Blessings & Promises - Week 5

In Jesus' name. Amen. You know, there's this movie that

I watch.

It's been a long time ago, and I still go

back to it occasionally.

It's a kid's movie, but.

I really like it. It's called We Bought a Zoo.

How many I have ever seen We Bought a Zoo?

And I was about this family. God, I don't know

anything about zoos. He buys this zoo because his little

girl wants him to buy the zoo. He buys the

zoo and they start trying to figure it out, and

you know, and really he's flashing back and he's he's

talking about when he met their mother who had passed away,

and he talks about that moment, that moment where that

most of us let slip by, those moments in time

where we go back to and we think, what if?

Have you ever had those moments in time where you

go back and you just think, what if?

You know?

I go back and I think to myself, what if

I had bought stock in Google when it went public?

What if I had bought because I was I was alive.

I know some of y'all think that's old. I was

alive when the Internet wasn't here. I mean I was

alive then. I know, that's hard to fathom that a

man like me was alive back then, but I was.

You know that there's lots of time. There was this

moment where God gave me this idea and he spoke.

It to me standing in the bathroom.

That's where God speaks to me the most, just clear,

and I was in the bathroom and he gave me

this idea for these screens and bathrooms that you walk

up to at Pops on and then you know there's

a quick salvation message that's given. So that wasted time. Guys,

you know what I'm talking about. When you go to

the jourinal, it's wasted time in your life. You're looking

at the wall, nothing else is happening.

God gave me this idea.

I didn't.

I didn't act on it.

About six months later came on the news Ted Turner

had taken the idea and instead of putting salvation messages

on it, he was selling advertising time and he made

another billion dollars off of it.

Was my idea.

First, I didn't act on it, and he didn't even

give me a royalty. Come on, somebody, I miss it.

There's this line in the movie. It's not spiritual. There's

a spiritual principle behind it, but it's not Bible. But

it says, you know, sometimes all you need is twenty

seconds of insane courage, just literally twenty seconds of embarrassing bravery,

and I promise you something great will come of it.

You know. We started this series.

Blessings and Promises talking about Caleb. We talked about Israel

going in and taking the Promised Land, and Caleb demanding

what God had promised him, even though it hadn't been

yet defeated and it was still inhabited by giants, and

he was eighty five years old. But because God promised it,

he wanted it. In Numbers, chapter fourteen, starting in verse twenty,

if you've got a Bible, go there Numbers Chapter fourteen,

verse twenty, it says, then the Lord said, I've.

Pardoned according to your word.

But truly, as I live, all the earth shall be

filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all these

men who have seen my glory in the signs which

I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have

put me to the test now these ten times, and

have not heeded my voice, they certainly shall not see

the land of which I swore to their fathers, Nor

shall any of those who rejected me see it verse

twenty four. But my servant Caleb, because he has a

different spirit in him, he's not cut like everybody else,

because he has a different spirit in him and has

followed me fully, I will bring into the land where

he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.

Or thank you for your word.

It's the only change agent on the face of the planet,

and I pray that today you change us the very

fabric of our.

Being in Jesus' name. Amen.

You know, uh, Caleb, there was just something different, and

I believe there's something different about you. I don't believe

that you can truly follow the Lord and not have

this somewhere deep down on the inside, that desire for more,

that desire that is just kind of unsteadied, unstabilized by

the status quo. That you look around and you see

how everything else is and you just don't really want

to go with the flow. I don't believe that we

can now. I believe that we can have that programmed

out of us. But I believe somewhere deep down that's

still there, that desire to change things, that desire to

be more, that desire to expand, that desire to lay

hold of everything, for everything.

That Christ has laid hold of you for.

And Caleb had it, and he would not settle. In Numbers,

chapter thirteen, verse thirty, it says, then Caleb quieted the

people before Moses and said, let us go up at

once and take possession, for we're well able to overcome it.

Now that's Caleb was in the sae. I just need

to I need to, okay. So for those of y'all

that don't know the background of this story, Caleb was

in the same place the other guys were. He saw

the same cities, he saw the same people. He was

exposed to the same thing, okay. And Caleb's report was,

let's go get it.

