What's My Piece of the Pie | Joshua 14:1-15 | Pastor Aaron Levy

Let's give it up for Pastor Samy.

You don't you guys love our residency, pastor announcements, exhortation,

offering pipes, buckets, props, hats, hoodies, but he has it all.

Yeah, Patrio Ranch, are you feeling good? Man?

It is such an honor anytime I get entrusted to

be in God's pull pit.

Hey, if we haven't met yet, my name is Aaron.

I get the honor to be one of the pastors here,

and we're gonna squeeze them scriptures together.

You guys ready to do that? We go.

We've been in Joshua one series the whole year, getting

through the Book of Joshua. We are in Joshua chapter fourteen.

There's twenty four chapters in Joshua. So we're trucking along.

If you have your Joshua journal, go ahead and show

your Joshua journal. Show it, man, This is awesome, awesome.

And if you're like, what are Joshua journals? You can

go to the Patriot shop. What we've done is we

have them. They're available on Amazon, but we haven't at

the shop as well. On one side is the verses

and on one side is his blank pages. So you

could take notes, and then I heard it said goats

take notes, So if you want to somebody felt that.

So if you want to lean more in, you could

get that Joshua journal. You know, we've been kind of

like within Joshua, we've been in kind of like an

inheritance series because two weeks ago, I don't know if

you remember, Gabe, he preached on stepping into your inheritance.

What a clear, practical, powerful word by Gabe. Just loved

the communicators on our team. And then last week who

was here for Pastor Diego when he preached, Oh my god,

he got in our face right.

So I was on vacation. It's I said, once again.

I was on vacation and I saw the sermon, and

it's just been living on the inside of me.

You remember before for.

Those of you that didn't hear it, go to YouTube.

It was just last week Joshua chapter thirteen. But he

was talking about the inheritance and how if you have

a piece of pie, do you want to hold the

knife or are you going to give the control to

God to hold the knife for the piece of the pie?

You guys remember that.

So I've been just stirring on that all week, and

as I've been preparing for this week, I just made

my title of the message tonight, what's.

My piece of the pie?

What's my piece of the pie? Because there's this tension on. Hey, God,

I want to give you control, so you can have

the knife, you have control of.

My piece of the pie.

But I also want to declare the promises you have

for me. And I felt like Pastor Shammy was operating

in the spirit while I'm during exhortation, because he talked

about a thirty eight year testimony and tonight we're gonna

be talking about a forty five year testimony. And God,

whenever he gives a promise, that promise doesn't return void.

But sometimes we got to wait for that promise to

be fulfilled.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna do the

whole chapter of Joshua, chapter fourteen.

I want to share.

At the top of it, if I put it in

three sections, here's what the three sections of Joshua would be.

We're gonna look at verses one through five. That's what

we're gonna stand on. And I'm gonna call that an

inheritance defined.

Part two, Verse six through twelve, will.

Be an inheritance declared in Part three, verses thirteen through fifteen,

and inheritance dispersed. Let's all stand for the reading of

God's word. It'll be on the screens. You could use

your journal, your phones, what have you, or you could

just simply listen along. We stand because we honor the

word of God. It deserves our undivided attention. You guys

ready Joshua fourteen one through five. Anytime you see the

word inheritance, let's.

Say it as a community.

How about that, guys, down, Okay, These are the that

the people of Israel received in the land of Canaan,

which alias are the priests of Joshua, the son of None,

in the heads of the father's houses of the tribes

of the.

People of Israel, gave them two. There was by lot,

just as the Lord commanded in the hand of Moses

for the nine and one half tribes. For Moses had

given in to the two and one half tribes beyond

the Jordan, but to the Levice he gave no among them.

For the people of Joseph were two tribes, Manassa and Ephraim,

and no portion was given to the Levice. In the

land but only cities to dwell in with their pastor

lands for their livestock and their substance. The people of

Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

That's important.

We'll come back to that they allotted the land.

Let's pray.

God, we acknowledge as a community that your word is truth,

that your word is.

Powerful, and it's the power to change our lives. Help us,

whether we're inside, outside, or online. To give your word

our undivided attention for the next few moments. Get Aaron

Levy out of the way. Use your word to convict,

to strengthen, to encourage, to transform, to heal, to inspire.

Thank you for your word.

May it be clear to us and Jesus nay we pray.

Amen, Amen, Amen, you may be seated.

