THE EXODUS: Perspective is Everything

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

We are so glad you joined us, and we hope you are encouraged by today's message.

All right, all right, all right.

Celebration Church.

How you guys doing?

You guys doing good?

Yes, yes, yes.

I'm feeling the energy up here.

I'm really excited for what God has already done.

I came in on the back end of worship just got here from being at our our college park um location, but but coming in and just hearing just the power of God and worship and even hearing Pastor Justin's exhortation around this idea of anxiety and fear and stress, man.

I think it fits perfectly into kind of where we're we're going.

So I want to I want to hop right in.

If you have your Bibles, I want to um invite you to join me in Numbers chapter 13.

Numbers 13 · chapter mention

Uh Numbers chapter 13.

Numbers 13 · chapter mention

Let me let me give us some some context for those that may be new to the journey.

Um, if you're new here, I want to welcome you.

Thank you so much for coming to worship with us.

Maybe this is your um millionth time here.

You've been here the entire five years.

We want to thank you um equally as as well.

Over the past couple of weeks, we've been in um this incredible Exodus um series.

This the series that we've really just been unpacking, this idea of going from captivity uh to promise.

And and and we knew that this is gonna be a uh a powerful series that we and we've heard and seen so many testimonies from people that have been identifying areas where they knew that, man, maybe I'm not fully free in this.

But we also know that there's moments in the series where it's gonna challenge us to to look in the mirror and identify some things in our lives that that maybe we did leave back in Egypt, and that's exactly what the heart of this series is.

So over the past couple of weeks, we've we've really been unpacking this, and so I want to look at our our theme scripture.

I just want to kind of read that today, just so we can have a fresh reminder of of the filter that we're gonna look at as we engage the text.

And it's found in Exodus chapter three.

You don't have to turn there, it'll it'll come up on the screen, but I just simply want to I want to read it to you um real quick.

It says this Then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt.

I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, I know their sufferings.

Verse number eight.

And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out to a land um that is good and broad, uh, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, and Mosquitobites.

So we got all that.

We we got all that.

We we we talked about this, we laughed about that before, but I felt that this need to come back around.

So what we see here is literally the framework of the entire idea of the Exodus narrative: that God sees his people, he personally wants to get involved and lead them to the promised land.

So most of us are kind of familiar in some way with the idea of the promised land, the promised land, the promises of God.

These are phrases that we often use in our in our Christian vernacular, but ultimately what that means for us as we try to translate it into our day-to-day lives, it's us living lives of abundance.

That's not speaking specifically or exclusively about finances, but it's just a life of freedom, a life of joy, a life where I'm walking in the fullness of what God has called me to be.

That's ultimately what the Exodus narrative is meant to help us accentuate.

And so over the past couple of weeks, um, here's a couple of things we talked about.

We talked about identity, knowing that God has a calling on our life, but also helping us to understand who God is so we can have a healthy um understanding of who he is.

Um, two weeks ago we talked about compromise and how we're we're called to not live lives where we compromise, that God wants us to be totally free, walking in total freedom.

But then we also talked about commitment.

Last week we we unpacked this idea of the tabernacle.

And I could do an entire series just on that alone, but it's this robust idea of understanding that the tabernacle had these three layers, and if we can implement what those three layers symbolize in our own lives, we would certainly see results.

And the three layers were simply this living a life of sacrifice.

I know that there's gonna be elements of my life that I'm gonna have to live sacrificially, understanding that there's elements of our lives where we have to live with discipline, but then the last layer is there's a level of my life that I have to live in obedience.

If you can live a sacrificial life that's disciplined and obedient to God, you will see results.

Like it's literally just as easy as that, but it's as difficult as that as well.

So those are the things that we've talked about so far.

Um, but now as we continue on our Exodus journey and we look at Numbers 13, I do want to highlight one thing before I read the text to us.

I know when we say Exodus, many of us are thinking, well, you just shifted and went to another book.

So the Exodus narrative does not exclusively exist solely in the book of Exodus.

It is actually found in Exodus, it is in Numbers, it is in Deuteronomy, Leviticus.

So the Exodus narrative is the idea of people going from one location to the next.

And so what the book of Numbers is meant to symbolize is it's meant to symbolize the years while they were in the wilderness, the things that they walked through while they were in the wilderness.

So it's a great place that captures their years of wandering and how how they trusted God, didn't trust God, and what God did with it.

So it's here as we as we move and get into Numbers chapter 13.

Numbers 13 · chapter mention

We're gonna look at verses one through three, then we're gonna skip down.

But here's what it says starting at verse number one.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Send men to spile the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel.

From each tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.

So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paren, according to the command of the Lord, all of the men who were heads of the people of Israel.

What we find there is we find that Moses has identified leaders from amongst the people that represent each of the tribes, and they were sent to go and kind of spy out the land.

We see that in the text.

