Latest / Life Community Church / What If The Obstacle Is The Invitation | Michael Brueseke

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What If The Obstacle Is The Invitation | Michael Brueseke · Life Community Church

0:02
SPEAKER_00: Hello, this is Jamie Bridges, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: All of our services are inspired and built straight from the Bible.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Let's get into this week's message recorded at Life Community Church.
0:16
SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
0:22
SPEAKER_02: I've got my two oldest boys with me this weekend.
0:25
SPEAKER_02: They traveled with me and it's really exciting.
0:28
SPEAKER_02: My son Bo is 18, gonna be 19.
0:31
SPEAKER_02: He's a freshman.
0:32
SPEAKER_02: Just finished his freshman year, actually his sophomore year, because he's gonna do college in three years, which I'm really glad about that.
0:38
SPEAKER_02: And so is my bank account.
0:40
SPEAKER_02: And um my son Titus is with me.
0:43
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna be 15 this week.
0:44
SPEAKER_02: Um so it's good to travel with my teenage sons.
0:47
SPEAKER_02: I have five kids though.
0:48
SPEAKER_02: Uh youngest is nine, oldest is gonna be 19.
0:53
SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, lots of kids are lots of fun.
0:57
SPEAKER_02: And uh it helps to roll with pastors who have lots of kids because we just understand life.
1:03
SPEAKER_02: I start my message is usually a little bit different.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: So uh I would love it if you don't mind, if you'd stand up all around the room.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna honor, we're standing to honor God's word this morning.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: And um last week, last week, Pastor Jamie, I think he kicked it off, maybe not sure.
1:17
SPEAKER_02: Uh you guys are gonna go through 1 Corinthians this summer, and I'll be honest, by the way, I listened to your message and I was like, dang, he's such a good preacher.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: I actually felt a little bit more nervous after I listened to your message if I was gonna do okay today.
1:29
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so I want to just read one verse to start today out of 1 Corinthians, and it's gonna be the jumping point.
1:36
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna study an Old Testament story.
1:37
SPEAKER_02: This is gonna be the jumping point for us.
1:39
SPEAKER_02: 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
1:42
SPEAKER_02: Man, it's such an important verse, and uh it's the depths of why it matters who we're around.
1:47
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna read this verse, then I'll pray, and you'll be able to have a seat.
1:50
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says this, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 33.
1:54
SPEAKER_02: Don't be fooled by those who say such things, for bad company corrupts good character.
2:02
SPEAKER_02: God, I ask you today, in this house, in this room right now, would you speak?
2:08
SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit, I've notes, and you know that, but you know what every person standing here needs to hear today, so that we would not be the same when we walk out these doors in just a little bit.
2:19
SPEAKER_02: And so I pray by the power of your spirit and by the truth of your word, you would make us better.
2:26
SPEAKER_02: In Jesus' name.
2:27
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: You can have a seat.
2:35
SPEAKER_02: In Numbers chapter 13, we find this fascinating passage of scripture where God is sending out his people.
2:41
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna send out 12 spies, and he's like, I've got an incredible thing for you, I've got great land for you, I've got an incredible promise for your life.
2:48
SPEAKER_02: One of the things I love is when I feel like God has promised something good for my life, I get excited about it.
2:54
SPEAKER_02: In fact, the the thing I always tell my church and anybody I can be around, if God's got good, I want it.
2:59
SPEAKER_02: In fact, I think you're at church today because even if you're here for the first time, even if you're just checking this whole Jesus thing out, maybe you're like, there's a chance that God's got something good, and if he does have something good, I want it.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: Numbers chapter 13, we find in the Old Testament the moment God is promising his people they're gonna get to walk in to the most incredible land they've ever had.
3:21
SPEAKER_02: In fact, here's how it gets started.
3:22
SPEAKER_02: Numbers chapter 13 and verse 1, it says, The Lord now said to Moses, send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: Here's why this matters.
3:37
SPEAKER_02: He says, I am sending you to the land I'm giving you.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: Go check it out.
3:41
SPEAKER_02: It's not go see this land and see if you're gonna get it.
3:44
SPEAKER_02: It's not go see this land and see if maybe you do enough good things and I'll give it to you.
3:49
SPEAKER_02: God says, This is yours.
3:50
SPEAKER_02: It's like on Christmas morning.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: If you ever tell your kids, go downstairs and uh uh go downstairs and see the presents you're going to get.
3:58
SPEAKER_02: You can see them, they're going to be yours.
4:00
SPEAKER_02: You're not opening them yet, but you can see there's presence right there.
4:02
SPEAKER_02: That's what God is saying.
4:04
SPEAKER_02: Go into this land and see what I'm giving you.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: Here's what I have learned from studying Numbers chapter 13.
4:10
SPEAKER_02: I think it's true for Life Community Church, and it is this who you surround yourself with determines what you see.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: Who you surround yourself determines what you see when you go about your life.
