Good morning, it is great to have you with us. Welcome to all of our eRoads family, and all of you watching online. My name’s Chad. My wife Dawn and I are the lead pastors here at The Road’s Church, and what an incredible day it is for us, a unique day. We are getting to have church and I am preaching to an empty room, but being able to reach into more rooms than we’ve ever been able to reach into before. Our vision here at the church is to connect people with Jesus from all roads of life. So even if we’re not able to gather together physically this morning, we still want to use every means necessary that we have at our disposal to connect you with Jesus from whatever road of life you’re on. Whatever you’re doing, wherever you find yourself, wherever your life is going right now, we just want to connect you to Jesus because he is the one that will change your life forever, Mt Carmel Church.
He is the hope for the world. So we want to connect you with him. Currently in our situation, we’re facing some incredible things and so I just want to start out before we go into the message, I’m just want to start out in prayer. Father, I just lean into your voice. We do seek your face. Lord, as a nation around the world. We pray, Lord, that you will continue to move in power and a might. We thank you Lord for your forgiveness. We repent and we stand before a nation saying, God, we choose you. Lord, your word says that when the righteous rule, the people rejoice. So we just pray that righteousness will rule in our nation and in our world. So we thank you Lord, that Corona virus is coming into contact with the presence of the living God and the Corona virus is going to go down.
It will be defeated by the blood of Jesus. So we thank you Lord for peace being released. Now, peace released into every screen. Every person watching, every person listening, I pray peace over their life. Shalom, destroying the authority attached to chaos. Thank you Lord for the name of Jesus that is above every name that is named and we release it now. In that precious name we pray. Amen.
We are facing the Most Uncertain Times we have ever seen
When we are facing a situation, a world that I know I’ve never seen before in my lifetime, fear of the unknown is gripping the hearts of people all around the world as they look for answers. You know, people are concerned about their health and the health of their loved ones and people are losing their jobs and the economy is taking a massive hit. Students are out of school and are going to miss great opportunities both athletically and academically.
We’ve got people in situations where businesses are shut down, and churches are shut down. Health care workers are facing challenges like they’ve never seen before. Here’s what I know we are. We’re in the midst of unprecedented times, but I’ve learned this in my life and I want to encourage you at this. Anytime we are facing an unprecedented difficulty in our lives, it only means we are positioned for an unprecedented deliverance. Anytime we are faced with difficulties that we’ve never seen before and challenges that we’ve never seen before. It only means we are set up to experience a deliverance that we’ve never seen before. And I want to encourage you as you’re watching today, that the deliverance is going to out shine the difficulty. Whatever’s happened, the magnitude of what’s going on in your life, the difficulties that are that we are facing, the deliverance from God is going to out shine the difficulties that had come upon the earth in our time, Mt Carmel Church.
So I just want to encourage you, Paul wrote this in Romans chapter 8: for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. I’m expecting the glory of God, the power of God to be on display in this time and this hour and our world around us in ways like it’s never been before, Mt Carmel Church. So I encourage you, be filled with hope today in the midst of confusion and uncertainty. Be filled with hope that although we’ve never seen this before in our lives, we are getting ready to experience something we’ve never seen before as well. In times like this, we have two choices because there’s a question we have to answer when we face any type of adversity in our life. How are we going to respond? Anytime we’re facing any adversity, whether it’s coronavirus or something else, we are going to have to answer this kind of question.
Are we going to be Overwhelmed or are we going to Overcome?
How are we going to respond? I believe we’re going to respond one of two ways. We can either choose to be overwhelmed or we can choose to overcome no matter what adversity it is. We’re going to face adversity in our life. We’ve got two choices. Are we going be overwhelmed? Are we going to choose to be overcomers? I want you to say out loud the title of my talk today. It’s just three words, so if you’re watching by yourself, you can say it to yourself. If you’re watching with someone, I want you to turn to them with a bold look on your face and give them the title of our talk today. Look at them and say, we will overcome. We will overcome. We will overcome right now more than ever, we need to hear a word from God. And at The Road’s Church, we believe the Bible is God’s inspired word Mt Carmel Church.
So every time we open it up, we get excited because we’re expecting God to speak to us. So even though we’re not gathering together this morning, even though we aren’t in the same room, I want you, if you have your Bibles today, to make some noise as we open them up to Numbers chapter 13! Whew! Numbers 13, yes. Remind that person next to you again. Tell them we will overcome. We will overcome. We will overcome. Numbers chapter 13, just a little bit of backstory. The children of Israel had just come out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt. They escaped the bondage. After 10 plagues and through the parting of the red sea, they finally come to the Promised Land. And so here we find ourselves in Numbers chapter 13 as they get ready to come to the Promised Land.
Leadership is Influence
It says in verse 1 and the Lord spoke to Moses saying send a spy to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. Notice the language from each tribe of their fathers. You shall send a man, every one, a leader among them. So the Lord gives some instructions to go spy out the land. And in the instruction he says, I want you to send one leader from each of the tribes of Israel. So 12 people total are sent out. But he says, I want them to be, he specifies who, and what he wants them to say. And I’m not just sending anybody, I want you to send a leader. And that word leader means this. It means an exalted one. A chief, a captain means to rise up. Someone risen to a place of authority and influence. A person of influence, Mt Carmel Church.
