Promises Over Problems

I'm going to be reading some text. I'm going to get right into it here. Reading a little bit more than normal, uh, on a Sunday, but, uh, Numbers chapter 13 is where we'll go. Uh, it's a very familiar passage of, of scripture, but I'm going to read just a little bit more than normal, because I feel like we need to make sure that we set up this, uh, this story properly. Numbers, the 13th chapter, verse number one. The Bible says: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving.'" Everybody say "giving." Giving. He's giving it to the children of Israel. "From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, everyone a leader among them." Skipping down to — I'm going to actually go down to verse number 25. Later in the, the portion of scripture, Moses has spent, sent the spies out at this time, and in verse 25 it says: "And they returned from spying out the land after 40 days. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at, at Kadesh. And they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him and said, 'We went to the land where you sent us. It, it truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities, they're fortified, and they're very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south, the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites, they dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and among the banks of the, the Jordan River.' Then Caleb quieted all the people before Moses and said, 'Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.' But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We are — we're not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.' And they gave their, the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, 'The land which we have gone as spies is a land that devours it, its inhabitants, and all the people whom we, we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants, and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.'"

It's a familiar portion of, of scripture here, and from that portion of scripture, I want to preach on this title: Promises Over Problems. Promises over problems. And I — and I want to make this statement at the beginning of this sermon: it, it matters more what God says about your promise than what other people say about your promise. It — it matters. It matters a great deal more what God says about your promise than what other people say about your promise. Won't you bump the person beside you and say, "That's good preaching"? And I haven't even started yet. Your promises are greater than your problems.

Fear, it is a powerful emotion. Fear has — it's crippled the mighty. It has limited the capable. It is strong enough to keep us from achieving the goals that we have for our life, and it prevents us from keeping us, and keeping us away from the, the life that we desire. Fear, it can provoke us to stagnation, and it has the capacity to paralyze us and to stop us from pursuing the God-given ideas and dreams that the Lord has planted in our life. Fear is an ugly thing, and fear can absolutely devastate a person. However, I feel from the Lord to remind somebody today that fear does not have to be your future. Fear does not have to be a part of your DNA. Fear does not have to be who you are defined by. Paul told Timothy: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." I, I want to remind somebody today: if you've got fear in your life, that fear did not come from God. God does not use fear as a motivational tool to get us to where he wants us to be. The Bible says in 1 John 4:18: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear." Fear is not your future. Fear is not who God wants you to associate with. Maybe today you walked in afraid, but I believe you can walk out today anointed. Maybe you walked in fearful, but I believe you can leave this place full of faith. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: God doesn't give us fear, so why should we keep it? If God didn't give it to us, then, then God doesn't want us — I — maybe this is too simple for some folks today, but if God says, "Hey, I'm not giving you that spirit," then, then maybe that's not a spirit that we should keep, or we should listen to, or we should abide by, but we should get out that fear that's in our lives that's trying to control us.

It is here, just previous of, of Numbers chapter 13, that we learned about the great exodus of God's people from the land of Egypt. Everybody that's in this room that believes in the word of God believes that the Israelites did walk across the Red Sea on dry ground. Nowadays, modern theologians or liberal theologians will try to prescribe this idea that it wasn't actually the Red Sea, but a, a, a more shallow sea that the Israelites did cross. But — and, and, I, I hope this sounds okay, what I'm about to say, but I, I feel in the Holy Ghost to tell somebody: the word of God doesn't need you to defend it. I, I, I know that as human beings we are continually growing in knowledge, and, and, and our, our brains — hopefully, hopefully — are expanding, and we're able to obtain and relay more information than ever before, but the word of God is forever settled. And it doesn't need our help defending it. It doesn't need our, our help trying to make sure that the academic world, or whoever, can understand what the word of God is saying. I, I believe today that when the Bible says the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, they, they just crossed the Red Sea. I believe that God, through a miraculous power, was able to defy gravics — gravity and physics. I was trying to combine that word there. And was able to take that ocean, that sea, and split the waters. And I, I believe that there were walls that were made of water, and I believe that there was marine floor that became dry instantly, so that the Israelites could walk across it. And I believe that those same waves came crashing down on the Egyptians, and the enemy that was chasing the Israelites was completely consumed by the water.