The first five verses, I kind of title that an

inherent and to define because I want to share what

it inherences is.

And again you can go back to the last two weeks.

Gabe did a very.

Good job going into the details. So point one, I'm

gonna kind of give an overview of what I believe

what it inherences defined is. But sometimes in order to

know the definition of something, you got to know what

it's not.

Have you ever had a bad boss?

And then it's like, okay, Now, in order for me

to be a good boss, I just can't be like

that one.

You guys gonna stand what I'm saying.

So the first definition I will say is inheritances are

not wages. Inherentances are not wages, because if we remember

in verse one, it says inherentance is that the people

of Israel received it. Didn't say that they earned it,

didn't say that they're like, God, you owe me this.

They received it.

And the challenge is we live in this culture of wages,

but the kingdom is about inheritance.

And I got some tension.

That will be on the screen that you can see

the difference between wages and inheritance wages.

If you have a wage mentality, it's about what you earned.

Inheritances received, wages is what you work for it.

Inherents is by faith.

Wages is about performance, and inheritance is about promise. Wages

you get that from your boss. Inherentance you get that

from a father. And if I think about me as

a father, I got my two teenage daughters at the

house and all of a sudden, they just stop smiling.

Like it's like now they're just so cool, you know,

and I don't know what makes them happy anymore.

And it's great.

But but I don't this tension of boss and father,

this tension of leader.

I don't I want them to be spoiled.

I don't want them to be entitled, right, I don't

want everything that I give them to be attached to performance.

See one of my daughters she gets straight a's, or

another one of my daughters she enjoys the diversity of

the alphabet.

So of course there are rewards for certain things.

But just because your last name is Leeve, you're gonna

be blessed by your father.

And that's what I want. That's what I strive to do.

And there's tension on how do I reward for obedience?

But also since you're in the family, no matter how

you perform, this is for you. And see, that's the

thing about being in the Kingdom of God. Once we

make it about wages, not only will we sometimes think

we're better than other people, or sometimes we'll shame ourselves

like we're not worthy of getting anything from the Lord.

You know, A good scripture that will remind us of

this is Romans six twenty three. It says the wages

of sin is death, but the free gift of God

is eternal.

Life in Christ Jesus. So what this is.

Saying is like what we owe as death, like that's

what we deserve, that's our wages. But it says the

free gift, that's an inheritance. So why does it Why

does it emphasize free gift? If a gift is always free?

Was because we live in a culture where gifts ain't

always free. Have you ever like say, hey, this is free,

no pressure at all, Just give me your credit card information.

Why I gotta give you my credit card information?

If it's free?

Here would be a test for you if you have

more of a wage bend or an inheritance bend. Have

you ever got a Christmas gift from somebody but you

didn't get them the Christmas gift and as they're approaching you,

it is like, marry Christmas, I love you, this is

for you.

What are you thinking in that moment? Are you thinking, man,

thank you, man, you love me.

I wonder what it is? Or are you.

Thinking, oh, shoot, we don't get them anything. Do I

have any gift cards in my person?

All right?

Roda.

What is that?

And that's a small little little wiring of like, hey.

Hey, hey, you don't have to give me a gift.

You don't have to I want, But if somebody loves

you enough to give you a gift, just.

Take it, just receive it.

Now, if you love them and you want to give it,

didn't give it.

But let's not have relationships based on barter and have

the wage mentality, especially in the Kingdom of God, because

then what we'll do is we'll do that with our

heavenly Father.

And as the children of Israel are.

Now, they fought all those battles, they fought all those wars,

and are looking at the inheritance from their leader by

lot and they might be thinking, wait, what is he

gidding versus what I'm getting?

Right?

Or every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord.

It's all about perspective. Thank you for the seven claps.

Now we talked about what inheritance is not, let's talk

about what an inheritance is. Inherences are received from God

through leaders. That's what makes it complex. Many times inherences

is a received from God through leaders.

What do I mean? Look at verse two, The Lord

commanded by the hand of.

Moses verse three, for Moses had given an inheritance Verse five,

the people of Israel did as.

The Lord commanded Moses.

So what happens is there's the hand of the Lord

directing it, but the hand of the Lord is directing

the hand of Moses. So the children of Israel are

getting their inheritance from Moses or from God. And see

what happens sometimes is if I'm used to just getting

inheritance from my leader, I put the hand of the

Leader over the hand of the Lord. And as long

as I'm good with the Leader.