So who was God sending? He was sending people of influence. A leader. Leadership is not about a position. Leadership is not about a title. Leadership is about influence. You can give someone a title, you can give a position all day long and that doesn’t make them a leader. We’re all called to be leaders because we are all called to be influencers. We are influencers you have influence to offer. You have influence to give. That’s what leadership means. You have something on the inside of you that you have to give to others to make a difference in the world around you. You are an influencer and this is who God chose to send. We’re supposed to influence the negative atmosphere around us, not be influenced by the negative atmosphere around us. We’re called to be thermostats, not thermometers. We’re supposed to change the area around us, Mt Carmel Church.
We’re supposed to have an impact and influence people and their thoughts and their feelings. We’re supposed to make a difference in the world, not have it make a difference on us. So I encourage you to be an influencer. You’re called to be a leader. Some are going to influence more people than others. But either way you are an influencer in your house and your job and your school. Wherever your circle of influence, you need to be an influencer and not just an influencee. So now he sent out these leaders, he sent out these people inputs. The question is, which way will they influence? Let’s look in verse 17, it says, then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan. He said to them, go up this way into the South and go up into the mountains and see what the land is like where the people who dwell in are strong or weak or few or many. Whether the land they dwell in as good or bad with the cities they inhabited, like camps or strongholds where the land is rich or poor or whether their forest there or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.
And now the time was the season of the first great first ripe grapes. Let me ask you this question. Have you ever had a time in your life where someone gave you an instructions and you missed some important details? Like somebody gave you some specific instructions and you kind of filtered through what they said. You don’t think you’re talking to someone and they, they rattle off some instructions. Maybe you’re listening to your parents, or your teacher, whoever, and they give you a bunch of instructions. Bam, bam, bam, bam. And you kind of maybe even subconsciously filter through all those instructions and you pull out certain points that you want to listen to and you kind of just let some of them go by the wayside. That’s what I believe happened. Moses gave instructions to the spies and he said, when you go into this Promised Land, here’s what I want you to do, Mt Carmel Church.
“Be of Good Courage”
Basically, I want you to check out the land. I want you to check out the people and I want you to check out the cities, be of good courage, and bring back some grapes. Now, here’s what I noticed of all the instructions that they were given, they forgot and overlooked the four most important words of his instructions. They heard in their mind, because you’ll find out later that they remember this part. They said, “Okay.” They brought back word about the people, brought back word about the cities, brought back word about the land, but they forgot the most foremost important words of the instructions; be of good courage.
That was not accidental that God gave them that. Those instructions be of good courage. What does it mean? The words be of good. Courage is a Hebrew word that means to fasten upon to be strong, to summon strength or to call upon it was. I mean you don’t just hope courage shows up or you ask permission from your circumstances for it, for a hope to be there. When you call upon it, you seize it. You submit it. He was telling him be of good courage. That means you and I have to summon courage. You have got to call upon, I mean it’s there. You have to call it up. You have to say, “Hey, courage, come on. Come to the surface. Rise up.” When he said, be of good courage. He wasn’t say, go in there and see if you feel courageous Mt Carmel Church. Go in there and see what the circumstances are like and then decide if you want to be.
Courage is only need in the Face of Danger, Fear, and Difficulty
He said, “Be of good courage.” In other words, when you face difficulty, when you face adversity, I want you to call up courage summit. Grab hold of it with a firm grip. That’s what be of good courage means. The word courage according to Webster just means this mental or moral strength to venture, persevere and withstand danger, fear and difficulty. Notice what courage means. According to Webster, that means to actually persevere and withstand danger, fear and difficulty. So in the absence of danger, fear and difficulty, courage is not needed in the absence of danger, fear and difficulty. We don’t need courage. Why are we thinking we can be courageous without danger, fear and difficulty. They go together. You can’t even define courage without danger, fear, and difficulty. You can’t even define it, but in our world we think we’re going to be courageous as long as we don’t have any danger.
Fear of difficulty, but that’s not what he’s talking about. The absence of danger, fear and difficulty does not equal courage. It’s not that we don’t want it. If you can take all the danger, all the fear, all of the difficulty out of my life, I will be left with courage. That’s not how it works. It’s only courageous when in the presence of danger, fear or difficulty, you keep moving forward. That’s courageous. That’s what God’s called us to be and that’s what he told him is in the scripture and God knew what was coming. Why did he tell them ahead of time? Because he knew what was coming. He was preparing them for what they were going to see, not hoping they would not see what was there. He was preparing. He said, be of good courage because you’re going to go in the land. You’re going to see some stuff.
You’re going to hear some stuff. You’re going to feel some stuff, so be of good courage on the front end. That’s what God’s telling you in your life. He’s trying to tell you, don’t be courageous because you’re not going to have any danger for your difficulty in your life. He’s telling all of us danger, fear, and difficulty is going to be there in our life. We’re going to see it. We’re going to hear it. We’re going to feel it. And when you see it, hear it and feel it. Be of good courage. Summing it up. Call it up. Don’t think we’re going to be courageous because we don’t have problems. I know what God called us to do. Look what it says here in Psalm chapter 31 verse 24 be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart. All you who hope in the Lord.
