Skip to content The Mission of Life - Binge Worthy, Part 3 Mar 6 · 45 min ...more
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
156K followers
Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
156K followers
0:00 So this is the third week of this, series that we're doing, binge worthy. And we are, doing this, this message today on the movie, no time to0:12 die. The, the most recent installment of the James Bond saga. And they they say it's gonna be the last James Bond movie. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's what they0:23 say. And just a disclaimer before I start, because you know Tim does this with you too, so I might as well. I'm gonna completely and utterly spoil this whole movie for you today just so you know. It's gonna0:35 happen but it's for a good cause because I really believe that you're gonna see Christ through this today, right? Amen? Alright. And let's be honest anyway, you don't watch a James Bond movie for the storyline anyway.0:47 Alright? You watch it for the action scenes. We all know that so don't act that upset that I'm gonna ruin the story for you. In this movie of James Bond, Daniel Craig is playing James0:59 Bond just like he has for the last 20 years now. I will say I'm a little biased. I love Daniel Craig. I think he's probably the best James Bond that there's ever been. But then again,1:11 you know, in my generation the only 2 James Bonds I can remember is Daniel Craig and in the ninety's was Pierce Brosnan. So I don't really have much to compare it to, you know what I'm saying? So I'll pick Daniel Craig.1:22 And I know some of you guys are gonna be like, no, it was Sean Connery. Okay. Yeah. Oh, alright. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And half of you guys weren't even around in the sixties so I don't even wanna hear it. It wasn't him.1:32 Come on. Sheesh. Like 2 of you could actually remember Sean Connery from the sixties. But no. This James Bond movie is like any other James1:44 Bond movie. It's the same same theme. Right? James Bond is going to He he has a mission to do and his mission is to to save the world from some evil villain and evil1:56 plot that's gonna destroy and wipe out all of mankind. And so it's the the same story that we've seen over and over again. But in this 1, it's there's a little more of a twist because in this2:07 1, it's James Bond saving the world and and he's got his mission, but at the same time James Bond has moved into a new season in life. He's he's much much older now. Which which makes sense because Daniel Craig has been2:19 playing James Bond since 2005 or 2006. So you know they're sticking to their actor here. And so it's the same theme. There's still a mission. The only difference is is it's a2:31 different season. And what we're gonna look at today in scripture is a man that that also had a mission. A man named Caleb2:43 who we're gonna see was faithful to his mission through every season of life. And if you don't know who Caleb is, Caleb was 1 of the original2:54 Israelites that God had, delivered out of Egypt, out of slavery. Right? Caleb, you heard of Caleb and Joshua. Right? They almost went hand in hand together. Caleb was 1 of the3:06 12 spies that Moses sent into the promised land to to spy out the promised land. Caleb represented the tribe of Judah. Right? Judah, we we know a few kings3:18 probably that came from Judah. Right? You know, that's that's the tribe that Caleb represented. And and Caleb was actually 1 of only 2 people out of that original group of Israelites that came out of that God3:29 delivered out of Egypt. He was 1 of only 2 people that actually made it into the promised land. The rest of that original generation of Israelites ends up dying in the wilderness,3:41 and God brings their offspring, the children of them, into the promised land except for except for Joshua and Caleb. And we're gonna see why God chose3:53 to bring Caleb into the promised land right here in this passage. So if you have your bibles with you, we're gonna open up to numbers chapter 14 verse 20 through4:05 24. And I'm gonna get it in my bible here because I'm not a very good preacher if I don't open up my bible. Right? Amen? So I'm gonna read along with you here. Numbers chapter 14 verse4:17 20 through 24. And if you could, let's stand together as we read God's word this morning. It says, the Lord replied,4:29 I have forgiven them as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, no 1, not 1 of those who4:41 saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, but who disobeyed me and tested me 10 times, not 1 of them will ever see the land I promised on4:53 oath to their ancestors. No 1 who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. But because my servant Caleb had a different spirit. Everybody say different5:04 spirit. Different spirit. Yes. Different spirit. And follows me wholeheartedly. I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants5:16 will inherit it. This is God's word. Let's pray together. Father God, I just ask right now in this moment, Lord, that you just take out of my head, take out of my heart anything that's not from you, anything5:28 you don't wanna you don't want said to your people, Lord. Lord, please open the hearts of every single person in this room, Lord. Speak through me, Holy Spirit, this morning, and