Transcription
Numbers Chapter 13. I want to read that verse again, and I want to speak to you about your own life. In in Numbers Chapter 13, I want you to see this. Then they came to the valley of Eshcol, and they cut down the branch of the cluster of grapes, and they carried it between them on a pole. They also brought some pomegranates and figs.
I want to talk to you about the two mentalities that people have. Moses sends the children of Israel. He actually says, "Give me 12 spies." Moses, get 12 spies. 12 because there were 12 tribes, one from each SP, from each tribe, and send them over into the promised land. I want them to get a foraste of what I have for them. They go to Eshcol and they find nine grapes and figs and pomegranates, and they're so huge, it's so big, it's so amazing that they say, "We've got to take two of them." The Bible said two of them had to carry it. I can't prove this, but I think I know which two carried it. I think it was Joshua and Caleb. See, the other 10 were a bunch of losers, amen. They were leaving Israel was leaving Egypt, the failures zone, headed to the promised land, the success zone.
And before they could get into the land of dreams, because the old covenant, they have a land of promise, but under the New Covenant, we have a book of promises. So Canaan does not represent to the Israelites then, it did not represent heaven, and it doesn't represent heaven to us. It represents the place where we dream to be with our families. Your dream may be to see your son off of drugs. Your dream may be to see your family restored. Your dream may be to be healed in your body, to see your business prosper. God's God enjoys seeing his people living in a land flowing with milk and honey. This was God's dream that his people. We know natural Israel for for us in our faith is a type of spiritual Israel, the church, and we've been engrafted in. And so I want you to understand, Canaan was a type of heaven, was not a type of heaven, it's a type of victory here in some area of your life that you need a victory.
Moses sent 12 men, and the, and, and God said, "I have three objectives that I want to get into these spies." Number one, I want them to get a vision of where they're going. You got to see it before you can get there. I want them to get over there, and I want them to get a picture, a photograph of what God wants them to be and to do, the purpose that they are to have. You will never achieve beyond where you are until you get a picture, a photograph of where you're going. Why? Proverbs 29 and 18 said, "Without a vision, the people perish." Without a vision, young people become unrestrained. If you don't know who you are and what your purpose is, that's why you just go with anything and everything. You have to have a vision. God wanted his people to have a vision. What kind of vision do you have of yourself? What kind of vision do you have of your future? What kind of vision do you have? God is a God of vision. God is a God who says, "If you can see it, you can do it. If you can see it, you can be it."
When I look at this church and all these people here, I, I, I had to get a photograph of what God wanted me to do with my life, or I would still be in a cornfield in eastern North Carolina. Nothing wrong with a cornfield in eastern North Carolina, that's a good place to start for what God had for me. I, I love that, but what I'm saying is, I began to catch glimpses of what God could do if I would just believe him. And it all begins with a picture. You got to see yourself beyond where you are. The power of a picture. Gideon, go down to the enemy's camp and listen to what they are seeing and what they're saying. They're more afraid of you than you realize. You are a mighty man of valor. You've got to see yourself as a good dad. You've got to see yourself. Just because you never had one doesn't mean you can't be one. You've got to see yourself as a blessed family. My family is not cursed. My family is not just going to suffer trials and tribulations. I call down the blessing of Abraham on my family, and I see my family blessed. Give God a praise if you believe it.
The children of Israel, here's the point. God let them bring those grapes back from Eshcol to get a picture in their minds of all the people who didn't see it. Oh, if I can, I want that now because God works through pictures. Get a picture of yourself free from alcoholism if you're addicted to it. Get a picture of yourself free from depression. Get a picture that you're free from drugs if you're struggling with it. It all begins in a service like this where God begins to say, "There's so much more that I have for you than you can't imagine." Get in your mind a photograph of God's promise. See it first.
