Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Make God The Subject Of Your Thoughts- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 1:15Speaker 1: Well. God is the god of fresh starts and new
- 1:18Speaker 1: beginnings and second chances. And if you're in need of
- 1:22Speaker 1: a fresh start or a new beginning, then you're in
- 1:24Speaker 1: the right place. As we look at Glory Days, a
- 1:27Speaker 1: series of messages based on the book and the life
- 1:32Speaker 1: of Joshua, God gave both Joshua and the children of
- 1:35Speaker 1: Israel a second shot at the promised land. All of
- 1:39Speaker 1: us need a second shot every now and then, and
- 1:42Speaker 1: if you're in need of one, then the story of
- 1:44Speaker 1: Joshua is for you. Before we begin, we're going to
- 1:47Speaker 1: make our Glory Days declaration, like we do every time
- 1:51Speaker 1: we open the Bible to the Book of Joshua. So
- 1:55Speaker 1: please sit up straight, fill your lungs with ther, put
- 1:58Speaker 1: your head back, fill your heart with hope, and say
- 2:03Speaker 1: the words like you mean them.
- 2:04Speaker 2: You're ready.
- 2:05Speaker 1: These days are glory days. My past is pasted, my
- 2:10Speaker 1: future is right. God's promises are true, and his word
- 2:15Speaker 1: is sure. With God as my helper, I will be
- 2:19Speaker 1: all he wants me to be, do all he wants
- 2:23Speaker 1: me to do, and receive all he wants me to receive.
- 2:28Speaker 1: These days are glory days. May they be so, Lord,
- 2:33Speaker 1: May we be aware of the long list of blessings.
- 2:38Speaker 1: Grant that we would lift our eyes away from the
- 2:41Speaker 1: problems and concerns of life and set them more on You,
- 2:46Speaker 1: the source of life. Please forgive the sins of our speaker,
- 2:52Speaker 1: you know how many they are, and grant that we
- 2:55Speaker 1: can just see Christ through Christ. We pray to all
- 3:01Speaker 1: God's people said, you'll never have a problem free life. Ever,
- 3:12Speaker 1: You'll never drift off to sleep on the wings of
- 3:14Speaker 1: a thought that says, my today came and went and
- 3:19Speaker 1: there was no problem anywhere in the world. The headline
- 3:24Speaker 1: will never appear on the front of a newspaper that
- 3:28Speaker 1: says we have only good news to report. You might
- 3:33Speaker 1: be elected President of Russia. You might discover the way
- 3:37Speaker 1: to email pizza and become a billionaire. You might be
- 3:41Speaker 1: called out of the stands to pinch hit the final
- 3:44Speaker 1: out of the World Series, hit a home run, and
- 3:46Speaker 1: have your face appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
- 3:50Speaker 2: All of that might happen.
- 3:52Speaker 1: Pigs might fly, a kangaroo might swim. Men might surrender
- 3:58Speaker 1: the remote control, women might quit buying purses. It's not likely,
- 4:06Speaker 1: it is possible, but a problem free, no hassle, blue skide,
- 4:12Speaker 1: existence of smooth sailing, don't hold your breath. Problems happen.
- 4:22Speaker 1: They happen to rich people, to sexy people, educated people,
- 4:25Speaker 1: sophisticated people. They happen to retired people, to single people,
- 4:29Speaker 1: to spiritual people, to secular people.
- 4:32Speaker 2: All people have problems, but.
- 4:36Speaker 1: Not all people see their problems in the same way.
- 4:41Speaker 1: Some people are overcome by problems, others overcome them. Some
- 4:45Speaker 1: people are left bitter, some people are left better. Some
- 4:49Speaker 1: people face their challenges with fear, others face their challenges
- 4:54Speaker 1: with faith.
- 4:56Speaker 2: Caleb did this.
- 5:00Speaker 1: Caleb his story stands out because his faith did. And
- 5:08Speaker 1: you find the story of Caleb.
