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And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan. Which I give unto the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler or a leader among them. And Moses, by the commandment of the Lord, sent them from the wilderness of Paran. All those men were heads of the children. Which means that all of the men that went, they were group leaders, tribe leaders. Verse 21. So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men came unto Hamath. And they ascended by the south and came unto Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. Now Hebron was built 7 years before Zoan in Egypt. And they came unto the Brook of Eshcol. And cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between 2 upon a staff. Which means that the cluster of grape that they cut down was so large that it took 2 men to carry it on a stick. Good Jesus, I would love to see, to possess, and to eat some grapes that, that big that it takes 2 people to carry it. One end of the stick on one shoulder, the other end of the stick on the other shoulder, and they carried it because it was that big. That's the promised land.

Yes.

That's symbolic of how that when you get into that place that God ultimately wants you at, that place that is considered to be your promised land, That everything that God has promised you in your promised land exceeds everything that you've experienced outside of your promised land. There's multiplication, there's increase. You go from struggling to prospering. You go from not having enough to having more than enough. Everything increases in your life. Everything gets bigger and better.

Mm-hmm.

Are you with me so far?

Yes.

The Bible says here in verse 24, the place was called the Brook Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. And they returned from searching the land after 40 days. They went and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel. Unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought back word unto them and unto all the congregation. These are the spies of the land coming back with their report. And showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him and said, we came unto the land where thou sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey. And this is the fruit or the evidence of it. Nevertheless, the people That dwells in that land are strong, and the cities are walled or fenced in and very great. And moreover, we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south, and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people, which means Caleb calmed the people down because the people got in an uproar Based upon the evil or the negative report or the fearful report that the spies brought back. So Caleb rises up, calms the people down before Moses, and this is what Caleb said. Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, we're not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we are. And they brought an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, the land through which we have gone to search it, it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak. Which come of the giants, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in theirs. I want to talk to you today about the spirit of an overcomer, and I want to base it on these 2 brothers, Joshua and Caleb. Because I feel like that there are times when your promised land is before you, but you are surrounded by negative reports, negative influence, negative advice, negative comments. And when you have people around you always speaking negative, it paralyzes your faith. and it hinders you from taking your next step forward to the place that God is calling you to.

Amen.

Bow your heads if you will. Father, we believe in you. We believe in your word. We believe in Jesus. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe in your promises and everything that you promise us in this life And in the life to come. We stand in agreement and we believe that it shall come to pass. Speak now to us as you have spoken to us so many times before, and sow your word in our hearts as a farmer sows seeds into the ground, that it may bring forth fruit. that will bless your kingdom, bless your name, and bless your people. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

You may be seated, if you will. Again, I want to talk to you from the subject or the focal point, the spirit of the overcomer. And there are particularly 2 characteristics As it relates to the word spirit, of course, the first we understand that when you talk about the spirit, apart from referring to the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God, when you talk about the spirit, you're referring to the human spirit or man's spirit, which is the life or the breath, the ruach, the breath of a man. When a person's spirit leaves their body—

They die.

It means that their life has expired as we know it on this side.

Mm-hmm.

That's not the spirit that I'm talking about today. The second characteristic of a spirit refers to a heart, not the physical heart that is called an organ that pumps blood through our body, but more so the attitude, the personality. The courage, the confidence, the boldness, the willpower, the determination. I watched this film once before, a couple of Christmases ago, called Unbroken. And it was about this man who was— and it's based on a true story. It's about this soldier who was flying a plane for the military And he and some of his colleagues, and the plane crashed in the sea.

Amen.

And they were in the raft for about 40-plus days and basically had little to nothing to eat or drink, but were rescued by, I believe it was the Chinese, and then taken over to their land and held captive and became a prisoner of war pretty much. And one of the military leaders of the Chinese army set a personal vendetta to break this one man's spirit by beating him day after day after day and making him stand with a piece of log in his hands over his head for like 3 days or so.