4:21
SPEAKER_02: When you walk into an auditorium, when you go to work, when you go to school, what you see in your day-to-day life is a direct result of who you surround yourself with.
4:30
SPEAKER_02: Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, don't be misled.
4:32
SPEAKER_02: Bad character corrupts good morals.
4:34
SPEAKER_02: What is he saying?
4:34
SPEAKER_02: Whoever you're around is going to determine what you think about in life.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: Whoever you're around is going to determine, do you see a problem or do you see something good?
4:42
SPEAKER_02: Whoever you're around is going to determine could this actually work or is this not going to work?
4:47
SPEAKER_02: Because no two people see the exact same thing.
4:50
SPEAKER_02: If you're married, you know that's true.
4:54
SPEAKER_02: If you've got kids, you know that's true.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: That's why we have four gospel accounts in our Bibles, right?
4:59
SPEAKER_02: There's four gospel accounts, and what proves that they're true is they're not exactly the same.
5:06
SPEAKER_02: Because if they were exactly the same, we would be like, there's no way.
5:09
SPEAKER_02: There's no way they could be exactly the same because no two people see things exactly the same way.
5:13
SPEAKER_02: What we see is based on who we're around and who we have been around.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: So Numbers 13 says these 12 guys go out.
5:21
SPEAKER_02: Now, there's a blot a bunch of names in here, and so I'm not going to read them all because just for time's sake.
5:26
SPEAKER_02: But starting in verse 4, if you have your Bible, you can just glance at it real quick.
5:29
SPEAKER_02: It's not going to be in the screens.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: Uh but starting in verse 4, the the scripture goes through and tells us these 12 tribes, 12 tribes, which would have been like, think of 12 local cities.
5:40
SPEAKER_02: Let's modernize this as much as we can.
5:42
SPEAKER_02: They live in their own cities, their own towns.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: They're raising up people in numbers, okay?
5:46
SPEAKER_02: In the Old Testament.
5:47
SPEAKER_02: Thousands of years ago, they're they're being discipled, they're learning the things of God, they're deciding how good is God, they're learning about how to follow God, they're praying their prayers, they're following the law, they're going through their rule.
5:59
SPEAKER_02: Twelve different tribes, 12 different communities.
6:01
SPEAKER_02: I think about, okay, so so Columbia, Illinois is a community, right?
6:05
SPEAKER_02: Columbia, Illinois, this is a tribe.
6:06
SPEAKER_02: Columbia, Illinois, this is a place.
6:08
SPEAKER_02: And so Numbers 13 goes through, tells us all these things from the tribe of Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Manasseh, Dan, Asher, Naphtali, and Gad.
6:20
SPEAKER_02: Twelve tribes.
6:22
SPEAKER_02: They sinned.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: They go to this land.
6:25
SPEAKER_02: They go check it out, and here's what it says happened.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: A lot of scripture here we're going to read, and then we're going to learn what this tells us.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: After exploring the land for 40 days, the men returned to Moses.
6:34
SPEAKER_02: Verse 26.
6:35
SPEAKER_02: Aaron and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Peran.
6:39
SPEAKER_02: They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land.
6:44
SPEAKER_02: This was their report.
6:46
SPEAKER_02: We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country, a land flowing with milk and honey.
6:52
SPEAKER_02: Here's the kind of fruit it produces.
6:54
SPEAKER_02: But the people living there are powerful.
6:56
SPEAKER_02: Their towns are large and fortified.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak.
7:01
SPEAKER_02: The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, the Jebuzites, the Amorites live in the hill country.
7:05
SPEAKER_02: The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea along the Jordan Valley.
7:09
SPEAKER_02: But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses.
7:12
SPEAKER_02: Let's go at once and take the land, he said.
7:15
SPEAKER_02: We can certainly conquer it.
7:17
SPEAKER_02: But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: We can't go against them.
7:21
SPEAKER_02: They're stronger than we are.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites.
7:27
SPEAKER_02: The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there.
7:33
SPEAKER_02: All the people we saw were huge.
7:35
SPEAKER_02: We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak.
7:38
SPEAKER_02: Next to them we felt like grasshoppers.
7:41
SPEAKER_02: And that's what they thought too.
7:46
SPEAKER_02: A different passage, a different scripture in here tells us that the fruit they brought back was so big it had to be carried on a pole between two people.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: Grapes.
8:13
SPEAKER_02: Twelve people come back.
8:15
SPEAKER_02: But there's only two kinds of people.
8:19
SPEAKER_02: I think it's true, and I hope this doesn't offend anybody today.
8:23
SPEAKER_02: Great ministries here, though, at Life Community Church, to help you through a fence if you have some.
8:32
SPEAKER_02: There's only two kinds of people.
8:36
SPEAKER_02: There's people who see an obstacle, and there's people who see an opportunity.