So this is the instructions he gave them. Be of good courage. Did they remember that part? Let’s see. In verse 27 they come back after being gone for 40 days on this little spy journey they had. Here’s the report that they brought back in verse 27. Then they told him and they said, we went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in their land, they’re strong. The cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there, the Amalekites dwell in the land of the South, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites dwell in the mountains and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and above the banks of the Jordan. Notice what they said when they came back. They said, we went to the land where you sent us.
It truly flows with milk and honey. It truly does. In other words, they were saying, “Hey, everything that God said about this land, it is legit. It’s true.” Moses, everything you said, it’s true, and then they put in one word and he brought back the fruit. So they told them about the land. Remember, they’re supposed to spot and tell him about the land, about the people, about the cities. They told them about, about all that, and they remember the instructions to bring them back the fruit, but they forgot the four big words. Be of good courage, because they said one word. Nevertheless. They said, “Hey, everything you said about the land, it’s true. Nevertheless, this was also true.” So look at what they said, “It’s also true.” The word nevertheless is a conjunction that goes between two opposing thoughts or positions. So you have two things that are opposite of one another.
Whatever is after the word, Nevertheless Supersedes and Cancels out what was in front of it
So what God said was true, they said, but this is also true that the land was filled with all these other people and these giants are there and all of that is true. Here’s what I know about life. We will often be faced with two opposing facts that are both true. The question is which one is going to be the truth that defines our actions in life? We’re going to face things where two opposing facts are both going to appear true. We have to decide which one of those facts that are true are we going to accept as our truth and let that define our actions. You can have two things that are true and then you and I, we have to decide which one’s going to be my truth that my actions are going to be based upon, and this is what happens.
Nevertheless, see God had already told them in chapter 13 he said, “Hey, I’m giving you this land flowing with milk and honey and it’s a land that the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites and the Hivites, the Jebusites, they’re already there.” He already told them on the jump. He said, “Hey, all these people are going to be there.” So God said, “It is occupied now it has current residents. Nevertheless, I’m giving it to you.” Whatever is after the word, nevertheless supersedes and cancels out what was in front of it. This is how it works and this is what they said. It’s true. Everything that God said about the land is true. Nevertheless, when you say the word nevertheless, everything that’s before it is canceled out by what it said after it. It’s like in our language we would say, but we don’t say nevertheless very often. It was like they said, “Hey God, everything you said is true about this, but it’s also true that there’s a big opposition and difficulty.”
So where we place the nevertheless determines which position we’re going to believe in and what our actions are going to be based on. So here’s the question I have for you. Which side of nevertheless is the Corona virus or any other difficult situation going to be in your life? Which side of the, nevertheless you’re going to put it on. Is it going to be this way? It’s going to be what God’s word says this about my situation. Nevertheless, the situation just looks too difficult and I don’t see how it can happen. Like God says it will do what you, the fear and the uncertainty of what you put afterwards cancels out what you said in the first part or are we going to say it this way? The situation looks difficult and I don’t see how it can happen. Like what God says. Nevertheless, I choose to believe what God says. Which side of the nevertheless are you going to put your fear on? Which side of the nevertheless are you going to put your difficult situation on? Because I’m telling you this Corona virus has come and the Corona virus will go, but difficult situations will not.
They’re going to be here. We are prepared not just to get through Corona virus. We are prepared by God to get through any difficulty that we’re going to face in life. I’m not prepared just to get through a virus. I want to be prepared for much more than that. You’re not prepared just for unemployment. You’re not prepared just to get through the adversity you’re facing right now through marriage difficulties, through emotional difficulties. You’re prepared for much more than that, but it it’s based on which side of the nevertheless you’re going to put your difficulties. Well, God told me this. He promises me. The Bible says this, but I just don’t see how it’s going to happen. I just don’t see how it’s going to work out. That but is going to cancel out your faith. You have to say, “Hey, I recognize coronavirus is real Mt Carmel Church. I recognize these are difficult times in the world. I recognize that things are going on in the world that we’ve never seen before. Nevertheless, I believe God is greater. I believe God’s word is true. I believe we’re overcomers through him.” This is what we have to put in our hearts, so now let’s look. What is going first and see what he says in verse 30. So 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, but the men who had gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people for they’re stronger than we than we are. And they gave the children of Israel bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying the land through which we have gone spies is a land that devours its inhabitants.
Notice the fear language. It devours the inhabitants and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. We saw the giants, the descendants of Anak who came from the giants and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight and so we we’re in theirs. Now notice what happened. 12 spies going into Egypt, right? Caleb speaks and tells the people, “Let’s go. We are well able.” That’s what came out of Caleb mouth. He’s like, “Let’s go. Let’s do it. He’s pumped. He’s ready.” Joshua was with him, so we got two of them that are ready to go and then the 10 spies come out and they say, “Oh, hold up. Hold up. We are not able. We’re so not able. There’s no way we can do it. They are much stronger than us. They’re bigger than us. This is going to be way too difficult for us. We are not able.” Here’s the thing. Here’s what you need to know about the 10 spies. They were speaking the truth here.