Amen.

Bottom line and the moral of that story is that that man's spirit Amen. Which means he did not give up, he did not quit, he did not give in. He withstood the test of time.

My God.

To have the spirit of an overcomer means that you got to have that mindset that no matter what comes my way, I will not quit, I will not give up, I will overcome, I will rise above whatever it is that I'm dealing with in my life.

That's right.

It means that I have the tenacity. It means that I have the relentlessness. It means that I have the fortitude. It means that I have the willpower. It means that I'm determined. It means that my mind is made up. It means that my focus is set. It means that I'm fully engaged, and no matter what happens in my life, I will overcome. We have to have that spirit. If you don't have that spirit of an overcomer, then you will go through life considering for certain things to have happened to you versus having happened for you.

Amen.

And the difference of things happening to you versus happening for you is when they happen to you, you become a victim. When they happen for you, you become a victor. Yes.

Amen.

To have the spirit of an overcomer means that you have determined that I win in the end.

Amen.

Come on, raise your hand and say, I win in the end.

I win in the end. Hallelujah.

It's a mindset.

That's right.

It is a mentality.

That's right.

It is not— an episode. It's not a condition. You, you're not an overcomer if you never go through anything.

Amen.

To be an overcomer means you got to come over, which means you got to come through.

Amen.

You can't be an overcomer if every time you get ready to go through something, you call your prayer partners together and they pray you out of some things when God specifically has chosen you in some things. Bible says in Isaiah 48:10, God says, yes, I have refined you. And the word refined means to purify. It means to get you to a place where God can see his glory in your life. It means to get you to a place where God can trust you. God can't trust everybody.

That's right.

He can only trust those who have been proven, refined, and tried by the fire. So he says, yes, I have refined you, but not with silver. I chose you in the furnace of affliction. Thank you, Jesus. You have to go through some things in order to have that self-discovery, that personal discovery that I am an overcomer. You can never know the healing power Amen. Of Jesus Christ until you've had sickness in your body. You can never know the provision God provides as Jehovah Jireh until you've had some deficits, some deficiencies, some lack in your life. You can never know that God is a waymaker until you've had the Pharaoh's army behind you and the Red Sea before you. Are you hearing what I'm saying? See, we sing this song called We Shall Overcome, but the question is we don't want to go through. I hear people say from time to time, Pastor, I'm just going through some things, and the reason I haven't been in church is because I've been going through some things. And it, and, and it seems reason to point out, seems reason to me to point out that if you're going through some things, then that's when it's time to draw closer to God.

Amen.

When you're going through some things, that's when it's time to pray more than you prayed before. When you're going through some things, that's when it's time to really begin to grab the horns of the altar and seek the face of God until he strengthens you to go through. And then the other thing I would like to subscribe concerning that statement is that when you're going through something, keep doing what you just confessed.

Yeah.

Keep going through, because the victory is not in being pulled out of it because you felt like you couldn't do it. The victory is going through it and coming out on the other end. Because every trial, every storm, every issue, every battle, every consequence that has an entrance sign also has an exit sign. But if you're going to get to the exit sign, you got to keep going through once you enter into the entrance sign.

That's right.

Amen.

God wants you to be a victor.

Yes.

God wants you to be an overcomer. God wants you to be a conqueror and then more than a conqueror. God wants you to rise above every situation. Isaiah chapter 60, verse 1 says, arise and shine because thy light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. God enables us to rise above every situation in our life. There is no situation that you could ever have in your life that you cannot soar above it.

Amen.

In fact, in Isaiah 40:31, when he says that they that wait upon the Lord— and the word wait means to serve— that he gives us wings of an eagle, he renews our strength. He gives us wings of an eagle, he renews our strength, and he gives us wings. He empowers us and he gives us wings. He empowers us and he gives us wings. What is the purpose of empowering us, and what is the purpose of us having wings?

Right.