- 5:10Speaker 2: In the Book of Joshua.
- 5:12Speaker 1: And we're looking at the Book of Joshua because the
- 5:16Speaker 1: Book of Joshua documents seven of the most successful years
- 5:20Speaker 1: in the history of ancient Israel. And you can't even
- 5:25Speaker 1: think or say the name Joshua without thinking or saying
- 5:30Speaker 1: the name of his sidekick, Caleb. And his story appears
- 5:37Speaker 1: in the Book of Joshua. But his story only makes
- 5:40Speaker 1: sense when you remember what happened before the children of
- 5:44Speaker 1: Israel came into the Promised Land, when they were still
- 5:48Speaker 1: in the wilderness forty years earlier, when Moses sent twelve
- 5:54Speaker 1: spies into Canaan. Caleb was one of them. He and
- 6:02Speaker 1: Joshua believed way back then that the land could be taken.
- 6:07Speaker 1: But since the other ten spies disagreed, the children of Israel,
- 6:13Speaker 1: all two million of them, ended.
- 6:17Speaker 2: Up in the wilderness.
- 6:19Speaker 1: God, however, took note of Caleb's courage. The man's convictions
- 6:27Speaker 1: were so striking that God paid Caleb a compliment that
- 6:32Speaker 1: would make a saint blush. Here's what God said about Caleb,
- 6:38Speaker 1: my servant, Caleb has a different spirit, and he follows
- 6:46Speaker 1: me wholeheartedly. How'd you like to have those words on
- 6:53Speaker 1: your resume? God said, I have a different spirit. What
- 7:01Speaker 1: type of spirit catches the.
- 7:03Speaker 2: Eye of God?
- 7:07Speaker 1: What qualifies as a different spirit? Well, the answers begin
- 7:13Speaker 1: to emerge in the Distribution of the Lands Joshua, Chapter
- 7:18Speaker 1: fourteen and verse six. Then the children of Judah came
- 7:23Speaker 1: to Joshua in Gilgal. The enemy has been neutralized. The
- 7:29Speaker 1: time has come to distribute the land among the twelve tribes.
- 7:34Speaker 1: Every Hebrew tribe was represented. All the priests, the soldiers,
- 7:40Speaker 1: and people gathered near the tabernacle Eliezar. The priests had
- 7:45Speaker 1: twelve urns, each one containing the name of a specific
- 7:51Speaker 1: parcel and or responsibility for each of the twelve tribes. Yet,
- 7:57Speaker 1: before the people could receive their inheritance, a particular promise.
- 8:04Speaker 2: Needed to be fulfilled.
- 8:06Speaker 1: And Caleb, the son of Jeffunah, the Kennezite, said to him,
- 8:13Speaker 1: speaking to Joshua, you know the word which the Lord
- 8:18Speaker 1: spoke to Moses, the man of God, concerning you and
- 8:23Speaker 1: me in Kadish Barnea.
- 8:29Speaker 2: I'm seeing a sturdy man of sinewy muscle.
- 8:32Speaker 1: Caleb, gray headed and great hearted, stepped forward. He has
- 8:37Speaker 1: a spring in his step, he has a sparkle in
- 8:39Speaker 1: his eye, and he has a promise.
- 8:41Speaker 2: To collect Joshua.
- 8:43Speaker 1: He says, remember what Moses told you and me at
- 8:48Speaker 1: katish Barnea.
- 8:50Speaker 2: Katish Barnea, that's nearly a fifty year old memory for Joshua.
- 8:59Speaker 1: That was the name of the first encampment after the
- 9:02Speaker 1: Egyptian liberation. It was from kate ash Barnea, from that
- 9:07Speaker 1: encampment that Moses sent out the twelve spies, And it
- 9:12Speaker 1: was in this camp that Moses received two distinctly different reports.