8:41
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
8:43
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna look at it, we're gonna see an obstacle, or we're gonna see an opportunity.
8:48
SPEAKER_02: These people come back, and ten of them are like, man, all we saw were giants.
8:56
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
8:58
SPEAKER_02: I mean, they saw the goodness of God, they saw the promise of God, but they couldn't get over how are we actually going to get it?
9:06
SPEAKER_02: See, one of the things that can happen to us in American culture is we get confused sometimes on what's like Americanism and what's Christianity and how do all these things actually flow together.
9:15
SPEAKER_02: And we sometimes think if something's difficult, it must not be from God.
9:19
SPEAKER_02: But when you actually read the Bible, what we find out is the things that are from God often feel like an obstacle if you're not living by faith.
9:27
SPEAKER_02: The things that are from God actually cause you to need God so that he will prove he's the one that brings you into the good land that you didn't do it on your own.
9:36
SPEAKER_02: People wear out and get exhausted when we try to say, I did it myself, but you and I live in a world that we want to say we did it ourselves and God helped us.
9:43
SPEAKER_02: But the difference is we simply want to follow God and let him do the thing that only he can do.
9:48
SPEAKER_02: And so he goes, I'm giving you this land, it's going to be incredible.
9:55
SPEAKER_02: But ten people came back and they're like, Man, we can't do it.
9:58
SPEAKER_02: It's too hard.
10:01
SPEAKER_02: And here's the question for two years that I have kept asking about this passage, and it's why I wanted to preach this today here.
10:11
SPEAKER_02: What must the community have been like for the two who said we can take the land?
10:19
SPEAKER_02: What must the community of Caleb have been like who said, Let's go take it?
10:23
SPEAKER_02: Who cares that there's giants there?
10:25
SPEAKER_01: This is ours.
10:29
SPEAKER_02: That community you're raised in, that small group you're in, that team you serve on on Sundays, the people you pray with, the people you text, not that they were texting, maybe, I don't know.
10:44
SPEAKER_02: That community you're around, what are they like?
10:48
SPEAKER_02: Do the people I'm around make me have faith to take the hill?
10:52
SPEAKER_02: Do the people I'm around make me think that there is nothing impossible for God?
10:57
SPEAKER_02: Do the people I'm around make me think that just because it's difficult, God's with me and I can overcome it?
11:02
SPEAKER_02: Or do the people I'm around make me go, yeah, I mean nothing really usually seems to work out?
11:08
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, figures that would happen.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: Shouldn't be surprised.
11:13
SPEAKER_02: Oh, this always happens.
11:16
SPEAKER_02: And we don't even necessarily realize it, but we have found ourselves in a community at times, in a group of people, maybe that we're around, and we're like, am I actually being built the way that I'm supposed to be built?
11:29
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the the whole New Testament is filled with the fact that God is a good father who has good gifts for his sons and daughters.
11:37
SPEAKER_02: I refuse to ever explain that away just because in a moment I might not see something good.
11:41
SPEAKER_02: In a moment, if I don't see something good, it's because there's an obstacle in front of me that hasn't turned into the opportunity it's supposed to become.
11:50
SPEAKER_02: And so I keep going to this passage of scripture, and what I want to ask you today, Life Community Church, is when you think about what's in front of you, what do you see?
12:07
SPEAKER_02: What do you see?
12:08
SPEAKER_02: What do you see for your family?
12:10
SPEAKER_02: What do you see for your business?
12:14
SPEAKER_02: What do you see for life community church?
12:17
SPEAKER_02: Just talking about the campaign you all are in and what God's doing.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: And again, just thinking about this passage of scripture, and I'm like, oh my gosh, what the Lord has is so incredible.
12:28
SPEAKER_02: Literally, let's go up the hill and see it.
12:33
SPEAKER_02: It's not gonna be easy.
12:35
SPEAKER_02: If it was easy, it wouldn't be from God.
12:39
SPEAKER_02: But what do you see?
12:42
SPEAKER_02: What do you see?
12:44
SPEAKER_02: You know what you focus on in life?
12:47
SPEAKER_02: It becomes the framework by which you interpret your entire life.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: You ever been around somebody, they're just negative about everything?
12:57
SPEAKER_02: If you're sitting next to that person, you know, a slight elbow, but not a hard one.
13:08
SPEAKER_02: It's the framework you see everything.
13:10
SPEAKER_02: Even right now, you'll be like, man, this pastor is just not as good as Pastor Jamie.
13:14
SPEAKER_02: There's probably not anything I can get out of this.
13:17
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Pastor Jamie's not preaching today.
13:19
SPEAKER_02: This is gonna be terrible.
13:21
SPEAKER_02: It's the framework you see.
13:22
SPEAKER_02: God might have a word for you that could change.
13:25
SPEAKER_02: There could be a million-dollar idea the Holy Spirit was putting in you today, but if you had a negative framework right now, you won't even hear it.