I don't really have to spend time with the Lord.

So I really want to just see what Moses was

on his mind, and how I can help Moses and

what I could do for Mother. But wait, whoa, whoa,

Everything that mo, what this is doing is connected to God.

So let me explain the tension behind this, and preferctly

I can illustrate it. Because Proverbs twenty one, verse one says,

the king's heart is a is a stream of water

in the hand of the Lord, he turns it wherever

he will.

So this is you and I and I'm gonna act

like I have the Lord's hands.

Okay, you guys got the illustration. Okay.

So on a daily basis, our role is to be

in the hand the hands of the Lord, and then

he pour.

He turns our heart to pour into people. You guys

catch it.

So every day as I spend time with the Lord,

remember the song we're singing it You hold my world

in your hands?

Right?

So what happens is the Lord turns you to just

get favor for them. Have you ever had to somebody

on your heart? You just didn't really know them, but

like how so and so doing the Lord turned your

heart to pour into that person. So that's what it's

supposed to be. Now is that the Lord or is

that the person? It's the Lord working through the person.

So the more that you and I are aligned with

the Lord, we will be a blessing to others. That's

why it's more of a blessing to give than to receive.

So what happens sometimes in life we see that there

are leaders that pour into people and then the people

start recognizing, wait, wait a minute, I just gotta get

under the blessing. I just gotta get under the blessing.

And sometimes instead of getting with God, they just get

with the leader, and let me just position myself in

a way that wherever my leader is gonna get blessing,

now where the Lord wants me, where my leader wants me,

that I'll get the blessing. There's a picture on the

screen that might demonstrate this, and we got to think

about that. Negro Spiritual by TC don't go chasing water.

But sometimes when we're worshiping God, this is what we're

hoping is going to be that I open.

Up to God.

And as I open up to God, I have a

life of just being poured into. But what if God

is saying no, no, I'm only pouring into you, so

you could pour into others. Now, if you're a leader,

you already know this. Especially you know your role is

to pour into other people. And in your heart is

supposed to be open. Your heart is supposed to be

water to be poured. But sometimes people be taking advantage.

It's the people that we pour into that lie on us.

It's the people that pour into us that just don't err.

So what happens sometimes instead of us being water, our

hearts turns into ice. We're a leader, we got some

experience on how people are. So when God tries to

use me to pour into others.

I have a horror heart, because.

Why am I gonna waste my time helping this person?

They ain't grateful, they ain't gonna go to church, they ain't.

Gonna wait what whoa?

Who what? Whoa? Is it your job for the outcome

or is it just your job for the outpour?

That's why when we're singing the song you hold my

world in your hands. When we are hard hearted, let

the hands of the Lord knelt our hearts so we

can begin and continue to pour into people. So what

God is trying to tell us, just like what he's

telling the children of Israel. Yes, I'm using Moses' words.

Then it's through Joshua for.

The allotment of what is going to look like.

But at the same token, don't look to Joshua only

for your reward.

Don't look to Moses only for your reward. Look to

the Lord for your reward.

Now, I want you to think about in this moment

and give you a little bit of context, because this

is a.

Forty five year testimony.

If you take it back forty years ago, and we're

gonna read it in a moment.

But Joshua and Caleb were boys, and Moses had.

A group of twelve people go spy out the land

to see what the inheritance was. And it was only

Joshua and Caleb that came back with a good report.

The other ten came with a bad report. If you

want to read that story, you'll go to numbers, chapter thirteen.

So what's happening is Caleb is sitting here watching the

meeting of the leaders give out the inheritances. So I

know what an inheritance is, and the Lord set me

he has something for me. So, Lord, I know you

have the knife, but what do you want me to

do in this moment? So that's why point number two

we go from an inheritance to find to an inheritance

declared because there's some things that God told Caleb forty

five years ago that Caleb wants to bring to his

friend's remembrance. If we look at versus, starting at verse six,

we're gonna go all the way to twelve. You guys, good, Okay.

Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal

and Caleb, the son of Jafannah the ken As I

said to him. You know what the Lord said to Moses,

the man of God at Kadashabarnea. Concerning you and me,

I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of

the Lord, sent me from kay Deshabarnea. Whenever there's repetition

of words like that so close in scripture, I get

very curious, because it's trying to tell us something. To

spy out the lamb. And I brought him word again

as it was in my heart. But my brothers who

went up with me, made the heart of the people melt.