- 9:19Speaker 1: All twelve men agreed on the value of the land,
- 9:23Speaker 1: the land of Canaan. It did flow with milk and honey.
- 9:26Speaker 1: All twelve agreed on the description of the people and
- 9:31Speaker 1: the difficulty of the challenge. The cities were large and fortified,
- 9:37Speaker 1: but only Joshua and Caleb believed that the land could
- 9:43Speaker 1: be taken. I want you to read carefully what Caleb
- 9:50Speaker 1: said to Joshua that day at Gilgal, and see if
- 9:55Speaker 1: you can determine what was different, why he had a
- 10:00Speaker 1: different spirit. I'm going to give you a hint. When
- 10:04Speaker 1: you see the words, take note of the capital letters.
- 10:10Speaker 1: You ready, Joshua said. Caleb said to Joshua, you know
- 10:15Speaker 1: the word which the Lord said to Moses, the man
- 10:19Speaker 1: of God, concerning you and me in katish Barnea. I
- 10:23Speaker 1: was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord,
- 10:26Speaker 1: sent me from katish Barnea to spy out the land,
- 10:30Speaker 1: and I brought back word to him as it was
- 10:33Speaker 1: in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me,
- 10:38Speaker 1: made the heart of the people melt.
- 10:40Speaker 2: But I wholly followed the Lord my God.
- 10:44Speaker 1: So Moses swore on that day, saying, surely the land
- 10:48Speaker 1: where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and
- 10:53Speaker 1: your children's forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord
- 10:56Speaker 1: my God. And now behold, the Lord has kept me
- 10:59Speaker 1: all as he said, these forty five years, ever since
- 11:03Speaker 1: the Lord spoke his word to Moses, while Israel wandered
- 11:07Speaker 1: in the wilderness. And now here I am this day,
- 11:10Speaker 1: eighty five years old.
- 11:13Speaker 2: As yet I am strong.
- 11:15Speaker 1: This day is on that day then Moses sent me,
- 11:18Speaker 1: just as my strength was then. So now my strength
- 11:21Speaker 1: is for war, both for going out and coming in. Now,
- 11:25Speaker 1: therefore give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke
- 11:30Speaker 1: in that day. For you heard in that day how
- 11:32Speaker 1: the Anakum were there, and that the cities were great
- 11:36Speaker 1: and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be
- 11:39Speaker 1: with me, and I shall be able to drive them out,
- 11:43Speaker 1: as the Lord said. Question, what name appears and reappears
- 11:52Speaker 1: in Caleb's words?
- 11:55Speaker 3: The Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord,
- 11:59Speaker 3: the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the.
- 12:01Speaker 2: Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord.
- 12:03Speaker 1: Nine references to the Lord. So who is on Caleb's mind,
- 12:10Speaker 1: the Lord? Who is in Caleb's heart the Lord? What
- 12:18Speaker 1: caused him to have a different spirit? He centered his
- 12:21Speaker 1: mind on the Lord?
- 12:23Speaker 2: What about you? What emphasis? Right now?
- 12:33Speaker 1: What a transcript of your thoughts? What emphasis would a
- 12:39Speaker 1: transcript of your thoughts?
- 12:43Speaker 3: Reveal the Lord or the problem, the problem, the problem,
- 12:50Speaker 3: the problem, the problem, the problem, the problem.
- 12:54Speaker 1: What's at the center of your mind, what's at the
- 12:57Speaker 1: center of your heart?
- 13:00Speaker 2: Promised Land. People do not deny.
- 13:04Speaker 1: The presence of the problem. Caleb didn't, Joshua didn't. They
- 13:10Speaker 1: acknowledge that Canaan is fraught with giants in Jerichos. It
- 13:14Speaker 1: does no good to pretend it is not. Promise Land.