But I want us to kind of put a pen in a thought that these were leaders, these were established men, these weren't men who were who were new to this, these were men who were established as leaders.

So we read from verse 4 all the way essentially to verse 24, we see the names of those men, we see the tribe that they come from, who they are, what they represent, and the history that's connected to it is where that's meant to lead us to.

But then picking up at verse number 25, it says this at the end of the forty days they returned from spying out the land, and they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Parim at Kadesh.

They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the Lamb.

And they told them, We came to the land which you sent us, and it flows with milk and honey, and it here is its fruit.

However, you ever had those moments where someone gives you a compliment, but they have the back end, however, which nullifies the first part?

However, however, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large.

And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Nageb, the Hittites, uh the Jebusites, um, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea along the Jordan.

But Caleb, he quieted the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.

I I love that.

Let me let me give you that in the um the Ebonic slang translation.

Yo, man, miss me with all that, man.

We're about to go and get this land because God promised it to us.

I'm just trying to help us to translate because I recognize that we're a diverse church.

Okay, so he says, like, let's go.

Man, I want to hear about all that.

Let's go.

But watch this at verse 31.

Then the men who had gone up with them said, We are not able to go against these people, for they are stronger than we are.

So they brought the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they spied out, saying, The land through which we have gone to spy out is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw are of great height.

And we saw there the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, these are giants, and from them the Nephilim, and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.

Can you think of anything more polar opposite than man, there are giants in the land, we cannot do it, versus another group of guys that says, yo, let's go get it.

The contrast of the two reports from people that literally saw the same thing, but they came back with something different.

And what occurs to me is that it's a matter of perspective.

Our perspective has so much to do with our destination.

It really does.

And here's what I'll tell you: when we look at the Exodus narrative, as the children of Israel have been wandering just for a couple of years and they're finally at the place where they're about to walk into the promises of God, there's only a few instances in their entire history that literally served as a catalyst that determined the next steps.

This Exodus narrative right here, this particular passage right here sets the tone of what happens to them for the next 38 years, and it always because of the perspective that they brought back to the people.

Over the next few moments, I want us to really process this power of the way that we see things and what we say as a result of it.

If you're writing this down, I want you to write this message title down.

Perspective is everything.

Perspective is everything.

Let's let's pray.

God, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for your people, God, and I thank you for what you're doing in this environment already, God, what you've done in worship already, God, and what we've been able to experience already.

So, Father, I look to just simply be uh a vessel that can contribute in any way possible.

So, Father, we pray uh for open eyes that we can see you, God.

Lord, I pray for open ears that we can hear your truth, Lord, and I pray for open hearts that we can receive what it is you want to speak to us today.

We we honor you, Holy Spirit.

We and we invite you in and we submit this all to you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

You know, perspective is is really everything.

See, we we see all throughout scripture, but even in our own lives, that that perspective really is uh a powerful thing.

We we often say these phrases like perspective is everything, or it's a matter of perspective.

It's it's a it's a concept that most of us are um familiar with.

A simple definition of perspective is simply this it's a perspective, it's a it's a particular attitude towards something regarding the way that we view something.

Uh another way of saying that is it's a point of view.

Perspective simply means it's a it's a point of view.

Um synonyms that are attached to perspective are are these.

Um it's outlook.

My outlook, the way that I see things, that's that's a matter of perspective.

It's my it's my viewpoint, my vantage point, or my my frame of reference.

That's all words that are associated with perspective.

But another word that's closely associated with it, there is some distinction, but it's closely connected to it, is the word filter.

Now, when we think about filter, we all understand the purpose that filters do play.

We we see it in our day-to-day lives, we see it in our homes.

We have our air conditioners blowing and we have a filter that helps to govern the air, making sure that there's certain um particles that get caught up in the filter so we can have clean air to breathe.

We see this in our vehicles.

Our vehicles have filters and it it helps us to have clean oxygen in our vehicles.

So we understand the concept of filters and how filters have the ability to set the atmosphere.

We we see that on a day-to-day basis.

We really do see that more specifically, we see that when we're talking about taking pictures.

They're like, yeah, I understand it when you're talking about um our houses and when you're talking about our cars, but Keith, let's talk about the filters for the phones, because that's something that we all can relate to in some way.

And for so, for some of us who don't take pictures that often, y'all may not understand what I'm talking about.

But but for those of us who are kind of on the other side, or maybe you or you're connected to someone who loves to take pictures, then you're familiar with this idea of filters.

Me, I'm I'm I'm a person who doesn't take a lot of pictures of a lot of things.

I like to be in the moment, that's how deep I am.

Um, but just be in a moment.

But but my wife, on the other hand, she takes pictures of everything.

Like, everything.

I got so much, I gotta spill out the like everything.

Like she takes pictures of everything.

If we see a stick outside in the yard, let me take a picture of it.

There's a squirrel, let me take a picture of.

Oh, look at that cloud, let me take a picture of it.