The purpose of empowering us is so that we can outlive the storm that we're going through. And as an eagle, one of the things that an eagle can do with their wings is they can fly above the storm and then allow for the wind or the hot air of the storm to take them to where they need to go without them even having to flap their wings, which means that they're not only going where they're going, but they're going to get there at the expense of the wind that was sent to terrorize their life.

My God.

God wants you to be able to run through a troop and leap over a wall. In other words, what obstacles, what oppositions, what adversaries stand before you, what mountains Stands before you. God wants you to see yourself not running from the enemy, but running through the enemy.

Not running from the enemy's camp, but running through the enemy's camp.

Not running from the sickness, but running through the sickness.

Not running from the devil, but running over the devil.

Praise God! Not being resisted by Satan, but resisting Satan and make him flee as you move toward that place that God has called you to. Yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord.

Are you understanding what I'm saying? The Bible places us on the scene of Moses and Aaron, which are considered to be the pastor and the assistant pastor of this great megachurch called Israel. And they were in Egypt, as we understand according to the book of Exodus, And God decided that it was time to bring them out of someone else's land and then plant them in their own land. And in transition, while they're coming through the wilderness, God speaks to Moses and tells Moses to tell the leaders of the tribes to go down to Canaan, to go ahead of you all to Canaan and spy out the land. See for yourself that this place that I'm taking you to is a place unlike any other place you've been in your life.

That's it.

And so when Moses sends the spies, they go and they spy out the land, and they, they come back with the testimony that it is exactly like God said it is, that the land overflows with milk and honey, the waters are pure, the trees produce great fruit, the grass is green. Man, this is the place we want to go. We can build houses, we We can set up shops, we can start businesses, we can develop a community, we can formulate as a society, and we can make this our new heaven on earth.

Hallelujah! And they said, but there's one problem, and the problem is that the people in the land, that's their land, they're giants, they're stronger than we are, they have more power than we do.

And we can't overcome them because we're not like they are. We're small and insignificant and they are great and mighty. My God, my God. And they see us as grasshoppers and we see ourselves as grasshoppers, which means they are superior and we are inferior. And the problem is, and there are several problems here, But one of the problems is that number one, they had no conversation with the Amalekites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites. They had no conversation to even have the conclusion that the enemy or the giant saw them as grasshoppers. This was simply how they looked at themselves.

My God.

And see, anytime you look at yourself as being incapable or not able to do great things, then you become limited by your own self-perception.

That's right.

The Bible says in the book of Proverbs 23 that as a man thinks of himself, so is he.

If you think that you are not beautiful, then to you, you're not beautiful. And it doesn't matter how much mascara you put on, it doesn't matter what you do, it doesn't matter how good you look to others, you'll never look good enough to yourself. If you think that you're gonna always be broke and you're gonna always be sick and you're gonna always be poor and you're gonna always be lonely and you're gonna always eat the crumbs that falls from the table, Mephibosheth, then you will live an underprivileged, disadvantaged, cursed, limited life.

Yes.

As Mephibosheth did.

Yes.

You gotta begin to see yourself the way God sees you. You, you cannot develop the spirit of, I feel sorry for me. Will you feel sorry for me? It doesn't matter if you lost a leg on the battlefield. This is not the time in life for you to search for sympathy.

Amen.

There is a place in God that you can get to that regardless of what you've gone through, what you've had to deal with, no matter what life has dealt you, no matter how many times your back has been up against the wall, no matter how many times you've gone through a divorce, had your car repo, or had to file bankruptcy and had your house foreclosed on and got laid off on the job and nobody likes you, no matter what your history has been like, your history is still the launching board, the springboard that will catapult you into your destiny.

Come on! What you gotta do is you gotta have the kind of mindset that Joshua and Caleb had, and that is that no matter what I'm going through, no matter what they say, no matter what the enemy says, no matter what it looks like, no matter how big the mountains are, no matter how giant the enemies are, I am well able to overcome what I'm dealing with right now. Look at your neighbor and tell them, you got this!