speak and touch the hearts like only5:40 you can do, Lord, with every person in this room. We wanna see you Jesus and we want your name glorified in this place this morning. In your mighty name we pray. Amen. And you guys5:52 can have a seat. The title of my message today is the mission of life. The mission of life. We6:04 all have a mission in life. I hear people ask the question all the time or they at least think about it all the time, what is my mission? What is my purpose in life? I I think6:16 purpose and mission in this context, really those 2 words are interchangeable. They go hand in hand right? What is my purpose in life? What is my mission in life? And if you6:28 are a follower of Jesus, if you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ and you've been and you've been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and changed into a new creation, the answer to that question is very very simple.6:40 And if you have your notes, I want you to write it down. Your mission is to glorify God with your life. That is your mission. What does that mean to glorify God? The 2 greatest6:52 commandments. Jesus said it. To love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love people. Love your neighbor as yourself. If you wanna break it down even more, how do we love people? By sharing the gospel to the7:02 nations. Giving them the hope of the world that's found in Christ. Our mission is not a dream7:14 home, believe it or not. Our mission is not a a career. Our our mission is not a spouse. Our7:26 our mission is not children. I know that's surprising to some of you, but our your mission and purpose in life, your ultimate purpose is not children. I got twins coming, so pray for me on that 1. Okay?7:38 Yeah. Yeah. The only people saying, woo, are the people that don't have twins coming. Okay? But that's not our mission in life. Right? Those are7:49 blessings. Those are beautiful things that God has blessed us with and we are called to be responsible with those things. We are called to be good stewards with those things that God's given us. But our ultimate mission7:59 is to glorify him. And we should be using all those blessings that God has given us in our life to ultimately be used to glorify the name above every name which is Jesus. And8:11 this And the interesting thing and the amazing thing is is is when we make Jesus our ultimate mission of our life, you become a better husband and a better wife. You become a better friend8:23 to people. You become a better father. You become a better a worker and and and financial advisor when you make Jesus your ultimate mission.8:35 But whether we choose the real mission we were created for which is to glorify him or not. Whether we choose that or not, you will always have a mission and purpose in your life. You just8:47 will. In in this clip at the at the beginning of, the James Bond movie, James Bond thinks He gets away. He escapes to an island. He thinks he's retired,8:59 and he thinks for a second that the missions are over. And he don't got any more missions to do in life that now he's just gonna relax for the rest of his life. And an old friend shows up and kind of reminds9:11 them, nah that's that's not really the case. So take a take a look at this this clip. Notice at the end9:23 there James Bond says, I I don't know if you've got the memo but I'm retired. I'm retired from the mission. And this is a great illustration to show that no matter what, there9:35 will always be a mission and purpose in our lives. And in in every season of your life, there distractions that this world is going to put your way.9:47 There's going to be, things that are going to try to deter you from the ultimate mission that you were created for. So there's gonna be seasons in your life where you go into the the the marital9:58 season right? And now you have a spouse, and and it's easy to start to think to yourself, well this is my purpose and mission. Right? My purpose and mission is now gonna be focused on just my career because we want to be10:09 financially stable, and I wanna buy a great house for my for my wife and my children. And and I don't really have time to to do outreach or to minister because my focus is gonna be at 80 hours at10:21 work a week so that we can buy the things that we wanna buy. Or we move into seasons of our life of of of children. A children's season in our life where now we have children and and we make them10:33 the top priority in our life where we say, okay. Like, this is gonna come first. Their activities are gonna come first. I don't know if I'm gonna make it to the gathering of believers on Sunday. I don't know if I'm gonna10:42 make it to church because they have activities to do, they're my main focus. God, I'll I'll pray to you and I'll read your word when I have time. But right now this is my main focus in life. This is this is this10:54 is what I'm making my purpose in life. And it's easy to do that as we move into different seasons in our life. I get very nervous because I see what our culture is doing and our culture is making it a11:06 point to focus on on changing and and distracting young people in our in our society today. They are making it a point to try to to try to brainwash11:18 young people into believing that their mission in life is to glorify themselves. I mean I I see