Secondly, the second reason that he wanted them to go over into the promised land, this is a big one. He wanted them to taste the grapes. He wanted to give them a foretaste of what God was going to do. He wanted them to have an appetizer, a sample platter. Have you ever gone to the mall? I remember when my kids were young, we had five, five like little ducks, and they, they were like little doorsteps, and we would go to the mall, and especially like that, uh, little cinnamon place, the, um, what's it called? They have cinnamon rolls and little cinnamon bites. And the poor person would be standing out there with just little bites, like a little bite of cookie and a little bite of cinnamon. And when my kids would see that, they would run like a pack of wild dogs and grab handfuls. And the poor, he, but their hope is that if you taste it, you'll come on in and buy the whole thing. That's what God was doing. He was saying, "I'm going to give you a picture, and then I want you to get a foretaste of what I want to do in your nation and with my people."
The people of God, the Israelites, he wanted them to get a foretaste. He wanted them to get, he wanted them to taste the grapes. He wanted them to get some idea of something greater than they had been experiencing. No more leeks and garlics from Egypt for you. You're moving into a better life. You're moving into a land of dreams. You're moving into something greater than you can produce. I'm your God. I'm Jehovah Jireh. I'm Jehovah Shammah. I am your Source. I want good for you and not evil. I know the plans that I have for you, plans of good and not evil, to give you hope, to give you a future. Hallelujah. God knows how to motivate us to not give up. And when he wants you, he'll get you in a service like this, and he'll give you a picture, a glimpse of who you can be. He'll give you a glimpse of a marriage that is healed.
So he wanted them to taste the grapes, and really, that's the deal. That's where I'm trying to get to. There's only two mentalities. You're either a grape taster or you're a giant talker. There's only two kinds of people. I pastor great tasters are giant talkers because 10 of the spies came back. They saw the exact same thing as the two who were positive and said, "We can take the land. We're well able." And notice they didn't come back and talk about their God. They came back and said, "We are as grasshoppers in their sight." There are people, and they have giants in the land, and we are as grasshoppers. They had a grasshopper mentality. You either have a grasshopper mentality or a grace, a a great taster mentality. And so they were talking about how big the grapes were. But here comes Joshua and Caleb, and they're talking about, "The giants are huge." The other two are coming and stand up, and I could see Joshua and Caleb say, "Yeah, but the grapes are huge." "Oh, but the devil's so big." "Oh, but our God is so big." "Oh, but there's a lot of sickness and disease going around." But here's how great tasters talk. You can tell a grasshopper by the vocabulary. "We can't. It's not possible. Nobody else can, but me. Nothing good ever happens to me. Woe is me. Woe is me." We are not called to be grasshoppers. We're called to be grape tasters. Come on, don't give up. Don't quit. Don't lay down.
And here's, this is what I want you to see. Giants never showed up until they got to the land of promise. When God allows you to have to confront gigantic problems, it's just God's signpost that you're at the beginning of your miracle. We take that as a negative. See, it's all about your perception. That's the third reason why God sent them over. He wanted to check out their perception. What was their perception of themselves? What was their perception of their enemy? What was the perception of their God? And that's the three things you're going to have to deal with if you're ever going to walk by faith and do what God has put you on this planet to do. Number one, what is your perception of yourself? They said, "We are as grasshoppers. I'm nobody. I'm nothing." You know, the Lord really spoke to me this week about this, and he said, "You need to work on that one." Because I have a lot of insecurities. Even 61 years old, I can't hardly take a compliment. My mind races. I play the sax or something, and somebody will say, "That was amazing," and my mind's thinking, "Boy, you must not listen to really great saxophone players." I'll play the piano, and somebody will say, "You, boy, you can really play." I always compare myself with somebody else. You preached a great sermon. I'm learning. I'm just now learning that, you know what? Never apologize. Never belittle what God blesses you with. It may not be as good and as great as, but I'm not a grasshopper. And what I do, nobody else can do just like me. And so I think I'll just be me, and God, and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. I need you to give God a praise.
