Elevation with Steven Furtick - Stay Focused

Episode Date: July 2, 2018

Ballantyne Campus Pastor Jonathan Josephs teaches us that our faith isn’t a product of what we see; it’s a product of what we focus on. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://ele.vc/TI55jRSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your fate. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. I want to look at a passage of scripture that, man, it was months ago God started speaking to me through this text. It was at a moment in my life. Zach, you remember, I was real discouraged. and frustrated about some areas in my life where it felt like, rather than moving towards what God had intended for my life, it felt like I was moving away from it. And God really started to speak to me through this passage of scripture. But if it's any indication of how much the devil was fighting me these last few weeks as I was working on this sermon, I believe

that I am on assignment today to release a word from God that will catapult someone into their God-given destiny and purpose. I am fired up. Ready to speak what God's put in my heart to speak with you. But how fitting that they would allow a Canadian to preach to you on this holiday weekend? Yes, yes, yes. I know it's Independence Day. Happy birthday America. But did you know that it's also Canada Day?

Yes, we're celebrating a birthday too. I like your shirt right there, Mr. Canada. Someone's like, what's Canada? It's kind of our birthday too, but basically Canadians are going to just take Monday off to listen to the new Drake album. That's what we're all going to do together. it's a good thing but hey since we're both celebrating look at the person next to you let's just make them blend them together do a hybrid look at the person next to you and say happy independence day a that's right that's right stay standing for just a moment i want to jump into our scripture for

today we're going to be looking at numbers chapter 13 just to give you a little context before we look at our key verse moses has led the israelites out from under egyptian slavery oppression and captivity. He's leading them somewhere, though. He's taking them on a journey into the promised land. This is the same land that God had promised generations ago to their forefather, Abraham. And after all that time in Egypt, they're finally on their way. And they get to the edge of the land of Canaan, the promised land. And God gives Moses an instruction. He says, send 12 men, one leader from each tribe into the promised land. And he sends them in to explore for 40 days. So for 40 days, they are looking at the promise that God had given them so many generations

before. And they come back to Moses after 40 days, and they give them a report on what they had seen. And this is where we're going to pick up, Numbers 13, verse 27. It says they gave Moses this account. We went into the land in which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey. Here is its fruit. It tells us earlier that they picked up a cluster of grapes that was so big that it took two man to carry a single cluster of grapes out, it represented God's promises, God's provision. They lay that fruit in front of Moses and said, here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of an act there. The Amalekites live in the Ngev, the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amrites live in the

hill country. And the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan. Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, we should go up and take possession of the land. for we can certainly do it. But the men who had gone up with them said, we can't attack those people. They're stronger than we are. And they spread amongst the Israelites, a bad report about the land they had explored.

They said the land we explored devours all those living in. All the people we saw, there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there. They were believed to be giants. These are some big people. They said, we seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes. And we look the same to them. My sermon title for today's message is this, stay focused.

And at any point during my message, if the person next to you looks like they're starting to doze off or you catch them, check in Instagram, you have my permission to nudge them in the side. Real hard, right in the ribbon, give them my title again, stay focused. In fact, why don't you practice right now at all our locations as you take your seat, hit the person next to you, tell them, stay focused. Hey, real quickly, for those of you at our Valentine location, this is going to be old news because you probably see my boys running around the lobby. but for other locations and those of you joining us online, let me show you a picture of my family real quick. Here we are up on the screen. That's us serving during Love Week. I got two little boys. My oldest, his name is Zion. He's three and a half. My youngest, his name is Elias. He just turned one. And that's my wife, Anna. We've been married for eight years now. Just celebrated eight years of marriage. That's pretty good.

