Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham.
Sometimes we don't want to fight the giants, and we need some Caleb's and Mrs. Caleb's who will be willing to say, "God, give me that mountain, show me those giants." That's the attitude of a Caleb. On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about learning to trust in the faithfulness of God.
Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message, simplified. As time moves on with each new day, it's a good time for us to consider where we are in life, and you know, in the seasons and reasons of life, some of us. Are getting a little older now, and we have a a wonderful example of how we can age well in Caleb, who. And you can begin finding Joshua chapter fourteen.
I am calling this message "Simplify." It's the Marine motto. It means faithful always, or always faithful. And this is the story of Joshua, and it's the story of our man Caleb. There are burdens to bear and there are battles to fight in the land of promise, but He has given us victory. He's always causing us to triumph in Jesus Christ, and therefore, this is a time of hope for all of us.
Belief and trust, no matter what season of life you are in, the rest of your life can be and should be the best of your life. And that's more than a pious platitude or a Christian cliche that doesn't work. It is a biblical principle, and it is a fact of life. The people who live the longest and live the best are people who live with courageous, confident optimism and faith. We find this part of the story in verse six, beginning in verse six, Joshua fourteen.
Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, said to him, "You know what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, in Kadesh Barnea concerning you and me.
Now remember, Joshua and Caleb had been fast friends for many years. They started out as slaves in Egypt, and led out of captivity by Moses. They went with the children of God, and spent forty years in the desert together." They've now crossed the Jordan and defeated Jericho together. They've fought many other battles, and now it's time to divide the land and the inheritance of all the leaders of Israel.
So he was reminding Joshua what Moses said to him earlier. He said in verse seven, "I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again." As it was in my heart, and my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt. Yet I, wholly, followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, "Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever." We're always looking forward. We're always leaning forward forever.
For our children, for our family, for our lives, for our legacies, because you have wholly followed. There it is again, the Lord, my God. And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as He said these forty-five years.
So added up, how old is He? Eighty-five.
So now he's 85 years old. Since the time the Lord spoke to this word to Moses, and while Israel walked in the wilderness, and now, behold, I am this 85 years old, and I am still as strong today as I was in the day as Moses sent me. My strength now is as my strength was then for war and for going and coming.
So now. Give me this hill country or this mountainous range of which the Lord spoke of that day. For you heard on that day how the Anakim were there with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out, just as the Lord said. Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Canaan the son of Jephunneh, and for an inheritance.
And therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this very day. Wow, what a story! I want us to learn the lessons of the Simperfi, always faithful. See first the vision of this man Caleb. Because his vision should be our vision.
Do you have a vision and a mission for your life?
Now it seems for some, the older they get, the easier it is to want to settle, to stay the same. But this is never God's plan for His children. The way of the Lord. Is always forward, always onward and upward, knowing Him more and more, serving Him better and better. Letting go of the past, whether it is the victories or the disappointments, and leaning into a future that is filled with hope and joy.
This is the law of Christian living: never living backwards, but always living forward. Doing the will of God today and every day until Jesus comes. And the goal of the Christian should be the life of Caleb. Which is to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus. Jesus gave His life for us on the cross.
He died and He rose again, not so that we could sit on a pew and watch the world go by, but rather that we could serve Him all the days of our lives, and that we are pressing onward. That's the life of the Christian. Like this man, who at eighty-five years of age, is serving the Lord fully and completely. Six times, both in Joshua and the Book of Numbers, it says of Caleb that he was wholehearted, all in. We ought to be able to say, Lord, you have my life, every part of it, all the heart of it.
You have it all. That's the Christian life—to surrender ourselves and give ourselves completely to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's time to get your life out of neutral, if it is, and start driving forward in the power of God. That you would be a faithful follower of Jesus. For the sake of your life and the sake of your legacy, this is, in the case of Caleb, about his family and about the future of his family.
And what is true for Caleb is true for you. Your faith today sets in motion the fate of your family in the days ahead. Caleb did this, and so can you. And I am calling us today, every one of us. Those of you watching online, watching on PowerPoint, television, or listening, I am calling every one of us today to begin giving one thousand percent to the cause of Christ, to the work of His church and His kingdom.
God deserves everything, everything that we have. He said, "You belong to me, and so, Lord, we give our lives to you." We have way, way too many half-hearted Christians. May God give you a holy ambition. What is the holy ambition of your life? What is the dream?
God gave Caleb a dream. It came from God Himself. He didn't dream it up. The dream came from God. Delight yourself in the Lord, the psalmist said, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
So, what desires has God placed in your heart as you have sought Him? This came from God's word, and the word of God came to him, built his faith, and said, "I'm going to give you the mountain." I'm going to give you the most luscious part of the land of promise. It's called Hebron, and it's a land flowing with milk and honey and fruitfulness. And God gave this man a promise, just as He's given us promise, and that promise is to live a life of fullness and blessing. Do you have that desire in your heart?
