Transcription
[Music] the 2022 international leadership summit have a master builder march 31st through april 2nd charlotte north Carolina. get the blueprint for leadership. it's no meaning you trying to figure out what's already been written out. I want you to take it to the next level. Register today. Prices increase on November 29th. Ready to build? Visit this is ils.org to register. Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. Ready? I'm ready. Let's go to the book of Numbers, chapter number 13, verse number 26-33. The book of Numbers. And there you will find my assignment for this morning. My assignment is to deliver you the word of the Lord. So you need to be listening at the word for the word. Listening at the word for the word that the dr. valve. I have been thinking about how when you say the word of God, the church thinks the Bible. But the Bible says, "In the beginning was the Word." There was no Bible in the beginning. Oh, y'all can't handle that. So the word of God is more than the text. Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." So that means as I deliver the word of God through the text, there will be a word of God that comes out of the word that is rhema to you. And the Holy Spirit will say, "This is about that. This is how you handle that. This is how you do that." Isn't that good? We're in the book of Numbers, chapter number 13, verse 26. If we are in the book of Numbers, we are on the precipice of the promised land.
[Applause] [Music] I was shocked when I went to the promised land to see how close Moses got to the promised land. From Mount Nebo, you can see the Jordan. He got so close to it. He got very close. Things get tough when you get close. Now, all the people, the only people who ought to be shouting are people where things have gotten tough. Things get tough when you get close. They were so close that Moses had sent spies to case out the place. And in the book of Numbers, we're going to have that discussion today. Number 13, 26-33. They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey. Here is its fruit." In other words, what we have been thinking all through the desert is not a lie.
[Music] It's there. It's real. What God has been promising you is real. It exists. It is really worth the journey to get there. It really does exist. This report is very important. And they let them know, first of all, the land is there. It does exist. It is real. And the reason I stopped there, I'm a text teacher a little bit for a minute. The reason I stopped there is that the devil is on your shoulder saying, "That's not real. That's not gonna happen. That's not going to come to pass." But Moses has sent spies to scout the land, and they came back saying, "It's real. It's there. It exists. There is a land that flows with milk and honey." And milk and honey is an expression for abundance and increase and sweetness and provision. It's a colloquialism. There is a land that flows. It doesn't literally mean that the promised land had milk flowing in the rivers and honey flowing in the river, but it was that abundant that the only way they could describe it is that it flows with milk and honey. And so they are saying, "Your hope is not in vain."
[Music] Who, I'm preaching already. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified, and they're very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country. And the Canaanites, well, they live near the sea along the Jordan. Now, watch this. 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." That's what Caleb said. Oh, I love you. You write with me. He said, "I like his spirit." I want you to understand that Caleb said, "We should go up and take it." Not talk about how much it costs. Not talk about the opposition. Not talk about the sacrifice. "We should go up and take it." Somebody said, "We should go up and take it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people. They are 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 devoured those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. Those people are huge. We saw the Nephilim there. The descendants of Anak come from Nephilim. We seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we look the same to them." Go back to that verse where Caleb stilled the people. Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "All, all of those people murmuring and complaining, all of those spies." And Caleb silenced them. My subject this morning is "Outnumbered." Outnumbered. This is a prophetic utterance more than a sermon or a Bible class. Outnumbered. Isn't it funny that God would give me the subject "Outnumbered" in the book of Numbers? God has a sense of humor. Spirit of the living God, we embark upon the mission of espousing to your bride those truths that have been tailored to the continuity and the curves in her life. Speak to us out of the volume of the book. Tailor the texts to the needs of your people. Extract from it, extrapolate from it those truths of such profundity that we are transformed literally while the word of God is being preached. So as I preach to them, Holy Spirit, you echo in them the word that they need for the times that they are in. I sanctify this word to everybody online, everybody in the room, everybody in the building, everybody seeing it on Facebook, on YouTube, whatever device, through the app, however you're looking, that you would have a God encounter of supernatural relevance. Now, I believe you to do it in the name that has been exalted above every name, in the name of Jesus, we pray. And all the people said, Amen. You may be seated. Yeah, let's go to work.
[Applause] We are in the book of Numbers. In essence, in it is one of the books of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. We are in the book of Numbers. And in other words, we are in the book of a census taken by God through Moses to count and categorize and regiment and organize who's with us. We want an accurate accounting of what we have. So the book of Numbers is preoccupied with numbers. And numbers become very important. Now, numbers are very important to people who like the numbers. Okay? People who have large investments check them every day. But numbers shrink in relevance to people who feel inadequate. But I want to challenge those who feel like they are not enough or they don't have enough. I want to challenge you that until you count up what you have, you can't get what you're about to receive. For example, if, if, if the little boy didn't know that he had two fish and five loaves of bread, we might not have the miracle with the 5,000. He, when they said, "How much do you have?" He didn't say, "I don't know because it's not enough." Knowing gives us a sense of control. Even the woman who was about to bake a cake and die knew she had a handful of meal. The woman who had so much debt that she was about to sell her sons knew that she had a pot of oil. Do you know what you have? Paul and Silas said, "Silver and gold have I, but such as I give unto thee." See, if you don't know what you have, you become vulnerable to deceit. If you don't know what you have, you won't protect it. If you don't know what you have, you won't value it. If you don't know that your grandmama's watch has got real diamonds around it, you won't insure it. The enemy capitalizes off of ignorance.