You know how they’re speaking the truth when they said, “We are not able.” They were speaking the truth because we are not able on our own, but I’m telling you, I’m not wanting to do this world by myself. I’m not wanting to go through things on my own. My Bible says that he who is with me is greater than he that’s in the world, that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength so that if God is with me, I’m not working on my own ability. I’m working on God’s ability. They forgot the God factor and that’s what happening in our world and the world around us. People were saying, “What am I going to do?” I don’t know. We can’t do it. We can’t make, I know we can’t on our own, but we have God on our side. Let me ask you this. Have you ever heard of these mighty men of God? I’m going to shoot you out some names for you. Have you ever heard of these mighty people? Maybe you’re not familiar with the Bible, but, I’m going to shoot out some names. Maybe you might be familiar with them.
The Grasshopper Gang
Have you ever heard of those names? No. You know why you’ve never heard any of those names? Because they’re a part of what I call the grasshopper gang. That’s the tens fives that gave the negative port. That’s their names. You know why you’ve never heard of them? Because people that that are going to cower and fear, those are not people that we need to emulate. Those are not people that God wants us to follow. After you remember Joshua and Caleb because they were two that stood out against 10 see the all these 10 people, that’s the grasshopper gang because they said this in verse 33. We are like grasshoppers in our own sight and so we were in theirs. Here’s what the grasshopper gang will say in your life.
This was 83% of the people sent out to spy the land. I’m not talking about the majority of the people, 83% when they were faced with adversity, they saw themselves as victims and so that is the influence that they released. It’s important. Remember God sent out influencers, 83% when they saw adversity, saw themselves as victims. That is the influence that they released to those people around them. So we have to ask ourselves this question, “What kind of influence are we going to release?” Are we going to let the voice of fear, the voice of panic, the voice of chaos influence us? Are we going to release a voice of influence that speaks of boldness, of faith, or of courage? This is what God’s asking is. He’s not saying that voice isn’t going to be present because how we see ourselves has a huge impact on how we’re going to face our difficulty.
Do you see yourself in your situation as a victim or do you see it as the victor? We’re not victorious because we don’t have any opposition. We’re not victorious tonight because we don’t have any opponents right now. The NCAA tournament is not being played because of the Corona virus. So there is no tournament is going on. It is one of my favorite times of year of the year with all the games going on, and all the teams playing and vying for the championship. So just imagine if they would name a team right now and just call them the national champions, Mt Carmel Church. Just pick them out and say, “You know what? We’re going to say you’re the national champion. We’re not going to play the tournament. We’re just going to call you the national champions. Champions even though you didn’t beat anybody.”
You’re Victorious because you have Problems and you Overcome them
Yeah, we’re not victorious because we don’t have opponents in the church. Too many times we will talk about being victorious. In theory, I’m victorious. In theory, I’m victorious because I have no issues or I have no struggles. No, no, no. You’re victorious because you have problems and you overcome them. You’re victorious because you face adversity and you say, I’m not going to be stopped. I’m not going to go down. I’m going to keep moving forward. We want to be champions in our life not because we don’t have opponents but because we have opponents and we keep coming. We come and we aren’t backing down. Now because of ourselves, but because of Christ who lives on the inside of us. So now do you see how you see yourself matters? Notice all 12 of them saw the same thing. All 12 saw the same thing, but Joshua and Caleb saw something differently, but not different in what they saw.
Come on. This is very important. Not different in what they saw, but how they saw. You can see the exact same thing as someone else and see it differently. There’s a different perspective. And this is what God is calling us to do. We’re not closing our eyes and turning a blind eye or pretending like things aren’t going on in the world. We’re not trying to pretend like these aren’t difficult times. We’re just saying we’re going to look at these situations a little bit differently. We’re going to see them through God’s eyes and we’re going to see hope. We’re going to see the future. We’re going to see victory. Why? Because Jesus is greater than any of our difficulties. So let me ask you this. See 8 of these people out of the 10 told it like it was. Two of the 10 told it like they believed it was going to be. 10 of them told it like it was. Two of them told us how they believed it was going to be.
So are you a tell it like you see a person? Or are you a tell it like God sees it person? We’re all going to see the same difficulties and challenges in our life. We’re all seeing what’s going on. We’re all seeing what’s happening in the world around us, but are you going to tell it like you see it? Or are you going to tell it like God sees it? I encourage you to be a person who tells it like God sees it, telling it like God sees it is not denying the existence of difficulty. It’s not lying. It’s not pretending. It’s saying that God is greater than that, that God is bigger than that. Yeah, I see you. I see what’s going on, but I see something bigger than you. I see something stronger than you. This is what God’s called us to do. So now look how Caleb handled this in verse 30. Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses quieted the people. Why did he quiet him? He quieted him because after the 10 spies came back and told them this news about these giants and all the difficulties, everybody started to panic. It’s like, where are we going to get toilet paper panic? People are running out of hand sanitizer all over the place. It’s panic pandemonium.
Walking in Victory comes with Quieting the things that are not of God
So, Caleb had to quiet the people. He had to quiet the people. Here’s an important principle that we need to get in our life. For us to walk in victory for us to overcome, we have to be able to quiet the noises and the voices of the things around us that are not of God. There are two things that Caleb did, that are important for us to remember. Number one, he quieted the voices around him. What voice is in your life right now? Do you need to quiet that word? Quiet means to hush and make silent. Some of the voices you need to hush and make silent may be voices in your own head, your own thoughts, or your own fears. Sometimes what people are saying to you, sometimes you need to hush. His sister turned to some people and said, “Just say no.” Sometimes you need to hush their voice a little bit when they’re talking discouragement and fear.
