Skip to content You Can Do It | Joshua 17:7-18 | Pastor Diego Mesa Sep 11 · 45 min ...more
September 11, 2025 · 45 min · Patria Sermons
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
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0:00 Praise God. Yes. You guys would be As you know, if you don't know, you would be extremely proud of our ministry. How we are more than a church on off of Foothill0:11 Boulevard just ministering to this community. We really have a global international presence of how we touch so many so many thousands, whether they are related0:23 to children, or devastations in this world, or just simple needs. That's why we challenge you to give, So that we will as a church always be in a position to meet the opportunity of0:35 broken and hurting people. And so that's what you allow us to do when you give. It dollar goes here, the other dollar goes here, the other dollar goes here. Now, we recognize there's so many hurting people out there in0:47 needs, we're able to do that. So we will never be able to share with you all the things we do when someone knocks on a door on this church and it needs needs a meal0:59 or needs a place to stay. We we can offer them prayer and say, may the Lord bless you and keep you. Hallelujah. We're Christians. But that don't go too far when they've got a tummy that needs to be fed. And so we've got1:11 to go to our spiritual warehouse called the called the the the you know, what's the word I'm looking for?1:22 No. Storehouse. So so you bring all the money into the storehouse so that distribution can be made. The storehouse is God's spiritual bank account. So that1:34 when you give we put that money in the storehouse so that we could give to those needs. So I wanna thank you for that. Are you ready for the word? Are you ready to grow tonight? Are you are you hungry? Yeah. We wanna put1:46
1:58 we could better represent you. In Jesus name, amen. Let's stand on our feet. We're gonna read. I wanna come alongside my colleagues,
2:10 the individual teaching staff that has been preaching every week about the book of Joshua. And we are gonna continue to complement what has been said over the last few weeks. And we're just gonna center
2:22 in on Joshua 17 and now verse number 12. Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities. But the Canaanite were determined
2:34 to dwell in that land. The Canaanites were the arch enemy of Israel. And it happened when the children of Israel grew strong, which basically means they multiplied. They began to increase in numbers.
2:46 That they put the Canaanites to force labor. There's a big but. You gotta see this big but. But did not utterly drive them out. So they still had Canaanites. They still
2:58 had opposition. They still had hindrances. They still had sin or whatever you want to think of when you relate to the Canaanites, they allowed them to stay. Then the children of Joseph which are
3:09 Manasseh and Ephraim that that were tribes and it says then the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua which is again Ephraim and Manasseh. Why have you given us only
3:21 1 lot or 1 share to inherit? Why have you only given us this territory, these amount of acres? That's what he's saying. Since we are a great people or
3:33 we have a lot of population within us. In as much as the Lord has blessed us until now. So Joshua answered their complaint. The problem. God always has
3:45 an answer. God always has an answer to your complaint or your problem. So Joshua answered them, if you are a great people, you got so many people, then go up to the
3:57 forest country and clear a place. Come on now. For yourself there in the land of the parasites and the giants since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined to
4:09 you for you. But the children of Joseph said, the mountain country is not enough for us. And all the Canaanites who dwell in that land in the valley How many of you
4:20 didn't recognize? It sounds a little bit like Numbers 13 when they said we cannot go out and possess the land. They're too mighty. They're too strong for us. And all the Canaanites who dwell in that land, the valley,
4:32 have watch this, underline this, remember this word, we can't do it because they've got chariots of iron. Both those who are at Bethshian and in the towns and those who are in
4:44 the valley of Jezreel. And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, which again are his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh saying, come on now. Come on now. Stop all this
4:56 complaining. I can't do. Too hard to have a tough marriage, good marriage. Too hard to raise a family. Too hard to be a shut up, he says. You are a great people Yes. And have
5:07 great power. You shall not have only 1 lot or 1 little space. But the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its
5:19 farthest extent shall be yours. You shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong. Amen. Sit down.
5:34 Amen. God will listen to you. He'll tolerate your complaints for a minute, and then he's gonna Swap. Swap. Okay. Thank you. And then he's gonna remind you who you are Right. In him and
5:45 what the promises of God are like. So I just simply wanna title this, you can do it. Notice the statement that's gonna go on the screen, which kinda talks about,
5:57 you can do it no matter what you are facing today because God said it. That's why you can do it. Second principle, you can do it if you believe it because God has
6:09 promised it to you. And the third reason why you can do it, you can do it so that so don't be fearful or scared because God is with you.