[Applause] I don't want to look at my credit report. Well, you can't fix it if you can't look at it.
[Applause] I've got a surgeon in the room. He can't operate if he can't see. How can you fix what you will not look at? I don't talk to that daughter. She cries. If you don't talk to her, she'll never get better. So speaking that word and speaking that challenge and speaking that thought is very, very, very important if you're going to be able to go any further. Moses, you have gone as far as you can go without a census. Numbers are important to God. When they got the two fish and five loaves of bread from the boy in the New Testament, then Jesus told the disciples to set the people, the 5,000, down in groups of 50. He said, "Count every last one of them and organize what you have." So a proper accounting is important to run anything. I talked to one of the entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs here at the church, and he said, "I can't seem to get up on my feet and I can't seem to get myself together." And then when he told me that he was taking the business money and mixing it with the personal money in the same account, I said, "You can't go forward because you can't see. Separate your business account from your personal account. Even if you have to pay yourself from your business account, you can't see what you're doing if you mix everything together. You can't tell what you've got, and you will hamper where you're going." So because they were about, Jesus was about to perform a miracle, he's getting organized by numbers. Okay? And in the text, because Moses is getting ready to take the promised land, he's getting organized by numbers. Last year they did a census, and it was important that you fill out the census because it determines how the taxes are distributed, and whose roads get done, and whose, uh, schools get income, and so many things are in control by the numbers. You go into the doctor to, to get a physical, and the first thing they want to do is put you on a scale. And I think, "Look, I didn't come in here to hear how fat I am. I came in here because my knee hurt." But you want to put me on the scale because the numbers measure the impact on the knee. So you can't just fix the knee without assessing how much pressure is on it. And by the way, what do you do for a living? How long are you standing? What are you going through? You know, they ask you all kinds of stuff. And Moses has given them a series of questions in the upper part of the chapter that I didn't read because he is doing an evaluation of what it will take to take over. What will it take to take over? What will it take? When I, when I counsel couples, I ask them, and they're fighting. They don't come to me till they're mad. I mean, they're real mad. They won't come to couples class or, uh, anything like that. They won't come. They come when all hell is breaking loose, and they're on the way to the courthouse, and they stop by the church, and they really don't want me to fix the relationship. They want me to validate who's right.
[Applause] But the first thing you begin to do is ask a series of questions because those questions help us not only to evaluate but for you to be introspective. And hopefully, in the process of asking the questions, you cease to worship around the throne of "who's right" and begin to ask yourself, "What will it take to make this marriage work?" Okay, I understand she cheated on you, and you're angry about it. What will it take for you to forgive her? Until you answer that question, how much does your forgiveness cost? A hundred and fifty? I'm sorry. What, what, just, just give me a number. And generally, they don't know. And as long as you don't know what it will take to recover, you'll never get better. What will it take to move this relationship forward? What will it take to get us to our destiny? What will it take for my son to graduate? What will it take for me to be able to apply for this grant? What will it, I'm not going to fill out a form for a grant when I don't know what it takes to win. Or let me say it in biblical language: "No man go up to build without counting up the cost."
[Applause] You'll be surprised at the people who go to build and they have not counted up the cost. They don't read the small print. They don't. All they want to know is, "How much are their payments?" See, see, uninformed people want to know, "How much are the payments?" Informed people want to know, "How much is the interest?" Because if I'm gonna have to make them payments the rest of my life for the car,
[Applause] that means I paid for the car 12 times, and the sticker is alive because of the, the interest. And, and who pays the closing costs? If you don't know what to ask, you can never change your situation. So Moses begins by telling them, not only do I want you to go, because if you send people into a room without an objective, it becomes a tour. I trained our staff when we have a business meeting and we have a strategy meeting every year, and all the people I'm going to do business with from everywhere comes in, and we sit down at the table. Come into the room with an agenda. We are not really there for lunch. So don't let the dry chicken distract you. Eat a cracker and close the deal. You might not even get to eat the lunch at all. The lunch is camouflaged. And Moses is on the precipice of entering into something so massive and so big and so different and so unlike anything he has ever seen. See, Moses has never seen the promised land. He has only heard about it. God is about to give you something that you have never seen. Shot about. You heard about it, but you have actually never seen it. You didn't grow up in it. You hadn't been exposed to it. You don't understand it. But God keeps waving it before you in dreams and visions. And this is what is called exceedingly abundantly above all that we may ask or think. I can only imagine.
[Applause] Saying God is about to give you something that you can only.
[Applause] Amen. They have come 40 years on imagination, and this is the turning point where imagination becomes reality. And before they ever even send the spies, they want to get the numbers and the questions right. Ready? We want to know who we are, what we have to offer, and we want to know who they are and what they have. Here are some questions about the land, questions about this, questions about that, questions about the other. Are you asking enough questions to prepare you for what you're about to step into? Marriage is survived when you ask the right.
[Applause] Questions and not make assumptions. Because you could be working hard to give the other person something that they don't need. And the only way you can find out what they need is to ask questions. So the book of Numbers is a census, and Moses is sending the spies over to do an inventory on what's next because he is humble enough to know, "I know how to live in Egypt. I know how to address Pharaoh. I know how to survive in that culture. I know how to survive in the desert because I learned how to survive in the desert by staying out there with Jethro. But I don't know how to possess what's next." I want to talk to somebody this morning that you're about to possess something that you don't even know how to do. And you've been looking at it a long time, afraid of it, because there is nothing in your background that has prepared you for your future.
