Elevation with Steven Furtick - This Is Bigger Than Them

Episode Date: May 3, 2026

Blessings don’t come without battles, but sometimes, those battles feel so big or so long that we lose sight of what God has promised. Pastor Steven teaches us through the life of Caleb how we can stand firm in what God has promised us, regardless of the people or problems that appear to stand in our way.  If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr Scripture References:Joshua 14, verses 6-13Romans 8, verse 31Numbers 13, verses 30-33See 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 faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Praise the Lord, everybody. More life, yeah. I'm glad that you're here. If you're watching online, I'm so thankful that the Lord saw it fit to put this message in your algorithm. Oh, it's not accidental. No, no, no, no, no.

God is bigger than you, too. God will make YouTube feed this sermon to you so that he can feed you. I just want to know right there in the comments where you're watching from. So if you're joining us, let us know how many of you were here last week to hear my message last week? The only reason I ask that is because I want to keep going with it a little bit today. Turn in your Bible to Joshua Chapter 14. You may remain standing as I read the word of God. Joshua chapter 14, verses 6 through 13.

And by now they're all over YouTube telling us where they're joining from. Y'all want to do a few shoutouts on YouTube as you find scripture? You know you need an extra minute to find Joshua 14 anyway. I'm trying to hook you up. But let's see, here we go, here we go. Here they are. from Rochester, New York, California, Montgomery, Alabama, see, all different countries. We got Palestine, Miami, New Mexico, Ontario, Montreal.

Aren't you from Ontario, L.J.? Do you know this person? L. Ann Bood-Reed, you know. Oh, God knows. Wainsville, North Carolina. Columbia, South Carolina. I know you need to get to the Columbia campus, all right? You better have a cold or something this week. Watch it online, Brazil.

Let's give it up for our ephem all over the world. Thank you for joining. I listen to this scripture, and then I'll fill in the background after I've read it to you. Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgau and Caleb, son of Jephanah. This is one of those times where you're glad that your dad didn't end you. Caleb, son of Jeffinna, Jeffinna Jr. What he would have been called. So Caleb is a much better name.

Everybody say Caleb. Caleb is the character that we want to talk about today. Caleb, the Kinazite, and said to him, you know what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, not according to a committee, not a report according to the comments section, but a report according to my convictions.

That's what he did. I brought him a report according to my convictions, but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. So on that day, Moses swore to me, the land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance, and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. Now then, verse 10. Now then, those two words right there. Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for 45 years.

since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, 85 years old. I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now, give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Antichites were there and their cities were large and fortified. But the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said. Let's camp in verse 13 as I give you my message today.

Then Joshua blessed Caleb, son of Jafuna, and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. I came with a reminder today. I want to remind you that this is bigger. than them. This is bigger than them. Lord, thank you for your word. We receive it before we even know what you say, because it comes from you. Speak, Lord, your servants are listening.

In Jesus' name, amen. Hit your neighbor on your way down and say, it's bigger than them. This is bigger than them. When I first opened this passage of scripture, I thought the main point, of the passage was about Caleb's age. He's 85. I thought maybe I shouldn't preach this Lord because my church has a diversity of ages. I'm not just speaking to people who are older in life, who need to keep their motivation high. I'm preaching to people who are also inexperienced in life and are just getting started. But the Lord showed me something very powerful. If you give me a second

to break it down, I'm going to tie it into what God has been speaking in our church the past few weeks, that this message isn't really about Caleb's age, it's a message about agency. Agency may be an unfamiliar word in church, but if you ever walk into a therapist office, they will eventually talk to you about agency. When I went to Bible school, cemetery, I mean seminary, they taught me about sovereignty, the sovereignty of God. means he's in charge. But I had to go to a counselor's office to learn the word agency, because agency means that God is in charge, but I also get to choose. Agency means that I am not merely a reflection of my environment, but that my responses

in life actually affect my environment. So I guess you can say it's the opposite of a victim mentality is to say, I have agency. Everybody say agency. And what's amazing to me about Caleb's story in Joshua 14 is that he is a combination of understanding God's sovereignty and his agency. Now, I'm not just trying to use a therapy word for the heck of it. I think that's an important thing for you to understand, that although you may have faith in God, you also need to to own your ability to make decisions in your life. And you would think this is common sense, but sometimes we check our common sense when we become Christians.