I was reading this passage this week, and I, I began, as I was reading and thinking about the, the exodus out of Egypt — I, I thought about when they were at the Red Sea, the Israelites, and, and Moses takes that rod, and he parts the waters, and the waters begin to part. I, I imagine that the Israelites, when they saw this, and they said to the — or heard from, from Moses or whoever: "Hey, we should probably go ahead and walk across the, the sea here." That, that some of them were like: "This is probably not the best idea we've had. Like, it's amazing. God — God's awesome. Like, I'm thankful that the, the, the waters were parted, but at any moment gravity could come back to reality, and these, these, these waves could, could really do some damage to us." And in fact, I — probably the Israelites, when they got to the other side and they looked back and they saw the Egyptians being consumed by the waters, they're probably like: "Yeah, that could have been us. And this — you remember that first step I took? That's why I was hesitant, because that's what I was afraid of."

You know, the, the Exodus story, it, it is, by no doubt of the imagination, it, it is something that preaches and teaches very well, because it's a powerful portion of scripture. But I will state today that it's also a convicting portion of scripture, because it is hard to walk by faith. It's tough sometimes. If we're real, if we're honest with ourselves today, there are times, there are moments, there are seasons where speaking in faith is a whole lot easier than living in faith, than walking by faith. It — it's easy to, to pray for somebody else and say, "Your miracle's coming." But it's a lot harder to believe that my miracle is coming, and that the things that God has promised over my life are going to come to reality. It's sometimes tough to walk in, in faith. And so, mere weeks after experiencing this divine intervention from the Lord, the, the word from God tells the, the Israelites and Moses that the time of wandering in the wilderness does not have to endure forever. And so the Lord tells Moses: "Pick 12 men, 12 leaders, one from each tribe, and send them to spy out the land that I have given you."

I said the beginning, and I, I asked for you to repeat it, that, that the Lord, he gave this land to the Israelites. But this was something that, that God was going to give his people. When God sent out the 12 spies, he, he did not give them the assignment that they would go to the land to see if the land really existed, or to somehow validate that God was really God. Their, their assignment was not to go figure out the, the military plan, to, to figure out how they were going to invade the promised land. Their, their simple assignment was just go look at it. Just go look at it. Go see what I'm about to give you. Tell the other people the promises that are about to come their way.

He did not — oh, I need somebody to hear this today. He did not need their intellect or their, their ability to commit to warfare. He just needed them to go see the land. I'm curious today how many people in the room still believe simply this: if God said it. If, if God said it. I know this sounds old-fashioned, but I'm still the belief that all it takes is for God to speak, for him to complete. All, all it takes is for him to say the word, for it to be done. Hey, if God said it, then, then that's good enough for me. That, that settles it. When God speaks the word.

And so Moses — he, he sends off these 12 men, and you have to imagine again with me their excitement. Because for the first time in over — for years, they're going to begin to see the promised land that God had promised them. For over 400 years, they, they, they sat and served, were slaves in Egypt, thinking and longing for the day where God would rescue them and send them to the promised land. They, they longed for the day where they would see their promise. One writer, he says that there would have been tears flowing down the faces of the people, as they saw their respective leaders chosen from their tribe walk away and begin the journey to see the promised land. There was excitement in the air. There was a thrill, for sure. They were, they were hyped about where God was, was sending them. And what an experience the 12 spies had. They came back, and they, they had a glimpse of the land that God had promised them. But what they quickly comprehended as well is that, while they saw the promised land, they saw the thing that God was going to give them, it was not going to be a cakewalk. It wasn't going to come necessarily easy. And we see this throughout scripture. We, we see a glimpse of, of things that God promises his people, but then there, there's a gap between the promise and the process that's required to see the promise come to fruition.

When God says, "I'm going to give you the land," there was still work to be done. There was still faith that had to be in operation. It was not just one of those things where, snap your fingers, and there you are in the middle. He — God was not going to transport these people to the promised land. They were going to have to walk in faith. They were going to have to fight some battles. They were going to have to maybe get a little dirty and get through to where God wanted them to be. God — God showed the spies: yes, the, the land is, is plentiful. There — there's plenty there. You'll never need or want again, but there's still going to be an army that you're going to have to fight. The Lord showed them there — there's still city walls that are going to need to fall down.

I, I want somebody to hear this today: just because God has given you a promise does not mean you are exempt from walking in faith, and fighting the fights, and making sure walls come down. There is still going to be something — an operation of faith — that's going to require for you to step out and do something to receive your promise. Yes, there are times that God works in an instance, but there, there are also times where you have to wait decades for healing in your body, or for God to fully put your family back together, or for marriages to be restored, or for that hurt to be healed. There is still sometimes a process that's associated with the miracles and the promises of God.