Oh, that's a nice car, let me take a picture of it.

There's our children, like she takes a picture of everything.

So it's it's like a common theme that when we know that we're gonna be out, like, do your best, do your best just to smile through it.

Like, we literally have pep talks while we're out and about, and Megan's like, hey, let's take a picture.

And all the kids look at me, I'm like, hey, let's just smile to get through it.

And so you'll notice that I'm giving y'all some insight into our lives, man.

Don't y'all judge me.

If y'all look at some of our feed, you'll see like the struggle to smile.

Y'all may be saying, like, why does that face look so weird?

You don't understand that's like our millionth picture that day.

So don't, y'all pray for us.

But here's the thing: I I've seen many times where we take pictures of something, and it's so hard when you have grandchildren in the mix, then you have children in the mix, then you have us to find the perfect picture.

So you may find one where, yeah, you look good, but somebody else doesn't, or everybody looks good, but then there's something weird going on in the background.

So for most of us, you would just think, okay, that was a complete waste of time, we need to take another picture.

But then the invention of filters changed the game.

Because what filters do, it allows you to layer on these, these, these adjustments that allows you to change the perspective of the picture.

So if you can have some things where maybe something's messed up in the background, well, you can have a filter that blurs out the background and allows you to focus on what's in the front.

Like filters are a powerful thing.

We see filters, they're operating.

My granddaughter, she loves to like look at our phones and she loves to play with the filters and see herself dressed up as an adult, all those things because filters they really do have the ability of determining our perspective.

I've seen how filters can resurrect a dead picture.

You see something that's radically flawed, something that doesn't have the right images or right color attached to it, you put the right filter on that bad boy and you're ready to post it.

Because man, I've I added I added a filter to it.

Whenever I post a picture of my daughter, she literally has said that you have to I have to get approval from her.

Hey, before you post a picture, Dad, I gotta, yeah, you gotta get approval because I gotta make sure that you apply the right filter.

Because we know that that filters really do determine how how we see things.

I think we could even go as far as saying it this way filters can determine our perspective.

Filters can determine our perspective.

And and here's the thing: when we when we look at certain circumstances, we often run them through varying filters.

This is this is like one of those moments where have you ever like gone to the movies and then you see a movie, you like the movie, you come home, and then you read like the critics, and the critics tear the movie apart.

And you're thinking to yourself, like, I really enjoyed the movie.

I I thought it was a good movie.

Now, you as a regular consumer, you have a filter where you're just trying to enjoy the the the commentary, you're just trying to avoid what's going on.

However, for the filter of a person who's a professional, they're looking at cinematography, they're they're concerned about what music plays in the background.

I don't care about that.

I just want to know the Superman win.

Like that's that's ultimately, that's ultimately it.

But unfortunately, the filter determines the perspective.

Or or even more, there ever been times in your life where maybe you're having a conversation with someone.

Y'all are having a conversation around a topic, and they walk away totally offended or upset, and you're thinking to yourself, how did you get that from this?

I I didn't even say those words.

Like that literally didn't even come into my mind.

But it's possible that maybe something you said, your body language, the way that you breathed, was ran through the filter of the past, and it reminds them of someone else or another instance where they experienced that same thing.

And so your present conversation is being ran through the filter of the past.

Come on, I'm talking to somebody right now.

Like you, you know what I'm talking about.

When you're when you're having a conversation and you realize that you're not listening to what I'm saying now, I'm having a conversation with the past right now because you're running this through a filter of something that you heard, and now that offense is in the presence because you're running it through the filter.

See, filter has the ability to determine our perspective.

Our filters go a long way.

So here's the thing we know we know that your input determines your outlook.

Your input determines your outlook.

Like if I have if I have certain input in my life, it will determine how I look at things on the outside of my life.

So if I have positive input, like if I'm if I'm looking at things that are positive, then I then I'll look at things in a positive way.

This is why we rag on social media and we rag about the media sometimes.

Why?

Because that serves as input.

And when I allow those resources to then speak into my mind overall, what happens is I begin to look at things the same way that I heard, and they may not even line up with the Bible.

But but your input can determine your outlook.

In other words, it begins to create a filter in how you see things.

So this is where we find the children of Israel.

They're at this place where where they've been walking with God for now two years in the wilderness, and they have this assignment to go off and to begin to identify the place that God is calling them to go through.

Now, I want y'all to I want y'all to check this out because for them, they're they're they're poised for victory.

They've been wandering for for about two years, and in those two years, God has established his word over their lives.

Okay, here's the things I want you to do, here's the things I don't want you to do.

You're called to be set apart, you're different.

You can't act like the world and represent the kingdom of God.

Like, yes, there's going to be some things I require of you.

He also installs the tabernacle.

We talked about that last week.

Yes, I want you to build a place so I can dwell amongst you.

All these powerful things that God has been walking his people through for the past two years.