And we just confuse the fact that we have surrendered all to God and put the results in his hand with the idea that we still have responsibility as we live this life. Y'all aren't smiling at me. Y'all aren't smiling at me, but this is going to help you. Caleb stands as an example in the scriptures as a man who was unwilling to allow his life and his path and the pen of his story to be in the hands of another person. And so last week, the message that I preached was called You Can Change the End. I don't know what you thought when you heard that title, but I think some of us maybe were a little resistant to that idea at first. You can change the end.

Because when I say you can change the end, you think about situations where you were not able to affect the outcome and the way you wanted. The first thing that came to my mind as I was preparing the message called You Could Change the End is how my dad's life ended. He died of a sickness called ALS. And he died of a sickness, but he also died surrounded by our family. And the reason that he died of a sickness, I will never understand. on this side of eternity. But the reason that he died surrounded is because of my mom. My dad had completely lost his mind when he received his diagnosis, to the point that he became a danger to my mom, and for a season of his sickness, they had to live separated. It's a lot of

details I won't get into right now, but you better believe that we were all praying, God heal him, God change him. God did not heal him, but that does not mean that God was not with him. And I'm going to explain that in just a moment. My mom made a decision to forgive him and to bring him back, and for that reason he died sick, but he died surrounded by his family. So what I'm trying to say is that in any given situation of your life, you can't always change. the result, but you can always choose your response. That's what I'm saying. So when I said agency, what I mean is you get to choose. God is in charge and I get to choose. God is in charge and I get to choose whether or not I cooperate with God, collaborate with God, partner with God, align with God,

bow to God, submit to God, or whether I spend all my energy fighting against God and then have no energy left to defend myself against the devil. And you get to choose. So, last week I gave you an illustration, and I want to hit it again real quick. I put two words on the board. It said, The end. Everybody say, the end. So we were talking about the Israelites coming to the Red Sea. Their time in Egypt has ended, but their time in the promised land has not yet started. In order to get to where God is bringing them to, they have to leave where God is bringing them from, and they have to go through something that they didn't expect. They begin to cry out to God, because they're like, we can't get across this.

Behind them are chariots, which represent the best technology that Egypt has to make against a vagabond nation who has not yet even learned how to survive in a nomadic sense. And so the end is imminent. And we talked about those seasons in our life where the enemy says it's the end. When the enemy says that you can't recover from this, I'm going to preach it. I'm going to preach it right to you. Where the enemy says you'll always be an addict. Where the enemy says no one will ever be able to love you. Where the enemy says you're not going to be happy again, there's too much trauma.

Where the enemy says it's over the end, the end. And we talked about a very powerful word that comes after the end. When the Bible says, watch this, change it, Jared. Then Moses stretched his hand and he stretched out his stick. stick and something as small as a stick split something as big as a sea. Because we learned that big doors swing on little hinges. Do you remember? But it all hinges on the word, then.

Then Moses stretched his hand. If he had stayed planted in his fear, he would have died. And we talked about the fact that God has given you the pen in your life right now to write your next then. that one day you will be telling a story of this season, and you will say, and then I went back to church. And then I joined a recovery group. And then I prayed about it. And then I flushed the pills.

And then I got some accountability. And then I decided I didn't need to be with that man if he was going to treat me that way. I'd rather be alone than be abused. And then I called somebody to help me who had a pickup truck. And then I moved out of the house and then I made space for God to move and then God sent me Jimmy and Jimmy love Jesus and me and Jimmy and Jesus have been doing good for the last 30 years, but it all hinges on a then and you don't know a then when you're in it And sometimes you don't know how close you are to a turning point in your life So if I were the devil, I would get you to give up before you get to your then I would convince you, go back to the end, that it was the end so you would never get to then.