Are we fully following the Lord? Or would you have to say, not always? I am challenging you, as I challenge myself, like Caleb, to wholly follow the Lord wholeheartedly. This desire, you see, this came from the Lord, which brings me to the second point, which is the vitality of this man. the The vitality, he said, the Lord has kept me alive.
All these years, why are you alive today? Because God kept you alive, and as long as there is breath in our bodies, as long as God keeps us alive, we will have vitality and strength to serve the Lord. He's eighty-five years old. And he's still claiming mountains. He's still fighting battles.
And I'm praying we somehow get this into our hearts because what happened to this man is it was supernatural. I mean, he was in great shape. When I when I think about Caleb, I mean, just picture old Caleb in your mind, perhaps. And I see him as a grizzly old veteran, white hair, white beard. Gnarly muscles, but what I really see is a great heart, a big heart for God.
That's what kept him alive. What keeps us alive is God's purpose in our lives. And how many times have you heard me say, "If you are not dead, you are not done." And God has a plan and a purpose for your life. You were made on purpose for a purpose. And the vitality of our lives; those that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like on eagles' wings and run and not be weary, walk and not faint. Paul said, though the outward man is decaying, the inner person. Is being renewed every single day.
So what happened to Caleb can happen to you, no matter what age you may be. You can be renewed spiritually and supernaturally. And Caleb persevered. Watch this through the years, through discouragement and defeat. He spent forty years of his life wandering in the wilderness with a bunch of losers who refused to obey God.
And take the land when God had promised them and given it to them, but Caleb was faithful and Caleb was fearless, and he never let go of his dream, no matter what others were doing, no matter the distractions and the diversions of others, through all the defeats and disappointments. Can you imagine how he waited and waited and waited and waited for the promise of God? But at some point in his life, probably back there at Kadesh Barnea, he said, "Lord, I'm going all the way with you. I'm going to be faithful to you. I'm going to be true to you, and I will fulfill my purpose in life that you have given me.
Semper Fi, always faithful." You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, Simplify. Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion? It's a study of God's Word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life. To sign up, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine and begin receiving Dr.
Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine. Every day, people around the world are hearing the truth of Jesus Christ through PowerPoints, broadcast, podcast, television ministry, and digital outreach. Often during some of the most difficult moments of their lives, and friends like you help make that ministry possible. That's why this month we want to say thank you for your gift of ten dollars or more by sending you Dr.
Jack Graham's book, Destiny. In this encouraging resource, Dr. Graham walks through the life of Joseph to. Show how God is always working, even through painful and confusing circumstances, to accomplish His greater purpose. To give your gift and request your copy, text OCT O C T to five nine seven eight nine.
That's OCT O C T, as in October, to five nine seven eight nine.
Now let's get back to today's message. Semper Fi. Too many Christians are not always faithful. They're fretful and fearful. I want you to live in the fullness of God's promises for your life.
My heart's desire as your pastor is that you would dream again, that that you would do again what God has called and commissioned you to do. Don't settle. But say, God, give me the mountain that is right in front of me, wholeheartedly captured by the one big idea, the great dream or dreams that God puts in your life. Keep it. Don't let it.
And some people are buried at eighty, but they died at forty. And so, don't let you yourself. Don't let your dreams divide. You know. Weak men are often and women are often divided and distracted because they're uncommitted to anything, just here and there, and never really settled and focused on what God is calling.
Caleb got up every day and said, "I will follow the Lord fully." And we need people today with this kind of vitality. This is not a time to be tired. If you're tired, take a nap and then get up and go again. Unfortunately, in churches today, we've got a lot of nice people who are willing to go along to get along. They want to take a stand.
They want to live for Jesus. They want to be bold and vital in their faith, but. They worry way too much about what others think. Caleb didn't care what the other ten spies thought. He was going God's way, which brings me to my third point, which was this man's valor, his valor, Caleb the courageous.
He was strong and valorous. I like that word. And we are always faithful. When we are courageously committed, faithfulness creates fearlessness in our lives. It is commitment that builds confidence.
Your vision is valiant and vigorous, and we overcome the obstacles that are in front of us. What was in the way of Caleb? Mountainous territory. And giants that lived in the land, they were called the Anakim, and they were the same giants that he had seen many years earlier, forty years earlier. They were still there, and standing between Caleb and the promise that God gave him was not only the discouragement of all these grasshopper that died in the desert.
He said, "We're like grasshoppers compared to those giants." But Caleb never let anything stop him. You know why so many people fail in life and never achieve God's blessings in their lives? Because they've got a grasshopper complex, or they're fearful of the giants in front of them. But look in chapter fourteen, verses eight and nine. My brothers, who went up with me, made the heart of the people melt.
Yet I wholly follow the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, "Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord, your God." And then he said, "These giants will be like bread to you. Why? Because I've given you this victory." God is saying, "Your enemies will be nothing to you." The Bible says, "No weapon formed against you will prosper." Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.