- 13:21Speaker 1: People are not naive. They simply immerse their mind in
- 13:27Speaker 1: thoughts of God. They drench their mind in God. Think
- 13:36Speaker 1: of it this way. Imagine two bowls of water. Oh
- 13:46Speaker 1: two bowls. One of them has water, the other has
- 13:48Speaker 1: battery acid in it. Imagine an apple cut in half.
- 13:58Speaker 1: Take one half of the apple and put it in
- 14:02Speaker 1: the water and leave it for five minutes. Take the
- 14:07Speaker 1: other half of the apple and put it in battery
- 14:13Speaker 1: acid and leave it for five minutes. Which one after
- 14:23Speaker 1: a few minutes are you going to want to eat?
- 14:32Speaker 2: Your mind is the apple. The basin.
- 14:41Speaker 1: Is the thought that you're giving to your life. Problems
- 14:49Speaker 1: are battery acid to your mind. They will corrupt your mind,
- 14:56Speaker 1: They will corrode your mind, They will destroy your mind.
- 15:03Speaker 1: God will preserve your mind. Refresh it, protect it, and
- 15:14Speaker 1: nourish it. So where are your thoughts? Caleb stood out
- 15:21Speaker 1: because he placed his thoughts.
- 15:26Speaker 2: In his mind all around God.
- 15:32Speaker 1: And he had a different spirit because of that. The
- 15:37Speaker 1: Psalmist shows us how to do this. He asked this
- 15:41Speaker 1: question in Psalm forty two. Why are you cast down,
- 15:45Speaker 1: oh my soul? Why are you disquieted? Within me? The
- 15:51Speaker 1: Psalmist He's sad, he's discouraged, he's disquieted, he's cast down
- 15:58Speaker 1: the struggles of life. I threatened to pull him under
- 16:02Speaker 1: and take another victim. But at just the right moment,
- 16:05Speaker 1: the writer makes this decision. He says, hope in God,
- 16:11Speaker 1: Hope in God. He moves his thoughts hope in God,
- 16:14Speaker 1: for I shall yet praise Him. And I will remember
- 16:17Speaker 1: you from the land of the Jordan, from the heights
- 16:19Speaker 1: of the Herman, and from the hill Missar.
- 16:24Speaker 2: Look at the resolve in those words, I shall yet
- 16:27Speaker 2: remember you.
- 16:30Speaker 1: The writer makes an intentional, deliberate decision to treat his
- 16:35Speaker 1: downcast soul with thoughts of God everywhere he goes.
- 16:40Speaker 2: He says, I will remember you from Jordan to Herman
- 16:43Speaker 2: to Misar.
- 16:45Speaker 1: In your case, your decision goes like this, everywhere I go,
- 16:49Speaker 1: I will remember you God, from the ICU to the cemetery,
- 16:53Speaker 1: to the unemployment line to the courtroom. Everywhere I go,
- 16:57Speaker 1: I will lift up my eyes and I will think
- 17:01Speaker 1: about You. There is nothing easy about this. It takes
- 17:08Speaker 1: every ounce of spiritual resolve and discipline. Then you can muster.
- 17:15Speaker 2: It's easy to focus on problems.
- 17:18Speaker 1: It is difficult in the midst of problems to focus
- 17:22Speaker 1: on God. But the result is worth the strain. Besides,
- 17:30Speaker 1: do you really want to meditate on your misery? Will
- 17:34Speaker 1: reciting your problems really turn you into a better person? No,
- 17:40Speaker 1: but changing your mindset will. So how do you do this?
- 17:46Speaker 1: Caleb shows us. First, you must immerse your mind with
- 17:50Speaker 1: God thoughts. Jesus said, stop allowing yourself to be agitated
- 17:59Speaker 1: and disturbed when troubles come your way. You can be stressed,
- 18:05Speaker 1: you can be upset. You can focus on the problem,
- 18:09Speaker 1: the problem, the problem, the problem. Or you can lift
- 18:12Speaker 1: your mind and you can look toward God. This is
- 18:15Speaker 1: what Caleb did. Caleb could have cursed God. Caleb did
- 18:20Speaker 1: nothing to deserve the wilderness. He and Joshua didn't deserve
- 18:26Speaker 1: to be sent out for forty years to wander.
