Different Attitude Different Outcome

Wow, the change. It's a good morning, church. How's everybody on this wonderful Sunday? Do I sound weird?

Does it sound weird? Yeah. OK. Then it's normal.

I'm all right with that. The reverb. Yeah. Y'all don't want to.

We need a lot more than that for me to start singing, because it is still not going to sound good. We'll see if it works itself out or if someone can get up there. So everybody's doing good. So I have to take just a few minutes this morning.

I'm going to ask if my beautiful wife will come up and join me on stage for a second. Yeah, you heard me. Shouldn't be talking during service. Come up here.

No. Yeah, come up here, please. Give her a round of applause. This is my beautiful wife.

Oh, isn't that right? That's what happens when we get next to each other. We just celebrate it. Someone said, ooh.

So we just celebrated four years of marriage, y'all. I love you. Yes, I feel that we both feel the same way. So I don't know where Dorell's at, but when Fred was doing his message, he was going to cut the anchors.

I was scouring everywhere for this blue anchor. I'm like, I know it's here. I've seen it. I've seen it.

I've seen it almost every day. So she's looking around. She's like, I've seen it too. And then we get to the end of it.

That's still a bonnet. Um. Is that better? All right.

I'll just use the handout. Thank you. See, that's why you need a better half. The hell wipe y'all.

So I, uh, so I'm looking everywhere. I'm running in here and stuff. I'm like, I need this blue anchor. I know it's here.

And she comes to me after and she's like, you're stupid. And I'm like, what? She's like, that's our blue anchor. It's at our house.

And I'm like, I mean, I did see it every day. And it, I knew there was a blue anchor, but it says 8, 10, 19, Seth and Evie. And I, I just want to let you know I will cut every anchor, but the one that's locked to you. Oh, you're stupid.

I love you. I love you. Just to do that. Just to do that.

All right. Sorry. Let me get situated here. All right.

So I always like, I always like to start with a little bit of fun. And uh, so my wife for our anniversary, I enjoyed the golf. That's my, that's my go to now. Right?

Yeah. Oh, of course. But so there's actually some fun, I have some wild stuffs been happening in the golf world in my life recently. So she gets clubs, which is awesome.

I go to a golf tournament and one of my buddies is like, hating life. He's hating golf. He's like, I don't even know why I'm here. We try to force him to try to force him to hit a couple balls.

And uh, he chooses to hit, I think like maybe seven the entire time in my line. And uh, the last one he chose to hit, it hits a, like it hits a goose. Cannot make this up. He hits a goose.

And I think, I swear it's all, it's all because of his attitude. He's like, I don't want to be here. I hate this, all this stuff. Like it's his attitude, right?

So that's not the only thing that's happened in, in my golf, uh, outings here recently. So if we can try to, we're going to get to the different attitude, different outcome, because I really believe this. I got another video to show y'all. So he's not here to defend himself.

Bernie, can you hit play on that? Yeah, this, this is your, I hope it plays. Is it not playing? Oh, he did something.

He got in and did something. Okay, so I'm just going to tell the story while you look at the picture. Because I promise you I will play this. So listen, our pastor, he gets out for the first time in a while and he used to go, but he did great.

Like played really well, kept his composure. He did. He kept it all together, except for this one hole. And listen, I don't, they always say I catch everything on camera.

I don't know why. It's like, you get that sense. It's like, oh, I'm going to film this one. And this is so happening to be the one that he gets all set up.

If you're watching this, I love you, bro. He gets all set up, looks great. And then just hits it fat, takes a chunk of grass and I did it again. It starts beating his club off the ground.

And then he looks up, he's like, oh, wait, wait, were you recording that? So this is going to play into my message of better attitudes, better outcome. All right. So enough with the, the, the jokes of the day, but he, it was funny because he's like, I'm just going to tell him myself because I know you're going to bring it up.

He's like, absolutely. I've got to say that. So as I was studying for the last message, I don't know if you guys remember or not the seventh ending stretch. And it was talking about, you know, the people in the wilderness and wondering in the wilderness, and that's not, that wasn't God's will for them and all that.

And in the midst of studying all that, I came across, as I was studying deeper, I came across something that really stuck out to me. And when I say it stuck out, it just hit me in a way that I can't, I can't explain besides the fact that our attitudes have a lot to play in how we grow and how we see things in our walk with God. Amen? Amen.

Listen guys, we are so quick to settle for so much less than what God has for us. And I think until we get that desire and that drive to trust him to the fullest and press into that and want what he has for us, want what he has for us. Can I say it again? Who wants what God has for you?

And listen, this is what I believe God is calling me to try to help see that there's a lot of things that happens, there's a lot of distractions, but there's one thing that remains the same and that's our father. But more than us just acknowledging these things and repeating them, when are we going to press into him, right? Like when are we going to take hold that our faith is the one thing that we have in him and that he's already done the main thing that he can, anything that he could ever do for us, he's already done. It's not registering is it?

Everything that he is going to do, he has already done and promised to us. So therefore, what do we have to do? Be obedient, that's good. We got to receive.

We got to trust him. I know we've been talking about this a lot, but I hope that you hear my heart today is that as we leave this building, the hope I have in my prayer is that we leave here with the desire to chase after what he has for us more than anything. That's simple. You're like that.