So after two years of explaining who he is and what he wants from his people, after two years of showing his presence amongst them, he finally gets them to a point where they're about to cross over into the promised land.

That very land that was promised to Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12 and Genesis 15, that that very same land that they all had aspired to be.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

It was a part of their generation.

But now here they are.

All they gotta do, they already are winning.

God's got them out of Egypt, they're already winning.

All they gotta do, and my sports fans will appreciate this, all they gotta do is manage the clock and don't turn it over.

Just just manage the clock and don't turn it over.

It's a fourth quarter, and and and you don't gotta do a whole lot.

All you gotta do is manage the clock and they're turning over.

In fact, all you need to do, all you need to do is kneel.

All you need to do is kneel.

You just kneel and let that clock run down.

Because you can secure the victory if you kneel, but if you don't kneel and you're still trying to run plays, you're gonna run the risk of having a turnover and we could lose this whole entire thing.

Did you hear what I said?

All we have to do is kneel to secure the victory.

Because if not, we end up running our own plays and it can result in us turning it over.

You know what happens a lot of times with us?

Even when we're on a threshold of stepping into the promises of God, we're still running our own plays.

I'm still running plays that I feel comfortable with.

I'm still doing things in my own strength, and here's the unfortunate consequence of that.

I can end up turning it over and I can lose the victory that was already secured if I just would have learned how to kneel.

I can I can turn over my identity, I can turn over my peace, I can I can turn over my joy, I can turn over the things that God wants to do in my life, I could turn it all over because I'm still running plays that God didn't intend for me to run.

But if I could just kneel, if I could just surrender, if I could submit it to God, then I'm so I'm certain that I could have secured victory.

This is the scenario for the children of Israel.

God simply just wanted them to walk into the land, to identify some things around the land, come back and be prepared to take the land.

But unfortunately, they didn't do that.

They went into the land and they allowed some things to become a part of their filter that wasn't going to help them to visualize what God had for their lives.

So here they are.

Moses sends 12 men into the area.

Go scout it out.

Go check it out.

I want you to look and see what kind of uh what kind of fruit do they have there.

I want you to go check it out.

I want you to go and check out to see how the people are there.

I want you to look at how powerful the walls are.

Go check it out and come back to us.

So for 40 days, they're just wandering around, just window shopping, so to speak, just walking through, looking at some different things.

Okay, yeah, like cool, man.

There's some some cool things over there.

But then eventually they find themselves in this area called Hebron.

Hebron.

Now, ordinarily when we read titles and names in scripture, a lot of times they don't translate to us.

So it's like, okay, cool, Hebron, cool, keep it moving.

But let me let me pause there because we can overlook something that's very powerful in this.

Hebron is significant for the children of Israel.

See, Hebron is the location where Abraham is buried, Abraham and Sarah.

Hebron is the location that Isaac is buried.

Hebron is the area where Jacob is buried.

You know how in the Bible says I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?

What God was communicating is that I'm a God of relationship, I'm a God of traditions, I'm a God of legacy.

So they understood that whenever God showed up and spoke in connection to them, they understood that the promises that were connected to them are also for me as well.

That's why we see the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So their people, they knew that wherever Abraham was buried was meant to serve as a reflection of the land that God was going to give them.

So as they're walking through the land and they see Hebron, they are literally seeing the fulfillment of what God had spoken He was going to do.

Where Abraham is buried, that's the land that you're going to possess.

But here's the thing: it comes down to perspective.

Because when we're walking through and we see something that represents what God is going to do, we have a choice to make.

You can either look at that as a graveyard where Abraham died, or you can look at it as a milestone of where your people are going to begin to thrive.

But it's a matter of perspective.

What I'm confident of is that there's times in our lives when we are walking through the season that we're in, we can often come to one of those same conclusions.

We can either look at the way that we are and say that this is a this is a tombstone that reflects where I died, or this is a milestone of what I survived and God has not done with me yet, but it's a matter of perspective.

See, so for some of us, we're walking through seasons right now, and if we're not careful, we'll begin to think, man, this is this is a tombstone.

This is the place where my life took a radical shift, and I'll never be back to where God was calling me to be to.

This is where my life fell apart.

This is where I lost my marriage.

This is this is where the business fell apart, and that becomes a tombstone that's a reflection of where we died.

But the people of faith, you don't look at the tombstone as a place that you died, you look at it as a thing that you survived.

I survived when my marriage fell apart and God is still with me.

I survived when the business didn't work out and God is still with me.

God is not done with me yet.

I am looking at this situation in my life not as a tombstone, but as a milestone because God is not done with me yet.

If we have some believers, y'all would be praising God more than that.

I am not done yet.

God is not done yet.

We are just getting started.

It's understanding that God will bring us to some places that serve as a reminder, but also we have a choice to make.

I can either see this as a tombstone, or I can see this as a milestone where things begin to accelerate.

The children of Israel, as they come across this land, they they have a choice to make.