[Music] I mean a radical change. I don't mean a continuation of business as usual. I mean stepping into another dimension of anything you have ever done before. And you've been afraid of it, and you've been staring at it, and you've been looking at it, and you've been thinking about it, and you've been dreaming about it, but you haven't been moving on it because you're afraid of it. I rebuke the spirit of fear. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. God is going to do what God is going to do. Oh, I feel a shout coming in the house. I feel a praise coming in the house. As my spirit receives this word and ingests and digests and appropriates it, it also drives out the toxicity of fear and intimidation and procrastination. You're not procrastinating because you're lazy. You're procrastinating because you're afraid. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." How big are they? What does the land look like? What do they wear in that setting? What is an appropriate conversation for what's next in my life?
[Applause] Oh, I feel, I feel the prosperity cutters. I'm gonna take my time with this because I feel like this is prophetic in the life of somebody that you've been knowing for the last couple of years that things were about to shift for you. And you've been standing there staring at it. You heard about it. You felt it. You sensed it. But it doesn't fit where you came from. And God is going to cause you to take a leap of faith into a realm that you've never been in before. And you're gonna step into it. "The entrance of thy word giveth light." The entrance of thy word giveth light. When you take in the word, it gives light. Which, when you have light on the inside, is called enlightenment. In enlightenment, enlightenment cannot be measured. External light can be measured. The lumens from external light can be measured. But the lumens on internal light, there is no mechanism to control enlightenment. The devil doesn't mind you turning lights on on the outside. He doesn't want you to have lights turned on on the inside. But this word that I'm preaching to you this morning is getting ready to lighten you up until you're enlightened and prepared for what God is about to do next in your life. Whatever you do, don't click me off right now because I'm getting ready to get you ready for what you're about to step into. God doesn't want you to step into it as a fool with assumptions and ideas that are inaccurate. Because if you step into it as a fool, when the wind blows, the house will come down because you didn't build it on a rock.
[Applause] You didn't build it on a fact. You didn't build it with a clear understanding. So Moses, in an attempt to assess, he's already done an assessment of who he's got with him and what he has. He is now assessing what he's up against. He'd rather start a fight without assessing what he's up against. He doesn't make assumptions about what it takes to do what I see. It's one thing to hear me preach on Sunday morning, but you cannot assess what it costs to be me by watching me preach on Sunday morning because that is just the chicken wing part.
[Applause] Of what leadership takes to run this.
[Applause] You, you, you don't know the multiplicity of issues and actions that are necessary that goes into any decision that we make. You don't know that if we're going to have a leadership conference, we have to make sure that we put people in the safest possible environment. So that means we have to spray the room, we have to change the mites, we have to make sure that we do social distances, we have to count all of that up because of the times that we're moving in. Extra measures and precautions have to be taken. And we have to meet about it, and we have to talk about it, and we have to strategize. We have to talk to the hotel managers, and we have to manage their expectations and their cleanliness and their methodology before we do recommendations. It's not about just, "Can you speak to the leaders?" It's about making sure that you have done due diligence to protect what God has given you. So Moses has assessed what he has, and now he has sent the spies to assess what he's up against. Have you had anybody spy out what you're up against? I get calls all the time for people who say, "I want to." They, they say the interviewers ask me all the time, "What's a typical day in the life of T.D. Jakes?" Which I laugh because there is no typical day. Every day is a surprise. You know, every day is different. Every day is new. Every day is unpredictable. And it's hard for me to describe for them. Uh, there are a lot of things I can't do. People who want you to have an appointment every Monday and every Wednesday at two o'clock drive me crazy because my Mondays and Wednesdays are not typical. Suppose I have a funeral. Suppose I have a crisis. Suppose we're shooting a movie. Suppose I have an interview about the movie. Suppose we have a situation where we have to negotiate to be able to, uh, provide products for our hospital overseas. I can't be locked up to a schedule. Other people might be able to do that. You, so you have to know what your need is like, and then assess what you're up against. The text before us is after the analysis behind it that has evaluated what they have, and now they're going to see what it takes for what's next. Because never assume that what's next is like where you've been. Never assume that you can get married and still be single. Never think for a minute that having a baby won't change the whole dynamics of the marriage. Somebody ought to be shoving me down right now. Every change in what's next affects everything that was. So the biggest part of leadership is thinking. And you can't, thinking, you can't do great thinking with poor information. Oh, that, that's a tweetable right there. You can't do great thinking with poor information. Footnote: Be careful who feeds you information because somebody feeding you bad information will cause you to make bad decisions. Could cost you to be killed. When somebody sends me an article, the first thing I, I look at is who wrote it. How reputable is the company? Is this legitimate? Where did it come from? Then I validate it. Then, especially now. So Moses is doing validation. He sent 12 scouts to assess the feasibility of taking back the land. He is taking back what has been promised to his forefathers, not what has been promised to him because he has never seen it. But years of being in Egypt has not taken away the promise of God. 400 years of being a slave has not taken away the promise of God. Some kind of way, though, the word was diluted and polluted by the Egyptian theology and their way of life, still the rumor persisted that where I am is not where I'm from. That I'm an immigrant to this situation. And some kind of way the rumor had persisted that there was a promised land. You can't move from a place when you think that you belong in the place. You can never move from poverty if poverty has become your normal. The day you accept it is the day you're defeated. Many of you heard me tell us how I walked in my house one day in West Virginia years ago, and we had first got married, we were young people, and the house was there, and it was okay. It was sort of okay, a little bit in a way. And you know, it was kind of cruddy and everything. And I walked in the house and I started talking to the house. And I, I said to the house, I said to the house, I said to the house, "You're lying on me now." I know that sounds kind of crazy, and there might be some therapists that want to meet with me after service, but I talked to stuff. I told the house, "House, you a lie. This is not my reality. It might be my situation, but it is not who I am. It might be where I gotta be at this moment, but this is not me. And you are lying on me." And I was living in a lie. And then I told the house, "I'm better than this." I hadn't seen better, but down in my spirit, I knew that I was better than what was around me. I was better than choosing which utility I was going to keep on. I was better than having to use my neighbor's phone. I was better than dropping their cable line through my window. I'm in it, but I'm not of it. That's why you got to tell your children who they are and keep reminding them who they are. Because if you don't remind them who they are, somebody else will lay hands on them and make them what they're not. They will molest them. That's what molestation really is: to make me what I am not, because you're making me what you need me to be rather than what I am. Oh, I'm on a roll this morning. I'm in my zone this morning. Hell is in trouble this morning. Demons out of trouble this morning. I want you to get ready for me. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Because I feel the flow of the Holy Ghost in this place. I feel a wind about to hit this place. I feel the power of God about to shatter this place. Of his shatter, it's gonna shatter every misconception that's held you down to the same level and said, "You can't be anything else." It's a liar. Felon and Russia Lockage are one of the richest black women in the world who is in oil and went from fashion to oil. Started out as a secretary in the bank. So she's typing around it. She don't have it, but she's typing around it. And the spirit of prosperity fell on her. And so she went from being a secretary to being a seamstress to being a stylist to being a fashion designer that hit the Paris runway. Then she flipped the money from the Paris runway and put it in oil. And she bought some property that they thought would never be worth anything. In fact, she bought it in the middle of the water, and they laughed at her and thought she was a fool till she hit oil. Somebody in this place is about to dig your way into some.
[Applause] [Music] The men that, that Moses sent were not just 12 men he picked at random. No, no. They were the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel. So they had influence. And you have to understand, they had influence. They had leadership. They had insight. They had impact. He picks these 12 men to go. And they are going into a city knowing that when they get there, though they are 12 and representatives, they know that when they get in the city, they're going to be outnumbered. It's not like he's 12 men going to visit 12 men. The Hittites were there, the Jebusites were there, the Canaanites were there. They had, uh, the sons of Anak were there. They had all of these people. They knew they were walking into a situation where they were outgunned. They knew they were carrying a knife to a gunfight. They knew they were carrying a checkerboard to a chess game. And still they went. Can you go into a situation where you're outnumbered? Because that determines whether you're going to be able to go into the promised land. If you can only work with people who look like you and dress like you and walk like you, until you're willing to walk into a room where you're outnumbered, you'll never receive what God has for you. There were 12 men, 12 leaders, representing the 12 tribes of Israel, each one having influence over different tribes. Oh, let me stop there for a minute and say, even though Israel was moving, they had tribes. Tribalism exists in progress. You can't wait till everybody is one to move. If America only moved when America agreed, we would get nothing done. Not only do we not agree now, we have never agreed about anything. And one time the agreement got so bad, it broke out into a civil war, and still the country survived. And you might be having a civil war in your house right now, but just because you're at odds doesn't mean you can't survive. I've seen folks stay married who fought every day, and the folks who was walking around hugging and kissing broke up in three years.
[Applause] Can I go on? They knew that they would be outnumbered. What they didn't know is whether they would return. Look at the courage it took for all 12 of them to go into a land where they're outnumbered and to not be certain that they would ever come back. Can you imagine being the wives or the sons or the daughters of one of these 12 men, and you're packing their bags, and you're sending them out, and you're kissing them at the door, and you're watching them as they go away, and you're wondering, "Is this the last look?" They could have been killed. They could have been murdered. They could have been destroyed. When you get ready to make your next move, you have to understand and live with the fact, "It might kill me. It might go bankrupt. Might not come out of it." This is progress is not for the faint of heart. Can I preach this? The part of the text that I'm focusing on right now describes their return. So they did come back, and they were, they lived to tell it. I told them when the pandemic started, and, and all the young people, younger, younger than me, and the church were laughing because I put protocols in place in my house, and my life, and my car, everything. And I told them, "Somebody got to be alive to tell what happened." So I already had my speech prepared. What had happened was, they was arguing about masks and vaccines and stuff. And that's how big you got to plan on coming back.
[Applause] Somebody shout, "I'm coming back!" Anybody getting anything out of this, or am I just, I don't know. Now, now they come back with a report, and they come back to report to Moses. I don't understand this part of the text, and I think Moses is a great leader, one of the greatest leaders in the Old Testament, uh, amazing person, uh, amen to me in many, many ways. I don't understand this. I don't understand why he let the 12 spies come back and make a public report. I don't understand that. I would never do that. I would never do that to me. No contemporary leader would get a report from your top men with a news station because you don't know what they're going to tell you. And I would rather hear that information, process that information, and disseminate that information. Until you have a respect for information, you can't be trusted with the moment. Feels like a CSI abduction story, you know, in CSI where when the police have surrounded the bank and set up boundaries and begin to ask all kinds of questions, and they call for the architectural designs of the building, and they want to know what the ventilation system is like, and how big is it, and they want to know how many entry doors and access there is, and they want to know what it, what would happen if they cut off the heat or the air or the power, and they want to assess everything. How many hostages are in the building? Uh, uh, where are they being held? And what type of weapons do does the enemy have? And how is that kind of feeling? But they don't do that with cameras. The press is put out while the facts are coming in. Don't tell your story too soon because we're still fact-finding. We're still gathering information. And you'll hear the police make reports sometimes, "No, I can't answer that question. We can tell you this. We can tell you that. We can't answer that question. It's still under investigation." When the investigation is complete, we'll give you updated information. While you're still in a stage of investigation, don't start bragging. If Joseph would have followed that, he would have never ended up in the pit. Don't tell your brothers you're going to be king before you're king, or they'll throw you in a pit and tell your daddy you're dead.