- 18:28Speaker 2: In the desert.
- 18:30Speaker 1: Still he didn't complain, he didn't grow sour, And when
- 18:36Speaker 1: it came time for him to inherit the property, he
- 18:38Speaker 1: stepped forward with a God drenched mind and said, give
- 18:43Speaker 1: it to me. I'm ready to take my mountain. The
- 18:47Speaker 1: apostle Paul said, set your minds and keep them set
- 18:51Speaker 1: on what is above. You see when giants are in
- 18:54Speaker 1: the land, and when doubts swarm your mind, turn your
- 18:58Speaker 1: thoughts toward God. Your best thoughts are God thoughts. Your
- 19:04Speaker 1: best thoughts are God thoughts. He is above all this mess.
- 19:10Speaker 1: He is the most high over all the earth. As
- 19:13Speaker 1: Moses announced, who among the gods is like you?
- 19:17Speaker 2: Lord? Who is like you?
- 19:19Speaker 1: Majestic in holiness? David said, who in the heavens can
- 19:23Speaker 1: be compared to the Lord? Who among the sons of
- 19:26Speaker 1: the mighty can be likened to the Lord? Isaiah said, Holy, Holy, Holy,
- 19:32Speaker 1: is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full
- 19:35Speaker 1: of his glory. You see, God is not just holy
- 19:38Speaker 1: or holy holy. He is holy, holy, Holy. He is
- 19:43Speaker 1: wholly unlike us. Now, what troubles us does not trouble him.
- 19:48Speaker 1: Pain does not plaguing the economy doesn't FaZe him.
- 19:51Speaker 2: The weather doesn't disturb him.
- 19:53Speaker 1: Elections don't define him, diseases do not infect him.
- 19:57Speaker 2: Death cannot claim him.
- 19:58Speaker 1: And consequently he he has resources we do not have,
- 20:02Speaker 1: but we do need, and he is able to do
- 20:06Speaker 1: exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. So,
- 20:11Speaker 1: rather than focus on your problem, focus on your father,
- 20:15Speaker 1: on God. Let his splendor stun you and inspire you,
- 20:20Speaker 1: and turn a deaf ear to doubters, Ignore the naysayers,
- 20:26Speaker 1: cover your ears when pessimists crow. People have a right
- 20:32Speaker 1: to say whatever they want, and you have a right
- 20:35Speaker 1: to ignore them. Just because someone sings the blues, you
- 20:40Speaker 1: don't have to listen to their music. Caleb didn't remember.
- 20:46Speaker 1: He and Joshua were out number ten to two, but
- 20:51Speaker 1: they still believed in God's power. Caleb said, my brethren
- 20:56Speaker 1: who went up with me made the heart of the
- 20:58Speaker 1: people melt.
- 20:59Speaker 2: But I as if to say, I didn't join in,
- 21:04Speaker 2: but I wholly followed the Lord, my God.
- 21:09Speaker 1: Caleb deliberately chose to ignore the majority. He deliberately chose
- 21:19Speaker 1: to ignore the doubters and turn away. He made a
- 21:23Speaker 1: decision to disregard the lethal disbelief of the cynics. There
- 21:33Speaker 1: are times you have to do this. This is no
- 21:36Speaker 1: sanction to be rude or to isolate yourself. When people
- 21:40Speaker 1: express their sincere struggles or questions, helped them.
- 21:44Speaker 2: But listen to me. Some people don't want to be helped.
- 21:50Speaker 1: They really prefer the wilderness. They traffic and misery. They
- 21:57Speaker 1: manufacture unhappiness. They have an allergy to joy, and they
- 22:04Speaker 1: would rather pull you down. Then let you pull them up.
