Caleb and Joshua possessed a "different spirit" that set them apart when the Israelites doubted God in the wilderness. God promises that those with faith inherit the land, while the fearful wander 40 years. The Holy Spirit gives believers power, love, and a sound mind to act without fear.
Chapters
Hey, good morning everybody. I wanted to send us off on the weekend on a positive note. It's kind of sort of positive. We're still talking about Numbers 13 and 14 where the— where we see— actually we see unbelief and belief at the same time. And we're going to see if God is okay with you being different. You know, and I just got a question. Have you ever noticed that the, you know, that the crowd is usually not right? A lot of times it's not. You know, the crowd crucified Jesus, and the crowd in this instant murmured and complained and said, you know, what they couldn't believe. If you remember yesterday's lesson, I couldn't believe that we came out here all this way to die. And you know, all of these spies, 10 of the 12, give a bad report. So I want to read what God says about what's going to happen to these guys. This is for following the crowd. And the Lord spoke to Moses, this is in 14:26, and the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, how long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against me. Say to them, as I live, says the Lord, just as you have spoken in my hearing, so I will do to you. The carcasses of you who have complained against me shall fall in this wilderness. All of you who were numbered according to your entire number, from 20 years old and above, except for Caleb and Joshua, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. God pretty much, God pretty much just spoke a death sentence over all of the people that had complained. And that is why we went from a 4-week journey to the Promised Land to a 40-year. And they just, they've just wandered around in the desert for 40 years until the last person fell. So I want to see, I want you to see the difference in it. You see the difference in Numbers 14:24. It says, but my servant Caleb because he has a different spirit in him and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. And I want to encourage you that God has a— you've got a different spirit if you've accepted Christ. In 1 Timothy 2:1-7, it said, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. He— God did not give you a spirit of fear. God gave you a spirit of power and love and a sound mind. I mean, you— and the way to exercise that power is by faith. We've kind of— and believing in the Word of God. There are spiritual truths and there are physical truths. You know, gravity is a physical truth, it's a physical law. But spiritual law too is faith. If you want to increase your faith, Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. You want to build up your faith, read the Bible. What, what I want to— and Jesus, the same spirit that was with Caleb and Joshua, Jesus said, and I think it's 16:7, John 16:7, where he said, it's to your benefit, it's to your benefit if I leave, because if I leave, I will send the helper, and that was the Holy Spirit. And so Jesus and the disciples didn't understand, and I'm not sure we understand. I think most of the time we would prefer to have Jesus here, you know, so we could look at him one-on-one, but the Holy Spirit is, is all throughout the whole earth. So he— and in Joshua, if you see when he takes over the Promised Land in the book of Joshua, in Joshua, I think 1:5, God tells Joshua, kind of an encouraging, said, Hey, as I was with my servant Moses, I will be with you, and I will never leave you nor forsake you. And it said, no man will be able to stand against you. And I think the power that the Holy Spirit gives us, I mean, I don't think any of us, me included, exercise that power the way we ought to. You know, I mean, I— and that don't mean we have people bow or anything like that, but it's the Holy Spirit and the power of prayer. And to change situations. You know, if you actually— I mean, you really need to. We're going to talk about prayer, I'm sure, but the power that's in the Holy Spirit is not carnal, it's not physical power, it is spiritual power. So with all of that said, I want to kind of conclude. I want to remind you and tell you, as you're thinking this weekend, The Holy Spirit is, is with you all the time. If you're going through anything, any kind of problem, any kind of challenge, just talk to him and ask him. I mean, you have that Spirit. Jesus sent that Spirit to be with you, so take advantage of the Spirit. Talk to him, pray to him. I think that's going to be it for today. I want to, I want to encourage you, there's a, you know, there's a lot going on in the world I mean, there's a lot to be thankful for, there's a lot to be prayerful about, but you're not— you weren't given a spirit of fear. So I want to encourage you to go, go in this power of yours and do something really good this weekend for, for your family and your friends and your world. Thanks again, and I'll see you next week.