[Applause] Let's get the architect's blueprint. This kind of fact-finding moment isn't done in front of the press or around a whole lot of people yet. Moses is gathering intelligence and exposing it to the public in real-time speed. And I'm like tripping off of this because the, the intelligence that he's gathering is, is relative. And intelligence is always relative. Intelligence is based on perspective. And so you don't want to send out mixed messages to multitudes because if you send out mixed messages to multitudes, it creates murmuring. That's why I want you to delete some of your pictures on your Instagram because one moment you're talking about how good God is, and your, your name on there is Big Breath Betty, and you're sending mixed messages, and we don't know which one of you.
[Applause] Did I say that out loud? I didn't mean to say that. I, I, I apologize. Big Breath Betty, I didn't mean to call your name out loud in the middle of my sermon. But, but there has to be a continuity of information. If I know it's a cultural thing, pray for me. You can't create trust with conflicting truth. And so they're having a private debate in a public place. Ten of the spies have said, "We can't do this. There's no way in the world we can do this." Now, look at this for a minute. Wait a minute. The option to not doing this is living in the desert where we have been for the last 40 years. When, when you look at the option of not going forward, it will give you courage to fight the opposition. Because I don't know about you, I'm more afraid of stagnation than I am opposition. I would rather fight the opposition than to succumb to the frustration of stagnation and wasting my life being stuck in the same spot. Do I have anybody related to me in here? Are you from, are you from my tribe? Holla at me if you ready to make a move. Only Joshua and Caleb brought back a positive report. Two men out of 12. Again, outnumbered. Their report is a true report, but they were outnumbered. I won't focus on Joshua, as he will get a lot of face time in the scriptures. He, he will fight the Amalekites, uh, he, he will become Moses' successor. He, he, he will split the Jordan River. He will march around the walls of Jericho. He will defeat Jericho. He will successfully subdue the promised land. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on him because he gets a lot of face time in preaching, a lot of face time in scriptures, a lot of face time in history. But I am fascinated by Caleb. And I'm shocked that Joshua, who is mighty in battle, did not silence the crowd with his ability to fight. And I'm fascinated that Caleb, who has less face time seemingly, has more influence. Can it kind of go deeper? Can I go deeper? The Bible. So I started studying Caleb. Caleb, the Bible says, has another spirit. He's just a different kind of guy. But, but, but what about Caleb? Who, who, what can we know? Who is this man who silenced the entire congregation, millions of people, shut up when he spoke up? What do we really know about him? He, he, he is outnumbered in the text. He, one man stood up and silenced the whole crowd. The first thing he teaches me is, use your voice.
[Applause] Even when you're outnumbered, use your voice. Don't let anybody take your voice. I have a right to my opinion. I have a right to say what I think. I have a right to speak how I saw it. Even if everybody else sees it another way, I still have the right to say what I saw.
[Applause] He is, he's outnumbered by the 12. He's outnumbered in the details provided in the Torah. He's, he, he is mentioned in the Koran, but not by name. Caleb has a low profile but a powerful voice. What gives him the power to silence this crowd in such a dynamic way? And see what 10 others did not see? No wonder the Bible said he had another spirit. When you see what others cannot see, you can do what others cannot do. Glory to God. I'mma say it again for the people in the back. When you see what others cannot see, you can do what others cannot do. Good God Almighty. Type it on the line. When you see what others cannot see, you can do what others cannot do. Turn up. Had another spirit. And the Bible said that because Caleb had another spirit, God blessed him. God will bless you if you're willing to be different. If you step out from the herd. If you get away from the pack. If you're willing to be ostracized. If you're willing to be cussed out. If you're willing to be cast down. God will bless you.
[Music] [Applause] Not somebody tell them, "I got another spirit." "I got another spirit." The devil don't know who he's fooling with. "I got another spirit." "I got another spirit." I was cut off another piece of material. "I got another spirit." I'm not trying to be like you. I'm not trying to fit in with you. I'm not trying to win you. I am who I am. You like me or you know. This is it. Check it out.
[Music] It is what it is.
[Applause] My God, can you feel the anointing that's in this place? Can you feel the anointing? Somebody's faith is leaping up and down in their belly. Somebody's getting a witness down in their soul. Somebody's getting a confirming word on the stream. Somebody's getting the confidence to go where they've never gone before. And everybody says, "You're a fool." But you're willing to be called a fool and laugh, laughing because you have another spirit. And God said He's going to give you a voice that will silence your enemy. That will silence your critics. That will silence your opposition. That will silence your story. God said, "When you open your mouth, He's gonna shut them up."