I would try to kill you in your frustration. I would try to get you to walk away from God because he's not answering your questions. I would try to get you to confuse yourself so deeply about your identity in Christ that you give up on the fact that there is a God at all. Because I wouldn't want you to get to then. Did you notice in the Bible when Caleb is coming to Joshua, he's coming to somebody who he has a relationship of 45 years with? Maybe longer. They were the two spies.

I don't know if you remember. They went into the Promised Land, and there were 10 spies. And we're going to look at this in Numbers, Chapter 13 and 14 in a minute. But this is 45 years later. and Moses sent them in to see what the land was like so they could not only come out of Egypt, but go into the promised land. You know how many people get delivered from something, but never go to what God has given them? Seriously. Do you know how many people get delivered from their sin because they accept Jesus Christ and his death on the cross, but they never

learn to live forgiven so they stay shackled to shame? So what good was it for Jesus to hang and die for me if I'm going to hang my head and not ever receive who I am in him? And it's amazing how Many of us, we get delivered and then we don't. We don't ever get to then. We don't ever see the story unfold. So I came out here for a reason. I came over here for a reason. I wanted to tell you about the two spies, Joshua and Caleb.

Joshua is the leader. The book, Joshua. Yeah, he did that. And he didn't write it, but it's about his military campaign when he led them to explore the land. Now, Joshua has conquered the land for the last seven years. Caleb has been a part of that conquest. And Caleb at age 85 comes to Joshua, who was his partner, and says, hey, remember what Moses said I could have. It's my time.

At first, I thought he sounded selfish. I thought he sounded greedy. I thought, well, now, Caleb, you should just be glad that you're not in the wilderness anymore. But there was something about Caleb that as I studied it over and over again, I saw it as an instruction that I want to break down into three points for you today. I want to talk to you about belief. I want to talk to you about bitterness. And I want to talk to you about blessing. Those three things. And then you can go get lunch. But before you do, I want to talk to you about belief, bitterness. and blessing. First, let's talk about belief. Did you notice that Caleb's speech started not with his preference, but with God's promise? A lot of times we are believing God to do things that he never said he would do.

And one of these things is that God would give us blessings without battles. So let me give you a little pointer, a little tip. Stop expecting battleless blessings. Is battleless a word? Somebody asked chat. Is battleless a word? I don't know if it's a word, but it's not a thing. Look, this is what the Lord showed me.

There are battles that don't bring blessings, but there are no blessings that don't bring battles. Am I right? I mean, there are fights that are. you can get yourself in that bring no fruit. They happen online. You never saw a fruitful Facebook argument, did you? Never once. Never once did a testimony start with. You know, I was going back and forth with a troll on Facebook and the Lord just did something awesome. No, never, ever, ever. So there are battles that don't bring blessings, but there are no blessings that don't bring battles. So stop praying for blessings and being surprised by battles.

Because every blessing you will ask God for will bring a battle with it. Every blessing. You're asking God for kids. Get ready to yell at them about everything. Am I right about it? Because when God wants to bring a blessing into your life, guess what he uses? A person. When the enemy wants to block a blessing from your life,

Guess what he uses? A person. And isn't it interesting that the same thing that God will use to bless you, a person, is the thing that the enemy will use to block you? A person. The reason I wanted to preach this message and call it, this is bigger than them, is because I believe some of us get right up to the point, like the children of Israel got up to the point where God was bringing them into a promise.

You get right up to the point where God is doing something in your life. You get right up to the point where God is fulfilling what He has purpose concerning you. You get right up to the point of then. It's not the end. It's then. And what stops you a lot of times, watch this. We're going to just change one letter. Change the letter.

Them. Somebody in here has some relational conflict. Did you see how they said that? Whoa. That was like a six-note, whoa-run. Whoa. Because while we're shouting about then, it would be easy to get to then if it wasn't for them. Look at me as sanctimonious as you please.