That's pretty hard to do though, but it's not if you really want that. That's the challenge that I feel led in my heart is how can we challenge one another to press in and go forward and after what God has for us no matter what's happening. We see what he's already done in our lives, hanging on to that, and then pressing forward further into it knowing that there's more than that. So a little quick story, our kids.

So the idea that it came to my mind is that like, you know, video games, I don't know if everyone's played video games in here, but people have played video games. You know how you play some games that you can select like your level of difficulty? And there's certain games that are just, they're challenging, right? They're hard.

And it was the fact of settling on beginner and mastering that but never wanting to go past that. Does that, like do y'all hear what I'm saying? Like we get so comfortable with receiving something or getting over something or guide to something that we stay there and we're okay with that. But he says there's more than that for you.

I'm hoping that you guys hear me as I go out there. So our kids were playing this game, Mario Kart, it's nothing like it was back then or Mario World or whatever it is. And that used to be hard to beat. I've broken many controllers.

You know what I mean? I've gotten in trouble, like, you know, getting mad, yelling, screaming, fighting over the controller, all this stuff. So then they come through like, yeah, hey, dad, I beat Mario. I'm like, that's actually pretty impressive.

I'm like, whoa, that's pretty awesome. Like, how'd you do it? Like, who'd you use? Because, you know, Mario, you got Luigi, you know, you got the little mushroom head.

You can pick the different characters that you want to use. He's like, I use Ducky. I'm like, what? Are we playing Mario?

Like, same game? He's like, yeah, he's like, it's some character that you can put a code in and you won't die. I'm like, and you're okay with telling yourself you beat it? Like, those are conciliars and they'll die you beat it.

It was just, it's funny but again, through all of these things, you know, I believe God's always working and trying to get our attention with things that, you know, even in my kid learning at that young age of doing something like that, I'm like, you know, and you can, listen, you can think I'm crazy. I'm, I'm alright with that, of thinking that. But the things as we grow older, the things that we learn when we were younger become harder to break and harder to, I guess, buck against something because they are so embedded in us and we learn that and we're not willing to challenge that or go past that because it's different and it's uncomfortable. And that's what raised the thought of, I mean, like, how many of us are settling in our life at certain stages are okay with just overcoming certain things or even better appear in a certain way because that's easier than actually being a certain way.

I promise I'm not here to, to step on no toes today but if, if you hear my heart is that we go into God's word to be transformed to be different and if we're going to keep going in to get what we want out of it, guess what? It says to seek who? Him. Here's what's happened, I believe.

We're seeking and we're ultimately finding ourselves in a situation, hear me out, I know you're probably like, where's he going with this? We're seeking for the wrong reasons so we're finding the wrong things and we don't seek him for who he is and what he has for us then we leave with essentially nothing and then guess what happens, we get mad, right? Everyone in here has been mad at God at some point or has said, why is this? I feel like this is my favorite one.

But everything I do, I've drama follows me. Maybe hear me out, just maybe you're inviting drama or you're following drama, that's why all you're seeing is drama and I don't know who this is for but what I'm saying is that whatever you're looking at and however you're looking for it, you're finding it and it's what you're putting your eyes on and setting your eyes on and what you're settling for because you might have had an experience before. I believe that wholeheartedly. We all have experience but inside of those experiences when hurt occurs, we settle there and then we don't step out or try to go forth past that and we accept that and that's the problem with why we stay stuck is because we've accepted something, hear me, guys, that was never intended for us and when you settle for that and you get comfortable with that, you're willing to keep a hold of that thing and you end up nursing it and growing it up and it gets to be like your kids and it gets to be like anything else but then you become attached to it and then all you do is make excuses why you can't get out of it or away from it because it's easier to just sit next to it and deal with it because you've done that for so long.

I got to get into some of this but when I was looking at studying deep into that and I do have to share something, apparently I said something wrong, when I was talking about the spies that were sent into the land, I was paying attention but not paying attention, this is terrible but someone apparently yelled 13 and I was like exactly, so there's 12, this is where I'm understanding, they all came back but two only had a good report, are we good? Okay, I just want to clear that up because I was like, do you say they're 13 and I was like, I don't think I said it, they're like the juice, I was like, I might have agreed to it, I'm not saying I didn't. So but in that, the two that came back with Joshua and Caleb and today I want to focus on Caleb because Caleb, he came back with a good report and how many of you know your report is going to be one of the most important things in your walk. I'm going to say it again, your report that you bring back is going to be one of the most important things in your walk.

And in numbers, because we're going to be in numbers today if you have your Bible, do people even carry Bibles to church anymore? There you go, right? The Bible, we're going to start Bible checking when you walk in. I'm just, everyone's like, I got it on the phone.

The verses, go to the first slide, thank you. The verses that I want to focus on today and different attitudes, different outcome and numbers 14, 24, the NLT I really liked because I think it relates more and then I have the message translation up there with it too. And verse 24 says, but my servant Caleb has everyone say different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me so I will bring him into the land that he explored.

His descendants will possess their full share of that land. The message translation puts it like this and most other translations use different spirit or something of that nature, but it says my servant Caleb, this is a different story. He has a different spirit. He follows me passionately.

I'll bring him into the land that he scouted and his children will inherit it. So that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about a different spirit, again, different attitude. Why it was so different between Caleb and the rest of them is because Caleb trusted God.