- 22:11Speaker 1: Don't you let them? Don't you let them. Don't loiter
- 22:18Speaker 1: with vultures.
- 22:21Speaker 2: They eat death and they vomit on anyone who will
- 22:25Speaker 2: let them. Don't you let them puke on you.
- 22:32Speaker 1: Sometimes you got to just say I'm not listening to
- 22:34Speaker 1: your negativity any longer. And I realize this is difficult,
- 22:39Speaker 1: but sometimes because sometimes those vultures.
- 22:41Speaker 2: Are in our own house, are in our own office.
- 22:46Speaker 2: But God will help you with this.
- 22:48Speaker 1: You just draw a line in the sand and say,
- 22:50Speaker 1: I'm not listening to you anymore. I'm listening to God.
- 22:55Speaker 1: Don't you let them pull you under.
- 22:57Speaker 2: Caleb didn't.
- 22:58Speaker 1: He filled his mind with faith, and he did one
- 23:01Speaker 1: more thing. He took on a god sized challenge. His
- 23:05Speaker 1: example inspires us to do the same. Sets your mind
- 23:10Speaker 1: on a holy cause, you see. When Moses sent Caleb
- 23:16Speaker 1: to spy out the land, Caleb saw something that troubled him,
- 23:20Speaker 1: and that was the town of Hebron. Hebron it held
- 23:25Speaker 1: a special place in the history of the Jews. Hebron
- 23:28Speaker 1: was the only peace of land that Abraham ever owned,
- 23:34Speaker 1: and Abraham buried his wife there. He was buried there,
- 23:38Speaker 1: so was Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob. Joseph had left
- 23:43Speaker 1: instructions for his bones to be taken from Egypt, remember
- 23:48Speaker 1: and transported where to Hebron. So Hebron was a sacred site.
- 23:55Speaker 1: But on the day forty plus years ago when Caleb
- 24:00Speaker 1: saw it, it was inhabited by unholy people, the descendants
- 24:05Speaker 1: of Anak.
- 24:08Speaker 2: This bugged Caleb to.
- 24:11Speaker 1: See the burial place of Abraham disregarded and disrespected. It
- 24:16Speaker 1: was more than he could take. So Caleb went to
- 24:20Speaker 1: Moses and said, can I have Hebron. Caleb didn't ask
- 24:27Speaker 1: for Jerusalem perched on Mount Mariah. Caleb didn't ask for
- 24:31Speaker 1: the valley of Eskol, where the grapes grew as big
- 24:36Speaker 1: as plums. He didn't speak of Jericho or Jordan. He
- 24:39Speaker 1: wanted Hebron. He wanted the land beneath whose oaks. Abraham slept,
- 24:48Speaker 1: whose soil had known the visitation of angels, whose earth
- 24:52Speaker 1: intuned this holy family. Caleb, the man with a different spirit,
- 24:58Speaker 1: had a different design, a secret desire. Just give me Hebron,
- 25:02Speaker 1: he said, I'm going to take care of it. Moses
- 25:07Speaker 1: took the request to God. God gave the answer, and
- 25:11Speaker 1: Caleb was given the land. Forty five years past, at
- 25:17Speaker 1: the age of eighty five, though Caleb was ready, He
- 25:22Speaker 1: said to Joshua, give me this mountain of which the
- 25:26Speaker 1: Lord spoke. Last sighting had Caleb turning his face toward Hebron,
- 25:33Speaker 1: where he did exactly what he promised to do. He
- 25:36Speaker 1: drove out the enemy, He reclaimed the city. He wanted
- 25:40Speaker 1: to do something great for God.
- 25:42Speaker 2: He wanted to lay claim to God's hilltop. He lived
- 25:46Speaker 2: with a higher call. How high is yours? Maybe the reason.