Who yet Ah I Holy followed the Lord my God.

And Moses swore on that day, saying, surely the land

on which your foot has trod and shall be an

inheritance for you and the children forever, because you have

why followed the Lord my God.

And now the Lord.

Has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty

five years, since the time that the Lord has spoke

this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness.

And now behold I am this day, eighty five years old.

I am still as strong today as in the day

that Moses sent me. My strength is now My strength

is as my strength was then, for war and foregoing

and coming. So now give me this hill country of

which the Lord spoke on that day. For you have

heard on that day how the Anakin were there with

great fortified cities.

It may be that the.

Lord will be with me and I shall drive them out,

just as the Lord has said. This is a beautiful moment,

and it talks about the tension.

Last week.

Pastor Diego says, hey, give the knife to the Lord,

let him a portion what's for you. But when God

tells you that that portion is for you, you speak

and declare that portion. So that's not taking the knife back.

It's using the word of God in faith. But being

patient and waiting. Does that make sense? So let's look

at Caleb, and first of all, let's look at his

name in Hebrew. If we look at Caleb's two words,

k and lev ca means whole or all, and love

means heart. So Caleb means wholehearted or Caleb means dog,

not my dog Simba.

Simba is not.

Wholehearted, but Caleb is wholehearted, loyal, obedient. Now, Katus barnea

member it was mentioned twice. Let's look at the tension.

Katus barnea is two words as well. Kadish means holy,

set apart consecrated. But barnea means fielled, desert, wonder, stagger.

So wait a minute, Caleb is saying, I holy followed

the Lord in a wilderness. And the test for you

and I is can we live up to our name

no matter the season or the location that we're in.

Anybody can talk about the Lord is faithful when you're

in Canaan.

It is very hard.

To holy follow the Lord in a wilderness, to holy

follow the Lord when you don't know what's next, to

holy follow the Lord when Joshua, your homie, gets promoted

and you'll get a promise.

Wait, we both went over there, and.

Everybody has cake for Joshua.

Hey, here's King Joshua. Joshua is the guy. Caleb's the dog.

Say can you pitch your Joshua?

What's up?

Dog? And Caleb could.

Be like, wait a minute, Lord, why didn't not get promoted?

Why why do you want me to be faithful?

But you have nothing for me?

But see I read this morning in Proverbs thirty verse

six that.

The promises of God don't turn void.

Now, the promises of God are also not on our

timing or terms.

And sometimes what we do we.

Don't know God's word, we know our desires, and we

think our desires are faith in God. So we put

our desires on God and we say, God, do this

for me.

But what do you do when Joshua he got promoted?

Caleb, you got a promise.

Okay, I'll walk around with the promise for about a year.

Could you walk around with the promise for forty five years? Yeah?

See, when you're saying.

Holy, follow the Lord, it's no matter what the season,

the circumstance, the pain, the determination to just continue on

your faith journey, no matter what it looks like, because

I trust God. God is good, God is faithful, God

is merciful.

This is the lane that I'll stay in.

There's another man of God that's similar to this, and

it's David because David is called a man after God's

own and David has My favorite psalm is Psalm one

O three. Oh my God. It just talks about the

fatherhood of God.

It's beautiful.

But I love paralleling David and Caleb because before they

got their inheritance, they.

Would have to go through a wilderness.

And later in his life in Psalm one O three,

he were flex on his life and this is what

he says, Bless.

The Lord, all my soul and all that's within me.

Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul,

and forget not his.

Benefits, the inheritance. Look at this benefit package. Who forgives

all your iniquity, who heals all your disease, who redeems

your life from the pit, who crowns you with steph

as love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so

that your youth is renewed like the eagles.

Who doesn't want this benefit package? This isn't this amazing?

Then when we come to God, that is not about

what's my peace of the pie?

Like if Pastor Garfield gets a peace, that there's less

for me.

That God has a whole pie for me, a whole

pie for Pastor Garfield, a whole pie for Sean. And

it's more based upon what I give to God. So

there's room for what God gives to me. See notice

it says, bless the Lord, oh my soul. All that's what,

then me bless his Holy name. So before we talk

about the benefits, what the psalmist is doing, and he's saying,

I'm gonna give everything to God. So there's room for

God to give everything to me. But many times when

we come to God, and this was my experience. When

I came to God, all I wanted to do is

receive from God. I didn't want to change nothing about

my habits, my desires.