[Applause] [Music] Not somebody say, "I'm outnumbered, but I'm all right." And give God a praise. "I'm outnumbered, but I'm all right." "I'm outnumbered, but I'm all right." "I'm outnumbered, but I'm all right." Serena, I've always been outnumbered, but I've always been all right. "I'm outnumbered, but I still believe that God's word is true." If you got the spirit of Caleb, give me three seconds of the Holy Ghost.
[Applause] I'm all right. I'm all right. I'm all right by myself. I'm all right if you don't say it, man. I'm all right if you don't like me. I'm all right if you don't like what I got on. I'm all right. I'm good with it.
[Applause] Can I feed you just a little bit more? Sit outside. I want to feed you just a little bit more. I'm running out of time, but I feel something. But I feel something. But I feel something. And I feel something about to break. And I feel something about to break in the spirit world. And when it breaks in the spirit world, it's gonna break in every area of your life. When it breaks in your belly, you're gonna flood your situation. When it breaks in your heart, it's gonna renew you. Oh, my God. Somebody's praying for me, and I can feel it. Somebody's got my back, 'cause I can feel your hand in my back pushing me forward. I'm gonna break this yoke before I sit down. I'm a prank.
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] Let me move on. I gotta hear. Traditional Jewish scholars record a number of stories and theories about Caleb, which expand on the biblical accounts. It expands on it in many significant ways. One account records that Caleb wanted to bring produce from the land, but the other spies discouraged him from bringing the produce from the land to avoid giving the Israelites a positive impression of Canaan. So the spies were arguing, "How much do we show them? If we show them how much they can have, they're gonna get excited about possessing the land." Only Caleb wanted to expose them to what's next. There are very few men that are confident enough in who they are to expose you to what's next. Caleb pulled out his sword and got ready to fight. He said, "I'm not going back empty-handed. We gotta show them something." And they argued about it, and they almost went to blows about it. And the historian said that they settled on the fact that they would, they would at least show them the grapes. So they pull, check this out, a cluster of grapes. Now, I know what a cluster of grapes is. I have eaten a cluster of grapes, but this cluster of grapes was so big that it took two men to be able to carry it. And the Lord told me to tell you that what He has for you is not what you saw at the grocery store. It's not what you saw in the magazine, but it's so big, it's gonna take two men to carry back one cluster.
[Applause] [Music] Last three people say, "This is gonna be big." "This is gonna be big." "This is gonna be big." "This is gonna be big." I can tell by the giants. I can tell by the fight. I can tell by the sickness. I can tell by the struggle. I can tell by the demonic attack that's been launched against me. Whatever God is about to do, it's going to be bigger than I could imagine. It's gonna be greater than I could ever conceive. It's gonna be exceedingly abundantly above all that. Exceedingly abundantly above all that. Exceedingly abundantly above all that I can. I gotta get ready. I can't get ready for grocery store grapes if I've got grapes so big that it's gonna take two men.
[Applause] [Music] And Caleb wanted to bring more produce, but because the 10 spies did not want to incite the people to possess the land, they discouraged him. He fought him back and at least got to show them the grapes. I want to talk to somebody, you don't know all the details yet, but you have seen the grapes on what's next in your life. Every person who's dragging some grapes that are prophetic to where you're going, give him a moment of praise in this place. Yes, I see the grapes. I see the grapes. It's heaven, but I'm carrying the grapes. It's bigger than I expected, but I'm carrying the grapes. I got to go into a partnership, but I'm carrying the grapes. I had to open up a limited liability partnership, but I'm carrying the grapes. What God is getting ready to do for you, you can't do it by yourself. You've gone as far as you can go by yourself. These grapes are big. These grapes are big. These grapes are big. These grapes are big. These grapes are big. These grapes are big. The devil don't like it. Hell don't like it. The witch don't like it. Your body is fighting you. Your health is fighting you. But the devil is alive if I gotta drag it back with.
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] So I went a little deeper and I started reading the Midrash. And a Midrash is a commentary on Old Testament theology that includes both the written and all interpretations of the scriptures. And it's called a Midrash. When you read the Midrash, it opens up insight that Caleb is fully devoted to the Lord and to Moses. Until you can be faithful to that which pertains to another man, you can never have your home. Until you can work in somebody else's house as if it were your house, you can't conceive what God can do in your life. Somebody give me more time. I feel the Holy Ghost about to break a yoke. And when the yoke is broken, the blessings are going to flood your life. Get ready to swim in it. Get ready for your tobacco. Get ready for the power of God to come down in your life.
[Applause] So the Midrash says that he was wholly devoted to the Lord and to Moses. Splitting from the scouts, he also went over into Hebron on his own and visited the graves of the patriarchs to remind himself of what he came from. Whenever I get in a fight, I go back in my past and tell the devil, "You're not fighting the T.D. Jakes they know. You're fighting the storefront T.D. Jakes. You're fighting this T.D. Jakes that was preaching and frying chicken and selling dinners to keep the church doors open. You fight the country T.D. Jakes that preached with a towel wrapped around his neck that left."
Wet spots in the floor. And not only that, you're fighting my mother. You're fighting my grandmother. You're fighting my grandfather. You're fighting my great-great-grandfather. All of my ancestors are standing up here preaching with me. All of my ancestors. You're fighting all of Mississippi here. All of Alabama. You're fighting Nigeria. You're fighting Ghana. You're fighting the West Coast. All of my ancestors are down inside of me.