You see, what am I going to do? What’s going to happen? What are you going to do? What to go do? I tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to trust God. We’re going to believe God. So remember we have to quiet some voices. You have to quiet some voices around you. We have to quiet he voices of fear, anxiety and panic. We have to quiet them. Say, “No, no, no.” We’re not pretending you’re not there. We’re just quieting those voices.
Number two. After that, he says, he quieted the voices before people of the people before Moses and said, well here’s the second thing he did that’s important. First we quiet the wrong voices and then he says, we have to say something. We have to turn up the volume on the right voices in our life. We turned down the voices of the wrong and we turn up the volume of the right voices, Mt Carmel Church.
In other words, what is God saying about my situation? What’s God thinking, saying about my scenario? I need to trust God. I don’t need to hear everything the news is saying, I need to hear the voice of God in my life. I need to hear what God says about my circumstances and my difficulty. So he says, we have to say something. Someone, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Sometimes we have to say so. Whenever the devil tells you this in your ear and puts fear, panic and anxiety in your ear. Sometimes as a believer, all you have to do is say, “So.” Let the redeemed say so. So what devil, is that all you got? I serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the fairest of 10,000 to my soul.
A Formula to Walk in Overcoming Faith
What you have compared to him, you have to say so to them. You have to release something out of your mouth. The Bible says that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Whenever the voice of the enemy is talking in your ear. You have to say something to quiet the voices of fear, panic, anxiety, and say what God says about your circumstance. I’m giving you a formula on how to walk in overcoming faith. We will overcome. How are we going to overcome? We’re going to quiet the wrong voices and we’re going to agree with our mouth, with the right things. Amen. This is what you’re saying. So now what did he say? What did he say when he said something? What did he say? He says right here. Let us go up at once. Let us go up.
Let’s go up. The word go up means to move upward, to ascend or to climb. Here’s something very important you need to realize when overcoming adversity in our life, we’re going to have to go up. We’re going to have to climb. That’s the part that we don’t want to hear. We want to cruise into overcoming. Now the Bible says you have to climb into it. He said, “Let us go up.” Here’s what John Maxwell says, “Everything worthwhile in life. Everything you want, everything you desire to achieve, everything you want to receive is uphill.” The problem is that most of us have uphill dreams and downhill habits. You have to possess something new in your life. We have to, in order to reach new heights in our life, we’re going to have to be willing to climb uphill. You want to make advances go to new heights in your thinking, new Heights in your family and your relationships?
You have to climb. He said, “Let’s go up.” You have to go up. It’s going to be an uphill deal. We have to go after it. We have to go against the grain. We have to go against the flow, but it’s going to be worth it. Our walk with Jesus and success in life in any area, we’re going to have to climb. Look at your neighbor and say, “Go up.” You have to go up. The Bible says in Proverbs 24:10 if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. The Bible is not telling us we’re not going to face a day of adversity. He’s telling us, when you face a day of adversity, your strength needs to be strong. This isn’t a condemnation or an insult to say that your strength is small.
It’s a locator letting you know where you are and this is what God is saying, “Go up at once. Start now.” What are we waiting for? Why are we waiting for to be overcomers? He says, “Let’s go up at once.” Don’t wait until we feel better. Don’t wait to put it off for another day. Make a change today. If you want to overcome what you’re facing in life right now, get up and start climbing. Do it at once. Caleb said, “Do it at once.” Here’s what Abraham Lincoln says. How many procrastinators do we have watching? Yes, procrastinators. Yes, all of those procrastinators, we’re even slow putting up our hands. All right. Abraham Lincoln said this, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Let that sink in. You need to dig out of the hole that you’re in in your life right now.
Grab a hold of Jesus and start climbing. Just start climbing. He says, “We’re going to rise up or go up at once and take possession.” That word possession means to occupy by driving out the previous tenants and possessing in their place. Two parts to this are important. We’ve got to remove. We have to drive out the current occupants and take ownership in its place. In other words, similar to what I was talking about earlier, if we’re going to overcome, we’ve got to drive out the wrong thing and occupy it with the right thing. Getting rid of bad habits alone will not cause us to be overcomers. Getting rid of bad thoughts and bad feelings just by themselves will not cause us to be overcomers. We have to replace them. We have to take possession of that area. We have to put something in its place. So if you’re going to change your life, two steps, get the wrong thing out, put the right thing in.
I’m going to say, “I’m going to start listening to God. I going to start reading my Bible. I’m going to start praying.” We have to get the bad news out and get the good news in. That’s a formula for being an overcomer, but notice what he says. Here’s what he says, how he sums up his phrase, “Let us go up at once and take possession. For we are well able.” Somebody say, “Well able.” We are well able to overcome it. That means we have the power of the might, the ability to endure and prevail. We are well able. Here’s the message of Caleb and this is the message that I felt like God wanted to put on my heart to give to you today. We will overcome. You will overcome with him. Notice what it says. The word overcome means to come over. We are overcoming people. The idea of overcoming means you have something you have to come over.