But there is a them in your life right now that you are asking God to change. And my message last week was, you can change the end. But my message is, you can't change them. So it lets me know, am I preaching good yet? It lets me know that when God brings me to a then moment in my life, when God is doing a new thing in my life, when God is calling me to conquer, when God is calling me to go forth, when God is calling me to change,

there will always be a them when I'm on the brink of a then. Now let's get away from wordplay for just a moment and use an example. A few years ago, I was coming home from church, and my kids were in the backseat acting crazy. I've told you this story before. Let's see if you remember it. They were acting so crazy in the backseat of the car. And I'm telling you, at this exact moment, I was burned out. I was burned out. Back then, I used to preach three times every weekend. So it was just awful. When I would get done, I would feel like I had gargled razor blades as I was. was preaching. My throat was sore, my head was hurting, and the kids were screaming in the back seat. Now, remember what I just told you. When God wants to bring a blessing into your life,

he'll use a person. My kids are my greatest blessing, other than Holly. And then God used her to bring them, so it's all connected. But when God wants to bring a blessing into your life, he brings it through a person. When the enemy wants to block a blessing in your life, he blocks it through a person. At that exact moment, those kids were blocking my blessing. And Not only blocking my blessing, but making me lose my absolute mind. I'm going to get back to Caleb in a minute, but let me tell you about me about me for a minute. Let me tell you how different I am from Caleb. Let me tell you how much I did not want to preach this passage because I so often do the opposite.

Last week I told you about a fight I almost gotten in the movie parking lot. And this week I'm going to tell you about the time that Holly was driving me home from church on Providence Road. And the kids were screaming so loud in the back. And I was so through. I was so done. I was so capable of homicide at that moment. I was so afraid of what I was going to say next if they didn't shut up because I asked them to shut up three times. I didn't ask them to be quiet.

I didn't pray for them. I didn't read a scripture to him. I said, shut up three times. They didn't shut up. I said, Holly stopped the car, and I did the only reasonable thing that I could think of to do. I got out the car. Now, here's the good part of the story. Here's the good part of the story. You ready? I'm walking down Providence Road, and we're still a mile and a half from the house. I didn't think through this all the way through. And not only is the thought of like, not only is the thought of what example this is setting for my kids, but I'm also wondering, what if people are driving home from church and they see me walking down the road right now looking like a hitchhiker?

I'm walking thinking these things. I know you remember this. And all of a sudden I see Holly's car come back around. Now she had already drove off. When I got out, she drove off, but then she came back. She came back. I'm still not ready yet. I'm still not ready to face them again.

But when she turned the car around and I opened the door and I was getting ready to tell her I can't get back in. I'm just, I can't deal with this right now. I noticed that she was the only one in the car. It was just her. So I got in. And she looked at me and said something I'll never forget. She said, you know, I drove off, but it didn't feel right. And I got halfway to the house.

And I had this thought, wait a minute, you don't get out. They do. Ain't that good? Didn't I choose a good wife? Isn't that a Proverbs 31 woman? You don't get out? They do. I had this thing backwards.

I bought the car. I put the gas in the car. I'm feeding your lunch. I'm the one who's. preach. Y'all have contributed nothing. You can walk. Get some exercise. Call the cops. Call child protective services. I don't care. Build your testimony. I stand by it. I'm getting back in. That's what Caleb said about those giants. That's my mountain. That's my land. I'm not leaving what God gave me. I'm not getting out. They are. God feel like preaching. Give me a full bear.

and beat three shot. Give me a one. Give me a black seven. Give me a four. Give me a one. Celebrate on the one. Get focused here. Because Caleb said something so powerful. He said, in verse 12, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said. Notice who he's talking about. He is talking about the giants, the fortified giants. The giant. The giant. that were too big for the previous generation. But he understands in this moment that the promise that God has made him is bigger than the inhabitants of the land that oppose them. And I just came to remind you what Romans 831 says, if God is for us, if God is on our side, if God has purposed it, if God gave you a word, if God gave you an assignment, if God gave you something

to do in the earth, if God promised this is big a word. than them. Say it. This is bigger than them. This is bigger than them. That's what Holly realized, wait, we're the adults here. We're the grown-ups here. They're the kids here. Here's what Caleb realizes in a very, very similar sense. He realizes if it's either me possessing what God has promised or the people that are there staying, God will help me drive them out. But I thought about that moment in the car, and I realized was the real issue who was in the car or was the real issue what was in me? Is it that they needed to get out? Or is there something that needed to get out of me that would keep my full, 43-year-old self from getting out of a moving vehicle?