She's my Georgia Peach. And as we were celebrating our anniversary, it brought to mind right after we got engaged how the pastor who is marrying us sat us down for premarital counseling. And I remember one specific session where he kind of cautioned us. And he wanted to let us know that, well, every couple will experience conflict in their marriage. He

suspected that we would experience a little bit more than usual. And here's why. Me and Anna grew up very differently. We had very different experiences growing up. I'm from Toronto, Canada. I have a loud, big, obnoxious family. She's from rural Georgia. Her family's

so sweet and proper. Our experiences were growing up were so different. He just wanted to warn us that because of our different experiences, we just might have a tendency to experience some conflict. He thought we would see things a little bit differently. Let me give you just a couple examples real quick. I was thinking about the first time we met each other's family, because it was a culture shock for both of us. The first time I visited Aneda's family in rural Georgia, I met one of her friends who asked me if I wanted to go mud in. Muddin. I thought he meant mud bath. I'm like, sure, sometimes you just got to treat yourself, you know? But no, no, no. Mudden is intentionally driving your Jeep

through mud, trying to get your vehicle as dirty as you possibly can. I don't understand this, Chris. That was foreign to me. But Anna's first time visiting my family in Toronto wasn't easy either. I remember she got in on a late flight, so I picked her up from the airport, brought her home to meet my family. It was her first time meeting them. It was already late, so my parents had been in bed. And I remember when I walked her in the house and my dad came down the steps. in his raggedy white boxer breeze. I remember how awkward she looked. I was like, Anna, this is my dad.

Nice to meet you. And just to clarify, that is not a Canadian thing. That is strictly a Mark Joseph's thing. But it was hard for her. It was hard for her. And so the counselor wanted us to know. The pastor said, hey, you might experience more conflict in your relationship because it would make sense that you would see things so differently as you go throughout your marriage.

He just wanted us to be mindful of it. And that made sense to me. that two people with two different experiences would just come to different conclusions about things. That made perfect sense. But what's always been interesting to me is how two people can experience the same thing and come to two very different conclusions. You can be looking at the same thing and come to a whole different set of beliefs. You know this when you go home at Thanksgiving.

You're sitting around the Thanksgiving table and you think you're talking about the same issue. But somehow your uncle Carl comes up. with some crazy theories and you're like, are we even talking about the same thing here? We recently had this controversy around our office. It got bad. It got, it got pretty heated. It was a particular issue where I knew my opinion represented the minority, but every time the issue would come up, I always felt like I had to say something. I couldn't keep my mouth shut. And listen, as a Canadian, it goes against my nature to disagree with people, but I felt like I needed to stand my ground on this one. And it got bad because people were like, I had coworkers losing

respect for me and they're questioning my salvation. Like, do you even fear God, man? But I felt like it was such an important issue. I felt like I needed to speak my mind on it. And I don't want to cause division at any of our locations today. I don't want to create a problem for you, Terry, at the Uptown campus. But I feel like it needs to be said, the greatest showman was a really bad movie. It was a really bad movie No, no, no, no, no, no. It was a really bad movie. I walked out of the theater.

I looked over at Anna, expecting her to be just as disappointed as me. And she was smiling. She was so happy. I was like, you loved it? She's like, I loved it. It was so good. I was like, Wolverine shouldn't be singing. Wolverine should be stabbing.

That's what he should be doing. I didn't understand it. Same version as everyone else to very different conclusions. Looking at the same thing. two very different beliefs. That's what initially drew my attention to this passage in Numbers 13, because for 40 days, these 12 spies, these 12 great men of faith, these 12 leaders from one from each of the tribe, they go into the promised land for 40 days they're exploring. This place is amazing. Can you believe that God said he's going to give this to us? Oh my goodness. Okay,

Okay, over there I see, oh man, those look like some cities over there, some big walls, but oh my gosh, look at that. This place is flowing with milk and honey. No one knew what that meant, but it sounded awesome. Whoa, what's that? Oh, my, do you see that? That's a big, oh, no, that's just a campus safety volunteer. Okay, okay.

Oh, no, no, no, no. Whoa, no, there really are some big people in this land. They look like giants, but whoa, speaking of big, look at that. Look how big those grapes are. Touch your neighbors say those are big grapes. Those are massive. I can't wait to tell Moses about these grapes. In fact, rather than tell them about it, why don't we show them to them? And so two of them carry this cluster of grapes and pawn-mogramnets and figs.