It’s not pretending we don’t have problems. They’re not pretending that we don’t have adversity. I have adversity and I’m going to go over it. I’m not going to go try and go around it. I’m not going to deny its existence. I’ve got this struggle in my life. I have this addiction in my life. I have this hang up in my life and I’m going to come over it. That’s what it means to be an overcomer. He said, “We are well able to overcome.” You are well able to overcome this morning. If you have Jesus in your life because the ability is in you, it’s there. You may be asking Chad, “I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I don’t know how I’m going to make it. I don’t know how I’m going to get through the season of my life.”
I don’t know. I will tell you you’re able. I will look at you as clear as I can. You are able to overcome. There’s something put on the inside of you from God that’s telling you right now, screaming in your heart. You are able. You may not know how. I don’t know how. I don’t know how it’s going to work in my life. I’ve just got to believe that the ability is there even if I don’t know it, even if I don’t understand it, even if I’ve never used it before. That ability is there. This is what Caleb was saying to them. Have any of you ever had to overcome anything in your life? Here’s what I understood. God spoke this in my heart the other day and I wanted to throw this into my message today.
The reason we can overcome today is not because we don’t have problems in front of us. Our courage today does not come from the absence of opposition in front of us, but rather from the presence of his faithfulness behind us. Come on, let me say it again. Our courage today does not come from the absence of opposition in front of us, but our courage comes from the presence of his deliverance behind us. God’s done something in our life before. Here’s the principle we need to put into a practice. I can have courage today, not because there’s nothing in my life. What brings me courage today is because what God has done before in my life prior to. It’s the story of David. And when David goes to Goliath and he’s talking to Saul about taking on Goliath, he tells him this, he said, “Hey, the same God who delivered the lion and the bear into my hand is going to deliver this giant into my hand.”
The Faithfulness of the God in my Past is going to bring me Courage Today
What happened? The faithfulness of God in his life before brought him to a place of courage to face what he’s facing today. So I’m just telling you, think back in your life on times where God’s brought you through something. When God’s brought you through adversity, something you never thought you’d get through. Something you didn’t know how you’d get through, and didn’t know how you’d overcome it, but you did it. The same God who brought you through that is the same God that’s going to bring you through this. The faithfulness of God in my life, the history of my life, is going to keep bringing me courage for today. Now here’s something we have to remember. What happened after Moses, after these people said, “We can’t do it?” God said, “Okay, you can’t go in. You can’t take the Promised Land. You’re not going to. You can’t overcome.”
Then the people felt bad. They realized they screwed up. The 10 spies said, “Oh, okay. Wait a minute. I’m sorry.” We’re in trouble because God said, “Now you got to wander in the wilderness.” So they said, “Okay, never mind that we, we do want to go. We do want to overcome. We do want to conquer.” But look what happens. Here’s something we have to remember. We will not overcome without Jesus. I’ve got to tell you this. I can give you all of the encouragement that I can give you. I can tell you how you’re an overcomer and how you’re going to come over situations in your life, but you need to hear this clearly.
I need to hear this clearly. We will not overcome without him. It’s not that I will just pull myself up by my own bootstraps and I’ll get through this. No, our strength is not enough. It’s not enough. We need Jesus in our life and here’s what he says in numbers chapter 14:44 but they presume to go up to the mountain top. Nevertheless, neither. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, which represents the presence of God nor Moses, was represents the word of God, departed from the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelled in the mountain came down and attacked them and drove them back as far as hormone. Here’s what happened. They thought, “Okay, we’re going to try and overcome this,” but God wasn’t with him so they were going to try it ourselves. We’re going to do it anyway, and it says they tried to climb up the mountain.
The enemy pushed them back and drove them right back where they came from. And I want to speak to someone that you feel like you keep trying to climb up the mountain. You keep trying to get out of your difficult situation, you keep trying to overcome, but every time you try to come up, you feel like you keep getting driven back. I’m telling you, it happens to me anytime I try and do it on my own. Any time I try and do something without God. You need Jesus in your life. We’re not going to overcome because we want to overcome. We’re going to overcome because the overcoming one is with us and in us. This is what they found out. They found out, if we try and do it by our self, it’s not going to work. We cannot overcome without Jesus in our life. Philippians four 13 says this, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me for our, Mt Carmel Church.
The Gospel Equips us to overcome Adversity
We’re facing challenges that some many of us we’ve never faced before. We’ve never heard of businesses closing down for this or schools closing down. We’ve never heard of that. How are we going to overcome? How are we going to? I’m telling you, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I want to encourage you that again, Corona virus is going to come and it’s going to go.
What God is wanting you to be equipped for and wanting me to be equipped for is not getting out of situations or avoiding situations, avoiding difficulty. We as followers of Jesus, we’re not equipped to make sure and avoid problems. That’s not the gospel. The gospel is that you are equipped to overcome whatever difficulty you’re going to face in life. I don’t know what it is. The things that you get yourself into, the things that other people get, the way you have control or not. God wants to be with you and pull you through everything, but we’ve got to trust him. Look what it says first John chapter 4. You are of God little children and have overcome them because you want to overcome them. No, you have overcome them because what? Because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
First John 5:45 says, whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world. Our faith for whatever’s born of God overcomes. So who is he? Who overcomes the world right now? Here, the Bible gives us the formula. Who’s going to be the ones that overcome? We will overcome. The Bible tells us who is he overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the son of God. We need to know this. We need to have this in our hearts. We need to know. All of you watching online, wherever you’re watching this from or wherever you’re listening. Maybe you’re listening on podcast podcasts or rebroadcast, whenever it is. You need to know this. The only ones that’s going to overcome this world, I mean truly overcome are those who’ve been born of God, those who made Jesus Lord of your life because he is the strength. So to speak, directly to fear, intimidation, where the enemy is trying to paralyze you, and puts you in a situation where you think, “I don’t know how this is going to work out.”