it. I'm sure you see it. I mean we there's there's platforms set up for11:30 this. You know we we have a platform named TikTok. Right? And I don't mean to offend any any TikTokers in here. You know? I know I'm sure that there's some type of dance or wiggle that probably helps11:42 people. Sure there is. But but mostly overall, when I look at platforms like that, I'm gonna be honest with you. It seems to be just something of of just look at me. Just glorify me. How many followers? How many people11:53 can I get to look and see me right now? I mean, young young women and and young people will sexualize themselves on it just to get more views, to get people to see them and12:05 look at them. Oh, my Apple watch was spying on me. But we will we will it's all about me through that12:17 app. And I don't mean to just pick on young people with TikTok. You know? I mean, even there's distractions in every season of our lives. I mean every12:29 year that goes by, I'm moving more and more into the into the old folks category. Right? I guess that's that's where I'm moving closer to. I ain't moving closer to the younger people. And every year that goes by, I12:41 actually get more convicted when I see young people that are doing more for the kingdom than I am. I don't know about you. You know I We were not made and we were not12:52 created as we mature in life to say, well ministry is a young man's game. You know they got more time on their hands. They don't have as much to lose. I have more responsibility13:04 as I get older so I'm kind of retiring from that. I'm kind of relaxing from that. This is their time to start doing things. No. No. I don't believe that's what we were made for as we get older. Because I'll be honest13:14 with you. The facts are as we get older, every single day we're getting 1 day closer to seeing Jesus someday. Like the odds are that I'm gonna probably see Jesus and you're gonna probably see Jesus much much13:26 before some of these younger people are gonna see Jesus. And I don't know about you, but I don't wanna go into the kingdom someday And Jesus asked me, what did you do the last 5, 10 years of your life? And I tell him,13:37 well listen, I retired. I've been enjoying myself on a beach sipping margaritas. I'm engulfing 7 days a week, Jesus, and you'll never believe what my backswing looks like now. Like I don't know about you, but that sounds13:48 like a scary conversation. Like I don't want that. I wanna be able to go into the throne room and and look at Jesus and be able to tell him, Lord, I sat me and my family, we sacrificed14:00 it all for you. We laid it all down for you because your name is great, and we wanted to glorify you. And and and because of it, we lost everything, but we gained you in the end, Lord. So we gained everything.14:12 Like that's how I wanna go in when I see him someday. And so the problem with this is14:24 is that when you make anything in your life the mission and purpose of your life other than what you were created for which is to glorify God,14:36 what you get left with is an emptiness and a hole inside of you that will never be able to be fulfilled. And I'm sure we all can can attest this. We all know a non believer14:48 or an unbeliever that's probably that's probably wealthy, that's probably successful, that might be famous, that that probably is rich beyond even imagination. Right? And and we all know those people.15:00 We all can see many of them are unsatisfied. They're unfulfilled in life. And and even as far as a lot of them go into great depressions in their lives. Right? And if you ask them if you ask them what the problem is,15:12 most of them, if they're being honest with you, will tell you, I just haven't found my purpose yet in life. Because they were never created for the purpose that they're searching for. We were all created for 115:24 purpose, and that was to glorify his name with everything that we do in our lives and keep him first priority in our life. And this is my testimony. I'll be honest with you. This is my this is my testimony.15:36 When I was 14, I got saved, praise God, at a young age. And I still remember to this day. I remember, telling the pastor of our church, I came from a a small Baptist church, couple hundred people in15:47 it. And there was an older gentleman who's now gone, who's gone to be with the Lord, but he was my pastor. And I remember telling him, you know, that I got saved and I I wanna get baptized. And I remember, I don't know15:58 how much, like if it was a few weeks or whatever, but I remember him taking me out to a freezing cold lake in the middle of April in in Maine. So there's probably chunks of ice on the lake, and the 60 some16:11 something year old preacher dragged me out of there. And before that, he told the whole congregation at the church, I better see all you down there at the lake for this baptism. And guess what? Everybody from the church16:20 was down there to watch that baptism. We were we were a little scared of him I think in some ways. And so they all went down and watched and he dunked me under and and baptized me. And I remember it was just the most16:28 amazing thing. And then something happened 2 or 3 years later in my life. And and I ended up hanging around with some of the wrong people. And I and I remember, and it's it's scary to say16:40 