Welcome to Turning Point, where we wish you a blessed and joyous new year. If you use this time of year to examine and improve your life, Dr. David Jeremiah wants to know, in your faith why, are you trying to win or merely trying not to lose? One is driven by faith and the other by fear. But to lay the groundwork for the new year with a special message, here's David to introduce Trying Not to Lose.
Well, thank you for joining us on the first day of 2026. As you think about the year ahead of you, what are your thoughts? Are you thinking, you know, this year I'm just going to try to hold serve and not do anything wrong, stay out of trouble and hopefully end up at the end of this year in the same place where I am now. Most of you are not going to think that way, because you do not live your life trying not to lose, you live your life trying to win. And from the world of sports, there are many illustrations and from the life of Caleb.
We're going to talk about that right now. I'm glad you joined us, and welcome to the new year. Happy New Year, everybody. Our resource for the new year is a book we have just produced called What God Promises You: Seven Truths That Will Change the Way You Live. It's a 208-page hardcover gift book that answers questions about the Christian walk and God's promises for the future.
It's beautifully designed, but it's wonderfully presented because it's the Bible and it's in practical format, so you can use it. We often ask these questions: what does the Bible say? What does it mean? What does it mean to me?
Well, this book will help you understand what the Bible means to you, and you can have your copy for a gift of any size to Turning Point during the month of January.
So, when you send your gift, please ask for your copy of what God promises you, and you will be blessed by the content and encouraged and hopefully changed as you face 26. Thank you for your generosity and for supporting us as we enter into this new year of opportunity. We are so excited about all that God is doing. I want to take just a moment to welcome our friends from Canada who listened so faithfully to this ministry. I've been trying to remind you all that when you support Turning Point in Canada, you support.
Canadian Turning Point because we have an office there, and your money stays in Canada to pay for the airtime of the Canadian stations and all of the production that goes on on that side of the border. We love the people of Canada because they have a unique sense of love for the Word of God. I've always sensed that when I've been with them, and we're grateful to have you here. And from all of us on this side to all of you on that side, let's do this together this year as we reach out with the gospel. Here's part one of Trying Not to Lose.
As most of you know, I grew up in Ohio. in a rural area called Cedarville. located between Dayton and Columbus. When I moved there, I was in the seventh grade. And I was really excited about the game of football.
I had started to play some of the early stages of football that you can play in grade school, and I was looking forward to moving into junior high and high school. When we moved to Cedarville, that dream ended because Cedarville was so small they didn't have a football team. And so I had no other choice than to become a basketball player. And become a player, I did. I don't know how good I was, but I know that nobody practiced more than I did.
You see, I had the keys to the gym because my father was the president of the college there. And I used to play in that gym over and over again just by myself when nobody was around. And I ended up being able to play four years of varsity basketball in high school, and I got a scholarship to play basketball in college, and played four years of college basketball. But if you are anywhere close to where I am in life, you know that basketball back then was different than it is now. First of all, there was no three-point line, which Really disappoints me as I think about it because that's where I shot from most of the time.
And the other thing that was missing back then was the shot clock. If you know the game today, you know that in high school you have to shoot the ball within 35 seconds or it goes over to the other team. We didn't have that. And you remember what basketball was like. before we had the 35 second clock.
If you played the game during that era, you know that often when you were ahead of a team in the third quarter. you would have a timeout and your coach would tell you to slow the game down. And if you were ahead eight to ten points in the fourth quarter, We would be told to pull the ball out. That meant go to a four-corner offense and just pass the ball around and don't try to score. It was like keepaway from the other team.
We didn't try to score, but since we had the ball, the other team couldn't score either. I hated it when we did that. Because that meant I couldn't shoot. And truth be told, it wasn't always very successful. When we pulled the ball out and stopped trying to score, we often made mistakes and let the other team back into the game.
As I remember it, we lost a lot of the games when we tried not to lose. instead of trying to win. The basketball fathers saw it that way as well. They changed the rules to eliminate that strategy. Can't do that anymore.
You see, nobody wants to pay good money to watch a team try not to lose. What we do in sports We sometimes Do in life. And I want to go on record by saying that I don't think God created us to live our lives trying not to lose. He created us to win and to live our lives each day with that as our goal. You see, when we're trying not to lose, We're living out of fear.