I remember this one time pastor was preaching. I remember lots of times pastor preaches, but there's one time I remember specifically. He was up here on this day, on this platform, and he had an anchor. Does anybody remember that anchor message? And he would throw that anchor, and I mean, it'd be like a — I mean, that was a good anchor right there. That's a good sound right there. I can make my own sound effects.

Didn't know that until just now. But he would throw this anchor, and it would make this, this thud, this, this sound. And I remember I was sitting over here where Pastor Michael was, and then we would see this, this anchor being launched, and I would be like, "Man, I hope that rope holds that anchor. Like, I don't know what kind of string pastor has. Maybe he's like Nolan Ryan about to throw a fastball at me here." But I remember him continually throwing out this anchor, and, and you know, he's making the point, obviously, that, that God is the, the anchor in our life. And as I was reading the scripture this week and just thinking about the promises of God, sometimes we need to act like that: anchor is our promises. And, and while it may not be right beside us, there's a rope attached to it. And despite the storms, and despite the things we go through, we need to hold on to the promises of God. We need to hold on to the things that he has given to us, and said that he will one day give to us. Regardless of the storms, regardless of the trials, regardless of the situations that we're facing, we need to make sure that we're holding on to the promises of God in our life.

Paul told the church in the, the Galatians, he said: "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." The psalmist said in Psalm 126:5: "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy." I want somebody to be encouraged today, that just because you have not seen your promise, and just because it has not become tangible in your life yet, does not mean that you should give up. Hold on to that promise. Hold on to the miracle that God has spoken over your life, because there's going to be a day where you see that miracle come to reality. God — it's not time. Hear me today, it's not time to give up on that job advancement. If God promised you a raise, you need to keep walking in confidence that that raise is coming your way. I want to speak to somebody: God said that backslider is coming home. Today is not the day to give up that dream. Today is not the day to give up that promise. Today — oh, I wish somebody would get behind me today — today is not the day to give up that — over the healing that God has promised over your mind. That healing is — oh. If God has given you a word, if God has proclaimed a promise over your life, let God be true and every other man a liar. Your parents don't have the right to destroy your hope. Your friends don't have the right to destroy your promises. Your co-workers don't have the right to take your joy away. Your doctor does not have a diagnosis that can take away your promised peace. If you've got a word, if you've got a promise, if you've got a land, if you've got a future, if you have a destiny, then hold on to the promises of God. Hold on to them. It's not time to give up. It's not time to throw in the towel. It doesn't matter what other people are saying about your promise. Today, it does not matter what your peers say. It does not matter what your friends say. All that matters today is, what is God saying? What did the Lord tell you? What has he promised over your life?

Try to calm down here a little bit. Lord told Moses, he said: "Moses, gets the men. I'm going to give this land to you. This land that, that, that's being given to you, it's, it's coming directly from me." I want somebody to hear this right now: your promise is coming from God, and God alone. You should take good comfort in that today, that your promise will arrive exactly when God wants it to arrive. But your promise is coming from God. Your, your, your promise is not going to come through your friend group. I'm thankful some of you — all you all got great friends, and I'm thankful for your friend groups. But you can't rely on your friends for your promise. You, you can't rely on your co-workers or your peers for your — you can't. You can't rely on, on the other saints in this room for your promise. Your promise is coming from God. But I take great comfort in that, too, because if God's the only one that can give it, God's the only one that can take it away. I, God — if he's the only one that can give me the promise, then there's not a devil in hell, there's not a boss, there, there's not a co-worker — I'm just trying to be real today. If God gives it to you, nobody can take it away from you. Nobody, nobody can, can rob that from you, because when God says it's yours, it's yours.

Some folks want to tell you they're, they're more in charge than they really are. Perfect peace does not come from your friends. Perfect peace does not come from your family. They can't give it. They can't take it away. And so God, he's trying to tell these people: "Hey, this is something that I am giving you." Your enemy is not giving it to you. Your, your enemy can't keep it from you, either. And so the leaders, they come back, and, and unfortunately they, they don't, they don't understand what God is saying when he says, "I'm going to give it to you." They, they come back with a bad report. The, these, these 12 spies, they were the influencers. They were the, the ones that were well respected, with the, with the right resume, with the right pedigree. They were the right men at the right time. But they had the wrong report. And they, they come in, and they got a negative word for the Israelites. You know, negativity can — it can spread like a wildfire. Can I get a witness in the room? It, it's amazing to me sometimes how negativity can spread so quickly. One hungry person who's getting a little hangry can make a whole youth group — oh, yeah. I'm talking from experience right now. I've seen the van turn on you quick. Negativity, it can, it can grow legs really quick. Start moving around.