You got this, you got this, you got this, you got this, you got this.

And I know, I know that the initial reaction to any particular criticizing situation that criticizes your faith, that criticizes your, your tenacity, that laughs at you like Goliath laughed at David, that belittles you, that puts you down, that makes you feel insignificant. No matter how criticizing your situation is, when it comes down to being evaluated, you got to know that I am stronger than my enemy.

Amen. Amen.

You're stronger than your enemy because 1 John 4:4 says, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. That means that God, whose power is in you, is for you. It is not for your enemy. It is not for the mountains. It is not for the giants. It is not for the demons. It is not for the drugs. It is not for the crisis. It is not for the emergency. The power of God has been assigned to your life. It's been delegated to your life. You've got more on your side than the enemy has. on their side, and greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

Well, Pastor, if you only knew what I was dealing with.

If you only know how bad—

No, you don't know how much you are of an overcomer.

And the reason why is because you spend more time focusing on your problems than you do on the power that that God has provided. You spend more time talking about your mountains than you do speaking to your mountains and commanding your mountains to move. You spend more time glorifying the enemy because you think the enemy is omnipresent and omniscient and he's all the way, all over the place. And as people say, the devil is so busy. Oh child, you know the devil is so busy. Yeah, but wait a minute though. What about God? What about God? What you think God is doing? He's in a coma? Do you think he's asleep? Do you think his hands are tied? Do you think he's paralyzed? Do you think that he's naive? Do you think that he can't see? Do you think that he can't move? Do you think that he don't care?

Amen.

God is moving by his Spirit. The word of the Lord is going forth. His angels are responding. There's power in the heavenlies. There's power in the realm of the Spirit. And whenever you take your eyes off the enemy and put your eyes on God, you will walk on things that others are Whoo!

Jesus! The spies brought an evil report and they said, we can't take this land. Well, there is this level of defeat that doesn't protrude from the enemy or the opposition. It's called self-defeat. And self-defeat hinders a person from even trying. That's right. See, some of the things that you could have done, you didn't do, not because you couldn't do them, but because you didn't even try. Oh, this thing is getting real now, ain't it? Amen. One of the frustrations that we have in our life is not because we failed at certain endeavors, not because we failed at business, not because we failed at having children or raising children, not because we failed at certain things. One of the frustrations we have is that we know we didn't even try.

You didn't put forth the effort.

You didn't put forth the tenacity.

You didn't put forth the energy. You didn't dedicate the focus. You didn't even try.

You didn't try to start the business.

You didn't try to go back to school. You didn't try to release that CD. You didn't try to write that book. You didn't try to relocate. You didn't even try.

Yeah, my God. My God. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Hallelujah.

I know a person in this world who, who doesn't have a driver's license. and are in their 50s and 60s. What a handicap.

Yes.

What a handicap that you never attained your driver's license. You are sitting there with the same abilities that the person who is shuffling you around has, and yet you don't have a driver's license, not because you flunked the test, but because you didn't even try.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah, Jesus! Oh God, thank you, Lord.

You didn't get the job because you didn't apply for it. You didn't get the raise because you didn't ask for it. You looked at yourself and through your own infirmities and own insecurities You disqualified yourself before you even granted yourself the permission to try. I'd rather fall and get back up and fall and get back up and fail and try again and stumble and pick myself back up and then make it somehow and not even be able to explain how I made it than to sit at the starting line wondering what it's like to get to the finish line.

Amen.

Look at somebody and tell them, at least try. At least try.

At least try to make the cake. At least try to fry the chicken. At least try to raise the kids.

At least try.

You didn't even try. These spies disqualified themselves from taking the land Not because they fought and were defeated, but because they looked at themselves as grasshoppers.

Yes, they did. Yes, they did.

And they came to the conclusion, they are better than we are. And this is the danger. Listen to me. This is the danger that you step into when you start comparing yourself with other people.