No, no, no, I heard, Jesus can heal you.

And so and that may be a picture on the

screen of the pie that's from Psalm one O three,

because we come to Jesus, we smell this pie. Man,

I want that forgiveness. Man, I want that healing. Got God,

how many more crowns you got? I want renewal, I

want satisfaction. And we're going to God and say, just God,

give me this, give me this, give me this. And

God is like, how can I feel you when you're

already full of yourself. So what the psalm is actually

saying is bless the Lord, oh my soul, all that's

within me.

So what we're supposed to do.

Is give God all that's within us.

The problem is what's within us is bad.

We got sin, desires, wounds, we got pits. We have

control issue, our thoughts are not all over the place.

And what God is saying is my love language is confession.

My love language is release. My love language is give

me your honesty. And the more that you give yourself

of me, the more that you can receive from me.

There are so many Christians that.

Are looking at other Why are they so blessed like that? Wait,

look at what you're giving God before you see what

other people are receiving from God. There is one level

of Christianity. Gotta trust God. I gotta make sure I

trust God. God trust God.

There's another level of Christianity. Does God trust you the

blessings that we're asking to receive? Does God trust you

for that?

Because one of my failures as a Christian is coming.

Here, learning the song, starting to serve.

But holding onto my thoughts, holding on to my control.

But God, will you give me renewal?

And that tension? Right? There is a wage mentality.

Where God, I've given you this, now give me that

or I don't deserve nothing from God because I'm not

worth anything.

And that's why it's by faith, not by works.

But Caleb is in this moment of his life and

he said, you know what, God was faithful then, and

it's been forty five years.

God is still faithful.

Now I'm gonna still declare that same promise, and I'm

gonna trust that even though I have a new leader.

Back then my leader was Moses. Now my leader is Joshua.

But you know what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna keep declaring what the Lord said, not just

what Moses said. One of the.

Things you and I can do for application, We're gonna

put this grid on the screen right here, and maybe

you can just pick which one of these items is

an area of focus.

Meaning that like for me, it's my thoughts.

Like I Romans twelve, don't be conformed to this world,

will be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Right,

So I need to release thoughts so I can get

new thoughts. His mercies are new every morning, so I

gotta cast out old thoughts.

If we want a crown, we gotta give up control.

And if we look at Psalm one oh three, is

he's crowns.

Us with stath. That's love and mercy.

It's a mercy mindset, and when we seek control.

Mercy is not really on our mind.

So it'll be just a good exercise. Because Psalm one

O three is beautiful.

But just remember it says, and all that's within me

bless his holy name, and then I get the benefits.

So that'll be just good to think about for application.

So point one we talked about and I inheritance defined.

Zero point two an inheritance declared, and will close what

an inheritance dispersed. We're gonna read thirteen through fifteen. Caleb

is declaring what he believes God says is for him,

and list see how God, through his leader responds. Then

Joshua blessed him. Hennes say, stop complaining, why no, no.

No no.

Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the

son of Jafunnah for an inheritance.

It's beautiful.

Then Hebron became an inheritance of Caleb the son of Jefunnah.

The kids and I to this.

Day because he holy follow the Lord, the God of Israel.

Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kirios Arba.

Arba was the greatest man among the Anakin, the giants,

Goliath's family, and the land had rest from war.

There's a quote from Corey ton Boom.

It says God is not merely preparing a place for us.

He is preparing us for the place.

That right there.

We'll just have me sit down with some tea and

be like, Lord, sorry.

Because I be thinking I'm ready for stuff I'm not

ready for.

He ever prayed for something, and it's like, dank, God,

he didn't give that to me then, Or did you

ever pray for something you get it?

You're like, why God take this from me? It'll just

be wise that we just asked God.

God, open the doors that you want to open, close

the door that needs to be shut. I mean, i'd

be trying to pry doors open. Give me the courage

to walk through the doors that you open, but let

me not be prying through other people's doors. Forty five

your testimony, I'll tell you a story. For the sake

of time, I'll conclude with this.

I remember.

I was an assistant vice president at Bank of America,

and Man, I thought I had it. I thought I

made it.

Until I lost it.

And when I lost it, I was looking for redemption.

God is gonna give me an inheritance. And then I

get into another job, and I thought this.

Job was my inheritance. God.

Sometimes sometimes things happen in life and instead of asking God,

how should I interpret this?