Sometimes we don't want to fight the giants, and we need some Caleb's and Mrs. Caleb's. Who will be willing to say, "God, give me that mountain, show me those giants"? That's the attitude of a Caleb, a man or a woman of God who fully follows the Lord. We are not overcome.
Remember this: our destiny, our future, our opportunities hangs on the hinges of opposition.
So. You need to start seeing things from God's perspective. You know the key to this man's life. I think is six, maybe seven times it says in here. And the Lord said, the Lord said, the Lord said, the Lord said, the Lord said.
God gave him His word. God gave him His promise. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And we need to be like this man, Simprai, who said, "God promised me a mountain. God gave me a victory already, and I'm going to go and take it." He kept on keeping on.
And so, what was his victory? The last point. What was his victory? It was a place called Hebron. Hebron.
Hebron was holy ground. For the Hebrews, it was the only piece of property that Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, ever owned in the land of promise. He was visited by angels there. He buried his wife there. He bought this property.
Abraham did so that he could bury his wife Sarah in the land of promise. Abraham himself. Buried there, Isaac, the next patriarch, the son, the promised one, and Rebecca and Jacob and Leah, all buried at Hebron. But it was occupied in Caleb's day by godless people.
So Caleb, knowing how sacred that site was. Prayed for Hebron, he said, God gave me this plot of ground.
So, quick aside: when you pray, pray bold prayers, pray big prayers. He prayed for a tough one. It was a land flowing with milk and honey, but there were big giants there. But he was climbing higher, and he had a holy call to choose beyond what the normal person might have chosen. He could have been looking for a lakeside home, a quiet place.
You know, sometimes older people like it really quiet. God, just give me someplace quiet. Just give me someplace where there are no struggles, no problems. I've done enough. I put up with these crazy Israelites in the desert all these years.
We've gone through Jordan. We've gone to Jericho. The walls are down. We fought this battle. I'm retiring, but you know retirement is never in the Bible.
And he didn't retire. He said, "No, Lord, give me that mountain. Give me the giants. Let me Adam. Give me Hebron." The word Hebron is of mysterious origin in the Hebrew language, and we don't know exactly what it means.
Which I kind of like that about the word Hebron, but most likely it means face to face with God, fellowship. With God, ask God to show you your Hebron, that place where you will be face to face with Him. Ask God to give you that mountain. What is it? I don't know.
Ask Him, a person to reach. With the gospel of Christ, a neighbor who needs you, a class to teach, a group to lead, a needy family to serve. I'm talking about your dream, your desire, your mission, your mountain. A needy family to serve, a ministry to support. A young person to mentor, a special needs friend to embrace.
There are scores, a baby to save. There are scores and scores of ministries and mountains for every one of us. You know, the most exciting time in a baseball game to me. Is the play rounding third and coming home, going home? All eyes on that runner touching third and sliding safely home.
That's the most exciting time in a ball game. And to me, if you're rounding third in your life today, this is the most exciting time for you. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, Simplify. We want to tell you about an encouraging resource available this month from PowerPoint Ministries. It's Dr.
Jack Graham's book, Destiny. Have you ever wondered if God really has a purpose for your life, or questioned what He might be doing through the seasons of disappointment, waiting, or uncertainty? In Destiny, Dr. Graham explores the life of Joseph to reveal how God's sovereign hand is always at work, even when we can't see it. This powerful resource will help you trust God's plan, find peace in a difficult season, and move forward with confidence and hope.
And when you give a gift of ten dollars or more to help share the biblical truth around the world through PowerPoint, we'll send you Destiny as our thanks. To give your gift and request your copy, text OCT O C T to 59789. That's OCT O C T, as in October, to 59789. Let me remind you that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion.
It's a study of God's word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life. To sign up, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?
I'm a disciple of Jesus. I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit's power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line.
The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His. I won't look back or let up or slow down or back away or be still. My past is redeemed. My present makes sense.
My future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living and sight walking and small planning and smooth knees and colorless dreams and. Tamed visions and mundane talking and cheap giving and dwarf goals. I no longer need preeminence or prosperity or position or promotions, plaudits or popularity. I don't have to be right first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded.
I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer and labor by power. My face is set. My gate is fast. My goal is heaven. My road is narrow.
My way is rough. My companions few. My guide reliable. My mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed.
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice. Hesitate in the presence of the adversity, or negotiate at the table of the enemy. Ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander at the maze of mediocrity. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. Say I am fully following the Lord.
I have the heart of Caleb, and say, God, give me that mountain, and then go take it in the power of Jesus. For there you will experience Hebron. You will be face to face with God. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift of ten dollars or more, we will send you Dr.
Graham's book Destiny as our thanks. Just text OCT to five nine seven eight nine, and join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about choosing to live in the fear of God. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