I imagine what, what these Israelites were, were dealing with. For, for 40 days they were waiting on this report. They were waiting on this news. They, they were longing at. I, I just, I can imagine in my mind's eye that the kids are looking out their window every morning to see if the, the spies have made it back home yet. You know, the, the, the guys, when they're, when they're working, they're looking over their shoulder, thinking that any moment those, those spies could come back, and we're going to hear what the promised land is going to look like. For 40 days — I, you know, I don't, I don't think they knew exactly how long the, the search party was going to be out there. Hey, maybe they thought 2 weeks, 3 weeks. After 4 — maybe they're thinking back. Maybe something bad's happened to them. I, I don't know what they were thinking. But, but I, I know that, that they probably did not enjoy the wait. Likewise, I know today we don't like to wait on things. You don't like to wait on that doctor's report. You don't — you don't like to, to wait on that update from a friend. We don't even like to wait on Amazon. All you got to do is click a button on your phone, and you get stuff at your house, and we don't like the 2-day wait. Where are they at? Have you noticed that people put trackers on everything nowadays? Hey, it doesn't matter what you — you're ordering online. There's going to come a, a tracker attached to it. You — like, you got to know where your Amazon package is. Like, you got to know what, what part of the neighborhood it's in. Like, am I two stops away, four stops away, six? Where we at here? When am I getting my batteries? I don't know. I, I ordered pizza last night. Pizza from Domino's. I say that loudly here today, because my wife thought we were having Papa John's. Ha. There's been a long tradition in the Steven's home that we get Papa John's, but last night, ha, I said Domino's is our new cheap pizza place. Not the bougie pizza. I get that Domino's. How many prayed today after talking about this? There was a — there was a, a debate last night in our house over which pizza chain we're going to start utilizing. Come on, garlic to crust. That was what — that was the winner for me. But you know, I ordered Papa — not actually — wow, Domino's pizza. See, I'm, I'm a creature of my own habit here.

And I noticed that on the app, there's a tracker on it. We don't like waiting, to a point now where the pizza industry has realized that they need to let us know exactly where the pizza is in the process of being made. The app told me yesterday who was making my pizza. I had first and last name. I don't know, maybe cuz — maybe that was my new Facebook friend right there. Hey, thank you for making my pizza. I get their name. I get, I get to know when they've read my order. I, I get to know when they're, they're, they're throwing the dough in the air, and when they're putting the toppings on the pizza, and when they throw it in the oven. I, I'm seeing and I'm receiving all this information. I know when the pizza's done. Why? Cuz we don't like to wait. We need to know exactly where we are in the process.

And so these Israelites, I'm sure they hated the wait, but one day these, these 12 spies came home after 40 days. And they're carrying with them large amounts of delicious fruit. They're bringing the thing back home that these people have been waiting for, for some time. They're thinking, "Man, this is about to get really, really, really good." I don't know about you, but I, I like fruit. I enjoy fruit. Tastes good. Vegetables, not so much. Fruit, good. You know what I like about fruit? You can't get fat on fruit. You can — it's all you can eat fruit in my house, because we don't fear the calories. Man, the kids are excited, the neighbors are pumped. Moses is even doing the gritty. I still got y'all down there. They're excited. They're, they're hearing that the land — it really does flow with milk and honey. The thing that God said about the land, it's true. Every portion of it is true. There's fruit, there's milk, there's honey. We're never going to have need again. But as soon as this could be communicated, old negative Nancy had to pipe up. "Well, we didn't know how to tell you this, but there's, there's a problem in our promise. There's a — there's an obstacle that we were not anticipating."