today, but I remember having a conversation with God. And I remember a couple years later when I was 17, 18, I remember telling the Lord, you know what? I believe in you Jesus,16:52 but there's so much fun I wanna do out there, and this is my life. And I'm gonna find happiness my way. And I told him that. And for 12 years I17:03 tried that. And and my story, my testimony is not that God brought me to the lowest point of my life. I wasn't addicted to drugs. God didn't take everything away from me. No matter of fact, actually it's kind of weird.17:16 God actually blessed me during those 12 years. It's weird. I mean God actually gave me everything I was looking for. I wanted a great career right when I got out of college. God gave me an amazing career, which I17:27 still do to this day 12 years later. And I God gave me I I I got things that I wanted, cars, house, whatever I want. I got all those things. And17:39 I remember 12 years later being in my in my place in Foxborough, I remember exactly where I was. I was up in my bedroom and I was kneeling on the floor and I had gotten to the point in my life where I got everything that17:50 I thought was gonna fulfill me, but nothing of it satisfied me. And I remember getting on my knees in that room 8 years ago now in Foxborough and crying out to the Lord and saying, Lord I'm done.18:02 I've tried it. Nothing has fulfilled me. If you still want this life, just take it at this point. I don't even want it anymore. And I remember God, the Holy18:14 Spirit whispering to my heart. And I remember the words that he said. He said, yes. I still want that life. And everything changed in my life at that moment. I'd found my ultimate mission, my18:26 ultimate purpose. It was Jesus. And in this passage that we read, we see a man named Caleb. The passage that we read a little18:38 earlier. We see a man named Caleb who who completed the mission, and the the scriptures say that he had a a different spirit. Well why was his spirit different? Well his spirit was different because he wholly followed18:50 and trusted the Lord the scriptures say. And I believe that if we are going to fully complete the mission that God has created us for which is to glorify him, we need to19:02 have a Caleb like spirit. Meaning we need to have a spirit that wholly follows and trusts the Lord through anything. And so what I want to do today with you guys is I want to take a look at some of these19:13 passages of Caleb's life. I want us to take a look at this Caleb like spirit and I believe that there are some traits that a Caleb like spirit has that I believe as believers, as followers of Jesus19:25 we need to possess some of these traits. So if you have your notes with you I'm gonna give you the first 1 right now. The first trait is this. It says, trust the Lord not your eyes. Trust the19:37 Lord not your eyes. Numbers 13 30 to 33 says, but Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and occupy it for we are well able to overcome it. And then the19:49 men who had gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we are. So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out saying, the land20:00 through which we have gone to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak who come from the20:12 Nephilim. And we seem to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them. You're getting the illustration here? Caleb is20:23 choosing to trust what God said, that he would deliver them and give them this promised land. And the rest of Israel is choosing to trust what they see over what God said.20:36 Caleb is choosing to say, I don't care if there's giants in the land. I don't care if the cities are fortified. I don't really care if we look like grasshoppers. If God says that he is giving us this land, then we are20:47 getting this land. If he is for us, then who could be against us? And my question for you today, brothers and sisters and believers in Christ, do we have a faith like this? Do we possess a20:59 faith where no matter what our eyes see, we still trust what God says? Like, honestly. Like, how do we supposed to be the salt21:11 of the earth and the light of the world if every time a mandate protest riot comes out? If every time we see people that are are are confused of genders and and we see all the chaos happening in the21:23 world, if all we do is just believe what our eyes see, we'll just turn into this emotional rubble where we get angry at everybody all the time. We get discouraged. We get depressed. We get we get dismayed and we we21:35 just start getting confused if we if we don't trust the Lord instead of what our eyes see. You know, we we we're living in a time right now where people are fearful.21:48 Like 2 weeks ago we see war and now we're hearing rumors of bigger war happening. And the world is fearful right now. The world is anxious right now.22:00 How are we supposed to tell the world that we have the hope of the world if we're acting just like the world and we're fearful because we see things going on? We need to be able to look at the22:12 world and look at people in this world and we need to tell them listen, I know it doesn't look good. I know it looks grim, but I want you to know I've read this book. I know the last chapter. I know how it's gonna end.22:22 Yes my savior came as a lamb for the slaughter, but he's