I got seven minutes, and I'm going to take all seven minutes. Turn to somebody and say, "I'm not a grasshopper. I'm a grape taster." My goodness. Young people, when you meet somebody, don't give them a little dead fish handshake. That's a grasshopper. Don't even know how to shake. I mean, grab that hand like a cowboy. Grab that hand like a man. Grab that hand firm. Look them right in the eye. Uh-uh, not over here, not over there. Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh. Look them straight in the eye and say, "I know who I am. I know who my God is. I know that the one in me is greater than he that is in the world. If God be for us, who can be against us?" God's not about you always. Listen, I believe in humility, but humility is not putting yourself down. Humility is lifting God up in your life and giving him all the glory. It's, and there's a difference between humility and, and just, just, just belittling yourself. Grasshopper complex. "I'm nothing. I'm nobody. I'll never be." I'm just now learning, in a, in a good way, not in an arrogant way, that if God has blessed me, if I murmur about what God has blessed me with, God takes it as murmuring about him. If God's blessed you with a wife, you better bless God for that wife. If God's blessed you with a husband, you better bless God. If you murmur about it, you'll never taste the grapes. Grasshoppers, grasshoppers, they just complain. They just say, "We can't." They just put, they said, "We are, listen to this, they said, 'We are as grasshoppers in our own sight,' and we ask our enemy." Read it. It's on. "And we ask them." We ask them, and they agreed. Never consult your enemy for a faith report. Never go to your enemies and haters and ask them how they feel, especially if you start it by saying, "I feel like a nobody and a nothing." How do you feel about me? Never expect them to come back and say, "Oh, you're so wrong. Let me build you up." I want you to understand that grasshoppers see obstacles, but grape tasters see opportunities. Grasshoppers see sickness and disease, but grape tasters see healing and long life. Grasshoppers have slave mentality. Grape tasters have sonship mentality. Grasshoppers talk like victims, but grape tasters talk like victors. And you can always tell a grasshopper by how they talk. Turn to somebody and say, "I already know what you are." Tell them you're not a grasshopper, so stop talking like one. That's what I'm trying to preach here. Get a photograph from God of who you are and why you're here, and don't belittle yourself. Maybe you're not as talented as somebody else and this and that, but you know what? God uses people who say, "I believe in myself. I believe in God. And I'm not going to brag on the devil. I'm going to brag on God and his ability." Quit going around lagging in the mully grubs. You're talking, "Well, I'm old now and nobody cares about me." Shut up, grasshopper. Become a grape taster and say, "I'm older now. I'm going to get to enjoy all, all the stuff I've worked so hard. I'm going to go play golf one day. I'm going to go out. I'm going to have myself a time. I'm going to grow me a gray beard." If you're running out of time, you need to enjoy your life sometime. Come on, let's be great. The great, the greats are still here. I don't know what you're going through. You say, "Well, somebody dear to me died." And, and, and you can just focus on that the rest of your life and have a grasshopper mentality. Is this or you can say, "Well, you know what? But life is still good, and God is still good, and I, I got to look at what I've got left, and I've got to look at the friends, and I've got to look at the peace that I have, that I'll see them again on the other side." Get up and live.
They saw the giants and backed up from the grapes because when they got there, they thought that they would just step into the promised land. But anytime you get God's provision, it comes with demonic resistance and problems. There will never be a clear coast straight to the land flowing with milk and honey. You may have, but notice this. See, they were comparing themselves to the giants, not comparing their God to the giants. Because who's the giant then? God is greater, and they are weaker. As with everything in life that's good, you will have to deal with the problems to get the provision. No risk, no provision. No opposition, no provision. No critics, no provision. No fight, no provision. You're going to have to fight for your dream. You're going to have times when giants just pop up and defy you and say, "You can't do it. You're nobody but a grasshopper." And in that moment, that's when that great tasting moment of a photograph of what God has shown you has to be bigger than the lies of the enemy that says, "Give up. It's never going to change." God's got some grapes. Hallelujah. I still believe that we're supposed to have life and have it more abundantly. That life isn't supposed to be a bunch of trials all the time. Life isn't supposed to be a bunch of tears all the time. Life isn't supposed to be just some going through another thing and worrying about our children all the time and what's going to happen. And oh God, God's going to be on the throne, and he's going to take care of it, and it's all going to turn out fine when it's all said and done. He is all things work together for the good to them that are called according to his purpose. So eat some grapes and enjoy your life. This is the day the Lord has made. I'm going to eat grapes. I'm not sitting around, "Ooh, I feel a little pain. I probably got cancer back there. And oh my God, my hip's about to come out of joint." Pro, no, I'm going to eat the grapes. I'm alive. Hallelujah. Oh, come on. Somebody turn to somebody and say, "God still got some grapes in your life." Grapes of favor, grapes of salvation, household healing, grapes of prosperity, blessing. We need to hear about the grapes. I appreciate preaching all kinds. We need it all in different seasons. We need a good balance, but don't just preach to me about hell. Preach to me about the grapes. Heaven. Don't just preach to me about judgment. I need to hear some mercy every once in a while. I need a little balance. Don't just preach to me about defeat and it's hard and we're just pilgrims struggling through life. I need to hear about victory. Ever now and then, I need to hear about dream your dream and vision and how God can do anything and he's looking for vessels.