Those kids who had a big grin on their face from the fruit, their, their, their grin quickly became a frown. Cuz Debbie — Negative Nancy, Debbie Downer — started saying about the descendants of Anak, and the Amalekites, and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites. He's saying: "Hey, they're, they're by the mountains, they're by the seas, they're by the rivers, and, and they're larger than us, and their walls — they're, they're fortified, and they're mightier than us. They're, they're, they're, they're a more powerful force than we are. And, and to be honest, we're, we're like grasshoppers in their sight." I, I wish so badly somebody right then and there would have been like — you know, as they're giving this negative news — said: "You know what? The word of God's still on our side." I wish somebody would said: "Hey, hey, the word of God's still for us. We're — God's still giving us this land." But instead, there was this overwhelming pity party. Until Caleb starts piping. He's like: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Well, let's calm down on the negative news. I, I, I get that there's people there, and I, I get that there's giants there, and I, I get that in comparison we look like grasshoppers, but I, I think we should go right now and take the land. I, I, I saw the land. I saw the fruit. I don't need to wait another day." Caleb was ready to go. The only problem was there wasn't any, anybody else that was willing to jump on board right then and there. It was not the overwhelming majority that said: "Yeah, it's our time to go get the land."

And instead of wanting to go and get the land, in Numbers 14, just a few verses over, we find their leader, the Israelites' leader, Moses, crying in the dirt, face in the dirt, crying because the people have now turned on him, and they want to replace him, and they want to kill him, and they want to go back to Egypt. They're saying: "Hey, we, we've come this far, but, but the problems are greater than our promise. The, the obstacles ahead of us, they're, they're too, too great for us to be able to achieve the goals that we had." And this, this makes God mad. Like, this makes God — capital M, capital A, capital D — mad. Like, he is upset at his people. He even goes as far to say: "I'm just going to kill them all." I'm just going to kill them all. Some of y'all, when you get your kids dressed this morning, that's what you said: "I'm just going to kill them all." God's looking, and Moses like: "That's probably not the worst plan, God. That's okay, probably." And then God's like: "But Moses, you're included." And Moses like: "All right, let's, let's — let me get back to praying here." The Israelites are — they're making this statement. They're like: "Our life was, was better in Egypt, because at least in Egypt we weren't dying to the giants. I know that in Egypt that we were living in bondage, but at least in Egypt we were alive." See, that's what the enemy will lie to you. He'll lie to you and say: "Bondage living is still living." Hear me today, that's not living. That's not — what? You're, you're not called to be bound by addiction. You're not — God did not save you. God did not rescue you. God does not desire to restore you just so that you can compromise on the promises that he has placed in your life. They wanted to go back to Egypt. They wanted to find a leader who would compromise on that. But God got mad. Because the Lord had a plan. He knew of the enemy. He knew of the adversary. He knew of the problems. But he had a plan to see the promise through. Today you have a promise from God. But maybe you don't know the plan quite yet. I want to bring you comfort: that's okay. Our God has the plan. His ways of thinking are, are higher than our ways of thinking. I want his plan in my life, not my, my — not my plan.

So, the Lord, he's, he's about to display something through Caleb and Joshua. But notice in scripture that they — Caleb and Joshua — they never ignore the problem. They don't, they don't begin to say: "Well, there's no giants there." Or, "The, the other spies, they're lying." No, they don't, they don't — they don't say those things. Faith, faith does not ignore your problems. Faith, faith does not make you ignorant. Faith does not, uh, ignore the diagnosis, or the hurt, or the pain that's in somebody's life. Faith just says: "That doesn't trump what my God said." Faith says: "No matter the giants, no matter the obstacles, no matter the adversary, if God said it, it's going to happen." Some of you in this room, you, you've convinced yourself that it's not going to happen, that it's not — your promise will not come to reality. But again, I ask you the question: what is it has said over your life? What promises has he given you? What promises is he trying to pour in your life?

Today, we need to learn how to ignore the negative voices. Today, we need to learn how to tune in to what God is speaking, and learn to tune out the things that aren't helping us. I don't think faith and negativity coincide well together. If you're dealing today with negativity, I want you to know that that, that, that plus faith is going to — it's going to be a hardship for you. There's going to be up — you know, I, I see people some, sometimes spiritually going on this emotional and spiritual roller coaster. Negativity, like I said earlier, it's easy to find. If you want to find negative voices, you, you can — you can do so really quickly. You just go on Facebook. You'll find some negative voices real quick. It's, it's kind of funny, but not so funny. People go on Facebook, they complain about — I don't make light of this, I promise I'm not — but they'll, they'll complain about church hurt. It's amazing how many people will just — you can find negative voices on Facebook just like that. People that haven't talked in years somehow get reconnected real quick on Facebook, through, through, through talking about the flaws of the church. You can find negative voices really quick. You can find people that are going to doubt your promises really quick. But, but this preacher still believes in some old timeless truths. One of those truths that I believe to my core is where the scripture says: "If God be for us, then who can be against us?" Caleb and Joshua, they, they were the two spies that said: "We, we've got this. We can go into the land. We can — we can claim what God has promised us." They, they realized that God was giving it to them, and that God was for them. Yeah, there's Amalekites there, but there's a God. Yeah, there's Canaanites in the land, but there's a God. Yes, there are giants that live there, but there is a God. They believe: greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. I'm not trying to make light of your problems today, but I am saying today that your promises from your God are greater than your problems.