13:36
SPEAKER_02: Ten of them.
13:37
SPEAKER_02: Man, they were giants.
13:38
SPEAKER_02: And then this is what they said.
13:41
SPEAKER_02: They we were like grasshoppers.
13:44
SPEAKER_02: And that's what they thought of us too.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: That's what they how many of you think you know what people think about you?
13:52
SPEAKER_02: Can I just see your hand?
13:53
SPEAKER_02: Just can I be on why you y'all not the 830s, not the honest service.
13:57
SPEAKER_02: I can see that right now.
13:59
SPEAKER_02: I got one person over here that's honest.
14:01
SPEAKER_02: There we go.
14:02
SPEAKER_02: Come on, I got a few of us.
14:03
SPEAKER_02: This is, you know, I'm like, I like feedback a little bit, so sometimes when I raise my hand, I'm like, do you understand?
14:07
SPEAKER_02: Like our like we're like, as a preacher, especially, I can tell what I have decently bad ADHD, just so that we're all clear.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, uh, if I can just keep on track, I'm winning in any message.
14:21
SPEAKER_02: That's how I know it was a great message.
14:23
SPEAKER_02: If I can just stay slightly on track from where I'm going.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: But I can be preaching a message, and I'm looking at somebody and I'm like, they totally want to kill me right now.
14:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm just there, just like, you know what I'm saying?
14:33
SPEAKER_02: Like that?
14:33
SPEAKER_02: And then afterwards, that person comes up to me in the lobby.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: Man, Pastor, great message.
14:38
SPEAKER_02: The Lord was speaking to me through you the whole time.
14:40
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, really?
14:41
SPEAKER_02: Because I thought you were gonna jump me in the lobby as soon as that was over, and I was trying to get ready.
14:50
SPEAKER_02: We just think we know.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you only said that because this is what you really think about me.
15:02
SPEAKER_02: The problem was not the giants, the problem was that they thought they were grasshoppers.
15:12
SPEAKER_02: This was the people of God.
15:15
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, no, we're just I did research on grasshoppers, by the way.
15:20
SPEAKER_02: Do you know how gross they are?
15:22
SPEAKER_02: They like throw up all the time.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: That's not scriptural.
15:26
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's not Bible.
15:28
SPEAKER_02: I think it's true, but you never know.
15:32
SPEAKER_02: The problem is that fear is so contagious.
15:43
SPEAKER_02: And those ten, they just saw the giants and they spread that report.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
15:48
SPEAKER_02: Everybody grabbed it.
15:50
SPEAKER_02: How are we gonna raise that much money?
15:53
SPEAKER_02: How is this really gonna work?
15:55
SPEAKER_02: How's this really gonna happen?
15:56
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, I don't know if it's gonna work.
15:58
SPEAKER_02: But you know what's just as contagious as fear?
16:02
SPEAKER_02: Faith.
16:05
SPEAKER_02: Faith is just as contagious, and you feel so much better when it's faith.
16:14
SPEAKER_02: You feel so much better when you're like, no, I believe God would actually do this.
16:20
SPEAKER_02: Faith remembers promises even when there's pressure.
16:26
SPEAKER_02: One of the things about following Jesus is that pressure is sometimes a privilege.
16:34
SPEAKER_02: Because pressure is what happens when you're walking in the direction of God.
16:38
SPEAKER_02: Pressure is what happens when the enemy is attacking you, and he's not more powerful than you in any single moment of your life.
16:44
SPEAKER_02: Just to remind us of some things, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of you as a believer in Jesus.
16:52
SPEAKER_02: So anytime I feel pressure, I know that pressure from the enemy is not greater than God within me.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: The beauty of the Holy Spirit, by the way, in us is we are never alone.
17:01
SPEAKER_02: It's never just me, it's always we.
17:03
SPEAKER_02: You are never by yourself.
17:04
SPEAKER_02: You've never, if you're a Christian, you have never fought a battle alone.
17:09
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit's walking with you.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: And so we get into this place where we're like, no, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I know he's with me, and I'm gonna make sure I'm around a community of people that is gonna spur me on and build me up into this place.
17:22
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna be around people who celebrate me.
17:26
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna be around people when I walk in the room, they're glad to see me.
17:31
SPEAKER_02: Nobody likes, oh, you're here?
17:36
SPEAKER_02: That's one of the things I had to teach my kids when they were little, you know.
17:39
SPEAKER_02: Somebody'd be over at the house and they would go, Oh, why are you here?
17:43
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, that's not the best greeting, you know, that you it's a genuine curiosity.
17:48
SPEAKER_02: Like, I didn't know they were gonna be here, why are you here?
17:51
SPEAKER_02: But you're like, that's let's don't greet with that.
17:53
SPEAKER_02: We instead go, hey, nice to see you.