It's there, why not, let's just go.

But the men who had gone up with him said,

we're not able to go up against the people, for

they're 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

despises a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the

people whom we saw are of great stature.

We saw giants.

The descendants of Anak came from the giants, and we

were like grasshoppers in our own site, and so we

were in their sight. Underline that we were grasshoppers in

our own site, and so we were in their sight.

Now Caleb goes.

In, He sees the giants, he sees all the things,

and his description of the land was, it is a

land flowing with milk and honey. It is a land

that has resources that are unlimited. It is a place

where everything we need is there, not just to survive,

but to prosper. Everything is there. And that's what Caleb saw.

And he overlooked the obstacles because he was more focused

on God than he was the obstacle. And the other

people go in and they're like, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no no, I don't even know what you're talking about.

We didn't see no milk, we didn't see no honey.

We didn't see we didn't see. All we saw were giants.

And here's why. Because Caleb was a different spirited person,

he saw things differently, and they thought they were grasshoppers.

They said we were grasshoppers in our own eyes. So

we were grasshoppers, and theirs too. They didn't ask anybody

they were spies, they were hiding. They didn't ask anybody

if they were grasshoppers. They didn't ask anybody if anybody

was afraid of them. They didn't ask any of those questions.

They went, they saw, and they made an assumption that

that's have it. And so many of us in this

room right now feel like we're grasshoppers in our own eyes,

so we assume everybody else sees us as grasshoppers too.

Now when we fast forward after all them people, let

me just ask you a question, just real fast. I

just want to put this in some practical How many

of you in here knows somebody named Joshua or Caleb?

Raise your hand? You know somebody named Joshua Caleb. Everybody

here knows somebody named Joshua Caleb. Joshua and Caleb came

back with positive reports. So I want to ask you

another gray. I want to show my hands. Okay, I'm

gonna give you a few options, because I.

How many of you know somebody named Yule? Nobody? How about.

Shamamuah, here's one little more play. How many of y'all

know somebody named shay Fat. I mean, I am fat,

but I don't know anybody named shay Fat. You know

why y'all know people named Joshua. Hey, Caleb, aren't you glad.

You didn't get named.

Youle if you had come back with a positive report,

if he had a spirit, you could be cure of

instead of Caleb.

Right now or shah Mua, no, thank you, that's right.

The reason we name people Joshua and Caleb is because

they did something, because they were cut from a different cloth.

And we name our children that because we want them

to be cut from a different cloth. But we live

our lives like girul because we think we're grasshoppers and

we never ask anybody. Because when you jump over to

the Book of Joshua and they go into the land

and they go into the city of Jericho, the spies

go into Jericho, that people find out they're there, they're

running for their lives. This lady of the night rayhab

Invite says, listen, go up in the roof, hide on

the roof.

I'm gonna cover you up. And this is what she looks.

She looks at them and she says, hey, everybody here

is looking for you.

Because they're terrified of you.

The people here are terrified of you because they saw

the battles you won when you came out of Egypt.

They heard what your god did to the army of Egypt,

and they're terrified.

Ten people came back with a bad report.

And were responsible for everybody twenty years of age and

older dying in the wilderness because they convinced them they

were grasshoppers. When those spies got there and they said, whohoa,

wha wa, wait, wait, wait a minute, what that's not

what we heard. That's not We didn't hear people were

terrified of us. We heard that it was giants and

fortified cities and that we were gonna die if we

came here.

We didn't hear anything like this. It has a horn.

I want to tell you and listen. She was so

convinced about who they were.

Do you know that there are people around you that

are so convinced about who you are that if you

will allow them to speak into your life, they will

help you see who you really are. But you're so

afraid or you surround your side. Stop surrounding yourself with rascals.

But she looked at them, and she.

Was so convinced that the report she had was true.

That she said, when you take the city, when you

take the city, spare my family.

You are not a grasshopper.

You are a child of the king, and everything that's

his is your inheritance, every single thing, that's who you are.