They represent God's blessing and provision in the land and they bring it back to Moses. And they set it down in front of them and they begin to give their report. Ten of the spies come to one conclusion. They start talking about the giants in the land, the armies, the walls that they would have to bring down. And two of the spies, Caleb and the... The text would later tell us Joshua felt the same way. They had a whole different set of beliefs. They said, we can do it. We can take this place. God is with it, with us. How is it that two people can be looking at the same thing and come to two different conclusions? I've come to believe in my life that what I believe is not a product of what I see. It's a product of my focus.

That's how two people can get the same diagnosis from the doctor and one of them be absolutely devastated. And will the other person experiences hope and peace and strengthen God like never before in their life? That's why I've sat down with two different couples going through the same situation. And one says, we're not going to make it. We've got to give up. And the other says, no, no, no. We've got some battles to fight. But we can forgive each other and we can move on and we believe God is with us and that God has something in store for us.

It's a matter of your focus, your focus. It's not that Joshua and Caleb were more spiritual than the others. All of these were leaders from each of the tribes. They were great men of faith. And maybe today you are standing on the edge of something God has been trying to bring you into. It might not look like Canaan. It might look like peace. It might look like joy.

It might look like freedom. It might look like healing. God is always trying to bring you into something. But so often we stand at the edge, never possessing. What God has promised us because we lack focus. And maybe you're here today and you've been so discouraged and you feel like everybody else is winning and everybody else is getting ahead. And you feel like maybe I don't have faith. I want to encourage you today.

It's not that you don't have faith. In fact, the Bible says that God has given us each a measure of faith. Jesus says that all you need is faith the size of a mustard seed to be able to speak to these mountains and say, move. If you have just a little bit of faith, he said nothing would be impossible for you. It's not that you don't have faith. It just might be that you don't have focus. Even great people of faith have weak moments. And I think that's what happened to these 10 spies in this passage.

40 days staring at the promise. And somewhere along the way, they lost their focus. But I really believe that the reason Joshua and Caleb were able to keep their focus was because they practiced so much discipline throughout this whole process. And I want to look at three things today that Joshua, and Caleb did so well that I think will help someone who's here today, that God is calling you into something. This might be the message that gives you the faith, either confidence, faith in yourself, or hope, faith in God, to move forward in what he's promised. And the first thing is this,

focus what you think. When I was first started reading through this passage, I was judging these spies so hard, man. I was judging them. I didn't understand how these 10 men could spend 40 days staring at grapes and pond-mogranets and figs after all this time in the desert, I would have thought they would have been so excited to be finally coming close to the promise God had given. I was judging them because I didn't understand how they were so preoccupied with these giants. Why you keep talking about the giants, man? Giants sounding like Alan Iverson. Practice? Giants? What are you talking about these giants for? They come back and they give their report and they say, see, they give their report and they say,

Moses, look at these grapes, but then they start going on about these giants and armies and the walls. And I'm judging them because I'm like, I just don't understand how they could miss the promises and be so focused on the problems. And I thought about getting up here to preach to you and be like, if you just worry about devouring those grapes, God will devour your giants or something like that. Don't tweet that, but something like that. Judging these guys. But the more I read through Numbers 13, the more I was able to get some context of what was going to. going on in their lives. And the more I got context, the less I was judging them, and the more I was actually able to relate to them. See, context is a powerful thing because context is the key

to compassion. It's real easy to make snap judgments off of snapshots when you look at someone's life. They should have done this or they should have done that. But if you can zoom out and get some context, instead of judging them, you start having compassion on them. Look at your neighbor. Say, if you knew my story. No, come on, say it, if you knew my story, if you knew my story, you wouldn't be judging me today? You'd be celebrating me today. If you knew what I had been through, if you knew what God had brought me through, how he kept me, how he saved me, you wouldn't be standing here judging me. You'd be celebrating me. You'd be thanking God for what he did in my life. Yeah, I know I got a ways to go, but by the grace of God, I'm still standing here. It's the key to

compassion. And I'm reading through this passage and I started to see where things went wrong because At the beginning of Numbers 13, God speaks to Moses and he gives him a simple instruction. See, you got to understand that Moses is, in an informal sense, Israel's first king, but he's very much so a prophet, a mouthpiece to God, from God to the Israelites. God would speak to Moses, and then he would relay that message to the people. And so at the beginning of Numbers 13, God gives him one specific instruction. Take 12 spies, send them into the land to explore one thing. So Moses is writing down his to-do list.