6:22 Thank you. Praise God. You're rejoicing already. Amen. From verse number 7 to verse number 11, we see Manasseh and Ephraim, again, the sons of
6:34 Joseph. And this allotment of territory of the promised land as it's being divided. But then we scoot to what we just read where they're complaining that they're growing too large and
6:45 multiplying and have children having children. And now they're in a confined space. They're they're in a crowded space. Today, I'm gonna tell you 4 stories, and I'm gonna drive what you just read by
6:57 4 stories. There's a story first of a family of 4 that were living in a 1 bedroom home. And it was really, really crowded. They were
7:09 bumping into each other. There was 1 sink. There was 1 toilet. I mean, you virtually could you couldn't go through the hallway. It was just very, very small. And a friend heard about them in this
7:21 crowded little house, and he said, you know what? Down the street is a great deal on a house that's a 4 bedroom house. I heard that it's just like a little bit more than your
7:32 pain. And the guy said, sounds like a great deal. I'm gonna go ahead and investigate. Sometime later, they bumped into each other, and the friend asked him, how's it going
7:44 with you in that new house? He said, it's it's very, very crowded. He said, what do you mean it's very, very crowded? Have you added more children? Have have you gotten larger?
7:56 What's going on? He said, no. It's just very, very crowded because the previous owners have not left the house, and now it's really, really crowded. That's what you just read.
8:09 It's their their lives are miserable and it's crowded because they've allowed the Canaanites to stay in that land. And if they would have driven them out, it would have been plenty of room.
8:23 So here's what you and I can learn from this story, and it's gonna be driven in all that I'm gonna talk about today. You're gonna hear this word questioning. We're gonna question why there's failure
8:35 sometimes And why there was failure in this story that we read. And we'll carry that theme throughout what we're gonna talk about today. Question. Say this with me. Why is there failure?
8:47 Why is there failure? I mean, wants to know that. Whether it's related to someone else or whether it's related to you. Why is there failure? Why am I failing? Well, the first thing you learn from
8:59 this story is this. There's failure because they failed to drive out something that God wanted driven out of their life. They failed to kick out something that God wanted them to kick
9:11 out. They were living beneath their privileges. And so many times, God will say, I want you to eliminate this. No more no more getting high. No more. No
9:22 no no no more loose Lucy. No more wild Javier. I want you to get rid of them now, but you don't wanna get rid of them. No more debt now. Don't be eating out all the time. Let's save money.
9:34 Let's get out of debt. Let me know when I'm her offending you a little bit or stepping on your toes. But we don't wanna do that. We're like we're we're like the
9:46 children of Israel. We just want these things to stay in our lives. I know they're hurtful. I I I know I know they're harmful, and I know they're making my life harder, but I
9:58 want them to stay. And I'm not gonna enforce the authority to take authority over the enemy that is making my life a havoc or difficult. Reason why there's failure.
10:10 It could go like this. How did these unfortunate situations or unfortunate predicaments that we are now living in, how did they happen? Well, they happened in this story because they
10:22 were fearful. And they happen in our lives because we get scared. They happen because we wanna be popular and we wanna be liked. So I don't wanna have to make the tough call. I don't wanna offend nobody. I
10:34 don't wanna ask them to leave. I don't wanna separate myself from them. I don't wanna stop calling them because I wanna be popular. I don't wanna tell them they can't act that way around me. I don't wanna do that. I
10:46 wanna be liked. I know I should be doing it, but I'm just kinda procrastinate. I'm hesitating. I'll do it someday. And that's why we're in the predicament. Or maybe it's just
10:57 simply, I don't wanna change. And I like them in my life. I like how they make me feel and I like the lifestyle, so I don't wanna give it up. That's why Jesus
11:09 asked the man at the pool of Bethesda, do you wanna be made well? And you're gonna have to answer Jesus. Because he can alter your circumstances. He can deliver you and he can save you out. But you have to
11:21 answer the question, do you want to be made well? And now, has this now put us, this predicament that we are in, in a place where they're at, where now
11:33 we have excuses and reasons and blaming others. It's not my fault that I that I'm where I'm at today. And I have an excuse. How many of you know there are
11:44 professional people that have doctorates in today? They got an excuse for everything, but it's never their fault. It's always the man. I'm waiting to meet the person that
11:56 comes up to me and says, my I wanna introduce myself. I'm the man that has made the world a living hell and difficult. The predicament people are in now is they're
12:08 complaining and frustrated, full of anxiety, or they're showing a level of ingratitude of saying it's it's not fair and it's not my fault.