coming back someday as a lion. We need to tell them listen we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death but I don't fear any evil because my God is with22:33 me. He upholds me with his righteous right hand. I can be still because I know that he is still God and he's still on the throne. We need to be able to trust what he says and not what22:45 our eyes see. And 1 of the things that I thought was interesting in this and and I know that some of you are probably sitting there22:57 saying, well, this is kind of an obvious point, Josh. I know we gotta trust the God. Now I see. But I feel like I still have to talk to you about this. God still put this on my heart today because as much as you've23:07 however long you've been following Jesus, I'm gonna tell you, you can still get distracted by what you see in this world sometimes. Even the disciples that walked with Jesus. Okay? And Jesus told them many times what he23:19 was gonna have to do. He told them his mission. He told them, hey listen. They're going to they're going to break this temple down but in 3 days I'm gonna rebuild it. Okay? I'm coming back. Just so you know. And guess23:30 what happened? He dies on the cross and guess what the disciples do? They get upset. They get discouraged. They're like look he's gone. And they're scared. After everything23:42 Jesus said to them they still believe what they saw. But we know the end of the story. We know that 3 days later Jesus came up out of that grave holding the keys of hell in his hand,23:54 conquering death, hell, and the grave, and now sitting at the right hand seat of the father in heaven for eternity. Because God always comes through with what he says he's gonna do. He always24:06 comes through. So that's why I believe that we need to still be careful of this. That we trust God even if the world is doing everything else around us and it doesn't look good. We know that our Lord is24:18 good and that we can rest in him. Another thing of this passage, I don't know if you saw this, but it's kinda interesting, the illustration, and this is just a a side point, that I might as well just say24:30 to you guys today is if if you look at this, it's interesting how you have you have 1 man, have Caleb who's going this way and saying, no. No. No. We can we can take this land. God's given us this land. And then you got24:40 all of Israel saying, no. No. We can't. We gotta we gotta do something. We gotta we gotta believe what our eyes see. You see what I'm saying here? You got24:52 Caleb, and then you got the rest of Israel. This is a good measuring stick for you today and for for me today. What I'm trying to say is if you are truly making25:04 Christ your ultimate mission in life, if you are truly making glorifying the Lord with your life your ultimate mission, you should be going the opposite direction of the world. If you're25:15 examining your life right now, and you look just like your non Christian neighbor that lives right next door to you, and you have the same lifestyle, and you're looking exactly like they are, and you're looking exactly25:27 like everyone else's in the world, and you're not looking different, then I'm gonna tell you right now it's a great measuring stick that you haven't made the Lord your mission. Because anybody I see in scripture that25:37 follows Christ looks completely different than the world. They go the opposite way. In the the James Bond movie, there's a there's a scene25:49 and and in the scene James Bond goes to the gravesite of 1 of his lovers, 1 of the love of his life from years ago. And in the26:01 scene, you you could tell and you can tell throughout the whole movie that he keeps looking back at his past. And he hasn't let go of his past. And because he hasn't let go of his past and26:13 because he hasn't been able to forgive himself, because he still blames himself for the reason why she died, the reason why he can't move forward in life because he keeps living in the past and looking back at the26:24 past. So I want you to take a look at this, and then we'll get to the second trait of a Kaob like spirit. No. I didn't ruin26:36 the movie for you yet. Just wait till the last scene, then I'll ruin it for you. Okay? He's still alive. He's okay. Alright. But he keeps going back to his past.26:50 And and because of it, he's not able to move forward in what's new in life. And this is the second trait of a Caleb like spirit. Don't look back at what God brought you out of. Look forward at what27:01 God is bringing you into. Numbers 14 2 says, and all the people of Israel this is the Israelite nation. All the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron and the whole27:13 congregation said to them, would that we had died in the land of Egypt or would that we had died in the wilderness? See what's happening here is Israel is now27:25 so fearful because of what they saw that now they are looking back at where they came from and they're forgetting how bad it was in Egypt. And now they're saying, it would have been better if God just let us die in27:36 Egypt. Like at least we had something there. Like it would have been Why would he bring us all the way here just to let us die now? No trust whatsoever in the Lord. They kept27:48 looking back at what God had delivered them out of. And I'm not saying, you know, by looking