When we're trying to win, we're living out of faith. And you know what the Bible says? The Bible says that without faith, it is impossible to please God. I want to encourage you to live by trying to win and not by trying not to lose. There are many individuals in the Bible whose lives model this principle.
But my favorite of all is a man by the name of Caleb. There's only 30 verses in the Bible about Caleb, but those 30 verses leave us a legacy that is so powerful that it literally will change our lives. Caleb, as you know, is the less celebrated friend of Joshua. And if you know the Old Testament, you remember that Caleb and Joshua were among 12 spies that were sent. from Kadish Barnea into the land of Canaan to find out what was going on in there.
They were to go in and spy out the land and bring the report back to The people of Israel. When Caleb and Joshua went into the land, they saw it through positive eyes and they believed that they were ready to seize their inheritance. But unfortunately, the other scouts, the majority party, the ten, They came back and they counseled the Israelites to fear the giants in that land. To keep away from that land. You see, they were afraid of losing.
They wanted to try not to lose. And the way they thought about it was: if we don't go into that land, we won't lose. Of course, we won't win either, but at least we won't lose. They came back with a negative report. Here is their report recorded in the book of Numbers.
And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out. Saying, the land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak. And we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we were that way in their sight as well.
Well, the people of Israel heard that report and they decided to believe the trying not to lose majority. And the lack of faith cost them an entire generation of restless wandering. Before they were allowed to go back into the land that God had already promised to them. I know you're familiar with that part of the story concerning Caleb, just the mention that he and Joshua were the two positive spies. But I wonder if you know the rest of the story.
Joshua and Caleb have now lived through that 40-year hiatus and they're ready to settle the land. Joshua is very old. He's finishing up the process of parceling out the land of Canaan. To the various tribes of Israel. And Caleb, we are told, is 85 years old.
and he's approaching Joshua to ask for his own inheritance.
Now let me stop for a moment and explain that what was going on here was this. Almighty God was going to divide up the land of Canaan between the twelve tribes of Israel, and each of them had a responsibility to settle a portion of land that was assigned to them. Their instructions were very clear. Almighty God wanted them to go in and settle their land and drive the inhabitants who were living there out. We often read that and wonder why God would do such a thing.
It's very clear as you study the history of that particular time that the Canaanites were vile, evil, wicked people. If you were to class all the inhabitants of the earth who have lived from creation until now, they would be in the top 10 of the worst people who ever walked on this earth. They were wicked, cruel, ungodly people. And Almighty God knew that if He left those inhabitants in the land, Brought his nation of the Jews into that land that they would corrupt the nation, that they would be compromised in their walk with God. And so his instruction was in these early stages of the nation of Israel: you have to drive the inhabitants out.
That was their instruction.
Now Caleb is one of the men who is to Take A portion of the land of Canaan and develop it. And he comes before Joshua with a specific request. And if you have your Bibles open to Joshua 14, this begins in verse 6. And the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb, the son of Jephunah, the Kenizzite, said to Joshua, You know the word of the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, concerning you and me in Kadish Barnea. I was 40 years old then, he said, when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadish Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart.
Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God.
So Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. After 45 years of wandering in the wilderness, The promise of God was still the obsession of Caleb. It was in his heart, and he was not going to forget what Moses had said all those years before. He was ready to go into Canaan. He was ready to take his possession.
He was ready to settle his land. The bottom line is Caleb was a different sort of person. He obviously was uniquely different from at least ten of the other spies. And the question that you have to ask as you read a story like this is: what made him different? Why was he So uniquely poised to take the challenge of the land and the other ten.
We were afraid. Why was he willing to try to win and the other ten? only wanted to try not to lose. And we don't have to wonder about the answer to that question because it is given to us in the story of Caleb. In fact, let me give you an interesting bit of information about this story.
As I mentioned, Caleb is in the Bible, and his whole life is recorded in 30 verses. That's not many verses. But in those thirty verses, six times Almighty God gives us the secret of his life.
Now, I don't know if you know much about how the Bible is put together, but let me tell you something. If God says something twice, you sit up and take notice. If He repeats it two or three times, you know this is really, really important. If God says it six times, shut down everything you're doing, get a piece of paper and write it down. You don't want to forget this.
And God is going to tell us why Caleb was able to be the winner that he was. He was first of all enthusiastic about life. That's the first reason. Notice verses 10 and 11. This is how Caleb described himself.