We look at these stories in the Bible like they're outliers,

but they're not. They're the real path of faith. When

you look at David and Goliath. We all know the

story of little boy David. He takes the rocket, he

throws it, he hits Goliath a boom, and he chops

his head off a wool and then why And we

see those stories that we're like, oh, it's so excited,

But did you realize that in that moment, Saul had

faith in.

Who David was too.

We think it was just a bye, little boy, go

give it a try, But no, it was an all

or nothing situation. Goliath came out every day and he said, listen,

send out your best. If he beats me, will be

your servant. If I beat him, you'll be my slaves.

Here comes David. Because it only takes a moment for

God to change everybody's situation, Saul sent the boy to

the battlefield because he saw the spirit of God raging

on the inside of him with an indignified sense, because

that philistine would dare to blaspheme, God, how dare your

boss tell you don't deserve a raise. You're a child

of God and you should be doing everything you can.

And when you do, listen, when you send him emails

and you come late, he ain't gonna give you a raise.

He ain't even gonna give you a rock to throw

at Goliath. But when you're early and you're work and

you're doing those things, he sees the spirit of God

in you, and there is no way that he can

look over it. But you gotta drop the grasshopper attitude.

And then there's this story. One of my favorite stories

in the Old Testament of Jonathan. Jonathan was Saul Sun.

There's this story. Now here's the crazy thing. And we

had printer trouble.

This morning.

Israel was at war and they were out of swords.

It's where this story picks sou They had two swords.

The entire country two swords. I mean, you can come

to my and find like twenty guns at my house.

The whole country had two swords. Saul had one, Jonathan

had one. So they're just sitting around. They don't know

what to do. They don't want the enemy to know

they don't have a sword because that would go badly.

So they're just sitting there. And Jonathan sitting there, he

looks at his armor bear.

He says, hey, I got an idea. It's kind of boring.

Got an idea. First Samuel, chapter fourteen, verse six. He says,

Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, come, let.

Us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised.

It may be.

Not exactly a decisive faith statement.

It may be that the Lord will work for us.

For nothing restrained the Lord from saving by many or few.

So his armor bears said to him, do all that's

in your heart go, then.

Here I am with you according to your heart.

Then Jonathan said, very well, let us cross over to

these men, and we will show ourselves to them. If

they say to us, wait until we come to you,

then we'll stand in our place.

And not go up to them.

But if they say, hey, come up to us, then

we'll go up. For that the Lord has delivered them

into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.

Let me break it down for you. So Jonathan's sitting

there and he pretty much decides that dying is better

than boredom, dying is better than doing nothing for God.

So he looks at his armor bear and he says, hey, man,

I got this.

That's this idea. Let's go fight. Here's the remarkable thing.

His armor bearer was just as crazy as he was,

because the armor bearer said, now the armor bear does

not Earnie, he don't have a sword an armor bear,

let's add him and says all right, man, I'm in,

I'm in.

Let's do it. Let's go.

And then Jonathan unveils the plan and the armor bear

still goes, you need to surround yourself with some people

that will just.

Go listen, there are some people. Now. First of all,

let me preface this.

If if if if I told Pastor Clay we're gonna

buy this giant tent and we're gonna go set it

up in front of Elsibrero and that's where we're gonna

have church, he would be like, that's the dumb idea

I've ever heard. There's no air conditioning in the tent.

We don't have a permit. What the humidity's gonna destroy

our instruments. Chief, that's a bad idea. And I'll be

like okay, and then he's gonna say I'm sorry, I

shouldn't responded that way.

Let's do it.

Where do we get the tent? After a brief pause,

he will run through that wall with me. You need

people like him that'll just run through the wall. And

if it don't come down, they knock themselves unconscious trying

to knock it down. The reason we know that Armor

Bear was that way because when he laid out the plan,

it didn't get any better. He said, we're just gonna

run over We're just gonna go over there. We're just

gonna walk out and show ourselves to them.

We're gonna stand in front of the whole army.