Caleb believed what Moses told him, God laid on his heart, that he is going to get this and he's going to do whatever to receive it. I'm hoping, leaving here today, that that's what our eyes are opened up to, that it has a lot to do with our attitude and how much we want what God has for us. So in Numbers 13, we're going to drop back a little bit to tell a little backstory. Again, they go into observing land Moses to say, hey, I need you to go in.

I need you to check and see if they got a Chick-fil-A. You need to have some good fruit in the land. You need to see if they have shot out Christine. She said, wait, wait, wait.

Free sandwiches next week. Thank you. I'm just kidding. I need to see if there's a plant fitness, you know, because there must be.

These are giants out there. Now, Jax and Saya, but it's a soil good. Is, you know, I need to see how's the fruit. I want you to check on the land to see what all is in it and just scout it out.

So mind you, God already just brought them out of exile, right? God has been doing things in their life. They are literally like steps away from entering into the promise what God has for them. He steps away and he's done all these things for them.

So then they come back, you know, 10 of them. And here's what I want to say about the 10. I don't know if you realize this or not, but these 10 just aren't nobody's. I feel like sometimes we look at these 10 because they were, oh, they have that report.

We're not part of the 10 sometimes. But they're not nobody's. They were picked out and appointed to go out as the leaders as I'm sure were, you know, they were very, they were looked at in a high regard. I'm sure.

So, all of them that came back, it ain't like two great ones went out and then 10, I don't know what you want to call them, came back and like it's like an obvious like, oh, whether this, it's wild to look at them any different than kind of what we do. And that when God has done something in their life and then we get to the next stage in our life and we need God to show up or God's trying to do something we're chasing after it and how quick we will turn away and turn to these things that say, oh, well, you know, I'm just I'm a human being. I'm normal. I'm flesh.

You know what I mean? I'm all of these things and make all of these excuses on why even what he's done to press into it even farther to say, well, if he did it, then why wouldn't he do it now? And guys, listen, we've all said these things. We've all seen what God has done and then God promises something else and we walk into it and somehow always see his giants, always see as fortified cities with walls, always see as all these things, any and everything what, but what God told us to go in and do, which is to scout the land.

Scout the land to come back and tell me what's there. That's the big people are not. Oh my God, they're huge. We can't go, we can't, we can't go into that land.

Like the mindset and when fear kicks in, it'll take you down so many different roads, every road but the one that you will stand on that will lead to a peace of knowing that what Christ has already done is that if he's going to give it to you, all you got to do is want to walk into it. And I want to see us to start to get to a place in our walks with Christ that we're encouraging one another and helping one another, but more so realizing that it's our attitudes because God is still working on us. I get all that. But do you know that takes your willingness to mesh with him working on us to then produce something greater?

Like I feel, it's just why when I'm reading this, it's so real to me because again the fact that what he's done for him and then the promise is right in front of him, go check it out, go come back and listen, what's even crazier? He's like, hey, it's everything you say was, it's flowing with milk and honey, Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets and Chick-fil-A sauce, it's flowing with all these things you said. It's like, well, what's the problem then? You know, I'm not going to be in battle, some wars, some things that you're going to have to do that God's saying, I'm already like, we've established that.

There's going to be that. I want to help someone else here today to let you know. There's going to be those things further in your walk with Christ. They're probably there now.

They were there. They're going to be there. Those things are there. Let's get past your unbelief and let's get to your belief and being faithful to what God is and who he is and what he's done.

So it's going to give you what he promised you. So, so here we are. They come back to give you the account, everything I was just talking about and it says, they gave Moses this account, we went into the land to which you sent us and it does flow with milk and honey. Here's his fruit, big old branch of grapes.

But the people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there, which that's like the giants, big people like Goliath, like somewhere along, it's in the bloodline there. The Amalekites live in the cave, the Hittites, the Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan. Next slide.

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, we should go up and take possession of the land. For we can certainly do it. But the men who had gone up with him said we can't attack those people. They are stronger than we are and they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.

I want to just put a little pause right there because some people's attitudes spread and do more damage than they realize and that's because of fear and I want to take it a little deeper than that. Some people are allowing the attitudes and the fear that has been spread by others to attack areas of your life to keep you from the path and direction that God has taken you and you stuck there. And I just want to help today by saying that these things do happen but the more that we put our trust in God the more that we seek who God really is and look at what he's done and where we place him in our life because I want to quit pointing the finger at everybody else guys because at the end of the day I can point my finger all day long but I'm going to stay pointing my finger for years and stay right where I was. When I start actually realizing that I have to stop listening to some of the things that people see and are saying because they're not set their eyes on Christ and leave that where it's at.

I'm not telling you to be ignorant to them. You love them right there. But you're not keeping me from what God has for me. Listen, this is uncomfortable.

I get it. I don't know if you get it. That people are going to always say negative things. People are not always going to see the way that you see things.

And even as believers, I want to say this, we put labels and we put things on people by what they wear, how they praise, how they don't praise if they're at the altar, if they're not at the altar, if all these other different things that was never meant for us to look at and focus solely on what God's doing for us in us and through us and chasing after what He has for us. And today can be a day that we leave here. We check our attitudes and realize that ultimately anything that's ever happened in our life or kept us back from it is because we just simply settled for less than what God has for us. And that's going to help us be better.