We're in Hebron and we see our ancestors, we see our tradition, but but the report that they brought back, it showed you that there was a division in the camp.

Ten of the men came back with one perspective, two of the men came back with a different perspective.

They had a different story to be told.

And what I truly believe is that the filter that they looked at, what they saw, determined the perspective that they had.

I truly believe this.

I believe that our filters determine our perspective.

And there's two filters that we have to be mindful of whenever we look at anything because it will determine how we see it.

There's two of them.

Here's the first one that I want you to write down.

The first filter is the filter of feelings.

Our feelings.

Our feelings are a very strong filter that determines our perspective.

Of the 12 spies, ten of the men went out and they began to evaluate the land.

And what we see is that the land was currently occupied.

We knew that.

God himself.

Made it clear that there were people that were living in the land.

We all understood that there were going to be some incredible things there, but their feelings got in the way.

They got caught up in their feels.

All in my feelings.

Like I'm I no longer I no longer see God.

Here's the thing about feelings.

Feelings are powerful.

Feelings are God given, feelings are a good thing.

In fact, I like to I like to think of feelings as being like the instrument panel on a car.

They serve as indicators.

You turn your car on, you see how your car lights up, and then you have all these indicators on your dashboard.

And it lets you know, okay, if your your your your passenger side door is open, it's an indicator.

Let me let me close that door.

It's an indicator, it lets you know how fast you're going.

It lets you know the power of the engine, it gives you all these information so you can know how to make certain adjustments.

That's that's the practical, that's the practical way that we should look at at feelings.

But but here's the thing about feelings.

Sometimes feelings can can be a little skewed.

I remember when um I had an older vehicle and I had the dreaded check engine light came on.

If anybody knows anything about the check engine light, it literally could be the engine, it could be the brakes, it could be the trunk.

You just have no clue of of what could be wrong with your vehicle when a check engine light comes on.

So I remember going through a season where my check engine light came on, and I didn't have that revelation then.

So for me, I'm literally just replacing different parts on the engine based off of the experts that I found on YouTube.

They told me, okay, if the check engine light comes on, these are some things that you need to do to repair it.

It's gonna save you some money, you don't have to go to a shop, this is what you need to do.

So I I bought into it, and so I spent weekend after weekend just working on different parts of the engine.

See, some of y'all look surprised.

Y'all like, you worked on it?

Yes, I did it.

Don't y'all judge me.

I'm very handy.

Um, so yes, I I I worked on some things with the with the engine, and and the check engine light didn't go away.

I spent time, money, energy, a whole lot of resources before I eventually just got to a point and I said, Okay, I need- I just need to take it to an expert.

I I took it into the shop and they said, they said, sir, there's nothing wrong with your engine at all.

The truth of the matter is that your sensor was a little bit loose, and that just needed to be tightened up.

All this time, I thought the sensor was perfect and it was a reflection of the truth.

But the truth of the matter is it was the sensor that was off.

Follow me on this.

Your feelings are indicators, but they're not facts.

Your feelings are indicators, but they're not facts.

And unfortunately, when we allow, when we allow our feelings to become facts, we lose, we lose hope.

When we allow our feelings to become fact, we we lose objectivity.

When we allow our feelings to become fact, we lose perspective.

This is why the Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17, 9, hey, don't trust your heart.

It literally says that it's a puzzle that no one can figure out.

Don't don't govern yourself based off of your feelings, it'll it'll lead you astray.

We we even see in Proverbs 4, guard your heart.

Why?

Because from it flows the issues of life.

If you go with everything that your heart goes with, you're you're gonna have some problems.

It can cause us to lose perspective.

And unfortunately for the Israelites, they began to lose perspective.

They allowed their feelings to become the filter that they saw everything.

So here's what happened: they obsessed over the size of the promise and lost perspective of the promise.

They began to obsess about the obstacles instead of recognizing what God was gonna do.

They they began to lose sight.

See, feeling can cause us to compare us to the size of our problems instead of comparing our problems to the size of our God.

They said, like, we feel like grasshoppers compared to this.

There's no way that we can do it.

In other words, here's what happens: feeling leads us to a place where we remove God from the equation.

At no point did they consider God with what they were looking at.

It was all about what they feel.

So they they lost perspective.

They they they lost perspective of when when God showed up to Moses in the burning bush and declared what we saw that I will lead you to a land that's flowing with milk and honey, no matter who occupies the land.

They they lost perspective.

They they lost perspective that when Pharaoh began to oppress them even more because he understood that the favor of God was on their life, but yet they still increased.

They they lost perspective.

They they lost perspective of the miracles that God did for them in Egypt, and yet they didn't experience any of the judgments that God had rained down on the Egyptians.

They they lost perspective.

They they lost perspective of when God turned the Nile River into blood, but yet they still had fresh water.

They they lost perspective.