To do. Explore the land. Got it. A simple instruction. You see, God is always trying to bring us into things, but God is not the author of confusion. God always makes it real simple. We like to complicate our faith, but God often just gives us one next step. He keeps things real simple for us.

He gives them one thing, explore the land. Moses takes that list. And look at this in Numbers 1318. Now he's passing on that list to the 12 spies. And he takes the one thing that God put on the to-do list. And he starts making things so complicated. Numbers 13, 18, it says, what he says, see what the land is like. And whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many,

what kind of land do they live in? Is it good as a bad? What are the towns like that they live in? Is it on wall they're fortified. How's the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in the land or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.

Moses starts complicating the very simple thing that God asked them to do. It's like when my wife sends me to the grocery store to pick up salsa, and along the way, she starts texting me about diapers and bananas. Of course I forgot the salsa. I can only think about one thing at a time. I'm a simple person. Moses complicates the simple instruction that God gave them to pass on. The difference between God's list and Moses's list is the difference between what dads have to think about when they go on vacation,

and what moms have to think about when they're packing. Mums are like, I need clothes for myself and clothes for the kids and towels for the beach and toys for the beach and snacks for the car and a first aid kit. And dads are like bathing suit, toothbrush. Are you ready to go yet? It's not fair. Moses has them considering things that God never asked them to consider. No wonder they were talking about armies and walls and giants. Moses sent them into the land thinking about things that God never asked them to think about. And what I've realized in my own life is that so often my self-consciousness is a product of my failure to be God conscious.

When I start thinking about things that God never asked me to think about, I start undermining the very confidence that I need to move forward into what he's called me to. We do what Moses did all the time. God gives us a simple instruction, and we start adding all kinds of considerations. God speaks to you and he puts it on your heart. He says, I want you to make church a priority because I want you to set a legacy of faith for your family. A simple thing. And we go, yes, God, got it. Make church a priority. And then we start adding all kinds of considerations. What's the weather like this weekend? How's the parking lot going to be? Is Pastor Stephen going to be there or is it the Canadian guy again? How were the kids? Were they crazy or extra crazy? God speaks to you through his word and he says, I need you to start trusting me with the tithe. And remember, every time God gives you an instruction, it's not. not because he's trying to keep you from something. He's always trying to bring you into something. Every good and perfect gift comes from God. So he puts it on your heart. I need you to start trusting me with the tie. And we go, yes, God, I got it. I'll do what you say. And then we start considering all these other things like, did I get the promotion I wanted? What were the bills like?

Do I have all the shoes? What kind of vacation do we want to take this year? What kind of school do we want to put the kids in? And we start considering things that God never asked us to think about. That's where the 10 spies went wrong. They undermined the confidence that. they needed. God was sending them into the land because he wanted them to bring back a report, to be able to encourage the Israelite community about what God had in store for them. And instead, Moses had them thinking about all kinds of things, giants and walls. And instead of encouraging the people, they discouraged the people because of what they were sent into the land thinking about. So what do we do? Real practically, we need to focus our thoughts because I think so many of us,