Amen.

You should never compare yourself with someone else because when God created you, he didn't create you as a carbon copy to them. And it doesn't matter if you were twins born at the same time. If God created you, he created you because he wanted you to be unique. He wanted you to have something different.

That's why your fingerprint is not like anyone else's fingerprint all throughout the face of the history of the human race.

You can't find somebody else that has your fingerprint.

You may find somebody that looks like you, that talks like you, that walks like you, that does certain things the way you do them, but they are not you. When you start comparing yourself to someone else, you are depriving yourself of the noteworthy right to be who God created you to be. And when you refuse to be who God created you to be because you're too busy trying to gauge yourself off of someone else's success, someone else's body shape, Someone else's intellectual index, someone else's way of doing this, someone else's way of doing that, then you are forfeiting the right for God to bless you for being who you are. Say, I like who I am.

They compared themselves to the men. And the women of Canaan.

Yes.

And they say, well, they look like the Incredible Hulk. We look like Pee-wee Herman. They look like Wonder Woman. We look like Lynda Carter. They look like Superman. We look like Clark Kent.

Wow.

And they went through this comparison, and the more they compared themselves with other people, the more they became convinced that they were incapable. See, when the enemy knows that he got you in that comparison mode, he's going to magnify the one you're comparing yourself with. And he's going to point out things in their life that he knows you don't have just to bury you in your own self-defeat. He will always try to make you think you can't do what God called you to do just because you are looking at somebody else.

That's right. That's right.

Are you hearing what I'm saying? Joshua and Caleb rose up and said, listen, we are more than able. to overcome them. Write these points down. Give me 7 more minutes and then I'll be done. Write this point down. First point, Joshua and Caleb were not appointed leaders.

All right now.

They were not appointed leaders.

In other words, they were ordinary men just like you and I, which means you don't have to be a leader with a designated position in order to do great things. The spirit of an overcomer is available and accessible to anyone and everyone who wants to win in life.

Say amen to that.

Amen.

Point number 2, the proof of you overcoming is in the word that God gave you.

The proof of you overcoming is in the word.

Listen to me, saints of God, and this is where you got to use your faith.

When God gives you a word, you don't necessarily have to wait for confirmation.

Amen.

Are you serious right now? When God speaks to you, you got to know the voice of God for yourself. And you got to know that when God has spoken to you, that what he needs from you is your obedience and your compliance, your willingness and your faith. You got to step out of the boat like Peter did, even if it seems like you may not be able to last for long.

That's right.

Peter didn't stand on the water for long. He didn't walk on the water for long. But when he got back in the boat, though he was wet, he had a testimony that the rest of the disciples didn't have. When they say, oh, you tried and you failed, you, you, you couldn't— you weren't able to stay on the water like Jesus was, he can look back at them and say, that's okay. Okay, maybe I didn't last out there as long as Jesus did, but at least I got a testimony that you don't have. I did walk on the water. Come on.

I did do it. If it was only for 5 steps, that's 5 steps that you can add to your resume.

Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord God.

The proof of your overcoming is in the word that God gave you. What has God spoken to you?

Come on!

What is your vision? What is your dream? What goals have you set? What have God shown you in the middle of the night?

What have you downloaded in your spirit? What has been imparted into your heart by the Holy Spirit? What endeavors are you on?

What quests have you set? What have you received as a word from the Lord?

See, whatever that word is, that's where your faith needs to be assigned. When you receive a word from God, you connect your faith with it because you understand that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. And when God gives me a word— Matthew 24:35 says, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word shall abide forever. When God gives you a word, that word becomes the money in your bank account.

That's right.

That's the promise.

My life.

That you rest your head on every night.

Hallelujah.