Oh, I love this passage, at 85 years of age. And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as he said, these 45 years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness. And now here I am this day, 85 years old, and yet I am as strong this day as I was on the day that Moses sent me. Just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. I'll let that settle in for just a moment.
This guy is 85 years old, and he says he is as strong and filled with vigor as he was when he was 40. It was clear that he had as much passion as he had. And the question is, where did it come from? It certainly wasn't the product of an easy life. Because as you read through the story, you understand that Caleb's life at the age of 85 could be summarized with three D's: the desert, death, and discouragement.
All of his contemporaries were dying. You see, Almighty God said that the whole generation had to die off because they didn't believe God. And God says, if you don't believe I can give you the land, you'll never see it. He sent them into the wilderness, and they had to wander around out there for 40 years while all of them died off. But Caleb and Joshua weren't a part of that curse.
They were going to be given the land, but they had to wait until the whole generation died. Caleb grew older. And he waded through the decades, checking the obituaries every day. seeing the last of his old friends die off. Our text tells us only two things about how he got through that time.
In verse 10, Caleb says, God kept him alive. God kept him alive. That's a pretty good insight. But there are also verses that remind us that Caleb understood the benefit If I could put it in these words, of staying in shape. Maybe you wonder why you do this.
Let me just remind you: there is something in the Word of God about the sanctity of the human body. Caleb was a man of great vigor and strength, and you might think that terribly important, but let me remind you that the only things you're ever going to achieve great things for God, you're going to have to do it in your body. The only ministry you'll ever have on this earth, you will have in your body. Oh, I know you can pray, and in a way, that ministers outside the body, but you can't pray without a body. You can't preach without a body.
You can't teach without a body. You can't minister without a body. Your ministry will take place through your body, so you better take care of it. And when you wear out this body, you don't get another one on this earth. You have to wait all the way to the Resurrection and get a new one on the way up.
I know you can't stop the aging process. That's one of the frustrating things about life. You get older, your body begins to deteriorate.
Somehow Caleb was able to maintain a physical vigor even during a long journey in the wilderness. A generation of funerals, four decades in the heat and sand of the wilderness, would make the best of us gloomy and morose. But not Caleb. The verses tell us that his energies were still revving, the fire in the furnace of his soul was still lit. He was enthusiastic about life.
Now, I don't know if it's true everywhere, but it seems to me that in our world today, along with age, comes discouragement about life. That's certainly understood. There's a lot more challenges, as you know. I read someplace that after you're 45 years of age, it takes twice as much exercise to maintain the same amount of fitness. That would discourage the average person.
Just say, forget it. Amen? Who needs that? All of these things come at us, but Caleb didn't let them. take control of his life.
He allowed his life to continue, and he was enthusiastic about life. He had a passion for life. Secondly, I notice as I read this story that Caleb was excited about the future. No one questioned Caleb's pulse. Forty years earlier, he had done some incredible reconnaissance work where others saw opposition, he saw opportunity.
He based his recommendations as he went through the land of Canaan to bring back his report, not on the problems that he saw, but on the provision of God that he knew was available. In fact, let me just read you his speech. I read you the speech of the negative naysayers trying not to lose much. Let me read you Caleb's speech. The speech of just one of two who came back with a positive report.
It's found in the book of Numbers in the 13th and 14th chapters. Here's what it says: Then Caleb. quieted the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once And take possession, for we are well able to overcome it. And they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly. Good land.
If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. How different that was from the speech of the other guys who came back and said, it's full of giants, we're dead meat, we can't do this. I've always thought it interesting in the story of Katie Sparnilla. that the two reports can be explained on the basis of perspective. And the perspective goes like this.
The ten who went in and felt defeated after they saw the giants were comparing themselves. to the enemy. Remember what they said, we are like grasshoppers to them. Joshua and Caleb went in, they saw the same enemies, but they compared the enemies. to God.
The ten who came back with the evil report were probably right when they made the statement: we are not able to overcome them. But the problem was, they didn't have God in their picture. Joshua and Caleb came back and said, Yeah, the enemies are great. But we believe God will help us and we can win. The ten were trying not to lose.