We have thoughts that end up dictating what we believe in the conclusions we come to. And we never stop to ask the question, where did this even come from? What would it look like if you took time to actually think about what you're thinking about? Look what 2nd Corinthians 10-5 says. At the end of it, Paul says, we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. In other words, he says, every thought that passes through my mind, I grab hold of it and I make it to submit to. what God has spoken over my life. If God hasn't said it, I don't need to think about it. Because what I believe is not a product of what I see. It's a product of my focus. I need to focus

what I think. But the second thing that I see, the two spies do so well in this passage, and this is number two, focus what you hear. Because look what happens in the text. They come back from the land. They're giving their report to Moses. And they start talking at first about the promises that he had given them. And he says they say this in verse 27. It says, we went into the land in which you sent us and it does flow with milk and honey. Here is its fruit. But the people who live there, now they're talking about

the problems are powerful. And the cities are fortified and very large. But look what Caleb does in verse 30. He says, shut up. He focused what he heard. He looked at them and said, I don't need to hear all that. It wasn't that. Caleb wasn't a

of the giants and what was in the land. He knew about it. He had spent 40 days looking at the same thing as they did. But he looked at him and said, I don't need to hear all that, man. There are some things in my life that things I need to deal with that I am very aware of. I don't need someone always coming in my ear just telling me about all the things that are wrong. I need people in my life who can speak God's promises over my life. Tell me what God's declared over my life. God said he would give us this land. I don't need to hear about all these giants. You got to focus what you hear, man. And we pollute our faith. We pollute our hearts. We pollute our spirits because we expose ourselves by what we hear. These 10 spies come back and they're talking about grapes and promises at first. And then they're talking about giants and walls. But, but, but, but, but. And the moment they start sounding like Sir Mix a lot instead of men of faith talking about butts. Caleb has the fortitude to say, stop talking about that, man. I don't need to hear all that.

Touch your neighbors say, I don't need to hear all that. See, there are some of us in this place today that God has put some things on your heart. There are things that God has called you too. But the reason you haven't had the confidence to move forward is because there are still voices in your life that are talking you out of what God is calling you into. Dreams he's put in your heart. Dreams he's put in your spirit. And every time you get ready to believe him,

And every time you get ready to take that step, there's someone in your ear saying, but, but, but, but, but, doctor tell you you wouldn't be able to conceive again. But, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, do you really want to put yourself through all that heartbreak again after what you've been through? But, but, but, but, do you really think you're qualified for that job? And we let these voices talk us out of what God is calling us into because we lack focus. But you've got to become selective with your hearing, man. Like my kid, it's amazing how he can hear me when he wants to hear me. doesn't hear me when he doesn't want to. You've got to become selective in your hearing because your

faith is a product of your focus. You got to focus what you hear. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. In other words, my faith is not determined by what I see. My faith is determined by what I hear. I've got to submit my life under the words that God has spoken over my life. I need friends who will stand in my corner and declare what God has said over my situation. God said I belong to him. God said he's my, I'm his child. God said no weapon formed against me would prosper or prevail. Hallelujah. Thank you, God. People that talk me out of the battle, I need friends who will come into battle with me declaring what God has spoken over my life. He said he would give it to me. Faith comes by what you hear, what you hear, what you hear.

Encourage the person next to you. Look them dead in the eye at every campus and with faith. Look at them say, God is with you. No, no, no, no, no, no, say it with faith. God is with you? You can do it. I don't know what it is that God is calling you today, but God is with you and you can do it. I don't need to hear all that. I had a friend in high school who was so good at pointing out people's little mannerisms that they did.

Things I would never notice, but he had a way of picking up on those little things you do, those little weird things you do. I remember one time he was like, hey, do you notice how this guy clears his throat between. every other word. Amen. How you doing? I never noticed it before, but once he said it, it was all I could hear. And we wonder sometimes why we're so focused on the wrong things. It's because we haven't become selective enough in what we hear. I'm not saying you can't be friends with the person, but I had a friend the other day who started talking real negatively about something I care about. And it's not that I don't want to be friends with them anymore. I love the dude, but I just have to say, I don't need to hear all that. Some of you wonder why you're

So anxious and it's like maybe it's because you're listening to the same news cycle every night at 11 o'clock Maybe you need to change up the music you listen to because faith comes through what you hear. So if it's not pure, if it's not true, if it's not excellent, if it's not praiseworthy, if it's not honorable, then I don't need to be hearing that kind of stuff, man. Caleb silenced the people. Number three, this is my last point. Focus what you say. There's a real difference between the way that Joshua and Caleb talks.

about their situation and the way the other 10 spies did. When I first started reading through this passage, I just assumed that those 10 spies were lying about what they saw. I could understand, man, they'd already been through a lot. Maybe they just didn't want to go into another battle. Maybe they didn't feel like fighting against. So maybe they thought, hey, if we just kind of exaggerate about what's in the land, maybe we can talk them out of it. You know, we'll get there eventually, but we're just not up for it right now. I thought they were maybe making up what they saw because Joshua and Caleb are saying like, man, we are stronger than they are.