Joshua and Caleb heard their pastor say that God is going to move us into our Promised Land, and even though these other people came back with a negative report, Joshua and Caleb said, oh, but that's not the word that God gave us. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it doesn't matter. We, we don't expect the enemy to just lay down and let us walk in without a fight. Anything great is worth fighting for. Anything big is worth fighting for. Anything humongous, anything that God has for you, it's worth fighting for.

It's worth fighting for.

And it's still on that word.

Look at your neighbor and tell them, you got to stand on the word.

You got to stand on the word. Thank you.

See, the issue is, the issue is, and I can tell just through discernment, some of you guys, you kind of like fell off the back of the truck because In your mind, you're standing on the word, but it ain't God's word, it's the word of the enemy.

Come on, preacher.

Because you've tuned your ear in too much to what the enemy has to say, and you become indoctrinated by the voice of the enemy.

That's why your mind disconnects from what I'm saying from time to time, and you gotta keep pulling it back in and keep connecting like the internet sometimes, or like your phone sometimes, it drops when you're in the middle of a call. You keep having these relapse in your mind. Your faith is trying to connect, but there's another voice in your head, and that is the voice of reason, and that is the voice of fear that is telling you, well, it sounds good, but it ain't happened for me. And the reason it ain't happened is because you are double-minded. You got too many voices in your head. You don't know who to listen to. You don't know who to go with. You don't know whose word you should believe.

Put your hands on your ears and say, "I plead the blood of Jesus over my hearing." Put your hand on your head and say, "I plead the blood of Jesus over my mind." You you you got to close the gateways because you're looking at the wrong thing.

You're listening to the wrong thing. You're thinking the wrong thoughts. You're believing the wrong thing. The enemy knows that faith and fear both comes by hearing. That's why he'll always plant somebody around you that will feed your fears and that will give you reasons as to why you can't do what God said that you. can do it. But every now and then you got to stand up and say, I don't receive that in the name of Jesus. Say yes, somebody! Yes, Lord!

Glory to God!

Starting to feel this thing a little bit. You cannot afford to have your ears open to the voice of the enemy. It always baffles me how believers can say, I verbatim everything that the devil told them. Well, the devil, the devil spoke to me and said he's gonna do this and he's gonna do that. He's gonna kill me like he killed my mom. I'm gonna be dead by the age of 30. I got, I got breast cancer like my mama had breast cancer. You got to stop listening to that voice. That voice loves you not. That voice cares nothing for you. That voice wants you dead. That voice wants you defeated. That voice wants you to be in darkness. That voice wants you to depressed. That voice want you divided. That voice wants you deceased.

You gotta wake up and tune the channel, because if you can hear the devil, you ought to be able to hear God, because both are in the realm of the spirit. And if you can hear a spirit, you ought to hear God's Spirit. What you got to do is change the frequency, baby, and take up the right volume. And when God begins to speak, then turn up the volume and say, God, speak to me, because thy servant hears everything you want to say to Turn the enemy off, turn him down, turn him out, and turn God up. Yes.

Fear. Fear is not an emotion. Fear is a spirit. 2 Timothy 1:7, God says, I have not given you the spirit of fear. Fear is a fallen angel that is part of the devil's kingdom.

That's right.

Just like Beelzebub, Lucifer, and so many others. Fear, it is not an emotion. It is not categorized with happiness and sadness. Fear is a spirit, and God called it what it is, and he said, that spirit of fear, I didn't give it to you. Living with the fear of flying, living with the fear of remarrying, the fear of starting your business, the fear of taking on another job, the fear of living by yourself, the fear of being in the dark, the fear that somebody's gonna hit your car driving. If you got that much fear that something bad is gonna happen the moment you walk up on the scene, when you get on the airplane, give me an advance notice so I can change my flight.

Amen.

Amen. Don't get on the cruise ship with me, huh? 'Cause I want to have a whole bunch of fun.

They brought fear into the camp. And over in chapter 15 and 14, you don't have to turn there because of time, the Bible said that the people, they panicked. Because somebody brought them an evil report from the enemy.