at this, I'm not saying, you know, don't remember your loved ones or anything like that. I hope you guys don't get that the27:58 wrong way. I'm using this as an analogy just to tell you that what God has delivered you out of, stop trying to dabble and go back into it. You know some of you,28:10 and maybe there's some people in this room today that that say, you know I I I've been waiting and I've been willing for for for a spouse, for a partner. I don't know why God hasn't brought me a new spouse in my life.28:21 Well maybe, and I wanna ask you this, and I don't know, but are you still going back to something that God has already delivered you out of? Like how is God gonna bring something new in your life if you haven't trusted28:31 him yet and you keep going back to what he's already delivered you out of? And maybe maybe there's some people in this room today that, you know, maybe life's been stressful or whatever the excuse is. And maybe28:43 you've started to to kinda dabble back with something from your past, some sin from your past that God had delivered from you when he create when he made you into a new creation. You put your faith and trust in him.28:56 And what I wanna tell you today is leave it and move forward into what God's got ahead of you. Second Peter says that they proved the truth of the proverb that a dog returns to his vomit, and another29:08 says that a washed pig returns to his mud. Listen. If you are in Christ Jesus, if you surrendered your life, the blood of Jesus has already washed that sin away. He has freed you from that bondage and chain of whatever29:19 your past is. Don't go back to it anymore. Start moving forward as the new creation that God has made you to be into what he's got for you next. Don't look back.29:31 Don't go back. You know, and we can even do this in a way in church sometimes. You know, I've seen I've been here for 8 years. I've seen people come and go. And you29:43 you know, I've seen people that have gone to church their whole life leave because they're upset that we're doing series like binge29:55 worthy. Like how dare they put a a secular movie on a TV screen to preach the gospel. You know, I've seen people leave because the music is too loud. Worship I remember when30:06 worship they said it was just a piano and maybe someone would just tap on the drums but that was about it, right? And they keep comparing everything to the past. Well let me tell you something. The gospel never30:18 changes, but the delivery of the gospel does. Right? If you look at it right now, 20 years ago people were not getting saved online. But do you know how much30:29 Christ Jesus has used Internet and online ministry to reach millions of people and bring them to himself? It's a beautiful thing. The delivery of the30:41 gospel always changed. I think it was Charles Spurgeon that once said that a good preacher will have a bible in 1 hand, and he'll have a newspaper in the other. Why? He needs to know what the current events are and30:50 what's going on so that he can contextualize and bring the gospel to the people where they're at. We need to stop looking back, and we need to start moving forward and be open to where31:02 God is bringing us. We need to have a heart and a faith that says, Lord, I don't know where I'm going, but I know that you know. And I trust, and I'm open. Just31:14 open the door. Show me where to go, and I'm going, and I'm trusting you. That's what Caleb was doing. He said God's delivered us. God's opened this door. I don't care what it looks like. We're going.31:25 I ain't looking back at the past. We're out of there. And that that's the thing sometimes. You know? It's it's easy. It's easy sometimes. We we we can have this selective amnesia sometimes. You know what I'm saying? Like31:35 like we'll look at our past and it seems like we only remember the good things. Like, know, person was so great. We had so many great memories and so many great vacations. Right? But we forget all about31:47 the fights and the arguments and everything else that God delivered us out of. Or you know I I remember those amazing nights with friends partying and oh we had such a great time back then and we start to reminisce about31:58 what God delivered us out of. Like we don't remember how we felt the next morning hungover and shameful and discouraged of the decisions that we made the night before, that God delivered us out32:10 of. So trust God. Stop looking at our past and start looking forward to what God is doing in your life, the here and now. Here's the here's the third trait out of of32:22 a Caleb like spirit that we need to possess. When life doesn't turn out how you want it to, you trust God has you where he wants you. Look at numbers 14 28 through 30. It32:34 says, say to them as I live declares I think that's such a funny statement. Say to them as I live declares the Lord. Okay. Well, we know God doesn't die. There's no beginning or end. So what he's saying is, yeah, tell32:44 them this is forever. Okay? Say to them as I live declares the Lord. What you have said in my hearing I will do to you. Your bodies die your bodies, your dead bodies shall fall in this32:56 wilderness and all and of all your number listed in the census from 20 years old and upward who have grumbled against me, not 1 shall come into the land where I swore that