We interpret it and say God, make that the interpretation. Well,

maybe not, y'all, because also quiet I do that. I've

done that. So I get a new job.

And I thought, it's perfect because I'm working for a university,

great money, great benefits, the timing that my oldest daughter.

Is about to go to college. But this is perfect.

Thank you God for my inheritance. It wasn't inheritance, it

was training. It ended up being one.

Of the most painful, humiliating, crushing jobs I've ever had

in my life, and I thank God for every moment

of it, because God knows my future. He was training me.

I remember being in an investigation with my employees and

it was like the unions and all these different things,

and I'm like, Lord.

This is so draining.

And I remember my boss's boss came to me. I

never spoke to this man before. So Aaron followed me,

walked in the office, shut his door, big.

Old office, Like wow.

He was like, hey, I just want you to know

what's going on right now. They're lying on you. I'm

gonna protect you.

I ain't know he knew what my name. I'm gonna

protect you, and I see you.

I like what you got here. You're probably gonna get promoted.

What drove Yeah, yeah, God, Yeah, yeah, so him he

got fired a week later, and they're like, oh God,

what about to trusting in the hand of your leader

more than the hand.

Of your lord.

And it would be cute if.

I'm like, and look what God did now and now

I'm a pastor and this is my inheritance. But no,

what God did is changed my palate on what an

inheritance is. My inheritance today is Matthew chapter.

Six, verse eleven.

It's the Lord's prayer. Give us this day are daily bread.

Give me the daily bread that I need to be

a blessing for others today.

One of the remember I said earlier, one of the

things that I need to grow in is in my

thought life. So sometimes I negotiate in my mind. I

just got to get to this day. And God is saying, no, No,

this is the day that the Lord has made.

I will rejoice and be glad in it. And this

is what the Word of God is supposed to do

in our life. Have us reflect to us and have

it read us. What does it do for you? What

are the areas in your life?

What are the stories in your life where you're considering

this to be an inheritance, or what are the moments

in your life where you.

Feel like you've been overlooked?

What are the moments in your life where you feel

like you're Caleb and Joshua gets all the credit and

you're in the background.

Have you forgot about God's promises?

Are you low key upset with God?

And what I want to tell you today is Psalm

one O three makes it very plain, Bless the Lord,

oh my soul, and all that's within me. What's within

me sometimes is anger. God can handle your anger, but

just please give God your anger before your employees, Give

God your anger before your spouse, give God your anger

before your kids. The Bible says, be angry, don't sin,

so God can handle those moments.

But then when you release that, you give that to God.

Will you stay long enough to receive the promise that

He has for you? For Caleb's forty five years, so

it took his loyalty and took his obedience, took his integrity,

but also his courage to step up and say, you

know what, I've been faithful for forty five years. I

still got strength, I'm still on the team, and I

remember the last leader said that this is for me,

and God said that.

This is for me.

Stepping up to that, I want you to think about

your slice of the pie when we because when I

worked in corporate America, in order for me to win,

somebody else had to lose, and I was okay with that.

Kingdom of God is completely different. Kingdom of God is

we both win, but we win.

On God's terms because we're on God's team.

So the whole goal is getting with God and saying, God,

what slices a pie?

Am I missing out on? I want the whole pie?

But show me things in me that I need to

release out of me so I could receive more from you.

Let's pray God, thank you so much for this whole moment.

I think it's just appropriate for us to just change

the cadence of this moment and just think about broken

promises from people and interpreting that as if you've broken

your promise.

You've reminded us tonight.

That no matter how long it takes on our timing,

your timing's perfect because by the time you gave Caleb

his inheritance, he wasn't weaker.

He had the same strength.

Give us the strength to endure your timing for the

promises and the inheritance you have for us. Give us

the honesty to release all that's within us. You said

in your word, blessed of the poor in spirit, for

theirs is.

The kingdom of God.

God, Help us to be destitute, Help us to to

be open with you on where we really are, so

we can receive all U f for us.

In Jesus name, we pray Amen.

You know, before we leave an online I would love

for you to lock in with me. I would listen

to messages like this and I'm like, man, that's really

good content.

And what I gotta do is I gotta wait on God.

And I would try to run plays without eating the

first slice. The first slice of the faith journey is forgiveness.

So what I want to extended invitation to. You may

know Church, but you don't know Jesus. So it's gonna

be very complex for you to try to give up control,

give up desires, give up your wounds, and you don't.