God is with us. We should go up. We can certainly do it. And they're saying, no, to him, these people are so big. We seem like grasshoppers in their eyes. Who's right? Who's wrong in this situation? I thought one was telling the truth and one was lying, but then I noticed a small detail in verse 32. Look at this. It says, and they spread amongst the Israelites a bad report. Do you catch that? A bad report. Not a false report, not a wrong report, a bad report. What they saw in the land was very much real. There were big walls. There were big cities. There were big people that they would have to conquer. They weren't deceived in what they saw.

They were deceived in what they said. Because they spoke about what they saw on the land. And then they started saying all kinds of crazy things like, man, we are so small. We seem like grasshoppers in their own. eyes. Now, how could they know that? How do they know what they're thinking? They didn't know that. And often where the enemy will deceive us in our life is he'll have us looking at a very real situation, but coming to very false conclusions. And what you say is a reflection of what you believe.

There's very little space between what you say and what you believe. And the more they started saying, we're so small, we're so inferior, we can't do it, we can't take them. They're bigger. They're stronger, the more they started to believe that that's where the enemy deceived them in what they said. And I am so guilty about this in my own life, where I can be looking at a very real situation, something that I have to deal with and something that I need to face. But I undermine the faith I need to do it by the words that I say. And it gets crazy sometimes. The other day, we got into an argument, just a little argument. Don't worry about it. us, just a little argument. We got into an argument. But I remember walking away saying to myself,

like, I'll never be good enough for Anna. I'll never be the husband she deserves. I lost my patient with the boys picking him up from school the other day. And instead of just saying the easy thing to say, I'm sorry, you know what I started saying to myself in the car? They're going to grow up believing their dad's a hypocrite and they're going to hate God and they're going to hate church and they're going to hate me. Crazy conclusions. Real simple situation, but we inject all these thoughts and we start saying things that contradict what God has spoken over our lives. I need to do something different. Yeah, I've got to deal with it.

Yeah, I've got to address it and say sorry sometimes. But I need to declare over my life the truth of what God has spoken. I am a good husband. I am a good dad. See, there's someone today that you are looking at a very real situation. But what God is calling you to do is change the way you talk about it. He wants to focus what you say and make sure every word that comes out of your mouth is in accordance with what he's spoken. Paul wrote, he said, I believe, therefore I have spoken.

What you say is a reflection of your beliefs. For some of you, you're looking at a very real sickness, but that doesn't mean you can't declare the truth over your situation. I am healed. By his stripes, I am healed. I am whole. I am redeemed. Yeah, you might have lost some years, but you can declare over your life that my God, God is a Redeemer, that there is nothing too difficult for him, that my best days are ahead of me.

Yeah, you made some mistakes, that's real, but you don't need to believe that God is done with you. He has more in store for you. He has plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Sometimes you've got to look your situation right in the face and say, yeah, I know you're there. But what my God has spoken is true. And if he said he would give me the land, he will give me the land. Talking about giants and walls. Numbers 14A. Joshua and Caleb speak up and they say,

if the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into the land. Again, talking about the blessings, they say, a land flowing with milk and honey. And look at this, they repeat the promise that God initially gave to Moses and even before that gave to Abraham. And he will give it to us. Don't rebel against the Lord. Don't be afraid.

We will devour them. See, the 10 spies kept saying this land is going to devour us. Surely God's brought us out here to die. We can't defeat them. We're so small in their eyes. But Joshua and Caleb, they focused what they said. They kept repeating the promise that God had said he will give us this land. There's some things we're going to have to fight.