- 25:57Speaker 1: Your problems are so great is because your cause is
- 26:01Speaker 1: so small. Maybe the reason that your problem seems so
- 26:08Speaker 1: great is because your cause is so small. Set your
- 26:14Speaker 1: mind on a holy cause. Some years back I made
- 26:18Speaker 1: two trips to Central America within the span of a
- 26:22Speaker 1: few months, both trips to the same region, only a
- 26:27Speaker 1: short drive, one from the other. The cause of the
- 26:32Speaker 1: first trip was vacation. The reason for the second trip
- 26:35Speaker 1: was an outreach mission. The first trip considered consisted of
- 26:41Speaker 1: nice accommodations and.
- 26:43Speaker 2: Good food at a resort hotel.
- 26:46Speaker 1: The second involved a budget hotel with very unremarkable cafeteria cooking.
- 26:53Speaker 1: On the first trip, I hung out at the pool,
- 26:55Speaker 1: and I found a golf course, and I took leisurely
- 26:58Speaker 1: walks on the hotel property. The second trip consisted of
- 27:04Speaker 1: serving food at an orphanage and speaking to church leaders
- 27:08Speaker 1: and serving on a prayer revival team. Of the two trips,
- 27:13Speaker 1: which do you think proved most enjoyable. You'd think the
- 27:19Speaker 1: vacation would, and initially it was wonderful. But after a
- 27:23Speaker 1: couple of days of pampering and relaxing, I began to
- 27:29Speaker 1: notice some inadequacies at the facility. The hotel staff didn't
- 27:35Speaker 1: clean my bathroom the way I wanted it. They didn't
- 27:40Speaker 1: hang my towels the way I liked to have them home.
- 27:44Speaker 2: The appetizer was just a little too salty, the room
- 27:51Speaker 2: was too chilly, and the bed was too lumpy. I
- 27:55Speaker 2: had so many problems.
- 28:01Speaker 1: Strangely, on that mission trip, I noticed no problems at all.
- 28:07Speaker 1: We worked so hard that any food tasted like a
- 28:10Speaker 1: gourmet meal. And since we ministered among the poor, my
- 28:15Speaker 1: simple hotel room felt like a presidential suite. We had
- 28:21Speaker 1: evening worship services in an open field. It was chilly,
- 28:25Speaker 1: it was damp, it was raining, but the thousands of
- 28:29Speaker 1: people who attended did not complain. They walked through the
- 28:32Speaker 1: mud to get there and stand in the open field.
- 28:36Speaker 1: So I didn't complain either. To be honest, the mission
- 28:41Speaker 1: trip was more refreshing than the vacation. I like a
- 28:46Speaker 1: good vacation, don't get me wrong, but I've also learned
- 28:50Speaker 1: this expect life to be an endless vacation, and expect
- 28:54Speaker 1: a long list of problems. If your problems are great,
- 29:02Speaker 1: then maybe your cause is too small. But when your
- 29:08Speaker 1: cause is great, then your problems begin to shrink. I'm wondering,
- 29:16Speaker 1: do you have a mission worth giving your life for?
- 29:22Speaker 1: Do you have a hill worth taking? Do you have
- 29:24Speaker 1: a hebron that wakes you up in the morning and
- 29:28Speaker 1: that commands your best thoughts and your energy?
- 29:32Speaker 2: An orphanage to serve.
- 29:35Speaker 1: A neighbor who needs your encouragement, a needy family to feed,
- 29:41Speaker 1: a class to teach some senior citizens, to encourage you know,
- 29:45Speaker 1: it really is better to give than receive.
- 29:50Speaker 2: And in the Kingdom of Christ, we.
- 29:51Speaker 1: Gain by giving, not by taking, and we grow by helping,
- 29:57Speaker 1: not by hurting, and we advance by serving.
- 30:00Speaker 2: Demanding.
- 30:00Speaker 1: You want to see your problems evaporate, then help someone
- 30:04Speaker 1: else with theirs. Yeah, we'll always have problems, We'll always
- 30:12Speaker 1: face them, but you don't have to face them in
- 30:15Speaker 1: the same way.