The car wasn't even at a complete stop. I forgot to tell you that part. What was in me that made me? made me. I'm talking about belief now. They made me. Notice what Caleb said when he's describing it. Back to Joshua before he possesses the land. He said, in verse eight, please, verse eight, please. He said, the Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. Now, this is the most practical thing I want to tell you about this message today. Be very careful of made me language. made me language. So I say, this is bigger than them.

Said again, this is bigger than them. I know that my kid's behavior was not a big enough reason for me to get out of a moving vehicle. So whatever I'm dealing with that made me get out the car is not a 10-year-old. What made me behave that way? Their behavior? No, no, no, no.

Be careful of made-me language. Now, Caleb here, on one hand, sounds cocky and self-righteous. But on the other hand, I just see a man who's choosing what chapter he wants to live in. Did you know you can choose what chapter you live in? You can. And I know this flies in the face of everything that we teach as faith. Because when we teach faith, we teach that the results are in God's hand, and they are. He's sovereign.

But the response is in my hand. So Caleb shows it. Can I break it down? Can I break it down? Why am I asking you for permission? Why don't I just do it? But my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people. That's them.

Made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, that's me, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. And the reason that Caleb was able to receive what God had for him is because he realized this is bigger than them. He realized that nobody. can make me. God made me. And when God made me, he gave me the power to respond. How many of you have said something like this recently? They made me late. How many of you got behind a slow driver at some point this week? They're going to make me late, right? Okay, that is one way to see it. They're going to make you late. Another way to see it is that you did not build sufficient margin

into your schedule to account for the fact that there is always a slow driver on some road somewhere on the way to work. So before you say they made, you realize that made me is dangerous language. They made me late. Did they make you hit snooze seven times? Did they make you do that too? Did they take your finger and go, ah, ah, no, I don't think so. And I know it's silly, but I'm trying to give you a picture. When you are using made me language, it is the opposite of agency. It is the opposite of being able to move according to God's purpose. Here's another one, like me with the kids in the car. They made me so mad that I got out the car. They didn't make you so mad. You got it. You are so crazy. And watch this. You were so burned out that their behavior triggered your exhausted emotional response.

But just because they triggered it doesn't mean you had to choose it. Okay. I'm going to preach till I lose every single amen. And then I'll know that this message is hitting home. Because when you say they made me, they made me hate them. They didn't make you hate them. Here's what I learned. There will always be events in our life that we can't control.

But within every event that we can't control is a decision that we can. Within every event that I can't control is a decision that I can. My mom could not heal my dad. She could not pray him to better health, but she forgave him back into the home. So that even though the result isn't what we wanted, the response was one that we can be thankful for. That's what I'm trying to say. Somebody say, this is bigger than them. Everybody in here has a them right now.

now. Just like Caleb, he said, I will drive them out. That represents the enemies. But before he could even deal with them, he had to believe, believe, that's the word of the Lord, to believe that what God has spoken over my life is greater than what any person can prevent. I wrote it down this way in my office yesterday. No person can prevent what God has truly promised. No person can prevent what God has truly promised. People can definitely mess with your mind. People can definitely push your buttons, but they cannot prevent a promise. If people could prevent a promise, God would not have sent 10 plagues to tell Pharaoh, when I say let my people go, when I stretch forth my mighty hand. And I came to preach to somebody today. It's bigger than them. The God

that you serve is bigger than them. You don't have to get in this blame game. More people have have been blocked from blessings by blame than any other contributing factor I can name. In fact, at one point in my life, I was praying. I was saying, God, I need a breakthrough in this area. I need a breakthrough in this area. I need a breakthrough. But while I was praying for breakthrough, I was also blaming somebody. And the Lord spoke so clearly to me, you cannot claim breakthrough if you cling to blame.

Not at the same time. Because think about it, church. Think about what Caleb could have said. Think about what Caleb would have said if he had not believed that God's purpose prevails. If he had not believed that God could still do it. If he had not believed that no weapon formed against me can prosper. That if he had not believed that God brought me to this point not to leave me, look what he said.