Be careful who you let in your circle, because everybody got a message, but not every message is from the Lord.

Amen.

Everybody got something to say. 1 Corinthians 14:11 says there are many voices in the world and none of them is without sin.

Signification.

Everybody got some advice for you. Everybody has an opinion for you. Everybody wants to influence you. Everybody wants to speak in your life. Everybody got something to tell you. Everybody know what you ought to do. Everybody know how you ought to live. Everybody know what you ought to spend your money on. Everybody know what you ought to wear. Everybody knows what clothes you ought to buy. Everyone knows what car you ought to ride in. But baby, you got to be selective with who you seeds are, because everybody that's coming ain't sent from God. And the Bible says in Proverbs 4:23 to guard your heart with all diligence because out of it flows the issues of life, meaning that your spirit is like a garden and everybody who comes your way got seeds they want to drop in your garden. But you got to make sure that you pull out your magnifying glass and your microscope and that you dissect Plant every seed, because once that seed is planted, it will produce fruit.

Yes, it will.

And the issue is that when the enemy sows the seed, he don't hang around to watch it sprout, because he knows when that thing gets in your spirit, you got a mess to deal with on your hands. Everybody can't lay hands on my head and pray for me. Every prophet can't speak into my life. I don't care if you are saved. Just because you're saved don't mean you're sanctified. Just because you're saved and sanctified don't mean you're set aside. And just because you say sanctified and set aside don't mean God set you aside for me.

That's right, that's right, that's right. Amen.

Everybody can't counsel you.

That's right.

Everybody can't advise you.

Everybody don't know what God is trying to do in your life.

Everyone doesn't know what God told you. You can't just be a loose-foot Joseph that runs around and tell everybody your dream, because there are hitmen and hitwomen that the enemy has hired that is waiting for you to spill the beans so that they can assassinate The baby that's in your womb. And they won't believe, Mary, that you're pregnant by the Holy Ghost because they didn't get pregnant that way. Are you listening to me today?

Yes. Hallelujah, Jesus.

Yes, sir.

Joshua and Caleb says, wait a minute now, we are more than able. Not just able, we are more than able to overcome the enemy. What did, what did he base that on? This is what I close with. What did he base that on? That statement, that, that theology. He based that on the same thing you should base yours on. He based it on the fact that when we were in Egypt being oppressed for 430 years, Yes. All of a sudden, a man shows up with a rod in his hand who said, the God of your fathers— Come on!

Haha! Woo!

Jesus!

Yes.

Have sent me, and he wants you to know that he heard your cry. He's acquainted with your grief. And he's come down to deliver you. So get your stuff together because tonight we're getting ready to make an exodus. In other words, where you've been stuck at all your life, pack your bags, baby. We're getting ready to get up out of here. Look at your neighbor and tell them, don't feel sorry for me because I'm getting ready to come out of this. I'm getting ready to make an exit. I'm getting ready to step over. I'm getting ready to come out. I'm getting ready to have a breakthrough. I'm getting ready for my miracle. I'm getting ready for my amazing adventure. I'm getting ready for my journey. I'm getting ready to go into a place that I've never gone before. Is there anybody in here today that recognize that it's your time to come up and to come over and to come out and to come through and to come in? Come on!

That's right.

And then, and then, and then he based that on the fact that when they came out of Egypt, and Sister Ramona, they, they had no bread to eat because Merida and Wonder Bread wasn't cooking bread at that time because they didn't have an oven. But yet God opened heavens and sent down manna from heaven, and then they got some bread, but they don't have no chicken. Because you know, if you're gonna have some bread, you need some meat, because bread ain't good without meat. So he then sends chicken out the sky, quails if you will. Chicken, closest thing to chicken to me. When you don't have the big bird, you go after the little bird.

Chicken.

What do it taste like?

Chicken.

Chicken. Tastes like chicken to me. Then they got bread and they got meat, but now they don't have anything to drink. And God opens the mouth— wrap your mind around this— of a rock and calls for not just water, But a river to start flowing from out of a rock. Come on, this ain't no fairy tale.