Know if you're saved yet.

Or to really know how much you're loved that Jesus

Christ died for all of our sin to reconcile our

relationship with God, the Father.

You're worth dying for and that truth is enough for us.

When we taste that slice.

Of forgiveness, we're saying, dang man, this tastes good.

God, You're my savior, and some of us stay at

that slice that we only limit God that when I

mess up, I ask for forgiveness, we keep him as savior.

We never make him lord. And the reason why we

never make him lord we don't want to give up

our slice of control. God, I know you'll forgive me

for my past. Now.

I got my current relationship, my current situation, where I'm

gonna live, where I'm work, So I believe that there's

two groups of people in here that I'm talking to.

The Bible says, taste and see that the Lord is good.

The Bible says the goodness of God leads to repentance,

meaning that God would be so good to you it'll change.

Your mind about God and yourself. Will you taste his

forgiveness tonight?

And what it tastes like is freedom. What it tastes

like I don't have to remember my past. There's once

on that says I don't have time to maintain these

regrets when I think about the way.

That he loves.

Taste his forgiveness tonight, make him your savior. And I

believe that there's a group of people in here that

you're gonna taste that first slice.

You're gonna give God your sin.

You're gonna receive his forgiveness.

But that's the start line of the faith journey which many.

Of us are have crossed.

But we keep journeying on.

Let's taste what satisfaction is like, let's taste renewal, Let's

taste his crown. How we make him lord, how we

give up control. So I want you to close your

eyes for a moment.

Which group are you in.

You're gonna make Jesus your Lord, for your savior for

the first time, you're gonna confess that you're a sinner,

but you're gonna know how much Jesus loves you, and

you're gonna receive his love. We're gonna celebrate that, Philly.

There's also another group in here that is like, you

know what, I have made him my savior. I have

not made him my lord. And I'm not saying do

that perfectly. One way to start that, before you make

a decision, ask the Lord about it. Consider Jesus before

making a decision with your life.

That's how you start making him lord.

What I would ask all of us.

To do is to repeat this prayer after me. To

encourage those that are praying this prayer for the first

time to give your life to Jesus and make them

your savior, or continue following Jesus and making them your lord.

Online, lock in with me in person. Say this out

loud with me.

Dear Lord Jesus, I believe that you died on the

cross for all of my sin.

From this moment forward, you're my savior and my Lord.

Teach me to trust you, give me a desire to

be in your word. Surround me with community that keeps

pointing me to you. In Jesus name, we pray so

I'll open our eyes. If you just prayed that prayer

for the first time to give your life to Jesus,

or you just prayed that prayer to continue following Jesus.

We want to celebrate you, but we want you to

do something bold. I'm a counter to three and I

want you to shoot your hand.

Up in the air. Bold. That was me. I'm free.

I'm giving my life to Jesus, whether you're inside or outside.

If you're online, I want you to give me a

hand to mosi or just say yes on the counter. Three,

let's celebrate as a community. One two one two three,

go ahead and raise your hand. Thank you, thank you,

thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,

thank you, thank you. Let's go ahead and celebrate people

that are giving their life to Christ, that are surrendering

to the Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Jesus is still in this saving business. Jesus is still

a lord.

Man. If you just made that decision, man, Patria is

celebrating and we want to walk with you. So there's

some information on the screen. If you put out your

smartphone and go to.

Www dot grow dot faith.

We just want to resource you with.

A book from our founding pastor. You can just read

it over one cup of coffee.

It just talks about next steps in your faith journey

and speaking of your faith journey, what we call people

that want to make patriot of their family.

Then we say hey, go to Growth Track.

Growth Track is a three week class that talks about

our vision and our values. It talks about our system

as a church, but most importantly, it helps you discover

you and how God has wired you to make a

difference in your family and your community. So I invite

you to go to our website or ask anybody on

our team about our Growth Track class, because we would

love to walk with you on this faith journey. Amen,

let's go ahead and stand to our feet. Are you

blessed by our service today?

Amen?

Thank you so much, Heavenly Father, thank you so much

for what you've accomplished in your word.

I pray give us the courage to.

Live that out.

I thank you for the testimonies that will come to

fruition because you've reminded us tonight to keep declaring what you've.

Said in Jesus' name.

We pray.

If you need specific prayer, we have a prayer team

that will be in the front.

God bless you.

You're dismissed.

Thank you so much