I don’t know how I’m going to get out of it. I don’t know exactly how it’s going to work out either, but I know who is going to cause it to work out. My faith is in him. No matter what the enemy does or no matter what happens in the world, no matter what happens politically or we’re health wise, our faith has to be unmoved. Unshakeable that Jesus is Lord and this is the victory that overcomes the world. Our faith. We’re releasing our faith. Our faith in what? Our faith in him. It’s not my faith that I won’t ever have to walk through anything. That’s not the faith that’s going to cause us to overcome. The faith that’s going to cause us to overcome is the belief that no matter what I have to walk through. Behold, even if I walked through the Valley of the shadow of death, you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You make a table a table before me, the presence of my enemies. I just want to encourage people today that we will overcome. We will overcome. No, we won’t overcome just because we want to. We will overcome because of him. We will overcome because of Jesus. So I just want to give you an opportunity to receive ministry and receive prayer. I want to pray for those that are watching, that you’re in a place right now and you’re saying, “Chad, I feel like I am freaking out right now.” It’s okay. I want to pray for those that have already contracted the Corona virus. You’re not less than you are not to be ashamed. You’re not to be condemned just because you got sick. I’m telling you that’s not the condition of your life. You who you are is not identified by what’s happened to you, who you are as what’s is identified by what God says about you, Mt Carmel Church.
So whether you’ve gotten sick, whether you’re infected, whether you’re on isolation right now, whether you’ve lost your job, whether you’re afraid to even go somewhere, it doesn’t matter. No one’s here to condemn you. We’re here to give you direction and tell you can overcome through Jesus. He is our victory. He is our hope. He is the one that we put our trust in. So I want to pray for you right now. As you’re watching, I want you to just remember what Caleb said. He quieted the voices and then he said something. Some of you need to quiet some voices of fear, anxiety and panic. You need to quiet those voices and you need to day what the Lord says. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. So just right where you are. Maybe in your home, if you’re driving, don’t close your eyes.
But if wherever you’re listening to this, wherever you’re watching this, I want you to pray right now and I want you to open up your heart to Jesus. Because my prayer is that the Holy Spirit is going to come right into your living room, right into wherever you are. He’s going to come through that screen, come through the podcast, the presence of God, Holy spirit. I just thank you right now in Jesus’ name that everyone watching or listening to this encounters you folks. You’re not here for me. I’m not going to change your life. I need Jesus just like you do. We’re here for him. So I just released the power of the Holy Spirit to touch your heart. I release peace in this region. I release peace over the state of Illinois. Peace over the nation of the United States of America. Peace around the world. Jesus said, my peace, I leave with you. Not as the world gives.
Just receive that peace. But when, but I don’t know what I don’t know, don’t get caught up trying to figure out details. Concentrate on the voice of who you’re grabbing. Hold up this not the absence of fear, difficulty and adversity. The cause’s courage. No, no, no. Be of good courage. Be of good courage. The peace of God is going to comfort you. The peace of God’s going to show you how to navigate these next steps in your life. But here’s the thing, you have to know. You cannot and I cannot receive this piece and have courage without Jesus. The Bible said, whoever is born of God overcomes the world. So if you’re watching or listening to this and you don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ, maybe you go to church. Maybe you have had a relationship with God, but right now you, you don’t seem to have any type of life-giving relationship.
Nothing’s alive in you right now. I want to. I want to give you an opportunity to accept Jesus into your life. Without him, nothing’s possible, but with him, all things are possible. So if you’d like to accept Jesus into your heart, I want to lead you in a prayer because I want you to receive the overcoming power of God in your life. I want you to not just be assured of heaven. Christianity is not just about praying a prayer so that we can avoid problems until Jesus comes back. No, about getting born again is so that the power of God comes into your life, that no matter what difficulty you face, he will cause you to overcome. He will give you the strength. He will give you the power to endure trials and temptations and difficulties. We’re going to have them. We are courageous now because the absence of difficulty, but absolutely because of its presence. Our courage is revealed. So you pray this with me. If you want to ask Jesus to come into your life, there’s no magic in the words. It’s just your heart. You’re not saying it to Chad, you’re not saying it to The Roads Church or you’re saying it to Jesus who died on the cross for you. He shed his blood on the cross, paying the price for your sin, for my sin. We are dead in sin without Christ Mt Carmel Church.
So will you submit your heart to him and allowed Jesus to take over your hearts to take over your life. Say these words with me. Just say, father in heaven, I believe that Jesus died on the cross in my place for my sin. Today I repent and I receive your forgiveness. I ask you to come into my life and be my Lord. Be my savior. I choose you because you chose me. I believe that I can overcome through you. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for saving me. I am an overcomer in Christ, in Jesus name. Amen. Now listen, if you pray that prayer today, our heart is not for you just to pray a prayer and be go on with your life because our walk with Jesus is about much more than just a prayer. We want to connect you with Jesus. So if you do me a favor, take out your phone and I want you to text to this number (618) 243-0900 just text one word, new life.