17:55
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
17:56
SPEAKER_02: Same thing, but I want to be around people that are excited to see me.
18:01
SPEAKER_02: When I had dinner with with Jamie last night, I'm like, I I feel like he's glad to see me.
18:06
SPEAKER_02: You know, he said, Hey, I'm glad you're in town this week.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, that's good.
18:10
SPEAKER_02: I feel I feel excited.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: I want to be around people who think they're are you around people who are excited to see you?
18:16
SPEAKER_02: Do you make people feel like you're excited to see them?
18:21
SPEAKER_02: Do you celebrate the goodness that is happening?
18:23
SPEAKER_02: I'm so convinced, even just thinking about the last 15 years about what God is doing here, so convinced that it is going to explode, not in the sense of just life community church, but what God is doing in you, because this is a tribe like the two.
18:40
SPEAKER_02: This is a community like the two to be around people who would see not the giants, who would see not that we're grasshoppers, but would instead see the grapes.
18:52
SPEAKER_02: I'm now through the introduction to my message, so I can give you the title.
19:01
SPEAKER_02: There's giants in the land, but God's got grapes.
19:05
SPEAKER_02: There are giants in the land, but God's got grapes.
19:10
SPEAKER_02: There are obstacles, but God's got good.
19:13
SPEAKER_02: There are gonna be darts that get thrown at us, but God's got the shield.
19:19
SPEAKER_02: There are gonna be moments when we don't see how it's gonna go, but God's got the answer.
19:26
SPEAKER_02: Do we see the good, or do we focus on what's not there?
19:35
SPEAKER_02: In Numbers chapter 14, as this story continues, it says two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua, son of Nun and Caleb, son of Jupinah, tore their clothing.
19:48
SPEAKER_02: They said to all the people of Israel, the land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land.
19:54
SPEAKER_02: And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us.
20:00
SPEAKER_02: It is a land, it is a rich land flowing with milk and honey.
20:05
SPEAKER_02: Do not rebel against the Lord, and don't be afraid of the people of the land.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: They are only helpless pray to us.
20:13
SPEAKER_02: They have no protection, but the Lord is with us.
20:16
SPEAKER_02: Don't be afraid of them.
20:17
SPEAKER_02: Don't you want that kind of faith?
20:21
SPEAKER_02: They're just helpless pray to us.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: You know what else I think about when I read this passage, by the way?
20:27
SPEAKER_02: It's a land flowing with milk and honey.
20:29
SPEAKER_02: I bet they drank a lot of coffee.
20:32
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if that's how you read the Bible, but sometimes I'm like, I bet milk and honey is so popular in coffee.
20:37
SPEAKER_02: Maybe not.
20:41
SPEAKER_02: Let's go get it.
20:42
SPEAKER_02: Come on, have faith.
20:44
SPEAKER_02: Let's go take the land, have faith.
20:47
SPEAKER_02: And I love to preach on faith.
20:49
SPEAKER_02: You guys did a series on faith.
20:51
SPEAKER_02: Let's go take the land, let's be like they were in Numbers chapter 13.
20:54
SPEAKER_02: But here is what has happened in my life before, and maybe it's happened in your life.
20:57
SPEAKER_02: Some days I'm like, I just don't feel it.
21:05
SPEAKER_02: That's great, Pastor.
21:07
SPEAKER_02: Let's go have faith and take the land.
21:11
SPEAKER_02: But sometimes I don't.
21:13
SPEAKER_02: No if I even want to.
21:15
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever had this experience where you get up in the morning and this is what it looks like?
21:24
SPEAKER_02: You're just laying in bed.
21:27
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, I don't want to get up.
21:33
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to go to work.
21:36
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to go make coffee.
21:39
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to go make lunch for the kids.
21:44
SPEAKER_02: You ever not been out of bed yet?
21:45
SPEAKER_02: And you're dreaming about getting back in bed later that night?
21:53
SPEAKER_02: Like, go, let's go take, let's go take the land, let's go have faith.
21:58
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, That's great, but sometimes I'm just I don't even know how to get through the day.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't even know what am I actually gonna do.
22:15
SPEAKER_01: How is this gonna work?
22:19
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says something in Matthew chapter six.
22:24
SPEAKER_02: It's always just a test to see if I can get up and down on the stage.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says something in Matthew chapter six that has just personally impacted my life so much on this topic.
22:43
SPEAKER_02: Sorry, Luke chapter six.
22:44
SPEAKER_02: I apologize.
22:45
SPEAKER_02: He says, this is why I tell you, verse 25, in Luke chapter 6, not to worry about everyday life.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: Whether you have enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear, isn't life more than food and your body more than clothing?
23:00
SPEAKER_02: Look at the birds.
23:02
SPEAKER_02: They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them.
23:07
SPEAKER_02: Aren't you more valuable to him than they are?
23:11
SPEAKER_02: Can all your worries at a single moment do your life?