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
People who survived against all adversity. People who ran away and threw balls of cornbread at the dogs that were chasing them. And that's why they're called hush puppies. Because it would hush a puppy long enough for them to run. You can't handle this. I'll throw bread in your face. I'll shut up your barking. I'll run through the woods. I'll weave rice in my hair and live off the rice. You're fighting everything I came from.
So the men were saying, "I'm almost there. Don't let me go." Cause I'm just not getting be part of life. It took me a while to get there. The Midrash said that Caleb had a voice that was so loud that when they got ready to get the grapes, they had to drive off the sons of Anak. And Caleb shouted so loud that the giants ran. And the Holy Ghost said to me, "Tell my people, you can bring it down with a shout-out."
[Applause]
If you open your mouth, the giants will run. If you open your mouth, the wall will crumble. If you shout, God's given you a voice. Caleb had a strong voice. That's why you shut up the enemy. Stop being quiet. Stop being cute. Stop being polite. Pull your earrings off. Open up your mouth. Kick off your shoes. This means war. Devilish means whoa.
[Applause] Shall you? Yes.
[Applause] Ah.
[Applause] [Applause]
My God, I feel the Holy Ghost about to take over this church. I feel the Spirit of God speaking to somebody in this room. I feel demons running for exit doors because somebody opened their mouth. I feel cancer power.
[Applause]
Tell the devil, "I'm getting ready to shout. I'm getting ready to scream. I'm getting ready to holler. I'm getting ready to go to war. You can't have my stuff. You can't have my peace. You can't have my joy." Give me 30 seconds of holy ghost shout music. I got a feeling.
[Music] Wow.
[Music] Open your mouth.
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music]
Give him a praise in this place.
[Music] [Music]
I see the warriors. I see warriors all over this room. I see warriors. And they gonna take and laying down. You will open your mouth and shout. You're outnumbered, but the power is in your mouth. You shall have whatever you say.
[Music] [Applause] I think.
[Applause] [Music]
Caleb is the son of Jefferson. And Jeff and her ancestors were Kenizzites. And the Kenizzites dwelt in Canaan. And the reason he went to the tombs of the patriarchs was to remind himself that this is my natural habitat. It might feel strange, but this is the land of my forefathers. And when he began to remind himself that these grapes are normal.
To who I am. They might feel heavy, but the norm. Who I feel like preaching so bad. To who I am. It might feel strange, but it's normal to where I came from. Until you think you have a right to be blessed, the devil will talk you out of being blessed. But I came to serve notice. Devil, you a liar. This is my stuff. I ain't gonna let you have my stuff. This is my house. You may be living in it, but it's my house. Suddenly, I understood why Caleb had a different report. He had a different perspective.
[Applause]
He had a different perspective. He had a perspective of ownership, not stewardship. The tombs reminded him of his story, of his ancestry. That the only reason you're in this mess is that the enemy is sitting on your land. And we're not stealing from them, they're squatters. All of the Canaanites, all of the Hittites, all of the Jebusites had come in since Abram had left there. Squatters on my land. Give me my stuff back. Give me my house back. Give me my peace back. Give me my joy back. Give me my family back. Give me my child back. Are you crazy? That's my child.
[Applause] [Music]
Everybody standing. The amazing thing was this.
[Applause]
You see, ten spies brought back what the Bible says was the evil report. But it didn't say that they were lying. They were not lying. Evil doesn't always lie. The ten spies were reporting the facts. The facts were, the Jebusites dwell in the land. And the Girgashites dwell in the mountains. And the Canaanites are down by the river. The facts were, we also saw the sons of Anak. And the facts were, the sons of Anak were huge.
[Applause]
And no matter what you do with this text, you cannot negate the fact that the sons of Anak were as big over them as people are over grasshoppers. This is not just low self-esteem talking, these are facts.
[Applause]
We were in their as grasshoppers. We were outnumbered. They were they were taller than us. They were more than us. Their cities were walled. They did not lie. The fact that the Bible said it was evil doesn't mean it wasn't true. It calls it evil because it contradicts the facts. Contradict the truth.
[Music] [Applause]
For example, the facts are, you are in debt. The truth is, God will supply all of my needs according to His riches and glory. The fact is, you got a lump in your breast. The truth is, by His stripes, we are healed. The facts are, you have a need right now. The truth is, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Ten spies brought back facts. Two spies brought back truth. And when all the facts are over, it is not the facts that set you free. It is the truth that sets you free. The truth is, if God before you, He's involved in the world against you. The truth is, if God is on your side, you can't be outnumbered. The truth is, one can chase a thousand and two, ten thousand. You have to decide, are you gonna live by the facts?
[Applause]
Or are you gonna fight for the truth?
[Music]
Facts have sent innocent men to jail.
[Applause]
Facts have caused unnecessary surgeries.
[Applause]
Facts have made descendants give up heirship to property. The facts are, they're about to sell Grandpa's house for back taxes. The truth is, if we all get together.
[Applause]
We can take it back. You have to decide right now. You hear what I said right now? Before you click off, you have to decide right now. Are you going to live by the facts or are you going to stand for the truth? Caleb stood for the truth. And he stood so long, Moses died and Caleb was still standing at 85 years old. Caleb was still standing at 85 years old. Caleb said to Joshua, "I served faithfully under Moses and Moses is dead. I serve faithfully under you now. Give me this mountain." He's 85 and he's still under attack. He's 85 and he's still using his voice. He's 85. Wait a minute. He could have chose a land that had already been conquered. But the spot he picked out meant he had to fight at 85. Listen at me, everybody my age and older. The day you stop fighting, it's the day you stop living.