That's going to change everything. I'm going to keep going. Then it says after I said, they said the land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.

We saw that the Nephilim there, the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim, we seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes. I'm going to read that again. We seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them. I put a little plug in there.

Fear will make people say the craziest things. But I want you to think about this for a second because I believe this is super true and relevant is that we seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes. Because how you see yourself is a huge deal. If you see yourself less than, you're already starting at a place that is less than and you're looking at something and going into something with an attitude and a mindset.

We've said these things. If you have that attitude, why even do it? Why even go into it? And here clearly, plainly in front of us, there's things that are challenging these things that we are ultimately going in our lives today.

That if I don't see myself and I can't see myself for how God sees me or what God's going to do in through me, then yeah, of course nobody else sees that. I feel the tension in the fire. So then after that, I'm going to jump down a little bit because I want to really focus on Caleb's interactions here. We get into numbers 14 and they're talking, you know, after all that, this is when they start getting all, you know, worked up and they're going and they're like, well, we should just change leaders.

Why not just go back to Egypt? We were going to die there after they go back, Aaron die. Why not just go back to Aaron die? And that mindset of settling, again, because of a challenge that looks big in front of them, they settle for something less.

So they're talking about all this, they're talking about changing out leaders or he can't. Let's take another and let's, what are they doing as they're doing this as they're making all these comments, as they're working themselves up? What those creeps in that begins to make them start to do what? All of those things, which then in return, all of those things make us do what?

We take things into our own hands. And guys, listen, I hope that as you grow with Christ, you start to realize that when something is in your hands with your vision behind it, you do the wrong thing with it. Because here, everything is being done and given to them, but they get scared, so they start saying what God did and what God who God put in place, nah, I don't like that because my fear. So instead of trusting, because God's already proven himself, instead of trusting that, they take it into their own hands and now they start coming up with things that are completely backwards.

Going completely the wrong direction from what direction they need to be going. And this is good guys, this is going to be good. So in that time, this is a message translation, Joshua and Caleb, members of the scouting party, rip their clothes. Guys, listen, they rip their clothes.

I'm not going to rip my shirt. I probably couldn't rip my shirt. But they rip their shirt. Do you know what that is like a symbol of?

Like they're pleading with them. They're like trying to tell them guys like, no, like listen, I need you to listen. I'm just, hey guys, I don't think this young, no, but they're pleading with them because they know. And guys, listen, this is what I believe we have to start.

Don't we have to start stepping up? We have to start getting an attitude of wanting to help others and help ourselves get to what God has for us. And it's going to take a seriousness. I'm not mean this about me guys, but these messages are challenging for me because I like to laugh and have fun and joke and say all this other stuff.

But there does have to be a time where we have to start taking things serious. We have to start taking it to the next level. It's so serious for them that in this time, them ripping their garments is really saying, hey, I'm trying to let you guys know that this is what God wants. And what God wants is so much more important than what you think, how afraid you are, how any of these things are that it's, if it's what God wants, you need to know that that's what it needs to be.

So he says, they rip their clothes and address the assembled people of Israel. The land we walk through and scout it out is a very good land. This is Caleb who had a better attitude. This is Caleb that went in and saw what?

Well, when fear drives, you see what you want to see, right? When faith drives, you see what God sees. And he says, that's a good land. It ain't about the things that's accompanying it right now or is in it right now.

That's irrelevant. Because if God says it's yours and this is your land, because your life is your life that God gave you and wants more for you, you've got to want that. He gave it to you and then he gave you a promise, his son that died for you. And then he said, there's even more than that that until the day that he appears, you're going to be drawing closer and more like him.

No part of that says we get to settle or we should want to settle for anything less than what he has for us. And whatever the case may be of a situation that's in front of you that, listen, I don't have all the answers. I don't know why cancer came back. But I still know that God's God.

He still has the same plan. I can't explain some of these things that get us caught and stuck of why does this happen into me? I don't know. All of this stuff was happening to Caleb too, but he chose to see what God's seen.

He chose to see what God laid in front of him instead of what fear laid in front of him. And he said, fear is not going to drive me nowhere. God's going to continue to walk me through it. God promised it to me.

I'm going to get it no matter what. So he said, this is a very good land indeed. If God is pleased with us, he will lead us into the land, a land that flows, as they say, with milk and honey. And he'll give it to us.

Just don't rebel against God. And don't be afraid of those people. Why? You ready for this?

This is what I hope you all start leaving with. It says, why? We'll have them for lunch. Say it with you all.

We'll have them for lunch. They have no protection, and God is on our side. Don't be afraid of them. I feel like some people need to get this in their spirits today.

I'm so serious when I say that you understanding that the attitude that you carry with you of the promises that God has given you, of saying, I want them. I'm going to get them. And yeah, you can put anything in that path. But guess what?

It still doesn't change what God's going to do and enthrum it. And it's not going to keep me for what God has for me. Because that's how much it means to me. Like God is the most, I'm going to be real with y'all.

I love my wife to death. I can only love her the way I love her because I love God more. I don't know how to love that firecracker sitting in the front row right here. I'll be honest with you.

