January 18, 2015
Pastor Bob
“What will it take for me to change my life in 2015?”
Numbers 13:1-2 (NLT)
The Lord now said to Moses, 2 “Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.”
Numbers 13:27-33 (NLT)
27 This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. 28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea[a] and along the Jordan Valley.”
30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”
31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” 32 So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. 33 We even saw giants[b] there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”
Feelings will always cause this in our life:
Numbers 14:1 (NLT)
14 Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night.
Numbers 14:4 (NLT)
4 Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”
Faith will always cause this response:
Numbers 14:6-8 (NLT)
6 Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing. 7 They said to all the people of Israel, “The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! 8 And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey.
Answer:
1. Must have a vision: a mental picture of what we want our life to be
Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish
Numbers 13:28 (NLT)
28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!
Numbers 14:9 (NLT)
9 Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!”
2. Must have a different attitude than most.
Numbers 14:24 (NLT)
24 But my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have.
Numbers 13:31 (NLT)
31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!”
3. We must have faith in God!
Numbers 13:30 (NLT)
30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”
Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)
6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
4. We must answer God’s question.
Numbers 14:11 (NLT)11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?