12:20 Have you ever been walking somewhere or hike hiking somewhere and you just are walking along and you see some dog poop in the road or the sidewalk or the
12:32 path. And you you're walking there and, I mean, it's a healthy 1 if if I could be descriptive for a moment. It's it's not like a little poodle or chihuahua that you hardly
12:44 can see and throw a little dirt on it. I I I mean, how many it's it's like a gopher mound that you're looking at. It's like a cow patty. And you're thinking, did not the owner see
12:56 their dogs squat and dump this thing. But now they expect me to pick up their dog crap. And people always want someone else to pick up their
13:08 crap instead of cleaning up their own crap for their life. Let me tell you a story, story number 2. When
13:20 I was a junior in high school, I had finally got my driver's license and my parents gave me a 19 70 LTD. So the
13:32 first story is about the house. The second story is about the car. It avocado green just like that. It was as big as from this stage to the back of this church.
13:45 Man, I had to lean to myself. I mean, pastor Adam over there I don't know where he was cruising. I was cruising down Whittier Boulevard. True story. That's where I cruised, down Whittier Boulevard.
13:57 And and, you know, and I could my friends could get free rides, and I could not have to, hitch a ride. Do you remember, did anybody hitch a ride like this? Well, that's in my day. That's what you did when you wanted to
14:08 go. You wanna take the bus? You just hitched a ride. You put it out. There was a safer time where you could do that, hitchhike. Why do I have to do that anymore? I had my own wheels now. I had freedom. I was
14:20 liberated. We go to the drive in theater. We could go out to eat. I could take my friends wherever. We could have all that. Well, that lasted about 2 months, and
14:32 then the engine blew up. So I went to my parents and I said, listen, you did me wrong. You ripped me off. It's your responsibility now to give me a new
14:43 car. They looked at me and they laughed and said the first car was free. The second car you will earn and work for. I spent the whole summer working at a mechanic shop. I earned
14:55 1200 dollars to buy a 19 65 Volkswagen. That's what the that's what you just read. Give me. Give me. Give me. My name is Jimmy. You
15:08 gave me the land, but I want more. More. More. More. How do you like it? How do you like it? I don't wanna work for it. I don't wanna earn it. Someone else, I want Freebie, freebie, freebie, freebie.
15:20 Free medical. Free checks in the mail. Free out. Free out. I don't wanna work for nothing. I wanna earn nothing. And Joshua said, shut up. If you want it, go drive them
15:31 out. Go clear the forest. God gave you the strength to do it. He's given you the resources to do it. He's blessed you. And I I learned a lesson
15:44 that day that I needed to take responsibility now for myself. So, again, the question of why there's failure in this story as it relates to what we're saying today is this,
15:55 That just because the first time came easy doesn't mean every other time is gonna come easy in your life. And the opposite is just because it's hard doesn't mean that God's not in it.
16:08 We have a generation that runs from hard. Runs from work. Runs from labor. Runs from difficulty. We want everything to be easy. We want our marriages to be
16:20 easy. We want our our our careers to be quick, successful, and easy. But usually, if you don't have the character to back that up, it will
16:32 be lost and stolen just that quick. And so there's nothing wrong with work. There's nothing wrong with laboring. There's nothing wrong with that.
16:44 But it seems as though the children of Israel didn't want it that way. The failure comes this way. It's it's it's it's what we see as a disadvantage. It'll say on the screen.