I tried on my own. Guess where it left me? In my car down the road 17 different times because I'm like, oh my God, is this a joke? I got chunklets flying at me.

I got all this stuff happening. And I'm like, God, what is this? Right? What did you sign me up for?

And I'm sitting here thinking, did I hear God's voice on my own? But God, we have God on our side. The other thing I notice just now looking at this is what he says, if God is pleased with us, I know a lot of this stuff kind of gets a little sideways, guys. And we get things in our life we want to achieve, we want to get, you know, my goal in my life is like, I want God to be pleased with me.

Like, amen? Amen. Like, I follow him for who he is and what he's done. And I want him to be pleased with what I do.

So in return, that means I'm cautious with what I do. I chase after him for who he is. I'm not acting like I'm perfect up here. I'm just saying that what God has done for me has been enough to me.

It's filled me. It's filled me to the point that I am so on fire for him that life happens, but that doesn't burn out because he's already saved me. And I know what it's like back there. I don't know if y'all do.

I've been back there and I don't want to go back there. And because of him is why I'm further in my life and peace and all these other things. But it's what he's done for me. He's doing all this because he says the land flows with milk and honey.

My man's doing all this for milk and honey, which that's a big deal back then. I get that. But again, it's, he's saying it didn't matter. Like, that's what my God said I get to have.

And I don't know what God has told you. You get to have outside of salvation and what he's already given you and freedom. And I'm sure he's people walk around talking all the time. And God said this, God said that.

And that's great. And I want that stuff for you. Are you okay with what God has given you? Like, are you okay if this is it?

I want you to really ask yourself that. If this is it, him sending his son to die for you. If that's all he did and you didn't hear him for a thousand years, are you still going to follow him? Are you still going to chase after him?

He said this is the firecracker wife you have. You going to keep her for the next hundred years? It would be cool if I was to live for a hundred years, right? But it's, right?

It's the gift of life that we chase after, of who God is and what he's done for us. And that has to be like, that's got to be it, guys. That drive has to be it. So let's get going.

I always get to not drag when I talk about my wife. So down to where we're getting to the next slide at 14, after Caleb and them do that, they're leading up to it and they're talking about stoning them now. Because you know, like we can get rid of these guys. These guys are crazy, right?

We can do what we want now, right? We start. How many, when you started turning away from God, you started doing every, any and everything that you desire to do and justify and make excuses for it. How many of us know that?

Because why? Because there ain't no protection there. You're just, you were doing bad all by yourself and we are good at that. But then they're leading up to it and then that's when God starts, you know, how long will, how long should I deal with them basically?

They're unbelief. Like what should I, like what do you think? What should I keep doing? Like how long should, like how long I keep doing things and miracles and signs and wonders and they've seen it.

Even if the glory even, it says the glory even appears at the tent. Like before that they're seeing all these signs and miracles and things and he's like, how long should I put up with their unbelief? And he says in verse 23, well by no means they will, by no means see the lamb which I swore to give to their fathers nor will any who treated me disrespectfully and rejected me see it. Everyone say, but see Phil always said, if you have anything to say after but it better be God, I'm going to change it up a little bit.

But my servant, say but my servant, but my servant Caleb because he has a what? Different spirit and has what? Followed me fully. I will bring into the land into which he entered and his descendants shall possess it.

And this is, we're getting ready to go into the next section of this, but this is super cool because Caleb gets to walk in to the promise of God all because he trusted God. He was faithful. The other ones that came back, the other thing that was interested to me too, and I feel like this is going to kind of hit home for some of you that you've maybe been given good reports, you've maybe been trusting God for a while, maybe you don't everything and anything that God has ever asked you to do. And you're still waiting on something.

Like you're still praying. You're still having to go through some things. We're going to find out here in a second a little bit about how Caleb feels about that. What I noticed is that he came back with a good report.

He did all these things. Guess where he still had to go? Guess where everybody else went? Back he said, matter of fact, he tells him, listen, the next morning, y'all are going back to where you want to go.

You're going back to the wilderness. And here's what's wild is that even though he did everything right, he still goes to the wilderness. And I'm like scratching my brain. I'm trying to think, but what's he doing in the wilderness for all these years?

I'd be so mad. Like if it was like, if it was you right here that I would not give you any time of my day, I'm here because of you. I did what I should have been doing. Right?

Like I would be blaming you every single day. I'd be putting your fires out. I don't know what they doing in the wilderness. I'm just saying.

I'd be doing any and everything that I could to get back at you from making me be here because I was faithful. So in that Caleb goes to, we're going to go to the next slide here. That one works. He jumped ahead.

That one's good though. So I go into the different outcome. Everyone say different attitude, different outcome. Wow.

So you need an attitude adjustment. So we're going to jump to Joshua and skip ahead a little bit. But here it says in verse 6, now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal and Caleb. Listen, I tried to practice these names.

I did better, but these ones still get me a little bit. So I'm just going to say, we're going to go with Jeff on this one. Ken is Zites. Yeah, there you go.

Said to him. That was me agreeing again. I didn't hear what you said. So you know what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God at Kedash Barnum about you and me.

I was 40 years, everyone look at this. I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord sent me from Kedash Barnum to explore the land. And I brought back him a report according to my convictions. But my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear.