I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. Now you can call it bragging if you want to. But when I heard Caleb say that, I saw something different. He said, verse 8, my fellow Israelites, they made the hearts of the people meld in fear. I, however, followed my God. That's agency. Did you see it? Okay, tried another way.

He's saying, in a sense, he's saying, what I have been through can't stop God from blessing me. And what others didn't do can't stop God from blessing me. Because I'm going to tell you two things you can't control. Ready, write them down. The future and others. Neither one of those are in your control. But your decision to live by conviction in this season of your life. Who am I talking to?

Your decision to say, it is not going to get in me. Because if Caleb had lived through that wilderness experience, 38 years in the wilderness, 7 years of conquest for the promised land. He said, I was 40 years old, verse 7, when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but it died by committee. All of those spies died of a plague. All of those people over 20 died in the wilderness. But not Caleb, look what he said.

My fellow Israelites made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. That's powerful. And then verse 10, now then just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for 45 years. 38 in the wilderness, 8 of taking the promised land, or 7 of taking the promised land, and still a mountain on his mind. I thought about calling the message.

I got my mind on my mountain, and my mountain on my mind. but I didn't want to confuse the authorship. But really, that would preach, wouldn't it? Because all the time he was moving through the wilderness, his mind was on his mountain. How do you keep your mountain on your mind when you are surrounded by wilderness conditions? How do you keep a better tomorrow on your mind

when all you can feel is the pressure of today? I thought what Caleb said was cocky, but then I realized what he could have said. Now, let's say that he was like you and me sometimes, and he said, Now then, the Lord, verse 10, has made me wait for 45 years. He could have said that, but he didn't see it that way. What a perspective when a person just decides that I trust that God is sovereign over my life. And that includes the timing. That includes what he allows others to do.

That includes what he allows others not to do. That includes who shows up in my life. That includes who leaves my life. That includes the skills I have, the skills I don't have. Stop being so insecure about it. God will keep you alive. God will bring you into your promise. God will bring you into your destiny.

God will open a door and no man can shut and shut doors that nobody can open. Because Caleb said God kept me alive. Now, he could have complained. He could have been bitter about it. That's the second thing I want to talk to you about. I want to talk to you about bitterness. Imagine if Caleb had gone through the wilderness for 38 years,

replaying all of the bad decisions that others made that put him in this place. Imagine if Caleb had gone through the wilderness just getting more and more bitter. He would have never been able to say what he said in verse 11. I'm still strong. And see, the reason he was still strong enough for what God had next for him was because of what he said to himself when he was in the wilderness. And because he did not get bitter in the wilderness, I'm preaching to somebody today.

You're getting bitter in the wilderness. You are allowing the isolation of this season to dominate your mind. I'll know who you are, but I see you just walking around the wilderness and you keep blaming people, and you keep getting bitter about people. And every day that goes by, you're getting more and more mad about them. I wouldn't be in this dead if it wasn't for them. I wouldn't be in this dungeon if it wasn't for them. I wouldn't even be in this situation if it wasn't for them.

But I came with a reminder that this is bigger than them. I said, this is bigger than them. People give him praise. This is bigger than them. Thirty people give him praise. This is bigger than them. And for every them that you could blame, I know a hymn you could praise if you decided to today. Because the other way to say it is he kept me alive.

45 years. He kept me and led me through a very thirsty place. He kept me. Neighbors say he kept me. He kept me. I went through some barren places, but he kept me. There was no water, but he made it come out of a rock. He kept me.

There was no way, but he made a way. He kept me. I was walking through a wilderness, but my shoes never wore out. My clothes never wore out. He kept me. He kept me. He kept me. He kept me.

And you keep focusing on who left me. you. But how about the God who kept you through the night, who kept you through the trial, who kept you through the adversity? I'm preaching too hard. I'm preaching to try to get you to see that if God is for you, who can be against you? This is bigger than them. But the biggest battle that Caleb won was not against the enemies that inhabited Canaan. it was against the bitterness that could have inhabited him. Goodbye, everybody. Come back next week.

I'll tell you what to do about this. It's the bitterness that blocks your blessing. It's the bitterness that blocks your creativity. It's feeling unappreciated. That wasn't fair. It might not be fair, but God has favor that is bigger than unfair. So the favor of God will cancel out what was unfair. This is bigger than them.