I'm wondering today, who am I preaching to? Who am I reaching for today? Who, who has given up on their God-given promises? Who in this room has said those promises, they, they won't come to reality like I once thought they would say in this room? If God said your family was going to live for God, then you need to remember that promise from God. If the Lord told you they're going to be baptized in Jesus' name, you need to remember that promise. If, if the Lord so told you that the prodigal was coming home, you need to remember that word. If, if he's already told you that your children are going to walk in faith, then it is not time to throw in the towel and give up on what God is saying. We need to get our eyes off the Canaanites. We need to get our eyes off the giants. We need to get our eyes and our ears on the Lord.

I, I know folks in this room, you've been waiting for, for decades for your promise. I want you to know today, it encourages me that you're still here. I want you to know it encourages me to still see you worshipping, and still believing that your, your miracle, your healing, your answer is coming right now. I, I — it inspires me. It, it motivate me. It, it at times convicts me, if I'm just being honest, when I see the faith that's in this room. I know people — you, you've been waiting a long time, and, but yet you're still going. You're still pursuing. You're still believing. I've heard people before make comments about people like you. And they'll say: "I, I don't know why they're worshiping anymore. I don't know why they're praising anymore. I don't know why they're believing anymore. If, if I was them, I would have already given up." Yet those people are the ones that, that read in Psalm 150: "Let, let everything that have breath praise the Lord." Well, why am I still praise the Lord? Because I was commanded to praise the Lord. You know, the scripture doesn't say everybody that has good things coming their way, you praise the Lord. It doesn't say everyone that's received a good promise lately, you praise the Lord. The Bible just says, everything that have breath, praise the Lord. That, that tells me if I'm having a good day, a bad day, a lousy day, the worst day, I'm still commanded to worship and praise the Lord.

But I'll also tell you this: when you start living that lifestyle — that I'm going to worship God no matter what, Bishop — that's when people start doing the crazy praise. That's when people start worshiping when everybody else is saying: "They have no reason to worship. There's no — there's no reason to praise." But I'll, I'll say this, and I hope this is okay, Bishop: this is what I've learned about crazy praise. People who are crazy praisers don't think their praise is crazy. They don't think their praise is crazy. They think their praise is prophetic. They believe their praise is because something is coming their way.

They believe, they believe, they believe their healing is coming. They believe it. It's not crazy praise. It's prophetic praise. It's because it's still on its way. In Habakkuk chapter 3, the verse 16, it says: "When I heard — heard the report, heard the news — my body trembled, my, my lips quivered at the voice. Rotness entered my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble." It doesn't look good, but in verse 17 it goes on to say: "The fig tree, it hasn't even blossomed yet. The — there's no fruit on the vines. The, the labor of the olive, it's, it's probably going to fail, and in the fields they, they yield no food." But in verse 18 it says: "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength." He said: "Yet. Yet. Yet." And I don't think this was necessarily a despite. I think this was saying, something is coming my way. Yet I anticipate. Yet I wait. Yet I long, and for the day that my promise is going to come. What are you praising for yet, right now? It's on its way. It, it's coming. Your — that promise, in Jesus' name. That promise is not a lie. That promise is not a false hope. I don't know who I'm speaking to, but some of you right now, you need a — you need to make up in your mind you're going to believe in the promise. You're going to believe in what God has said over your life.