They they lost perspective of that when they were walking through the Red Sea, that that the enemy was swallowed up in it, they somehow had lost perspective of that.

They lost perspective that when they were hungry, that God allowed bread to materialize out of nothing.

He literally rained bread down from heaven, showing his provision, but they they lost perspective.

They lost perspective when they went into their very first battle and they didn't have the skill set to win war, but yet because they continued to live a surrendered life that God was victorious through them, they they lost perspective.

They lost perspective of the fact that God killed off all the firstborn of Egypt, but none of them was harmed.

They lost perspective.

Unfortunately, for some of us, we lose perspective of what God has done, so we don't think that God can do it in the future.

They lost perspective.

Are there areas of your life where maybe you're frustrated and you're looking at things through the filter of your feelings because you removed God from the equation?

And it's baby, it's just possible that we've lost perspective.

For them, they they unfortunately lost perspective, and as a result of them losing perspective, they were inundated with fear.

We talked about this earlier, but I see what the Bible says here in 1 John 4, where it says that there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

Let's pause there for a moment.

Perfect love casts out fear.

If we can be the recipients of the perfect love of God, it should eradicate all fear.

But but let me let me add an addition to this thought perfect love casts out fear, but perfect fear casts out trusting God.

When I get so inundated with fear, I no longer consider God into the equation and I can become consumed with my feelings.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened for the children of Israel.

They were at a place where they were so consumed by looking at things through the filter of their feelings that they no longer consider God.

This is a dangerous place for us to be in.

And so what ends up happening is they come back and they spread this report amongst the congregation, and literally everybody caught wind of it.

Isn't it interesting how fear, feelings, stress, panic, and pain has the ability to spread without a social media campaign.

But encouragement, hope, love is the thing that we often have to be convinced of.

I believe that the accelerant that allows those things to spread is the filter of our feelings.

It begins to speak to us, and unfortunately for the children of Israel, they were they were at this spot where they allowed their feelings to become the primary filter.

But then there's another filter.

There's another filter that we can look at things through, and it's the filter of faith.

We have the filter of feelings that can determine our perspective, but the other filter is the filter of faith.

Here's what we see from Joshua and Caleb.

They had a completely different response to looking at the exact same thing.

Caleb said, Man, like let's go.

We we are well able to overcome it.

Notice, notice for a second though, Caleb at no point denied the facts.

Caleb at no point did he ever disagree with the things that the other ten had said.

Yes, there was a walled city.

Yes, there was great produce there, yes, there was great opposition, yes, the walls were thick.

Like, none of that stuff was up for debate.

Those those were a thing.

But but here's the thing that I believe that that that God wants to make sure that we have faith doesn't require us to deny facts, it just allows us to believe God in spite of them.

It's saying that even though I know what I see, I don't deny that.

I just simply believe that my God is bigger.

I believe that my God is able, I believe that God is still moving in the midst of this.

So even though I know the opposition that I'm facing, I know the God who was with me.

It's not denying the fact and simply believing God in spite of them.

See, I believe there was this heightened focus that they had.

There was this awareness that was inside of them that allowed them to make sure that no matter what they saw, they saw it through the filter of who God was.

We see, we see this, we kind of see this theme built into scripture.

Whether we look in the Old Testament or New Testament, this idea of remembering.

Remembering.

We see Jesus say this when he's sitting with his disciples at the Last Supper, as we know it, communion, as we understand it.

Do this in remembrance of me.

The idea is I want you to pause and be reminded of the goodness of God.

Remember this because you're gonna enter into some seasons, you're gonna enter into some situations where you can lose sight of that.

So make sure you have a rhythm that you pause and that you're reminded of who God is in your life.

If you don't, you're gonna you're gonna stray to a place where you look at everything through the filter of your feelings.

Do this in remembrance of me.

But but even in the Old Testament, as God is establishing his pattern of dwelling with his people, he consistently has this rhythm of remembrance.

Remembrance.

He sets in these festivals and all of these different things to make sure that they had a rhythm of remembrance.

Hey, I want you to tithe, because I want you to be reminded that I am your provider.

Hey, I I want you to I want you to honor me on the Sabbath because I want you to be reminded that I am your source.

I want you to do these things as a that serve as a reminder.

So God had already built into what he wanted the children of Israel to do in order for them to be reminded of how good he was.

But he takes it a step further in in Exodus chapter 13.

Exodus 13 · chapter mention

In Exodus 13, he he literally outlines this this radical idea to make sure that the children of Israel never forgot who he was.

He tells them, I want you to tie a box around your wrist, that's how it was interpreted, and a box on your forehead.

So if you actually were to go to like Israel now and you were to find like a really strict devout Jew, you may see them with a box tied around their wrist, and even some with a box tied around their forehead.

And inside that box was the word Yahweh written.

The personal name of God.

The personal name of God.

Here's what I I want you all to stick with me for a moment.

Because here's the whole idea.