I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. Next slide. So on that day, Moses swore to me the land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever because you have followed the Lord my God whole heartedly. Now then, just as the Lord promised, I want you guys to look at this.

He has kept me alive for 45 years since the time he said this to Moses. While Israel moved about in the wilderness, so here I am today. Everyone say here I am today. 85 years old.

Verse 11 though, this is what I love. I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. I'm just as vigorous to go out into battle now as I was then. Verse 12, this is what I love.

This is like, man, I was so excited. I'm telling my wife about this. I'm like pumped. Now, give me this hill country that the Lord promised me today.

I don't think you'll hear it. I'm like, this man did something that he was supposed to do. He still went and had to wonder and do all this stuff. And then he comes back 40 years later.

He's 85 years old. Is anybody 85 in here? That was going to raise their hand for that, right? Nope.

But 85 years old. And he comes back saying, now that we're out of that, I want what's mine. I want what's mine. Give me what's mine.

I'm still this. I don't care that I'm 85. I'm still this strong. I still am everything I was then I am now and I want what's mine.

Man, I must not excite you guys as much as it does me. Because that's 85 years. That's a man coming back to something that it was, again, he did what he was trying to do. He did what he was supposed to be doing.

I know every single one of us sitting here would have been mad at God and they would have been God, we would have been probably the Antichrist in here because 40 years after doing what we're supposed to be doing, but yet this man who God said has a different attitude, has the same attitude 40 years later. Guys, please help me. How do you go that long? And now you're 85 years old and you have the same attitude.

I need someone to help me out here because this is right on my brain that what we do a lot of times is our circumstances, our situations, what we've been through, everything else that's went around us, we get into this like he had every right to be like, oh man, why? Here's why I even try. Right? I did what I was supposed to be doing.

Why do I even try now? And I just read someone's living there exactly right. Bad attitudes. This guy had a promise from God and I am sure could not see a dang thing after doing what he needed to do and still had to wonder for 40 years to become back at 85 years old, but still had the faith and say, my God who I watched do things in my life promise me something that I'm going to get still.

I haven't left that go. If you've let something go that hasn't happened in your life that God promised you or you're praying for, do not give up, please. Because this is 40 years later and this is an 85 year old man that says, my God is still the same God that I knew back then and I'm going to trust him. I'm going to promise him.

And another thing you're never, it doesn't expire. Like you have every ability to continue to trust the matter. It doesn't matter what the situation is. What it's your attitude.

It's your drive behind what you're doing and what you're trying to accomplish. And I said this to the hymns and my wife, I said, listen, I want to accomplish what has been promised to me. Like I want to get there. I don't know about you, but I don't wake up every day, put my shoes on, look at my sign that says it's going to be a great day and start walking throughout the day with this Monday morning.

Nothing good comes out of Mondays. Monday, Monday, Monday. Then we get to, then it's like we progress up, right? The big member that came up with top day, we're all this over the midweek, right?

And it's like, it makes me wonder how much we miss throughout our whole week to get to Sunday to come in here to gather to appear a certain way, to just reset us or whatever the case is for some people in here. And I'm guilty of it myself. So I'm not, you feel some type of way. I'm not trying to make you do that.

But I get to reset and then kick back Monday and it's Monday all over again. Oh, here we go. And then this cycle and cycle of repeated weeks after weeks, months after months, years after years, stuck staying in the same place that we were because we couldn't check our attitudes. It's this person at work that just, wow, they make me this.

It's, it's, it's, people are like, right? God, is that you? No, it's, it's, it's, it's all of, it's all of anything and everybody else's fault on why you can't move forward. And that's, that's why when we start to think about it, right?

Because I, I'm pretty sure that it's, it's what, oh, there it is. I'm pretty sure that it's us that chooses, right? Like, it's great. Like, he's done everything for us.

How, how, how many of us sitting here on it, just be honest with yourself, how many years have you just kept God on the shelf and, and grabbing when you need him, calling when you needed him and, and then set and complained about why your life just stayed where it was because you only used him, like, used him a quarter of the time would expect him to be full time working in your life and wonder why the change and progress in our life as believers stays at a certain level because that's, that's where we stop. Caleb, like, he just did something so, so great for me as I'm, I'm reading this because it's like, man, I've settled for less. I've sold, like, I've settled for less, y'all. God has done so much in my life and is continuously working in my life.

But for some reason, I, I decide whatever the case may be that I, I settle for less. And a lot of the times the reason that I'm in the situations or whatever that I'm in was because of myself and my attitude by it. I'm not going to go into the story about my dog and all that stuff that my wife went through recently, the homes, you know it, you got to hear it, but I had some recent events here currently that has just made me like realize that, wow, where I'm settling in my life, where I'm meeting, like, certain people are acting a certain way and I'm lowering myself to them and acting the same way but getting mad about it and trying to justify about it. And I'm just like, I'm like, what in the world?

And that's where the better attitude comes in. It's my attitude that I carry around all day and it's what I carry that ultimately projects out to others, but I'm holding it. So my, my attitude, my wife's like staring at me right now. I'm not saying sorry, don't you think that I'm not.

But he says now his attitude of after this long wait, no, give me this hill. Give me what's been promised to me. You yourself heard that the and, and nights were there and their cities were large and fortified. He's, this means so much to him that he is like repeating after 40 years the same thing back saying like, I need you to understand all of these things I understand here.