That’s to say that you made Jesus the Lord of your life and we’re going to send you something for you to take the next steps and follow through with what do I do now? Maybe you need to be water baptized. Maybe I need to take the next step and receive the power of God in my life. Whatever it is, we want you to take those steps and your relationship with God so that you can grow, begin to develop the strength that God’s given you because you are an overcomer. So I’ll take a moment and pray for our nation and pray for you. They’re watching this, dealing with fear. Maybe you’re dealing with insecurities. Also want to pray for those maybe needing healing in your body. We have some words of knowledge I just want to release over the screen for those of you that may be dealing with something in your life.
We prayed and we’ve been praying for people to be healed and I want to share this testimony to maybe stir your faith before we go. This came from a member of our church that over a year ago they had a detachment in their eye which caused a slight retinal tear. They completely lost vision in the eye for a few minutes and then it was very cloudy and full of floaters. The doctor did laser treatment on the terror but the floaters remained and he said it could take months for them to clear. They did to a certain degree, but I still had one big annoying floater that would cause me to blink a lot when I tried to read or focus on something small in one of our church services. A word of knowledge was given for floaters in the eye over this past week. My floater that I was starting to think was my friend for life has slowly almost disappeared.
I’m believing in a few more days it will completely be gone. Thank you Jesus. Now, this is something where God wants to heal in your life and we’re praying for that. We’re believing for that. I’m going to pray here in just a moment. If you need healing in your life, I’m believing you can receive it right now through the screen right wherever you’re sitting. It’s not my presence. It’s God’s presence that’s going to heal you. It doesn’t matter where you are. This is the beauty of what’s happening. I’m telling you this, I’m encouraged, just inspired even by the Holy Spirit right now. What’s happening in the world around us is not paralyzing the church. It is propelling the church. It is propelling it forward into areas it’s never been before and I’m telling you, the capital C church is going to reach more people for the kingdom of God than it’s ever reached. The gospel is going to be preached to more people. Healing’s going to happen to more people. More people are going to encounter the presence of a living God than they’ve ever encountered before. The enemy is going to rule the day that he tried to stop the church. God is pushing the church out of the nest and saying, “Hey, I don’t want you to focus on one or two days a week in a building want you to focus on reaching people every single day around the world.”
This is what God is wanting us to do at The Roads Church that is emphasizing we are coming out and reaching people like never before. So these words of knowledge is something where we pray and feel like God speaks into our heart. So I want to give you some if you need healing for these, someone dealing with stomach pains and bloating right now, I want you to receive that God wants to heal you. Someone having right foot pain like needles. When you walk pain in that right foot. We’re going to pray for healing for that. Someone dealing with pain in the vertebra, part of the neck, some pain in that vertebra part of your neck. We’ll pray for healing there. Someone dealing with pain in the right Achilles tendon specifically.
We want to pray for that. Now if you need healing for something that we didn’t even mention just with those are just words of knowledge that we gave. It could be anything, but I want us to pray and I’m going to release peace and overcoming through the name of Jesus. Father, I thank you for the word today. I thank you Lord right now that you confirm this word with signs following Jesus. It’s all about you. It’s all for you. It’s all for your glory. It’s all for your purposes, so I just release the anointing of the Holy Spirit to heal in every person watching sicknesses. I pray against the Corona virus. God, I thank you for immunizations. I pray for healing to happen. In Jesus name we start, we pray for the stop of the sprint that like breaks that I pray just a Holy brakes put on the progress of the Corona virus by the authority of Jesus that we are praying, Mt Carmel Church.
The churches all around the world are praying and the enemy is no match. For the kingdom of God. Would I pray for healing of anything? Sickness and disease, pain, discomfort, whatever you’re facing. I just release the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I speak Shalom and peace over you. Father, I thank you for our nation. I thank you that we will overcome through you. You are strength, you are hope and you are purpose, all glory to you in Jesus’ name. So we want to thank you so much for watching. We truly release the peace of God into you, into your family, and into your homes. Come back, join us. We’re going to be releasing content all week long, something for your children. Get on the website, follow us on Facebook and Instagram and through our YouTube channel we’re going to be releasing more content to you to connect you to Jesus from all roads of life. We love you. We thank you so much for being a part of our eRoads family. Be blessed. Have a great week.
Thanks so much for watching with us. We love our online family and we invite you to connect with us. We have a few different ways you can do that. On our website http://www.theroads.church as well as on social media. You can text to give by texting the amount, space, roads to four or five, seven, seven, seven and we’d love to pray for any needs you might have. So send us a message and let us know how we can partner with you in bringing the light and love of Jesus to your world.
Thanks so much for watching with us. We love our online Mt. Carmel Illinois Church and Norris City Illinois Church family and we invite you to connect with us. We have a few different ways you can do that. Our website is theroads.church. We are on social media as well.
We’d love to pray for any needs you might have. So send us a message and let us know how we can partner with you in bringing the light and love of Jesus to your world.
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