Some of you, you don't have 40 years to wander in the wilderness. Some of you, you don't have the time to waste in your ministry anymore. I believe this in the Holy Ghost right now. I believe there are people in this room, you've allowed your calling, you've allowed your purpose, you've allowed what God has equipped you to do to lie dormant for too long. It's not time to keep wandering. It's time to answer the call of God, that it's over. I believe I'm speaking this in the Holy Ghost right now. You may be the only person that knows what you're called to do, but that's not a good enough reason to ignore it or to push it away. It's time to answer what God is calling you to do. Today is the day that excuses need to stop. Today is the day that you stop making excuses and saying stuff like: "Well, there's Canaanites in the land." Or, "There's giant —" Of course there's giants in the land. Of course there's Canaanites. If there were no giants, if there were no problems, then you wouldn't need God to give it to you. I need, I need you to hear this today: if there was never going to be a fight, then you would not need God to give it to you. But the very fact that there is a problem in your promise tells me it's come from God. And God can see that promise through. Don't buy the lie today. Don't buy the lie. Don't say: "Well, there's Canaanites, so I can't." No, Canaanites means you can. And Canaanites means that you should. And Canaanites mean that now is the time.

Somebody in this room right now, your doctor's report has become the Canaanite in your life. Oh. That, that, that doctor's — that diagnosis has derailed you from what God wants in your life. For some of you in this room right now, your father or your mother has become the Canaanite in your life because of their bad decisions. So now you're convinced that you can't be the man or woman of God that God has called you to be. Some of you in this room right now, your Canaanite is called an addiction. And that addiction overwhelms you, and it's convinced you you can't have a different life.

I've come with a clear mandate from God today in this service. And that is to tell us, we cannot be believers of the promise while still listening to the negative voices in our world. At some point, you've got to make a decision: do you believe in the promise, or not? When I was in Sunday school, I remember stories like David and Goliath, Daniel in the lion's den, Noah's ark, the fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These are all people that had to step out in faith. And their faith had to match the promise that God was trying to place in their life. I never one time remember a Sunday school lesson on the adventures of Shammua. Shammua, excuse me. Or the adventures of Shephatiah. I don't remember the tales of Igal, or Palti, or Gaddiel, or Sethur. I'm not going to put my kids to bed tonight reading them the story of Nahbi. Some of you are like, "You just made up those words." Maybe I did. No, I'm joking. That's the list of the guys, the other spies in Numbers 13. We don't talk about those people because those people didn't have the guts to do what God asked them to do. Those, those people had the same promise as Joshua and Caleb. They, they saw the same land as the two spies that gave a good report. But they didn't have the courage. They didn't have the confidence in their God that he would see the promise through. Those 10 people were able to completely negate the promise of God for an entire generation. And they rode off in the sunset. And we don't remember — we don't remember their name. I would dare say the greatest Bible scholars can't name all the 10 spies that did not pursue the promise of God for the promised land. Cuz they didn't have the guts. They didn't have the courage. They saw all the negativity. They saw all the promises.

Today, what are you compromising on? What are you allowing the negative voices in this world to tell you it's not for you? You know, one thing a long time ago — I remember hearing in church, not in my church, but just church as a whole — is that in order to reach people, you had to compromise truth. I heard it in my whole life, that, that in order to, to reach an entire city, you've got to make the gospel more broad, and you've got to be able to make it a more elastic, or, or whatever the word might be. That, that may be a made-up word right there. I remember people saying that our doctrine, that our — that our standards are too hard for the world. So we need to water them down. That's a negative voice. And I've got bad news for them: we are one God people. We are apostolic. We believe in repentance. We believe a person ought to be born of water and the Spirit. We believe in baptizing Jesus' name. We believe people still receive the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. We still believe in miracles. We still believe in signs and wonders. We still believe in holiness and lifestyle disciplines. We still believe a man should be a man, and a woman should be a woman, and a boy should be a boy, and a girl should be a girl. Some people will say that's too fanatical. Some people will say that's too far. Some people will say that's not how you reach a city. I'll tell you this: it would be a shame to reach the city with something that can't save them. It would be a shame to reach a generation with something that will not save their soul. If somebody's drowning, you don't just get close to them. You take them the thing that can save their life. It's the truth that will set somebody free. It is the apostolic truth that will set a sinner's life free.

We don't hear of Shemuel. We hear of Joshua, because Joshua had courage. He had courage. He had problems, but he had courage. He had difficulties, but he had a divine destination. In this room right now, every single person that's here, God has placed promises over your life. You need to hear again what God is trying to speak into existence. And stop with the excuses. Stop with the excuses. I'm coming to a close. The musicians can make their way back.