Joshua and Caleb. We're trying to win. And if only the people had listened to the voice of faith instead of to the voice of fear. In taking counsel, they doom themselves to a generation of emptiness and wandering. And we do the same thing when we listen to the wrong internal voices in our lives.
Caleb waited out the time through the punishment. That wasn't his to endure. because he had not done anything to endure it, but he had to suffer along with the rest of the nation. He kept his heart young and his faith active. And now, at 85 years old, he told God what he wanted to do.
Joshua 14, 12, listen to these words.
Now therefore he said, Give me this mountain, Hebron. Of which the Lord spoke in that day. For you heard in that day how the Anakim were there. And that the cities were great and fortified, it may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said.
Now, remember, the tribes are being assigned to the different parts of the land. And each of them has to do a certain thing and Caleb comes up, he doesn't wait for his assignment, he volunteers. He comes before Joshua to request his portion of the land, and he asks for an area that was known as Hebron.
Now, let me explain to you why I think Caleb asked for that portion of land. You have to use a little bit of imagination with this, but hang with me. when he was marching through that land earlier with the spies. He saw Hebron and he maybe asked some questions, and it was pointed out to him that Hebron was a sacred place. In Canaan.
Do you know who was buried in Hebron? Sarah was buried there. And Abraham was buried there.
So were Isaac and Joseph and Rebekah. Hebron was the only sacred burial place in all of Canaan. And when Caleb found that out, it stuck in his heart. And when it got time for him to ask for the place he wanted to settle, He wanted to go to Hebron. And you know why that's interesting?
It's interesting because Caleb was not even a full-fledged Jew. Read again the record as we read it already, and you'll discover that his father was a man by the name of Jephuna. And his father, Jephuna, was a Kennizzite. If you've read the Old Testament, you remember that the tribes that were driven out of the land of Canaan were the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Girgashites, and the Kennizzites. And somebody added the Termites, but they don't belong in there.
Listen to me, Caleb. Came from Jephunah, his father, and his father was a Kenizzite, and the Kenizzites were inhabitants of the land of Canaan, where they were going in to drive them out. And you say, well, how in the world did Caleb ever get hooked up with Israel? I don't know the answer to that question, but somehow when the Jews were in Egypt, or maybe right after they came out of Egypt, Caleb became a part of their community, and Caleb, this. Kenazite.
Has now so fallen in love with the people of Israel that he asks. that he be allowed to settle the sacred burial place in Canaan. known as Hebron. The Bible also tells us, as we have read, that in Hebron, There were many who were called the Anachim. And I don't want to get into a lot of detail about that, but the Anakim were the sons of Anak, and I'm sure that helps you a lot.
The Bible tells us that they were giants. They were kind of superhuman individuals. bigger, stronger. More valiant. frightening to be exact.
And that's the reason why, when the spies went into the land and they saw the Anakim, they said, in comparison to them, we're just like grasshoppers. The Enochim apparently were Consolidated In Hebron.
So it's not amusing, but it is interesting that up to this point, nobody had volunteered for that mountain. It was still available when Caleb came. It was still on the list of to be developed. And Caleb walked up and he said, I want Hebron. And if God will help me, I'll go there.
and we'll take those giants out and we'll claim the land of God. You know, he was exactly the age that I am right now. And when I read about him, I am so motivated. It sounds like. He's just getting started out following the Lord, and he's got great vision for the future, and he wants to do great things for God, and he's not willing to sit on his victories.
He's leading the pack when everyone else Wouldn't touch Mount Hebron. Caleb walked up and said, Give me that mountain. And we're going to see what happened tomorrow as we continue our discussion of trying not to lose. Say, friends, don't forget to get your copy of what God promises you. Be one of the first ones to ask for your copy of this book, which is the resource for the month of January.
It's a beautiful book and it will help you. Reprocess some of the things you deal with in your life. It will remind you of the wonderful promises that God has made to you. And here's the good news: He keeps His promises. You'll find that out as you read this book, and it's yours for a gift of any size during this month.
Thank you for your best gift as we serve the Lord together. Have a great day. Yeah. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's special New Year's message, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly Turning Points magazine and our daily email devotional.
Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio. Or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's new book, What God Promises You: Seven Truths That Will Change the Way You Live. It's yours for a gift of any amount.
You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard New International and New King James Versions, available in your choice of attractive and durable cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website davidjeremiah.org/slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we conclude our special New Year's message on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