23:19
SPEAKER_02: There are seasons where you don't have the faith of Caleb at all.
23:26
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus knows this.
23:30
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus does not say, try harder to have the faith of Caleb.
23:35
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, look somewhere else.
23:40
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, look outside of yourself.
23:45
SPEAKER_02: He gives us the most theologically rich, deep, you have to go to seminary to understand statement.
23:53
SPEAKER_02: Look at the birds.
24:01
SPEAKER_02: Well, but how are we going to make it?
24:03
SPEAKER_02: Look at the birds.
24:07
SPEAKER_02: Which always reminds me, by the way, when my daughter was like four years old, and I remember we were at the park and she was having a conversation, we were having a conversation, and it felt like one of those, you know, especially when your kids are young and you have some of those first like conversations with them.
24:20
SPEAKER_02: You're like, this is so cool.
24:21
SPEAKER_02: They're like little mini adults, and and we're having this conversation.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: And she's like, Look, Daddy, a bird.
24:28
SPEAKER_02: That's really what we're called to do.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: Look at the birds.
24:34
SPEAKER_02: Behind my desk, I've got this little metal bird that I bought at TJ Maxx on a date night.
24:41
SPEAKER_02: It's incredible date night.
24:49
SPEAKER_02: I can't remember where we had dinner, probably Chipotle.
24:51
SPEAKER_02: It's awesome.
24:54
SPEAKER_02: And I have this metal bird there to remind me that you can have an incredible time.
25:06
SPEAKER_02: Anytime.
25:07
SPEAKER_02: If your focus is in the right place.
25:11
SPEAKER_02: Look at the birds.
25:14
SPEAKER_02: We live in the most selfie focused generation in history.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: And it's it's difficult for me, maybe, maybe the same for you, it's difficult for you to get my eyes off myself.
25:36
SPEAKER_02: Because I'll even pray, God help me.
25:38
SPEAKER_02: I want to see what you have for me.
25:39
SPEAKER_02: I want to take, like, I want this to go better.
25:41
SPEAKER_02: I want my marriage to be better.
25:42
SPEAKER_02: I want to be better with my kids.
25:43
SPEAKER_02: I want to be better with my work.
25:44
SPEAKER_02: I want to make more money.
25:46
SPEAKER_02: I want all the stuff that we would go into.
25:48
SPEAKER_02: Now this is what we want.
25:49
SPEAKER_02: And all of it is us looking at ourselves.
25:52
SPEAKER_02: And we're so trained to look at ourselves.
25:55
SPEAKER_02: Not in a bad way.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: By the way, I'm speaking to Christians going, you're like, no, I want to do what God wants me to do with my life.
26:00
SPEAKER_02: Am I doing a good job?
26:02
SPEAKER_02: We're so trained to focus on ourselves.
26:08
SPEAKER_02: But with Luke chapter 6, when he uses that word look at the birds, it is not the word glance.
26:16
SPEAKER_02: It is the same word that would mean to look intently at, to focus on so clearly you could see all of the details.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: Because when you are focused on that, you can't be focused on yourself.
26:33
SPEAKER_02: When you are focused on that, you can't be focused on the obstacle that's in front of you.
26:40
SPEAKER_02: Jesus doesn't say, look at your bank account to see that I'm good.
26:48
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't say, look at your marriage to show that I've got you.
26:54
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't say, look in your closet.
26:55
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't say, look at your wardrobe.
26:56
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't say look at your job or your house or your friends.
27:00
SPEAKER_02: He says, look at the birds.
27:06
SPEAKER_02: It's very important.
27:08
SPEAKER_02: Very, very important.
27:10
SPEAKER_02: Because if your circumstance becomes the measure of God's goodness, your faith will rise and fall every week.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: If whether or not God is good is based on the circumstance I'm having this week, it might be a Caleb week.
27:29
SPEAKER_02: But you know what?
27:30
SPEAKER_02: You're going to have a bad week, potentially.
27:32
SPEAKER_02: For sure, a bad afternoon.
27:34
SPEAKER_02: Not this afternoon.
27:35
SPEAKER_02: This afternoon, gonna be incredible.
27:37
SPEAKER_02: But maybe one day.
27:41
SPEAKER_02: That's not the measure of is God good.
27:44
SPEAKER_02: The measure of is God good is look at the birds.
27:49
SPEAKER_02: Y'all might become birders.
27:51
SPEAKER_02: Who knows?
27:51
SPEAKER_02: I think that's what you call the people who look at birds.
27:54
SPEAKER_02: You might not know this, Jimmy.
27:55
SPEAKER_02: I lived after COVID, I lived for about 18 months at a house out in the country in Smithfield, Virginia.
28:01
SPEAKER_02: And uh it was incredible on a river, bought like 15 acres, and then realized I can't take care of land, so we didn't stay there very long.