This is bigger than what they could give you. This is bigger than what you could predict. This is bigger than how you could map out your life. But if the bitterness had gotten into Caleb, the blessing would have never happened. So you have to choose now. Bitterness or blessing. Because the Bible says in verse 13, then Joshua blessed Caleb.

And he gave him the mountain. And he gave him the inheritance. It would not be investment-free, but it was his. But we would never get to then. Put the verse up if he had to become bitter because of them. There are seasons in your life where your insecurity has caused you to invent enemies that did not exist. That was the whole reason Moses never got to go into the promised land.

He was more focused on them than him. And that is the whole reason you keep giving your purity away to somebody, some pervert that's beneath you, because your focus is on them, not him. Who cares what they say? They didn't make me. They don't have the final say. And I will move it away from a temptation aspect and ask you the question, why? Why do you keep inventing enemies?

Because you will not deal with the insecurity. The whole reason Moses could not go into the promised land was because of his insecurity. Do you remember the first thing he said to God, who am I? That I should go. It doesn't matter who you are. It matters who he is and what he's given you to do. This is bigger than him. Everybody who's raising a child and you don't feel like you know what you're doing, wave at me.

It's God's kid before it's your kid. So this is bigger than them. This is bigger than you. This is bigger than both you all put together. God wants you to trust him. How many of you are moving into a season of your life where you have never felt more uncertain about your own competence? Do not miss getting your grapes because you see yourself as a grasshopper.

I take this reference directly from Numbers Chapter 13. When the people of God could have gone into the land, they were carrying grapes on their shoulder. Big grapes, cluster of grapes, took two of them to carry one pole. I believe it was Joshua and Caleb. I believe that's why Caleb came back to his great carrying partner when he said, it's time. It's time.

I survived the wilderness. And it's time. I didn't die in the desert. And it's time. I'm still ready. I'm still strong. I didn't get bitter. And Caleb comes to Joshua and says, it's time for me to be blessed.

But, you know, they could have had the same blessing a generation earlier if they had seen themselves correctly. If they had seen themselves as blessed, they would have realized that there is no battle that is too big for God. But instead they said in verse 31, we saw the Nephilim there. And we can't attack those people. we can't attack them.

They are stronger than we are. Go back one verse before, please. Oh, you're going to love this. Caleb silenced the people. Then Caleb silenced the people. Then, 45 years earlier, he silenced the people. And he said, we should go up and take possession of the land.

We can certainly do it. But the people said, we can't attack those people. They're stronger than we are. Next verse. And they spread among the Israelites. It's a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, the land we explored, devours, those living in it.

All the people we saw, they're big, they're of great size. Verse 33, we saw the Nephilim. They're the descendants of A-N-I-come-from-the-nefellum. We seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. But what you fail to realize, man, is this is bigger than them. God promised you that land. God promised you freedom. God promised you tomorrow.

God promised you a hope in the future. God promised you to break the generational curse. God promised you total freedom. God promised you righteousness. God promised you peace. God promised you joy in the Holy Spirit. And I came with a reminder today that this is bigger than them. This is bigger than them.

And if you can make it through this wilderness season of your life and not get bitter and not be insecure about what you don't have, God can take somebody who feels like a grasshopper and feed them something that looks like a grape. Now, I'm telling you what I know about, because every time I've done something in this church that seemed unusual, there was always somebody who said I couldn't do it. But it wasn't up to them because it's bigger than them. This is bigger than them. Now I'm coming up here for a reason, because there are so many people in this church who do not look alike. In fact, there are people in this church who, if they ever talk to one another, they get into fistfight.