And if they say stay there, coming down to you, sorry, man,

this is it for us. But if they say come

up to us, that that's our sign that God's given

us the thumbs up and he has delivered them into

our hands. Here's the story. They show up, they walk out.

The guys up on the cliff say, hey, look at

those ants down there, another small animal reference. You're created

different than they are. You're the object of God's affection,

formed in his image for such a time as this.

And they yell and they say, come up here to us.

Jonathan said, we got them, and he starts climbing this cliff.

He starts climbing. They had the high ground, they.

Got the swords.

His armor bears climbing beside him. They get to the top.

He started this is It says that he would knock

him down and the armor bearer would finish them off.

So I mean, in my mind, he's like cutting them

in the leg and they're falling down and the armor

bears like smashing their skull.

That's in my mind.

I know that's too graphic for Sunday morning. Cut that

part out of the video. And they overthrew the army

and sent them into retreat with one sword and two people.

Because God is who he says he is, and if

God is who he says he is, then you can

have everything he says you can.

Have not dependent on your goodness or your skill or

any of those things. It's all dependent on God and

who he is. So stop living in the shadow and

come out and show yourself to that thing that is

standing between you and victory, and just say what it

says to you. If it says, hey, come on up here,

then go. If it says wait right there, then take

your lumps and show yourself again tomorrow, because sooner or

later your victory is coming, because that's who God says

you are. And Hebrews chapter eleven, pastor clay, you guys

can come and get ready. In verse one, it says, now,

faith is the substance of things hoped for. It's substance,

empty and ethereal. We think that faith is this vapor,

this weird fog, this mystical thing. If we get it

just right, things happen and things line up. But it's

a substance. It's the substance of the things we hope for.

That once hope is born, then faith takes shape. And

our hope is found in the word of God. Every

single word in his word is hope for our lives.

And once we get the hope going, then faith begins

to stand up because it's a substance.

But it's not just a substance, Jonvian. It's the evidence. Listen.

Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Your twenty

seconds of insane courage is the evidence that God is

who he says he is. Your testimony is not what

happens at the end. Your testimony is that you started

it in the first place.

It's the testimony.

It's the evidence that God is who he says he is,

and even if he doesn't do what we think he should,

we're still jumping in the fire. It's the evidence of

things not seen for by it. The elders obtained a

good testimony by faith. We understand that the worlds were

framed by the word of God, so that the things

which are seeing, we're not made of the things which

are visible. Your purpose, your purpose is not dependent on

your bank account being full before it starts. Your purpose

is not dependent on you already having a degree. Your

purpose is not dependent on you being born into the

right family on the right side of the tracks. Your

purpose is only dependent upon who God is and whether

you will have that just moment of insane God inspired.

Action.

And we're going to recognize our graduates just a few minutes.

It's a rite of passage here in our culture, really

one of the only rights of passage that we have.

And to them it signifies that.

Their school days are behind them.

But to me, it signifies that all the potential purpose

is ahead.

Of them, that all the things that God has done

in them and through them has brought them to this

moment in time and has created a launching pad so

great that they'll never understand the depth or the width

until they're walking in it. I believe that we're going

to recognize some Joshuas in some calebs today, but I

believe there's other Joshuas and Calebs in this room. I

believe maybe you've been hiding behind a grasshopper or two,

but God's calling you to step out. Some of you,

God's calling to start your own business. Some of you, Gods,

He's calling you to go back to school.

Some of you, God is.

Just saying, take the platform that you have and just

begin to share. I will open doors that are unimaginable.

But you have to do something.

Because God refuses to be an ATM that doesn't require

a pin. He refuses to fund our addiction to the

status quo and mediocrity. He's calling somebody, somebody.

To a moment of clarity. Right now.

Everybody's standing with me all over the door. Father right now,

breathe on this place, Holy ghost, breathe on this place

right now Holy ghost.

Work and move right now, Jesus, like only you can.

Help us shed the grasshopper mentality and embrace the urgency

of the moment to move in faith towards purpose.

Because we know you're who you say you help us

be who you say we are.

Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, Jesus.

Churns. Let's worship together.

M hmmm