Self-perception is contagious because those 10 men talked two million Israelites out of the promised land, and they were confined to the wilderness because grasshopper mentality is contagious. What are you passing down to your children? What are you passing down about church and about God and about faith? Are they going to be grasshoppers or are they going to be grape tasters? The Lord is good. Oh, taste and see that the Lord, he is good. And I don't know who you are today. I believe God ordered every person's step in every campus that I'm preaching to right now and online, but the Lord wants you to hear that he still has grapes in life. That life is hills and mountains. It's, it's valleys and mountains, and, and you don't get shaken. And whatever situation you're in, you just hold on to that photograph that God has shown you. You will come to vision. You will see his goodness in the land of the living.
I want you to stand to your feet still and quiet, just one moment. I feel like today that as God has supernaturally raised up the nation of Israel, and even Eshcol, where they brought the grapes back to the people, and that's where we're going to build some great things for the glory of God. I feel like God wants to build some people in this room, and I'm going to ask you to lift your hand toward heaven and receive this blessing. I want you to pray out loud. Lord Jesus, I give you my life. I surrender to you. I give you this family. I give you my mind. Show me who I am. Give me the picture of your plan for my children, of your plan for my grandchildren. Give me a generational vision and picture. I want to be a, I want to be a grape taster. I want, I don't want to be a grasshopper because they never eat grapes. And Lord, today, enlarge, magnify my vision. Help me to still dream in the season I'm in for greater things. Bless my family, bless my, and use us, use us for the glory of God. Glory, God. I ask it all in your name. Now receive this blessing. I'm going to let you go today. I made a promise, and I'm going to let you go. But next Sunday, I'm going to finish my message. Stretch your hand this way. Do you know that God commanded Moses to speak this blessing, and he said it will be for all generations? So I want you to receive it this morning on you and your family, and don't look at the giants, because the giants just popped up and said, "But they're here, and they're there, and they're into this, near to that." Our God is greater, and we need that great tasting faith. Lift your hand high and receive this blessing. And now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine on you. May the Lord be gracious unto you. May he lift up his countenance, his favor upon you, and may he give you peace in his mighty name. And the church said, amen. God bless you. We love you. We'll see you next Sunday. Thank you so much. You know, if you want to give, you can go online. We do it that way, or you can give in the giving stations all over the building. If you want to help us with the Israel project, thank you for that. But just be led of the Lord and do what you do. God bless you. We appreciate you so much. Have a great day. Eat some grapes today. Amen. Be a grape taster. Be a grape taster. Don't be a grasshopper. Be blessed this week. Expect good things from the Lord.
I'm standing here in the Zach's house, the Zach Family House in Kutski Suim, the first community that we introduced you to on October 7. This entire family perished. When we walked after the atrocities of October 7 into this house, we saw the father lying here behind me on the floor with a knife in his hand, and in the shelter behind me, the mother in bed hugging her son, both dead and both burned alive. But just like this instinct of a family to protect each other, to save each other, this is what we feel with you, Pastor Jensen Franklin, and your entire congregation. It was an instinct, a family instinct to come and stand with us and to remind us that we are not alone. You are responding immediately because you know us. You know us already for many years before, and you committed to build a resilience center that will give us therapy for our communities to heal together in these atrocities of October 7. We know that we will rebuild again. It will be painful and hard, but we know that with you, we can make it happen, step by step, together as a family.