That's all right. There are people in this church whose backgrounds are so different. Any educational background you want to mention is in this church. There are doctors in this church who hear every word that I mispronounce. with PhDs and my grammar drives them crazy, but they come anyway. There are people in this church who can't even read, but they come to church and God speaks to them anyway because God is bigger than a reading disability. Now, I'm trying to tell you something. When I started this church, I said, I want to have a church that is non-traditional, but we preach the Word. And there was somebody

who said, you can't do both. You can't reach lost people and preach the Word. I already preached half the Bible today, and I didn't see anybody walk out. And there are some people in here who already know the story, and some people will never heard it. But see, God has been bigger than them. There have been people through the years that criticized us for being a church that would dare, watch this, dare to not make political statements, but be more oriented around the cross of Christ than by a cultural position that is already so prevalent that it's dividing this country right down the middle, but this is bigger than them. Because God did not call me to reach one subset of people. That's what I'm trying to say. This

is bigger than them. One pastor took me out to lunch when I was first getting started. I said, well, what would really be in my heart is to have a church that is incredibly diverse? He said, what do you mean diverse? Do you mean like black people and white people together? I said, yeah, he said, you better not go to Charlotte if you want to start a church like that, because Charlotte is too divided for a church like that. If you wanted a church that had black people and white people and people from all different backgrounds, there is no way that you can break through racism in Charlotte, I don't care how good your heart is. I don't care how much you pray. I've tried it before. I'm telling me a pastor for 30 years, and they were telling me that it couldn't happen,

but this is bigger than them, because if you look around you today, you will see very different types of people. And I just want to remind you, if God puts something in your heart, and they said it can never happen, you go on in, Caleb, you go on in, 85 years old, you go on in with a cave, you go on in with a suspended drive. license. You go on in on your second marriage. You go on in and do what God called you to do. Because this, high five, 15 people say this is bigger than them. I tell myself when I preach. These cameras are putting me out all over the world. Now I'm back where they don't have any cameras. But I'm telling you that this service is going out beyond this room because when God speaks, it has no limit.

When God speaks, it has no border. I'll care how they diagnose you. God's destiny does not consult man's diagnosis. This is bigger than them. This is bigger than them. This is bigger than fear. This is bigger than my past. This is bigger than shame.

This is bigger than the naysayer. This is bigger than the critic. It's bigger than them. Stand up, I'm done. This is bigger than them. This is bigger than them. This is bigger than them. I dare you to let a person get in the way of what God promised you.

This is bigger than them. And God said to Caleb, because you made a decision not to be defined by an event. Verse 9. Joshua 14. This land where you put your feet is bigger than you. It will be your inheritance and that of your children forever. What we can never understand, oh, I'm almost done.

I'm almost done. I'm almost done. But when you are. in the middle of it then, you don't know what's on the other side of it. And there are no blessings that don't come with battles, but I promise you that this battle that you're fighting right now, there is a blessing on the other side of it. Jesus said, pour you out a blessing that you won't have room enough to receive. What did he say?

Press down, shaking together, and running over. This is going to be bigger than your capacity. So you've got to grow your faith right now. What if God meets the need another way? This is bigger. Father, as your word has gone forth today, as your promise has been reinforced from the pages of your scripture, as your spirit has borne witness with our spirit,

that we are the children of God, I believe by faith that you have been doing an uprooting work in someone's heart. I thank you that, like Caleb, you are capable of blessing us on the other side of our wilderness. Father, you instructed me before I even hit this pulpit today to pray for the person whose bitterness is blocking out their blessings. You showed me clearly that if they don't get rid of that, if they don't get it out of them, they're going to keep responding the wrong way and blaming you. for the result. Father, today, we come before you like Caleb came before Joshua. We thank you that you've kept us alive. We thank you that our inheritance is not dependent on our obedience,

but the obedience of Jesus. We thank you that he who gave his son for us will also freely give us all good things as an inheritance. So now as an act of faith, we just want to take our hands and open them, open them. Just like this, everybody in the house do it. Everybody watching online by yourself, do it. Open them. And whoever disappointed you in your life, release them so that you can receive him. Because this is bigger than them.

This is bigger than them. God spoke to Abraham, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, all of these generations, all the way to Moses, all the way to Joshua. the way to Caleb, all the way to you today. This is bigger. And I thank you for the story that you're writing in our lives, Lord, but I thank you also that the pen does not belong to the enemy. I said, I thank you that the pin does not belong to the enemy. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit

at Elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe, you can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot, and share it on your social stories, and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.