28:06
SPEAKER_02: Uh but but I had my office, and you could see out my office, it was on the river, and and there was a bird that would come sit out there, and I felt like me and that bird developed a relationship.
28:17
SPEAKER_02: It was incredible just to look at the birds in that way.
28:20
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry, I'm not that weird, I'll just be honest.
28:22
SPEAKER_02: But I felt like it was a whole moment in my life where I was like, why are you worried?
28:28
SPEAKER_02: Look at the birds, because if I can get to that, then I can get to Caleb.
28:37
SPEAKER_02: If I can get to, I'm not gonna worry about this situation, and I can see God's goodness, I can see his faithfulness, I can see the reality that he created these things, I can see the reality that he takes care of things, that he is the one that ultimately makes the earth sustain as it sustains.
28:53
SPEAKER_02: When I can get my eyes there, I can redo my faith to remember God said he's for me, not against me, so therefore I don't have to fall back in fear.
29:01
SPEAKER_02: I can actually go forward into what he has.
29:04
SPEAKER_02: The spirit of Caleb.
29:07
SPEAKER_02: The spirit that says there is no such thing as a giant that can take me out.
29:14
SPEAKER_02: Caleb got his eyes off of himself.
29:19
SPEAKER_02: Caleb saw the goodness of God.
29:24
SPEAKER_02: Maybe a practical thing you could take away today.
29:27
SPEAKER_02: Flip the lens of your life.
29:30
SPEAKER_02: Just flip the lens.
29:33
SPEAKER_02: Get it off selfie mode.
29:36
SPEAKER_02: Get it on the beauty of God.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: My wife Megan, she uh she loves sunrises and sunsets.
29:46
SPEAKER_02: I mean, just incredible.
29:48
SPEAKER_02: And for a lot of years, I would be like, why?
29:52
SPEAKER_02: This is ridiculous.
29:54
SPEAKER_02: Just being very real with y'all.
29:55
SPEAKER_02: Hope it's okay.
29:56
SPEAKER_02: I'm just like, who cares?
29:59
SPEAKER_02: It happens every day.
30:00
SPEAKER_02: It's up, it's down.
30:02
SPEAKER_02: Like, let's go do something fun.
30:09
SPEAKER_02: And what I've recognized in my life as I've gotten older is my life, God's blessing is very much on my life.
30:19
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but it's a lot.
30:22
SPEAKER_02: I would I would say some sometimes I'm like, well, I got, I mean, five kids, and the Lord allows me to pastor, and and a variety of things God's doing.
30:31
SPEAKER_02: My life just feels like a lot.
30:32
SPEAKER_02: And what I found out was, wow, when you just actually focus on the creation of God, that's when the peace of God that passes understanding comes into your life.
30:43
SPEAKER_02: When I get off of what is man-made, self-made, and get on to what is only God-made, that's when I get that peace.
30:57
SPEAKER_02: I think that's what Caleb had.
30:58
SPEAKER_02: Here's what it says about him in verse 24.
31:03
SPEAKER_02: The Lord says this, but because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him in to the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.
31:17
SPEAKER_02: Because Caleb has a different spirit.
31:19
SPEAKER_02: What does that mean?
31:20
SPEAKER_02: That means a different spirit sees different, a different spirit has a different perspective, it has a different focus, a different spirit has a different voice, a different spirit has a different future.
31:33
SPEAKER_02: You know why this matters so much?
31:36
SPEAKER_02: It's not just a story about 12 people.
31:41
SPEAKER_02: Numbers 13 is not a story about 12 people.
31:45
SPEAKER_02: Numbers 13 is a story about generations, about generations of people who did not walk into what God had for them.
31:56
SPEAKER_02: But the one with the different spirit did.
32:00
SPEAKER_02: Part of what we have to recognize in our life is that it's it's never just about us.
32:04
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't ever just about Caleb.
32:06
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't ever just about the other spice, it was about the bigness of God and what he had.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: Caleb would walk into that land.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: Caleb would walk into the promise.
32:18
SPEAKER_02: When he's an old man, later in scripture, Caleb says, I'm just as strong now as I was back then.
32:26
SPEAKER_02: Now come on, give me my mountain.
32:31
SPEAKER_02: And you know that's legit.
32:33
SPEAKER_02: Because those of us in the room that are over 40, we know it's 100% true.
32:37
SPEAKER_02: Our body hurts way more than it did 20 years ago.
32:42
SPEAKER_02: I didn't think it was gonna be real.
32:44
SPEAKER_02: I was like, yeah, that's all those other people.
32:46
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna take care of myself, I'm gonna make sure that's not true of me.
32:49
SPEAKER_02: And then I'm like, dang, it just happens.
32:50
SPEAKER_02: I guess it doesn't really matter.
32:52
SPEAKER_02: Like, this must just be how it goes.