There's some battles that we're going to have to go through. But if God said he'd give it to us, then I believe that he'll give it to us. Stand to your feet at all our locations. I want to close this thing down. See, what you believe is not a product of what you see. For 40 days, they were all looking at the same thing, and yet came to very different conclusions. Because what you believe is a product of your focus. You've got to focus what you think, focus what you hear, and focus what you say.

Because what you believe is not a product of what you see, but get this, the way God works. What you believe will determine what you see. For the 10 spies who believe that they couldn't defeat them, who believed that they would die in the wilderness, who believed that God couldn't do it through them. For the 10 spies and the entire generation of Israelites who believed their bad report, they would never step foot into that promised land again. Because what you believe determines what you see. But for Joshua and Caleb, the ones who have the courage, the confidence, the focus to believe God for what he had spoken,

because they believe God, they would see that promise land again. Yeah, it would take some time. And yeah, there would be some fights, but they would have the opportunity to lead the next generation of God's people into the promise because what you believe determines what you see. And there's someone here today under the sound of my voice. You've lost your focus. You've let too many voices talk you out of what God was calling you into. You've been considering things, getting all insecure, thinking about. about things that God didn't ask you to think about. And you've been saying some crazy things.

Yeah, they're based on what you see, but they don't align with what God has spoken over your life. You need to focus what you say. I believe that God is bringing you into something today. You're on the edge of a breakthrough. You're on the edge of a miracle. You're on the edge of a blessing. Don't lose your focus now.

Because what you believe will determine what you'll see. And if you would believe God for it, then by His grace, you will see it. I don't know who this message was for, but it's for someone who was giving up. Someone who felt so frustrated that they were on the edge of something God had put in your heart so long ago. Now it's time to possess what God has promised. Focus, focus. In his presence today right now, I want to actually give a very specific invitation. For someone under the sound of my voice, maybe you're in Asheville, maybe you're in Morrisville, maybe you're in Raleigh.

you've never made a decision to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior you've seen His grace he's been in your life the whole time You've experienced his goodness and his mercy but you've never surrendered your life to him It is possible that you could have been looking at your Savior your hope all along and completely missed it When Jesus hung on the cross with a crown of thorns and blood running down his face as he poured out his blood for our forgiveness there was a thief on either side. Two people looking at the same promise,

the same promise one, the same savior of the world. Two people looking at the same promise but came to two very different conclusions. One thief on the side of Jesus looked at him and said, if you're really the son of God, he didn't have the faith to believe.

And because he didn't believe, he wouldn't see Jesus again. But on the other side of Jesus was a thief who deserve to be on that cross, but he looked at Jesus and said, I want to be with you in paradise. I believe in you. I believe you're the savior of the world. And because he believed, Jesus says, you will be with me today. God not only wants to spend eternity with you, but God wants to come into your life right now. God is with you in this moment. Don't miss him. Surrender your life to him, choose to believe it. That's you today. This is your moment. Your moment

of salvation, your moment of faith. I want to lead you in a prayer right now to surrender your life to Christ to receive the promise of his grace and his forgiveness with heads bowed and eyes closed all over this place. Pray with me. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the Savior of the world. I believe he died and rose again to forgive my sin and give me life. I receive your grace by faith. Come into my life. Made me new. I'll follow you with heads still bowed and I still close at every location. If you just prayed that prayer, when I count to three, boldly shoot your hand up in the air. Do it courageously, man. We want to celebrate what God's done in your life. On three, one, two, three, shoot your hand up. Don't hesitate. Come on across all the locations. Let's celebrate

the miracles of new beginnings in Jesus' name. Come on, lift your voices. Get God praise in this place. He's so faithful. His promise still saying. Well, I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. If you did, there are just a couple things I'd love for you to do. Number one, subscribe to our show. That way, the most recent episode will always be in your feed, waiting for you, ready when you are. And secondly, if this ministry has impacted you, and you'd like to help us continue to reach others,

you can click the link in the description, and you can give now. And I'll see you next time on the Elevation Podcast. This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.