- 30:17Speaker 2: Immerse your mind in God.
- 30:20Speaker 1: Thoughts, turn a deaf ear to the doubters. Set your
- 30:25Speaker 1: mind on a holy cause, and once you find your mountain,
- 30:31Speaker 1: no giant will stop you, no age will disqualify you,
- 30:35Speaker 1: and no problems will defeat you. After all, you and
- 30:38Speaker 1: Caleb have something in common. You have a different spirit. You,
- 30:43Speaker 1: my friend, are a promised land person. Amen, thank you
- 30:50Speaker 1: Lord for being so patient with us. We have often Lord,
- 30:56Speaker 1: let our problems define our lives. But even now, Lord,
- 31:00Speaker 1: we resolve to let you define us. Thank you for
- 31:06Speaker 1: Caleb and Lord our prayers that there would be something
- 31:09Speaker 1: in our.
- 31:10Speaker 2: Lives that would cause you God to.
- 31:13Speaker 1: Say that person has a different spirit through Christ. We pray. Amen,
- 31:25Speaker 1: we're going to step right into a time of communion.
- 31:27Speaker 1: Now we're going to save our prayers.
- 32:04Speaker 2: A every.
- 35:21Speaker 4: Cat.
- 37:09Speaker 5: I'll be all right. You don't have to stay if
- 37:17Speaker 5: you've already chosen. I won't stand in your way. I
- 37:25Speaker 5: can feel it in your distance, in the way you
- 37:29Speaker 5: barely speak, like your heart is somewhere else, now, somewhere
- 37:37Speaker 5: I can't reach.
- 37:39Speaker 2: I was trying just too hold us.
- 37:43Speaker 4: Why are you slowly slipped away?
- 37:47Speaker 5: Now I'm left with all the sizes.
- 37:51Speaker 2: You didn't want to say. Maybe I just hell long.
- 38:01Speaker 1: To something.
- 38:04Speaker 2: Already gone.
- 38:09Speaker 4: I'll be fine.
- 38:10Speaker 1: You can leave.
- 38:12Speaker 4: You don't know me anything if your heart is found way?
- 38:20Speaker 4: How what we.
- 38:22Speaker 1: Used to be?
- 38:23Speaker 4: How be fine? Don't look back? How survived this empty space?
- 38:31Speaker 4: Not tonight, maybe not soon, but holler to be okay.
- 38:42Speaker 5: We don't need to fake the feeling.
- 38:46Speaker 2: I can see in your eyes.
- 38:49Speaker 5: There's no reason left the stand.
- 38:53Speaker 2: When the love already died.
- 38:58Speaker 5: Through the quieting your voice, I.
- 39:06Speaker 4: Can't hear your choice. Be fine, you can't hear. You
- 39:15Speaker 4: don't know me anything? If your heart has found noise?
- 39:22Speaker 4: How do what we used to be?
- 39:26Speaker 2: Hobby?
- 39:27Speaker 4: Fine? Don't look back. I survived this empty space, not tonight,
- 39:35Speaker 4: maybe not so, but I'll learn to be okay.
- 39:42Speaker 5: I don't need a reason why.
- 39:46Speaker 2: I can see it in goodbye.
- 39:50Speaker 4: And it breaks me indus, but I won't ask you
- 39:54Speaker 4: to stay.
- 40:00Speaker 2: I'll be fine.
- 40:01Speaker 4: You, Kelly, you don't know me anything. Give your hardest
- 40:08Speaker 4: found away. How told what we used to be?
- 40:14Speaker 1: Have?
- 40:14Speaker 2: Be fine?
- 40:16Speaker 5: Don't love that?
- 40:17Speaker 4: How surve have this empty space that's a live baby?
- 40:23Speaker 2: Not so but our learn to
- 40:28Speaker 4: Be okay, I'll be all right