16:56 It it's what we see as a disadvantage can actually turn out to be an advantage. It's gonna become now your motivation. Okay. You only have a twelfth grade
17:07 education. Okay. You've got, you know, some autistic things in your life. You're dyslexic in your life. There's some disability that you have. That looks
17:19 like a disadvantage, but in the hands of God, God can make it an advantage that now you will stand out amongst all the other people, and you will be you'll drive harder. You'll be motivated.
17:31 You'll be passionate to prove everyone wrong that wrote you off. So what looks like a disadvantage is actually an advantage. I can hear Zach shouting who's up here in the wheelchair.
17:47 I got a piece of Zach's art hanging on my wall. You would think, guy who's got cerebral palsy do artwork? Yeah. It's hanging on my wall.
17:59 I don't know what you're complaining about. I don't know what lack you didn't have and what you didn't grow up with and
18:11 but you know what? God is bigger and God is greater than. And let me be a poster boy for that. Yeah. That God can turn your disadvantage
18:22 absolutely into advantage that brings motivation. I at least I think about my life that I have had to learn more with my eyes than learn with my
18:34 ears. I've had to learn more from my heart than my head. But once I discovered that my heart is just as strong as my head, if not
18:46 stronger, and once I learned that my eyes are just as powerful as my ears see, because my ears couldn't comprehend what you're saying because I couldn't remember it. You talk
18:58 over my head. I don't do it. I I don't I I'm gonna get an f. I can't retain what you said. I don't understand what you're saying. You can say it 1000 times, but let me see it. Let me see
19:09 it, and it's logged in, and I got it. So what turned out to be a disadvantage actually can become an
19:21 advantage in your life. And the reality is because you drove out and conquered and achieved and believed, now you have a confidence that you didn't have
19:33 before. Now you have a courage that you didn't have before. Now you have character that you didn't have before. Now you have competency that you didn't have before. Now you have a story
19:45 that you didn't have before. Yes. It was tough. Yes. It was difficult. But by faith, you work through it and you trusted God and you did your part and God did his part.
19:57 And now you're where you're at today. Hallelujah. I remember there will be times in the ministry when I felt the need to give large sums of money
20:08 like we're doing to a nonprofit or a mission or or a need that I heard. And and and I knew that we didn't have the capital nor the money to give a 10025
20:20 thousand dollar, whatever it was at that time. And I remember saying, Lord, if you really want me to give this 10000 or this 25000 to this need that I heard, then I ask you because
20:32 I knew how much I we needed to bring in every week just like you know what you need to bring in monthly to run your household. It's the way the ministry runs. Thank God for the hallelujahs. I thank you, Jesus, and
20:44 the praises of God. But but how many of you know the electricity don't collector don't care about the hallelujah and the praise God and the thank you, Jesus. The mortgage company don't care about your hallelujah. Praise
20:54 God. They just want your, your money. And so we have to we had to run we run the ministry through a budget and through stewardship and all that. But this need would come up, and I say, Lord,
21:06 if this is of you and you want me to give it, then I believe you for 10 or 25000 dollars above what we need to come in. And if you grant that, I promise
21:18 you that I will if God's my witness. Every time I prayed that prayer, God gave the 10, the 15, the 20, and the 25000 dollars. What does that mean?
21:30 I'm in a position now where I know how to believe God for income. I know how to believe God for finances. What looked like a disadvantage actually put me in an advantage now,
21:42 which developed my faith, developed my prayer life, developed me stepping out in in obedience to do what God told me to do. Let me tell you another story. The
21:53 story of where I grew up. And I I live next to him a friend of mine. His name was Lucho. And we were buddies, Lucho, me and him. And but the problem with Lucho's
22:05 with side by side homes. This is the story of the rap. I told you this story. What was the first story? The house. Second story is the Ford, the LTD car. This is the story of the
22:17 rat. Now when I talk about the rat, I'm not talking about Mickey Mouse rat. I'm not talking about ratatouille rat for I'm a date myself. I'm talking about Willard, Ben rat.
22:30 Come on now. Michael Jackson, Ben, the 2 of us need look no more. We have found what we were
22:42 looking for. Excuse me. I flashback. Anyways, ain't ain't none of that cute. Ain't nothing cute about the Benz in that house. It listen. I'm
22:54 not exact it was infested with rats. Infested with rats. 1 day, Rucho asked me if I'd spend the night. I he was my buddy. I said, okay. I'll spend the night.