If I can look out and see whatever I put my hand to, and I can see that God is on my hand, I can be reminded of what God has done with his mighty hand.

If I can look out, and I'm not saluting anybody, but just stay with me for a minute.

They had the box on their forehead.

So you know what happens with this?

Everywhere I look, I can still see my hand here.

So as I'm looking around, literally, it's part of my vantage point.

So the idea that God wanted to connect to the children of Israel is that every time you look at something, I want you to be able to see it through the filter of who I am.

So you're not looking at things on your own, but you're looking at it through the filter of who I am.

And when you understand who I am, then you understand what I do and you understand what I've done.

He was trying to communicate to them that everywhere you look, look at it through the filter of who I am.

When he says Yahweh, he's saying, I am who I am, I will be what you need me to be.

So let's put this all together.

What he's saying is when you're looking at obstacles, I don't want you to look at the obstacle on its own.

I want you to look at it through the filter of God will be what I need him to be.

So when I'm looking at a situation that said that there's sickness, but I'm looking at it through the filter of God being my healer, and I know that he will be what I need him to be.

That means that healing is available.

When I'm looking at my marriage that's struggling, I'm not looking at it for the facts.

I'm looking at it through the filter that God says that what God is joined together, let no man put asunder because he will be what I need him to be.

When I'm looking at situations where I feel like I've lost strength, I can recognize that God is my strength because he will be what I need him to be.

When I'm looking at scenarios where I feel like I don't have any hope, but I can recognize that God is my present hope in my time of need because he will be what I need him to be.

When I'm finding myself in battle, I could be reminded of the fact that the battle is not yours, it's the Lord because he will be what I need him to be.

What God was trying to communicate to his people is don't look at it through a filter without considering me in the equation.

I will be what you need me to be.

So the question is, what do you need God to be with what you're looking at right now?

What do you need him to be?

Some of us have been looking at situations and not have not included God into the equation.

But this this principle of looking at things through the filter of the goodness of God, it has the ability of radically changing our perspective.

We we have this this two different groups.

One was looking at things through the filter of their feelings, but another was looking at it through the filter of faith, and they had completely different reports.

And ultimately they all they had completely different results that went along with it.

See, it all comes down to our perspective.

It all comes down to how we how we see things.

I I wanna I want to close with this because what you'll find is the consequence for the ten that did not, that did not look at things through the filter of faith, they they didn't make it into the promised land.

In fact, everyone that believed what they believed, none of them made it into the promised land.

You know that when when they communicated and said that, man, like we're about to go to war against some people that we couldn't possibly defeat.

This is what their response was.

They said, Why did why did God take us out of Egypt, out of the into the wilderness, into the promised land, just to show it to us, only for us to die on the other side of it?

We would be better off in Egypt.

They confessed that.

Do you know what ended up happening?

God turned them around and began to lead them on a journey right back to Egypt.

As a result of what they said, they were in the red zone, all they had to do was kneel.

But as a result of them still running plays, they ended up having to go into overtime after overtime after overtime for 38 years until unbelief died off out of their people.

If they could have just recognized the magnitude of God above the smallness of who they were, they would have already been in the promised land.

An entire generation had to die off, never being able to grab a hold of the promises of God because they allowed their failings to be the filter that they saw everything.

But there's another side to it.

There was two men, and everyone that was under the age of 20 years old, they actually did make it into the promised land.

They had this ambitious faith.

So we literally see the reflection of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Life and death is in the power of our tongues.

If you are looking at a situation and you're saying to yourself, I will never overcome this, I will, we will never be able to buy our own home, we will never be able to start that business, we will, we will never be able to move beyond where we are.

You are confessing things that very well may become your reality.

However, if you can look at where you are and say, God is able.

So we're gonna continue to move forward with the belief that knowing that God is able, we are more than conquerors, so because God is able.

I know in my own strength I can't do it, but God is able if we can look at things through the filter and recognize that with God nothing isn't possible.

The people that was in that camp, the people that was in that group, they made it into the promised land.

This is a very powerful principle because I want us to see something here.

We have two groups.

One group that wandered away and never got a chance to see the promises of God, and another group because of their belief, not perfect, but they actually made it into the promise of God.

See the connection here.

The people that you surround yourself with can directly determine on whether or not you can grab a hold of the promises of God.

So here's the prevailing question for today Which group are you in?

Are you are you in the group of people that they have this uncanny ability to speak about how impossible, how difficult, and how hard things are?

Are in are you in the group of people that says, let us go at once?

Because we know that with God, nothing is impossible.

See, for us as a church, we create space and community and we call it groups.

We we don't do this simply because that's what churches do.

I've I've had my life change as a result of being in a group.

I've I've had my faith challenged as a result of being in a group.

I've had people call things out of me that I didn't see in myself as a result of being in a group.

But it's a matter of perspective.

See, some of us maybe you're looking at things right now and you don't see God in it.