Everything that we said, all of this is there, but the Lord helping me, I will drive out just as he said, then Joshua blessed Caleb and gave him Hebron and his inheritance. And I love that later on down through it says, and till this day it's named that he, he got what was his. He didn't, he didn't let it, all of the things that happened, he didn't settle for anything. And I don't, I don't know where you're settling at in life right now.

I don't know that. But here's, here's what I do know. To some extent, if we had a routine of settling, we are settling in areas of our lives that were comfortable in, that we don't want to give to God, that we don't want to allow God work in, because we're okay with just being there, because it's challenging to not be there. And only you know where you're settling at.

I'm not someone that believes that you don't know what you're doing. That sounds, that sounds wild to me. I don't know what I'm doing. No, you, you don't want to know what you're doing.

The honest thing to say, a lot of people know what they want to do, and they'll use the excuse, I don't know how to change it. Let me tell you something, if you don't know how to do something, you don't know how to change something, the better question is, do you want to change something? What have you done to change something? I promise if you just start asking yourself some of these questions, because when you ask other people, well, you know, that's when the excuse is starting, you're just like, yeah, I get it.

Like I understand it, but also too, what I'm starting to learn, just like, just like, just like Caleb there, that in helping people, I'll be honest, I've settled guys in some areas of saying, well, that's their problem, until they choose it, they don't, they're never going to get it. There may be some truth to that, but I'm feeling like God has placed us as we get it, and as he, he sent out and he chose people to take the gospel and to tell people about it, we've settled even in our messages of taking the gospel to others and settled at a level of, it's challenging because if they don't want it, but Caleb's ripping his clothes saying, hey, I need you to understand this guys. We got to quit settling on that. If you know it, it's just as much as your job to example it, to give, if you want to be real, well, guess what?

If you're being real isn't real in people in the Christ, then you need to check what you're being real about, because when I trust him and chase after him, it draws people to say, what is that? And that's when we get the great opportunity to say, that's God. That's Jesus. Let me tell you about that.

But it isn't going to kick in until you want to really, how about instead of be real, be real, let's go there with it. Let's start believing in who God is, because then you won't settle and hate yourself. I don't know who I'm talking to, but you won't look at yourself anymore and settle and be like, oh, well, shoot. I did all these things.

I'm all this. I'm all that. I'm all that. And then tell yourself you're trying to get better.

How are you going to continuously tell yourself every single day that you're nothing, you did this, you are this, you are that. I'm receiving that, whatever this is, but then on the other hand, say I'm trying to be better. We're causing confusion in our lives and we're settling is what we're doing. I'm not saying that change is super easy.

I'm going to say like I said a year ago, you do have to trust the process, but a part of the process of change is you really wanting to. When you want to and you put God behind it, I promise you it would happen. I'm going to start to close. Sorry, we're going over a little bit.

So next slide. My wife told me to say God's saying it's time to pivot. We get to talk, we share. I said it's time to level up.

I wrote down just a couple of things that faith brings vision into being. Without it, we'll never step into his promises. Faith reasons from God to difficulties. Unbelievable reasons from difficulties to God.

Attitude, some is going to be like, well, where's that in scripture? Listen, I'm going to let you know that you have to make a choice to receive Christ. Again, he is a loving father. He has all these things, but until you decide that you want to chase after that, and you adopt the attitude and mindset that that's what I'm going for, unfortunately, not much is going to happen.

And forgive me if that's against what you believe. But again, I'm here to try to help really challenge you to say, what am I saying and not doing? But if I'm believing, am I seeking him? If I believe him, am I really chasing after him for him?

Because when I chase after him for him, but don't get what I want, then why is everything so chaotic? Because what I'm searching for is not really who he is or what he's done. So we have to want what he has for us. We have to be tired of settling for less.

It was God in my life that began to work in it, but guys, I had to get tired of Seth doing what Seth wanted to do in Seth's way. And when Seth did get tired and said, hey, will you come in, please? He came right in. He said, Seth, you're going to have to continue to grab my hand and walk towards me.

I have everything for you, but you have to want what I have for you. And this is what I believe we have to do. And then I got ahead of myself with the last quote, but I put, the Holy Spirit does the work that nothing else can do. You have to want God more than you want anything else.

These seem so basic guys, but when you put these things in order, I really believe that things are going to start becoming real in your life. God is going to be more real in your life than he ever has been. And then I just got a couple of scriptures I'm going to run through as I close. If you want to come up, you can come up, bro.

Appreciate it. Second Corinthians 5, 5 in the message, this is just to encourage you guys as we leave here today. The Spirit of God wets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less.

Hebrews 11, 6 says, but without faith, it is impossible to walk with God and please Him. For whoever comes near to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He rewards those who earnestly and diligently seek Him. First on 5, 4 in the Amplify version. For everyone born of God is victorious and overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has conquered and overcome the world. Everyone I want you to see this are continuing. Everyone say continuing. Persistent faith.

It's your faith guys that overcomes a lot of these things that's coming against us. What are you putting your faith in? These are things to ask yourself. Ask yourself today.

Ask yourself this week. Like I said, I don't know where you're settling at. But I know that in His Word and through His Word, you're challenging yourself but really chasing after what God has for you is going to help you get to the place that you ultimately want to be. You won't settle for a period in a certain way.