23:06 Alright. He said, well, before we go to bed, you want some cereal? I said, yeah. Every kid likes cereal breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Let's have cereal. Not I'm not Jesus. I
23:17 opened that he said, where I said, where's the cereal? Said, that upper cabinet. I opened it up and a rat jumped out of the cabinet and over my shoulder. You know how the cartoons are when that guy goes through the wall
23:29 and there's an image of him? That's what I did. I ran home like Booker T. I'll never go into that house again.
23:40 They had the ability to call an exterminator, but they tolerated their rats. They learned to live with their rats. Their rats became friends.
23:52 They shower, there goes a rat. They go to bed, there goes a rat. They just live their lives as normal around the rats.
24:03 That's the children of Israel, what they did. As long as the rats don't bite us and we don't get poisoned and sick, it's okay. We brought them under submission.
24:15 They now work for us, but we're not gonna ask them to leave. And so there was a form of compromise in their lifestyle
24:28 that happened. And so I I grew up with a neighbor that compromised and could have easily exterminated all those rats but chose not to do it. So here's the question of the failure that
24:40 we're gonna look at today through this story that I just shared with you about the rats. We think we can handle it better than getting the help sometimes.
24:51 Pastor Kenny runs what we just described today to help people with bad habits and hurts and hang ups. People say, I don't need to go to no therapist. I don't need no no go to no counselor. I I don't need no
25:03 help. I could do it on my own. That's the story of the rats, the neighbors, Lucho. Didn't wanna call for help. And and the failure is is that if you can't
25:15 solve the problem and it's it's ongoing and it's reoccurring, then you need to go get help. Whether that's whether that's the help of a man, but ultimately the help of Jesus
25:26 to come into your life and help and rescue you. The failure in the story is the fact that we think it's not as bad, and I can live with it. So we tolerate it, and we ignore it.
25:39 It's not that bad. And then the problem is is we think we've done it. Oh, I've already done that. You know, how many of us have heard people that have trouble and you bring counsel and wisdom?
25:51 They, oh, I've already done that. It doesn't work. I've been doing that a long time. And that's the way the people I I confronted them. I talked to them. I
26:03 disciplined. I forced, but you didn't complete the job, children of Israel. You forced them to labor, but you tolerated them. When you should
26:15 have driven it out, when you should have just that's it. When you should have put the consequences in place or whatever it might look like. You think that you've you've done enough.
26:27 And sometimes, God always has a 1 percent of 1 percent that says, no, you didn't do enough. It's how quickly people end in divorce. And I wish I could fight for
26:38 people not to end. They don't even understand that and no condemnation to anybody. But from here on out, don't don't divorce no more. You can't. Yes. God forbid that
26:50 an affair takes place or physical abuse takes place or abandonment takes place, then you're gonna come and talk to pastor Kenny, and he'll counsel you through that and give you wisdom on that. But not just
27:01 because I got a toilet seat issue or my mate is getting fat. Amen. There's consequences in in I I I
27:13 honestly believe that there's consequences from a spiritual perspective. When you break the holy covenant of God. And I'll leave that alone because this isn't the place to talk about that.
27:25 But the reality is this, is that we think we've done enough to stay married. I've tried. I've done everything I could. So many times me and pastor have compare Kenny, I've compared
27:37 notes. I don't know that they've done they've done enough of what they in their flesh wanna do, but they've not submitted to God and done what God asked them to do. And then last of
27:49 all, we allow the obstacle and the opposition to wear us down and to weary us down. And because of that, we begin to compromise and we begin
28:00 to conform and we begin to actually become complacent in that situation. Here's the last point, the last story I wanna talk about. I've talked about him
28:12 before. This is the story of the bully and the failure in the children of Israel and this and the failure in this story. I
28:24 had a neighborhood kid. His name was Kenny. And Kenny was, the neighborhood bully. Not like our pastor Kenny.