Thank God.

And then when they get to the sea and they look behind them and they see Pharaoh's army behind them and the sea before them, God parts the sea and then they walk down. On dry land.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Come on. Yes, sir.

I was on a cruise and I was thinking about that, and I'm looking at the sea, I'm looking at the ocean, I'm looking at all this water, and only God knows how deep it is, and only God knows what all lives out there. There's some stuff out there that we ain't never seen before. And so this is like compared to the place that they walked down through.

Yeah.

So I can imagine that while they are walking, and it's not like they had to hurry up and get across, like run before it falls, run before the wall of water falls. No, they took their time. Young people, old elderly people, camels, sheep, they got bags.

Yes.

And they're just taking their precious time. And I can imagine that while they're walking and the walls are parted on both sides, that you got sharks and whales and dolphins and everything just looking through the water at all these folk walking through. And the shark said to the whale, what in the world is going on? And I can imagine the people looking up at all these sea mammals, all these sea creatures, and knowing That this is something we have never ever seen before. You know what it means? What a mighty God we serve.

Yes.

And I'm just using my imagination. Not only did they walk, but I would imagine that they didn't even have mud on the bottom of their feet. And then when Pharaoh tries to do the same thing, thinking that God can't distinguish between his people and them when they come in, then God calls for the water to come back together And it drowned Pharaoh's army. What am I saying to you today?

When you have the spirit of an overcomer, God will make some things happen for you that nobody can explain, that nobody would believe, and that would become your testimony.

In conclusion, Joshua and Caleb They steeled the people and they said, we are more than able to overcome.

Yes.

They spoke it. Proverbs 18:21, the power of life and death, it's not in your hand, it's not in your mind.

Yes.

It's not in your checkbook.

Yes.

It's not in your degrees. You can have more degrees than a thermometer. What matters the most is that you know that you know that you know that I can do this. They that know their God shall do great exploits. And the last scripture I give you Just feast on it on your way home. It's a scripture of self-confidence. And you will find many people that would advise you that God doesn't want you to have confidence in yourself. And I don't, I don't know where you get that from. In fact, what I found is that God have a difficult time using people who don't have any confidence in themselves.

There you go.

Which was Moses' struggle. Because of his impediment of speech. But Philippians 4:13 starts out with a personal pronoun. He said, I, I can— the next word. Those 2 words produces a phrase which can be in many forms a complete sentence, which is something you got to preach to yourself. and tell yourself over and over again. When it comes down to anything, you gotta tell yourself, I can. How do I know I can? Because I have the spirit of an overcomer. Amen. I can do all. I can do all. There's no differentiation in what I'm able to do. I can do all. Whatever God assigns to my life, I can do that. I can do this. I can do the other. Yeah, God, I can do that too. Yes, God, I can do that too. Yes, I can do that. Yes, sir, I can do that. Yes, ma'am, I can do that. No, ma'am, I don't have any degrees, but yes, I can still do it. Because if there's a will, there's a way.

Hallelujah.

I look at sometimes how Brother Brendan and, and Brother Jermaine, they take on jobs get hired to do jobs. Sometimes they haven't even done the stuff they get hired to do. They just have this self-confidence that it can be done. When we did this wall right here, we, we didn't know what we were doing. We didn't know what we were doing, but we had a determination to make it happen.

Yes.

And isn't it beautiful? Don't it look good? Don't it look good? Don't it look good? I can do all things, not in my own strength, but through Christ, who gives me not just strength, but he lends me his strength. That's why I'm strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Develop an overcoming attitude. Would you stand? Develop an overcoming attitude because you have the spirit, the heart of an overcomer. Bow your heads if you will. Precious Savior, When we think of your goodness and all that you've done for us, when we recall to our mind the things that you have done, we have to give you glory, praise, and honor because there are