[Music]
Strengthen yourself. Drag yourself up. And tell God, "Give me something to fight." As long as I got something to fight, my limbs will move. Motion is lotion. I gotta keep moving. If I stop fighting, death will take me. I ain't going out like that. Caleb was 85 years old and he said, "Give me something to fight."
[Applause]
But Caleb, if I give you that piece of ground you're asking for, you're going to be outnumbered. Okay, outnumbered. All my life, I've been outnumbered. All my life, I'm used to being outnumbered. I can still win it. Listen at me. There's some thing in your life that makes you think you're disqualified. You didn't finish school. You had a baby out of wedlock. You went through a divorce. You come from a broken home. Your emotions are shattered. We all got some reason to settle. But we also got a reason to fight. If a 85-year-old man has not lost his voice and has not lost his fight. I'm not saying he ran like he did when he was 40. But I'm saying he was a bad 85. He was a tough 85. Because it ain't the years on the body, it is the mentality of the mind. As a man thinketh in his heart.
[Applause]
So is he. I told the Lord, "I don't care what you do with me, I'm yours. I don't care where you place me, how you plant me, I'm yours. But always leave me something to fight. Give me a reason to get out the bed in the morning. Give me a reason to shave my face and get dressed and have something to do. Because when I run out of something to do, I run out of reasons to live." Young folk, get up off your grandmama's couch and fight something. You'll never find out how smart you are, how tough you are, how strong you are.
[Applause]
Until you fight back.
[Applause]
And I know you're outnumbered. That's chapter. But fight back. I know the odds are against you. But fight back. I know the facts are against you. But the truth is, you gotta fight back. Fight the facts back. Where the stats say you're at risk. And the stats say that a person from your background isn't going to go anywhere but to jail. And the stats say. I don't care what the stats say. I'm going to outnumber the numbers. So I preached to you.
[Applause]
About being outnumbered in the book of Numbers. Because the numbers may be against you, but you can outnumber the numbers.
[Music] Yes, sir.
I love the way you shouted that out. I love the way you shouted that out because hell heard you say that when you said, "Yes, I can." Demons heard you say that when you said, "Yes, I can." Sickness heard you say that when you said, "Yes, I can." Weakness heard you say that. Somebody shout, "Yes, I can."
[Music] [Applause]
As I come to a close in this message, this is a word for people whose facts outnumber you. But the truth is, God gave them everything that was against him. The truth overcame every fact that the spies reported. And in the end, the truth beat out the facts. So Jesus does not say, "You shall know the facts, and the facts will make you free."
[Applause]
"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." So Jesus walked over to a woman who had been bowed over for 18 years, bent in a way that she could not lift up herself. And she came to Jesus, bent over. Jesus never said, "Woman, you are bent over because those were the facts." The truth said, "Woman, thou art loosed." And the moment the truth hit the facts, the facts came into alignment with the truth. The Bible said, "Immediately she straightened up herself." That spirit of straightening is in this room right now. That spirit of divine alignment is in this room right now. That spirit of empowerment is in this room right now. That spirit of speaking against the multitude and stealing the voice, silence the voice of all of those who are murmuring. Shut them up.
[Applause]
I have always said the best answer to criticism is success.
[Applause]
God told me to tell you to shut their mouth. He's not going to do it for you. You have to speak up. Because the power of life and death, it's in your tongue.
[Applause]
As I prepare to close today, if you want to sow in this prophetic word, sow into this prophetic word. If your business needed this prophetic word, sow out of your business into this prophetic word. If if you needed this word, sow into this prophetic word. What does that mean? It means build an altar and offer up a sacrifice as an acknowledgement. It's God, I hear you talking right to me. I heard what the preacher said, but I also heard what you said through what the preacher said. You talking to me about something I've been scared of. Something I've been running from. Something I felt like quitting about. And you just pushed me in the back and stopped me from procrastinating. Everybody heard something different. Somebody's going back to school. Somebody's opening up a business. Somebody's starting a mission field. I don't know what it is that God told you was your promise. But I do know that God is tired of you settling on your promise because you're afraid of your promise. And I'll give you a moment. I won't beg. I won't plead. I won't give an amount. I won't. That's between you and God. I don't know what it's worth to you. I have no idea how big your grapes are.
[Music]
Look at somebody say, "I got big grapes." One cluster took two men. You're gonna need partnership.
[Music]
You don't need alignment to carry what God is getting ready to drop on you now. You're going to be hard-headed and be solo. You're going to lose your grapes. God is doing something.
[Music]
I told my wife, "I've heard from the Lord."
[Music]
She knows I walk around the house looking funny until I heard from the Lord. Once I hear from the Lord, we can go anywhere. We can do anything that we got to do. But until I hear from the Lord, I don't want to come to you until I have heard from the Lord.
[Music] [Applause] [Music]
She said, "You're all right." I said, "I'm good now." Because God told me to preach outnumbered. The 2022 International Leadership Summit. Have a Master Builder. March 31st through April 2nd. Charlotte, North Carolina. Get the blueprint for leadership. It's no meaning you trying to figure out what's already been written out. I want you to take it to the next level. Register today. Prices increase on November 29th. Ready to build? Visit this is ils.org to register.
[Music]