What is it today that God is speaking over your life? What is it that the Holy Ghost has been provoking you to do? For the young people in this room, maybe it's to the, the Plan of P7 Club. But, but for the, the adults in the room, maybe it's to teach that first Bible study this year. You know, it's, it's halftime right now. It's, it's the midway point of the year. What — whatever you've been asked of God to do in '23, it's not too late. You still got time. It's time to get some courage to do what it is God has asked for you to do.

It was 1519 when Cortez took his men to fight against the Aztecs. Nearly 600 years the Aztecs stood undefeated. No one was able to surpass them. No one was able to overcome them. No one was able to advance beyond them. Cortez and his renegade army, who was undersized, didn't match up against the Aztecs, pulled their ships up to the sandy shores of that Aztec territory. As they were preparing for battle, Cortez heard rumors in the ranks that there were men who were not going to fight. Their mindset was, as soon as the fight started taking place, they were going to go back to the ships in which they sailed on to get to the Aztec territory, and they were going to return home. So Cortez, with maybe a little crazy in his voice, a little crazy in his stare, he, he makes it clear: "If we're going to leave this place, it's not going to be on our ships. It's going to be on the ships of the Aztecs." And so, he, he changes the American landscape forever when he makes the radical command: "Burn the ships. Burn the ships." And when he says this, every soldier there that had ever dreamed of seeing their family again, of seeing their kids again, of seeing their, their home again, understood that in order to win, in order to see those things again, they were going to have to fight.

Cortez said: "There is no option B. There is only one option, and that is we are going to fight this battle." The word of the Lord for somebody today is, it's time to remove every excuse and negative voice that's holding you back. It's time to stop compromising on the call of God that's in your life. I feel the Holy Ghost is leaning on somebody today to tell them: it's time to burn the ships. It's time to give up your other options. And it's time to pursue, with all of your heart and mind, the things God has called you to do. In this room right now, there are generational curses that God has promised some of you you can break, if you start getting real in your relationship with God. I don't say that lightly today. I, I was praying about that this morning. That's a word directly for somebody in this room. You can break a generational curse. But you got to get real and burn the ships.

There are some in this room, you have been called to, to plant churches, to serve on the missions field. And you look at all the reasons why you shouldn't, all the practical reasons why it doesn't make sense for you. You, you see the route that you're on — it's easy, with little resistance. But I've come to tell you, you can't compromise on what God has called you to do. It's time to burn the ships and to pursue that ministry. Are there going to be giants? Yeah. Are there going to be Canaanites? Yeah. Are, are you going to have to face some problems head-on? Absolutely. Are your promises going to require for you to do some things that you've never done, to get something from God that you've never had? Yes. For some of you, it's time to get off social media for good, because it's a negative voice that's draining you from the promises of God. For some of you, it's your Netflix account. It's time to delete it. It's time to stop paying $15 so that you don't ever fulfill the call of God on your life. For some of you, it's a relationship where all you get is negativity. It's, it's to end the relationship and pursue what God has called you to do. Is there going to be a Jericho? Are there going to be walls? Yes. But the land is yours. The land is — the miracle is yours. God has given it to you. It's going to take you fighting, but it's for you. It's for you.

Stand to our feet today. With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to pray for us right now. God, I pray right now that you would free your people in this room. There's a fight ahead of us. There's a revival ahead of us that's going to take us sacrificing like we have never sacrificed before. There are Jericho walls that look overwhelming, but God, you have promised us that if we are faithful to you, you will be faithful to tear down the walls. God, there are promises in this room that you're longing for your people to stand on and to be encouraged by. But God, it's time for us to burn the ships of negativity, to burn the boats of popularity, and to pursue the call of God with all of our might and strength. God, I pray right now, Lord, that there would be people in this room that would be sensitive to what it is you've purposed for them to do. Don't lay — let them leave this place afraid, but let them leave this place anointed. Don't let them leave this place embarrassed, but God, let them leave this place encouraged through your Spirit, and ready to answer the call that's on their life. I pray all these things in Jesus' name.

Church, the altar's open, and it's prayer time right now. I encourage everybody, come up here with a determination that you're going to pursue the promises of God, that you're going to be a people that say: promises over problems. Promises over my problems. Promises over what other people say. I'm going to stand firm on the promises of God. Come on right now, begin to lift up your voice. Lift up your hands in this place, and let's make a connection with God right now, and begin to speak and cling to the promises of God.