32:54
SPEAKER_02: Which means I'm pretty convinced Caleb may have had some aches and pains.
33:00
SPEAKER_02: And yet he's like, give me my mountain.
33:03
SPEAKER_02: No, no, I I see the fruit, I see the grapes, I see the goodness of God.
33:09
SPEAKER_02: I don't care that there's giants there, God's got grapes.
33:11
SPEAKER_02: I don't care that there's obstacles there, God's got grapes.
33:14
SPEAKER_02: I don't care.
33:15
SPEAKER_02: They're not bigger than God.
33:18
SPEAKER_02: That obstacle right now, some of you you might have a child that's not following Jesus.
33:23
SPEAKER_02: Listen to me.
33:23
SPEAKER_02: That's not an obstacle bigger than God.
33:27
SPEAKER_02: Some of you might have a business right now, you thought it'd be taken off right and it hasn't.
33:31
SPEAKER_02: That's not an obstacle bigger than God.
33:35
SPEAKER_02: Some of you you might be going, you know, I just feel like I need to stop coasting, but I I can't seem to stop coasting.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: Hey, that's not an obstacle bigger than God.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: You can stop, He'll work in you.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: There's giants in the land.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: But God's got grapes.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that?
33:55
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe there's giants in the land?
33:57
SPEAKER_02: But God's got grapes?
34:00
SPEAKER_02: Huh?
34:00
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
34:01
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe it?
34:02
SPEAKER_02: Hey, these are clean.
34:03
SPEAKER_02: They were backstage.
34:04
SPEAKER_02: There's giants in the land.
34:06
SPEAKER_02: But God's got grapes.
34:08
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
34:09
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe that?
34:10
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe that God's got grapes?
34:13
SPEAKER_02: See, some of you are like, I can't even catch.
34:15
SPEAKER_02: This is you overcoming a fear right now.
34:17
SPEAKER_02: Clean grapes.
34:18
SPEAKER_02: Clean grapes at Life Community Church.
34:21
SPEAKER_02: It's our promise.
34:22
SPEAKER_02: Washed and ready for you.
34:23
SPEAKER_02: There's giants in the land.
34:26
SPEAKER_02: But God's got grapes.
34:33
SPEAKER_02: By the way, I have frozen shoulder.
34:37
SPEAKER_02: It's like a 12 to 18 month recovery.
34:39
SPEAKER_02: So I can't throw overhanded very good.
34:41
SPEAKER_02: So that's why I was underhanding the grapes.
34:43
SPEAKER_02: So just for your safety, just want you to know.
34:47
SPEAKER_02: Give me my mountain.
34:56
SPEAKER_02: Do you see an obstacle or an opportunity?
35:03
SPEAKER_02: Last night I was talking to my wife about you.
35:10
SPEAKER_02: About 15 years of what God's done.
35:18
SPEAKER_02: About a people who.
35:20
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I'll just offer this.
35:22
SPEAKER_02: What I feel.
35:24
SPEAKER_02: I don't ever try to be, I'm not the kind of person who would say the Lord told me, so that's not, the Lord didn't give me an audible voice.
35:31
SPEAKER_02: I just would say it's the best I can prophetically.
35:34
SPEAKER_02: I believe that over the last 15 years you have and you are a community like the one Caleb came from.
35:45
SPEAKER_02: But I believe I don't believe you've walked onto that mountain yet.
35:53
SPEAKER_02: I don't believe that's I'm not talking just as life community church.
35:57
SPEAKER_02: I'm talking about what it means in your family, I'm talking about what it means in Colombia and beyond.
36:04
SPEAKER_02: And there are giants in the land.
36:10
SPEAKER_02: But God's got better.
36:13
SPEAKER_02: God's got a fruit through his faithfulness that is greater than anything else you could ever have.
36:22
SPEAKER_02: And my hope, what we're gonna pray right now, is that you would walk into that faithfulness.
36:27
SPEAKER_02: That you would walk into that fruit.
36:30
SPEAKER_02: That that giant would lose its power over your life.
36:33
SPEAKER_02: Would you close your eyes on me around the room?
36:36
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I pray right now.
36:42
SPEAKER_02: Anybody in the room, any of us in the room, Lord, the giants just seem so big.
36:47
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we haven't been able to see anything else.
36:50
SPEAKER_02: I ask you right now in Jesus' name, God, give us eyes to see the grapes.
36:54
SPEAKER_02: Give us eyes to see the good.
36:57
SPEAKER_02: Lord, for those, some people in the room so anxious, so overwhelmed, Lord, because it just seems like we keep going around the same problem and it's not getting better.
37:05
SPEAKER_02: Would you give them eyes right now by the power of the Spirit to see the faithfulness and the goodness of God?
37:13
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I thank you for every individual, for every family that's represented in this room right now, that there is not a single giant more powerful.
37:23
SPEAKER_02: And that that would be known.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, I pray by faith.