You won't give up and just be like, I guess it wasn't meant for me. That wasn't God. You won't stop believing and trusting Him. No matter the length of time, time doesn't matter.

You've got to really want to put your trust in Him. And Philippians 1, 6 says, I am convinced and confident of this very thing that He has begun a good work in you will continue to perfect and complete it until the day of Christ. Jesus, the time of His return. Guys listen, here's one thing that I believe we all know as we're learning throughout this life of that.

Time is continuously going. Does everybody in here believe that there is a time coming that Jesus is going to return? Right? So guys, in all of these things that we say, in all of these things that we read and that we try to do throughout the week, getting into our word and doing all these things, I believe when you kick faith into that and wanting to chase after that.

Because my goal a couple of years ago was like, listen, I'm tired of just reading this thing and trying to quote stuff. It's not helping me or anybody else. It's actually hurting because I'm doing something that I don't even understand what I'm doing. Like I want to start seeing you God in everything.

I want to see you for who you really are. I want to see people for how you say they're tired of looking at them and seeing something that they're not. I'm tired of people looking at me for something that I'm not. And if we will just change our attitude by who we're chasing after and why we're chasing after it, I promise you won't have that big of problems with people because you'll realize that you were the biggest problem, not the people.

I'm not here to hurt your feelings this morning. I'm here to be honest with you to let you know that you're in your way. You're in God's way. You are the one that's stopping you from getting to the thing that you're saying that you want to get to.

Nobody else. It's your attitude. It's what you're chasing after. And as we're closing here today, if you all want to go ahead and stand with me.

So this isn't going to be like a normal altar call guys. I don't know what you've said yes to. I don't know if you've ever truly said yes to God or somebody else encouraged you or you did it to appear a certain way in front of somebody. Maybe your boss asked you to come to church and you're looking at like, oh, that's what he's doing this and all sorts of stuff.

Or anybody's salvation and you're getting up there like, yeah, listen, I don't know why or when or how or if you have or haven't accepted Christ into your life. But I do know that the moment that you do, you've activated something that's never been activated in your life before. And I know that at that moment, if you will choose to really press into that because it's what he's done for you that's going to change everything for you. And when that gets deep down into your spirit that it's who he is and what he's done, your attitude towards everything will change.

You'll check when you're off. You'll be like, oh man, I got to reel it back in. I got to focus on some things here because I've been going left field here. You'll stop getting frustrated at all these secondary things and you'll start saying, all right, I need to come back in.

I need to focus on what God's focused on. And the more you do that, I know for a fact because I've witnessed it in my Bible and in my life that the more I just trust him, because I'm telling you, the more you will start to see him in your life and things start to be really set free. I want to see people free. So today, all I want to ask is that if God has, if you've accepted Christ into your life and you said, I want to follow you, I just want to ask today that maybe you've settled for less.

Would anybody in here be willing to raise their hand to say, there's areas of my life I've settled for less than. Now here's the great thing about this guy. Maybe you didn't raise your hand because here's the other thing God hit me with. I'll let you know that I was looking at things like the way people responded to something I thought that that was, whether God was in it or not.

Like if someone's raising their hand at, oh man, that's really, that's great. And I'm thankful for you raising your hand, but here's what I want more than anything for everybody standing in here today. The area that you think you're settling less than or just anything at all or what you raised your hand for, I don't know you know that. And the ones that didn't raise their hand, I don't know if you want to raise your hand or you don't.

But what I want to say is that if you will switch your attitude from all the negativeness or anything and everything else that's outside of Christ, and you'll say, I'm going to get what's mine. I'm not going to settle. I believe that within this week your life will start to change. I really, truly believe that.

So as we go to pray, I want you to pray on your own to him to say, hey, I'm sorry for settling. Sorry for whatever it is I might need to be sorry for, but more than sorry, I'm going to do better. Because it's time to level up. It's time to pivot.

I'm tired of hearing about how bad the world is. Because guess what? Just as bad as it is. I see just as good as it is.

I see people getting saved. I see people turning to Christ. I see people's hearts opening up and people are doing good things. I'm tired of focusing on the negative because guess what?

If I focus on the good, good's going to come. I just read that. And good's going to come to the others because of that. And I just believe, just maybe, if we take all of our focus on everything else that is distracting us and we set our attitudes on positive things that I believe in my heart, our community is going to change.

I'm not trying to, listen, I'm not trying to get this all in. I'm trying to let you really know something I believe guys are trying to show us. It's our attitudes combined with our faith in the Holy Spirit that's going to change things, but not until we change our attitudes. I don't need to hear another person say, oh, the drugs are getting bad.

The drugs have been bad for years. The violence is bad. They've been doing crazy stuff for years. I mean, we can go back in history and look at how it repeats itself, right?

Well, guess what? If that repeats itself, then what maybe do we need to change that we're doing? The attitude that, oh, well, it's going to come back around? Yeah, it is because you're talking to bring it back around.

Guys, when are we going to stand up and say, I need an attitude adjustment? I want to see what he wants to see. Listen, I know you all see lunch right now. I get it.

And you're probably wondering like, hey, where's like, man, things are changing up a little bit. The coffee's downstairs. Like, what's happening? Right?