28:36 Pastor Kenny's sweet. But everybody knows who Kenny is because Kenny is this little kid who's got peach fuzz on his face as a little kid. Kenny is this guy that has
28:47 definition and muscles as a little kid when you and I have baby fat. Anybody know who I'm talking about today? And and Kenny is very, very intimidating. He
28:59 has already got his changed voice, and he already talks like a man. And so Kenny has a little bit of a reputation. And Kenny is strong, and Kenny
29:11 is big, and and Kenny is scary for us. And that's the way Kenny was. If Kenny wanted my lunch money, he got my lunch money. If
29:23 he put his fist in my face, I trembled because his fist was in his face. If he told me to go do something, like that what's that movie called Friday when that guy, that bully shows up and they
29:35 don't act like you don't know it. See, somebody's yelling at his name right away. I'm a Christian. I don't watch movies like that. I know what the heck you're talking about. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus.
29:43 What's his name? Yeah. See yeah. What's the name of that the the guy in the Bible that that Jesus ministered at night and got
29:55 saved? You don't even know Nicodemus, but you you know Devo. Devo. Devo. Devo. Devo. Didn't know Nicodemus. You're gonna be a great altar call today. People gonna get saved and delivered
30:07 today. I'm messing you up. You're never gonna watch Friday again and what let's see. You'll never be the same. You'll never be the same. So way Kenny was.
30:19 He intimidated everybody. When Kenny when when he had a fight, he won. It was a massacre. You you didn't you couldn't put a hand on Kenny. Okay? Well, I I
30:31 just simply got frustrated with Kenny. That he was making my life miserable. And I just didn't think it was right that I would be so scared of a guy that was my age.
30:43 And so I finally got mad. I got mad at myself. So I asked my dad to buy me a punching bag and put it in the garage and teach me how to throw a punch. I asked my dad to buy
30:55 me a little weight set and and to teach me how to do, like, militaries and curls. And and I spent weeks and and literally months hitting the bag and building a little bit of
31:07 muscle. And I'll never forget the day that Kenny showed up again. Like a little duck, I I on the outside, I look cool, but on the inside, my feet underwater were going 1000 miles
31:18 an hour as my heart was going 1000 miles an hour. And Kenny came and he challenged me again. I said, Kenny, I'm not as scared of you, Kenny. Do what you're gonna do, Kenny, but I'm not gonna
31:30 listen to you anymore. I'm not your puppet. I'm not your toy, and I go ahead and throw the first blow. Go for it. He looked at get out of here, Diego, and walked. Never had a problem with Kenny for the rest of he
31:42 tormented everybody else in the neighborhood. And all of a sudden, I became Kenny's best bud, put his arm around me. Let's go places together, Diego. Because I stood up to Kenny.
31:53 They finally stood up to the to the to the opposition that was keeping them from growing when Joshua said, come on now.
32:05 You're bigger, you're stronger, you're better than what you're telling yourself you can do. So as I close with this, here is where they failed and here's what we can learn and they'll be on the screen and I'll finish
32:17 this with these last statements that we'll look at today. When we look at these is this, what we we fail because we think that the obstacle or the opposition is greater than God's ability
32:29 in us. I can't do that. I I I have a a friend. He's 60 years old. I ride road road bikes with him. And and what's going on, Matt? He says, man, I'm going to Chaffey College. What are you doing at 60
32:41 years old going to Chaffey College? Because I wanna learn how to write a book, so I'm going through a a a book writing class. Man, good for you, buddy. Good for you at 60 years old. I mean, he's
32:53 a he's a successful big exec at Panda Inn making good money, and he's over there doing something like that. And so you and I have to recognize no matter what obstacle, no matter what hindrance, no matter
33:05 what opposition, the god in me is greater than. He's gonna help me to get through that. The other failure that we might look at is this, is that when we are doing things alone and without
33:16 others. Manasseh and Eve from you if you're if you're gonna do the if you're the only 1 that's you're not gonna do this, get all those people that I told you, you have a number of them. Work
33:28 together, clear the forests out, and take the land. And so things are always gonna be tough, and you're gonna failure fail when you're trying to do things alone rather than
33:40 incorporating a team. The strongest people are not the strongest because they're individuals. They're strongest because they have a team around them,
33:52 a team of accountability, a team of cheerleaders, a t team of counselors, a a team of encouragers, a teams of intercessors, a a team to help me to be a better father and a husband. It's the