I would make33:08 you dwell except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Now some of you might be reading that verse and thinking, well I I don't get33:19 how that is a Caleb like spirit because it what you said was when life doesn't turn out the way you want it to, you trust God has you where you where he wants you. Well it sounds like Caleb's getting what he wants.33:30 Right? He's he's going into the promised land. He is. But did you notice in that passage that it didn't say Caleb was going into the promised land tomorrow?33:43 Caleb is gonna have to go the next 40 years of his life in the wilderness with these grumbling Israelites as God takes them out33:55 and brings up the next generation. Half of Caleb's life is gonna be spent in the wilderness when he wholly trusted and followed the Lord.34:08 And I don't believe that that's what Caleb dreamed of. I don't think when he trusted the Lord that he thought that he'd have to waste 4034:19 years in a wilderness. And this is my question for some of you today. Maybe you're in a marriage that you didn't see yourself in.34:31 Maybe you had this this beautiful picture in mind and your marriage just hasn't looked like that yet. Or or maybe you're in a point in your career and in your life where you thought you'd be way34:42 further along than where you are right now. Maybe you thought you'd have kids at this point. Maybe you thought you would have had a raise or you'd be doing something completely different than the career choice that you34:53 have, but you had to do it because you end up having a family and you have to support them. I don't know what it is. Maybe you're in a point in your life where you didn't foresee yourself in this place in life if I would35:03 have asked you 10 years ago. My question to you today is, do you believe and trust that God has you right where he wants you? See I know that Caleb still stayed35:15 faithful to the Lord throughout those 40 years in the wilderness. Because if you skip forward a couple books into Joshua, Caleb is still described as a holy holy follower35:27 and trustor of the Lord. He never stopped trusting. So do you believe that even though your life may not look the way you thought it would look, do you believe and35:38 trust that God has you where he wants you? Jeremiah 29 11 says, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.35:50 This is like my life verse. I love this verse. Do you do you know what this is saying? This is saying listen Jesus did the work back then on the cross. He's doing the work now in your life and he'll be doing the work in36:00 the future for you. Do you trust him? Do you trust that where he has you that that God knows and has a plan for you of why he has you there? Maybe you're a young person in the room and you've been trying your36:12 hardest to do well in high school so you could get into the college that you wanna get into, and now it's been time to apply for colleges, and you got declined from everyone you thought you're gonna get into. Are you36:23 gonna believe and are you gonna trust that God has a plan and a purpose for your life and you are exactly where he wants you to be? You know there's a there's a man in the36:35 bible. His name's David. Some people know him as king David. If you look at his life, I can tell you right now his life did not36:47 look exactly the way I believe he thought it would look. Like at a young age David was anointed to be king of Israel by the prophet Samuel. But even after he was36:59 anointed to be king, guess what he had to do? He went right back into his father's fields and shepherd the sheep. And there's a beautiful point where he's in the field shepherding the sheep and his father asked him to37:10 bring lunch to his brothers who are in the army of Israel. And so he brings lunch to them while they're out there against the Philistine army and Goliath is you know standing there taunting the people of Israel.37:22 And and David sees this and he says, you know, I'll go and I'll fight this man that comes against the Lord. And and he goes to Saul the king and he tells him, I'll go out and fight this man that no 1 else will fight to37:34 deliver him into the hands of the Lord. And Saul says to him, and I'm paraphrasing. Saul says, you know, you're just a young boy, young shepherd boy. What what can you do? And there's this beautiful line where David says37:44 in in first Samuel 17 34 and 35, David says, but David said to Saul, your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off the sheep from the flock, I went after37:56 it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair and I struck it and I killed it. You see what's going on here, what what Dave is describing?38:08 Dave is describing to Saul how he has been learning how to protect and care for his father's flock. Do you know what the 2 main responsibilities are38:20 of a king for his people? To protect and care for his people. While David was in that shepherd field, while the Lord had David in that shepherd field, in a in a position that you would38:32 have thought would have been been pretty mundane for a guy that's anointed to be king someday, while he was in there, God was teaching David how to care and protect his father's flock so that someday when he walkedShow more
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.