring everything back to
Jesus because it's all about
him, right? We know in numerous
places in the gospel, it says
that Jesus opened all the law
and the prophets to his people
and showed them where it was
speaking of him. All the law
and the prophets speak of him,
it says. So we know that the
promised land is like the
kingdom of God, right? The
promised land is like our
kingdom of God. It's a picture
of it. But there's opposition to
enter the kingdom of heaven,
the kingdom of God. There are
giants. There is sin, death and
the devil. And these good spies
are actually a picture of
Jesus, a foreshadowing of him
because we couldn't handle the
Israelites. I mean, we
couldn't handle the giants on
our own sin, death and the
devil. But Jesus holds the
victory and we see in Hebrews
12 too, it says Jesus who for
the joy set before him endured
the cross, despising the
shame and has sat down at
the right hand of the throne
of God. He saw the victory and
the joy set before him that
he went through the cross. And
I want everyone, let's all
turn to 1 Corinthians 15.
So we see the sin, the death
and the devil. These are the
things that we can't fight in
our own strength, the giants
that must be taken down so
that we now can walk into the
kingdom of heaven. And verse
54, I'd highly recommend
everyone read all of 1
Corinthians. It's so good.
So when the corruptible has
put on incorruption and the
mortal has put on
immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying
as it is written, death is
swallowed up in victory. Oh
death, where is your sting?
And oh Hades, where is your
victory? The sting of death
is sin and the strength of
sin is the law. But thanks
be to God who gives us the
victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Sin and death,
hell, the grave, Satan, all of
it has been defeated by
Jesus's death and
resurrection on the cross.
So we don't have to be afraid
of anything. If that's
handled, the rest is pretty
easy for God, right? If our
eternity is secure and all
our failures are handled,
then Jesus's victory is
final and is for every day
for us. And these two spies,
Caleb and Joshua, also have
a lot of things that point
to Jesus as well, which is
very cool. We have Caleb.
Caleb means faithful and
wholehearted. Faithful,
wholehearted. And Joshua
means Yahweh's salvation.
And if you take the Hebrew
name Joshua and make it
Greek, it's actually Jesus.
That Greek, the Greek
version of Joshua is Jesus.
So Jesus is the faithful high
priest who is whole hearted
like Caleb's name means,
wholeheartedly devoted to
God and to the ministry of
saving us. It says that he
is salvation, God is
salvation, and the name of
Joshua literally means
Jesus. It's the same
name. And Judah and
Ephraim are the two tribes.
So, so Caleb is, Joshua is
from the tribe. Oh, maybe
I switched these. Let me
read it. We have Caleb,
the son of Jeff, you know,
is the tribe of Judah. So
yeah, Caleb is from Judah
and Joshua is from Ephraim.
Now these two tribes are
very interesting as well
because we know that
Jesus is from the tribe
of Judah. He's from the
tribe of Judah. And the
it's interesting the way
the tribes go through the
wilderness, we have Judah
leading the East, leading
the whole entire
congregation through the
wilderness. Jesus is our
leader. He is the one
leading us right into
the Promised Land. And
then on the western side
is Ephraim. And so it
shows that like as the
sun rises from the East
to the West, these are
the two spies that were
good, the two tribes that
were good. And we see
like the East and the
West, the sun rising and
setting. Jesus is the
light of the world. He is
the beginning and the
end, the first and the
last. And as like we said
that Ephraim also what had
the blessing of the
firstborn. He had the
blessing of the firstborn.
And we know that Jesus in
first in Colossians it
says he's the firstborn
overall creation and the
firstborn from among the
dead. So here are these
people, their names,
their tribes, what they
were doing in the
wilderness, all are
pointing to Jesus one day
coming, defeating sin
death and hell and Satan
so that we can truly
enter the promised land.
And how do we overcome?
Right. Revelation says
how do we overcome? It's
by the blood of the lamb
and the word of our
testimony. And our
testimony is not just
our own story. Our
testimony is that Jesus
Christ is Lord. That is
the testimony that we
overcome with. So every
trial, every temptation,
every persecution, every
principality or power we
overcome by Jesus, the
blood of the lamb and
the word of our
testimony. So in closing,
I want to ask like who
are we in this story? I
know Jesus is the good
spies and but he calls us
to be like them, to be
like him. Right. But in
normal life, I fall all
across that spectrum. I
fall into the Israelites
who listen to the bad
report and believe it and
don't want to go. I fall
sometimes into the 10
bad spies who see the
world and see the
circumstances and then
choose fear over faith.
And then there are many
times where I'm also
Joshua and Caleb and I
have strong faith and
I'm like, yeah, we can
do this. But God has
better things for us than
living between those
three types of people.
Right. Because it says
if we keep God will keep
us in perfect peace if
we keep our mind fixed
on him because we trust
him. So my faith is 100
percent tied to my focus.
Does anybody else
relate? If you're not
focused on him, you're
going to start believing
a lot more fear. You're
going to be handing over
the title deed of like
yes, you can have this
promise of God because
I'm too scared to take
it. There are so many
things that he has for us
that we need faith to
receive all of it. All
of our Christian life is
received through faith in
Jesus. And so we can't
oscillate back and
forth between the bad
spies and the good spies
on a daily basis. Like
we know that obviously
we have fears and trials
and all, but it says
count it all joy when
you go through various
trials and temptations
because what I have this
first right here. Oh, I
didn't write down. I
love that one. Yeah. So
consider pure joy when
you endure various trials
because it produces
perseverance and test
your faith. So we are
given opportunities to
have faith through trials
and constantly we need to
keep our mind fixed on
him every single day on
a daily basis. If our
mind is fixed on him,
we will be like the good
spies that reject the
facts and the lies of the
enemy and instead choose
faith and go into the
promised land like Caleb.
So I do have some
questions that we can
break off into groups. Um,
I do want to pray before
we do it, but, uh, we
could put up those
questions and I'll close
it out in some prayer.
Lord, thank you so much,
God, um, that you are
so faithful to us.
Lord, thank you that
you are so powerful, God.
Um, no matter what you
called us to, no matter
what we will be going
into God, you already had
the victory, Lord. You
already won the battle,
Lord. So we just need to
believe and step in and
I pray God that we
wouldn't be like the
Israelites believing the
bad report or the spies
that got wrapped up in
fear and realized how
weak we are, God, like,
yes, we are weak, of
course, but we serve in
all powerful God. And I
pray that we would step
out in faith, Lord, um,
this week, that when you
tell us to do something,
God, that we would just
wholeheartedly like a kid,
just believe it, Lord, and
go and do it. And I pray
that we would see
miraculous things happen,
Lord. I pray that we
would see salvation,
Lord. I pray that we
would see your gifts in
our life come to life,
God. I pray that we'd
step into all that you've
planned for us and for
our church and Jesus
name, amen.