34:04 team and not the aloneness, I don't need nobody attitude. I could do this myself. I've so I heard so many men say, you know what? I I just come to church, but I don't
34:15 have no no friends in that church. And what's wrong with you? There's a lot of people. A lot of people. Well, I wanna challenge you. What what is your longest friendship relationship that you
34:27 have? Mine is the ninth grade. His name is Robert Sierra. I still maintain that if your relationships are only a few years old and you only got a 2 or 3 of
34:39 them, there's something wrong with your personality because you don't want people to see the real you. So the moment they see you, the real you, you cut them off. You back off now. Success
34:53 is that you do life with others. So the reality of this is this, we fail, here's the next 1, 2 more and we're done, Fail when we have unhealthy growth. They had
35:05 growth in numbers. They had growth in numbers, but they didn't have growth in their faith. And there are people, I got a big house. I got a big income. I got big positions, I got
35:16 this, I got that, but are you growing in your faith? That's unhealthy growth. There are a lot of pastors who have big church, mega churches, but they fall by the wayside. That's unhealthy growth. Cause you don't have the
35:28 character to back that up. You don't have the behavior. You don't have the lifestyle. You're caught up into the popularity, the glamour, the glitz, styling and profiling. Not pastors
35:39 alone, but you and I. So you don't you don't want unhealthy growth. You want balanced growth. I wanna grow in my office, but I wanna grow in my house and my family. I wanna just grow in 1 area of my life.
35:51 I wanna be able to grow in the areas that are challenging for me. I wanna have 3 60 growth in my life. And the last point, and we'll be done is this. When there is more
36:03 available, but we settle. We compromise. We're complacent. He said, man, there's so much more land. You're living beneath your benefits. You're living beneath your
36:15 your your potential. Don't settle. You can you can do more. You can have more. You can be more with the grace of God that's in you and with you and for you. Don't
36:27 settle, single lady, for a man that that that that can't push you forward. That don't settle for a for a man that's not already where you are
36:38 where you wanna be. Don't don't settle for a man that that you you have to be whatever his sugar daddy or sugar mama, not sugar daddy, sugar mama. But we
36:50 settle because I don't know if I'll get another date. So you settle. And vice versa, men do it all the time too. They do the same
37:02 thing. So so just don't don't settle for the the the enemy's lies that you're gonna be sick and you're gonna die before your time and your grandma died of breast cancer, your mama died of breast cancer, so you're gonna
37:13 die of breast cancer. Well, know what? That curse is under the blood of Jesus, and there's the law found in first Peter 2 24 that says by Jesus' stripes, you're healed. And I don't care how many failures of your fathers
37:25 and grandfathers and the genealogy of men. That curse is under the blood of Jesus, and your daddy is is Jesus Christ as God the father, and you have the ability to make a a new pathway in your life.
37:37 I don't care about nobody ever renting in your life and never owning. You're gonna break that curse, And you're gonna have an inheritance because the Bible promises you for your children's
37:49 children, and you're gonna come out of debt even though your your grandmama, your daddy left you with all debt and all the kids had to come together to bury them. You're gonna live in a place of prosperity, good
38:00 stewardship, stewardship, and you don't settle. Father, I thank you for the message today. We learned a lot from a simple story, from Ephraim and Manasseh and how you
38:12 challenge them Through the words of Joshua, don't settle. God has so much more. And greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, and that you could do all
38:23 things through Christ that strengthens you. Father, I thank you today that spirit of a conqueror is on the people today. The spirit of an overcomer is on the people,
38:35 and the spirit of somebody that triumphs against adversity rather than bows down to it. May they rise up against the challenge of this of the lie of this life and drive
38:47 out things that could scare them, God. The children of Israel were intimidated by these iron chariots, God. They saw these iron chariots just like they look at the kidneys of life, and they're
38:59 so scary. They're so threatening. They're so intimidating, oh God. Iron chariots are heavy. Iron chariots make a lot of noise. Iron chariots are indestructible.
39:11 But through you, oh God, we can even drive out the most horrendous iron chariots that are in our life. In Jesus' name, amen.
39:27 As we get ready to leave this church, thank you for coming to church today. When I was thinking about my friend, Charlie, I thought aboutShow more
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