Your view is obstructed and you just don't see Jesus in it.

Maybe it's time for you to to select a new group.

I believe that this is brilliantly illustrated in in Luke chapter 19 in the story of Zacchaeus.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

Because what we have is a we have a man who who he was in a group of people, and what the Bible says is that he wanted to see Jesus, but he couldn't because the crowd blocked his view.

Let me put it to you this way He was amongst people that was obstructing his view and seeing Jesus.

Are there people around you that are keeping you from seeing Jesus?

It's possible to come to church every day and have a desire to see God moving your situation, but you don't see Jesus.

It's it's possible to sing the songs every week but still not see Jesus.

It's it's it's possible to give but not see Jesus in your finances.

It's possible to do these things that we talk about every single week and not see Jesus.

But but for Zacchaeus, he he knew he was coming up short.

He didn't see Jesus, but he wasn't content with that.

So the Bible says that he broke free from that group and he changed his perspective.

And the moment that he changed his perspective, he had an encounter with God that radically changed the rest of his life.

Which which group are you in?

Maybe you're in here today and you know that there's an area of your life that much like Zacchaeus, the filter is people.

I I can't I can't see God in the midst of this because there's some things that are blocking my view.

I just I don't see Jesus moving in my relationship.

I I don't see Jesus moving even in my my anxiety or shred.

I don't see Jesus in it.

Keith, like what am I, what am I supposed to do?

It's time for you to change your perspective by changing your filter, and sometimes that means just getting connected to the right group of people.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to I want to pray for us.

We're gonna go back into worship in just a moment, but I wanna, I wanna, I really wanna pray and believe that God's gonna move in this moment.

We're gonna ask that we we kind of hold this moment as sacred because I believe that God's gonna move and speak to some of us.

But if but if you're in here with us today, and and and you would say, Keith, man, there's some areas in my life where I don't see Jesus.

In other words, there's some areas in my life where the filters that are obstructing my view, I I don't see Jesus in my finances.

I don't see Jesus in in my in my mental health, I don't see Jesus at the workplace, I don't even see Jesus in my marriage.

Keith, there's some areas in my life where I just I want to I want to see Jesus more clearly where I am.

If that's you, I want to pray for you, believing that God's gonna move in your willingness to surrender or to kneel.

On account of three, I want you to boldly lift your hands up.

One, two, three.

I just need to see more of Jesus.

Amen.

God bless you.

Hands up everywhere.

God bless you.

You can go ahead and put those hands down.

I I have another question for a second group of people, and and it's simply this.

If we're honest with ourselves, when you look at the world, you don't see Jesus at all.

And it's a reflection of you being away from God.

Maybe you had a relationship with Him in the past, but right now and you're present, you don't have a relationship with Jesus.

There's some distance between you and the saving grace of God.

In this moment, if you want to commit or recommit your life to Christ, it doesn't mean that you have it all figured out, it just simply means that I want to update my filter so I can begin to look at things through the filter of what God says about me as opposed to looking at things through the filter of my feelings.

We believe that if you confess with your mouth and believe with your heart who Jesus is, that He that He was born, that He lived, that He died and was raised from the grave, that you're saved.

That's Romans 10.

And here and here's the thing: it's as simple and yet as complicated as that.

Belief can certainly determine the promise.

If that's you, and you want to simply say, Keith, I I believe.

I'm ready to move forward.

I want to grab a hold of all that God has for me.

I want to I want to include you in this prayer.

To commit or recommit your life to Christ on account of three.

I want you to boldly lift your hands up.

One, two, three with boldness.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you.

Amen.

Church, can we give it up for everybody that's saying yes to Jesus?

Amen.

God bless you.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Here's what I want us to do.

I want us to go back into worship in just a moment.

I want us all to stand on our feet as we prepare to go back into worship.

I'm gonna pray for us, believing that God is gonna move and he's gonna seal some things in our heart.

But but here's what I want us to hear.

If you're part of that group that that communicated and said yes, I I want to say yes to Jesus.

We have a number on the screen that you can text.

Pastor Justin's gonna come out in a few moments to give us some instructions.

Please do not leave without letting someone know that you're taking this step to follow Jesus.

We have resources that we would love to give you to help you.

But for the rest of us, and even the included of those, let's pray.

I want us to lift our hands up, preparing to receive what God wants to do.

We're gonna go into worship and the power of God's gonna move.

Holy Spirit, we believe, God, that you're gonna move and do what only you can do.

Father, it's our prayer that you will help us to have a perspective that looks at things through the filter of faith and not of our feelings, God.

Maybe we've been looking at our obstacles without you.

Maybe we've been looking at our barriers without you.

But Father, today we upgrade our filter and we look at things with a filter of faith, recognizing that with you, nothing is impossible.

So, Father, in the name of Jesus, we command for freedom, we command it for perspective, we commit it for healing because we know that coming to our enables.

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