[0:01] Welcome to our service this evening, and as we come together around the Word of God, let us seek his blessing. Let us pray.
[0:12] Amen.
[0:42] Lord, that we would humble ourselves, and that we would take that place that belongs to us at thine own foodstool, that we would come and acknowledge our sinnership, and that we would have that desire in our hearts, as thy servant of old, to paint these words, me cleanse from sin, and truly wash from mine iniquity.
[1:12] For my transgressions I confess, my sin I ever see.
[1:48] That was shed, which is able to cleanse us from our sin.
[2:23] That has been purchased by Christ, can be imputed to us by faith, so that we can have a standing before a holy God, a God who is of purer eye than to look upon sin.
[2:40] And yet, O Lord, we can come in Jesus with boldness and confidence into thine own presence, and lay out our petitions before thee, seeking that it may please thee to meet with our need, out of the riches of thy grace, through Jesus Christ.
[3:02] We seek thy blessing upon thy word at this hour, or may thou through thy spirit apply it to our hearts. And we pray, O Lord, that thou haste, as we come to meditate upon it.
[3:19] That it may be a means of strength to us, a means of encouragement for us. We pray, O Lord, that thou would bless our homes and our families.
[3:32] That thou would bless all our loved ones, wherever they may be. We pray, O Lord, for those of their number who are careless and indifferent to the claims of the gospel.
[3:46] O may thou stir them up in their hearts through thy spirit, and draw them to thyself, enlightening them through thy spirit, so that they may see their need, and that they may see the sufficiency of Christ, to meet with their need, that they may come to know thy salvation, and that they may come to know the joy of thy salvation.
[4:14] We ask, O Lord, that thou would bless those who mourn over the passing of loved ones. May thou bring that comfort to their hearts, that we are unable to bring to them, because we are mortal creatures ourselves.
[4:30] Bless, we pray thee, those who are ill. May thy healing hand be upon them, and may thou bless those who care for them. Remember our young people and our children.
[4:44] O Lord, raise up a generation that would fear thine own name. Bless, we pray thee, thine own people, those whom thou hast redeemed for thyself.
[4:57] O Lord, we pray that we may indeed be faithful witnesses for thee in this world, that we would be as lights that would shine out of the midst of the darkness that is around us.
[5:12] We pray, O Lord, that thou would bless us as a nation. O bring us to days of repentance. Bring us to days when we would mourn over our sin, and seek the mercy of God in Jesus Christ.
[5:28] We ask that thou would bless thy gospel throughout all nations of the earth, and bless all thy servants who go forth to proclaim thy truth.
[5:38] May they do so with boldness and with confidence, knowing that they speak with thine own authority, that they speak in the name of God.
[5:51] O Lord, we pray that thy word may indeed penetrate into the hearts of our people, through the work of thine own spirit upon them.
[6:03] Bringing us, O Lord, to days of revival and days of awakening. Days when people would seek the Lord. We ask, O Lord, that we would come now to wait upon thyself, for it is a blessed thing to wait upon the Lord.
[6:24] And we pray that thou would bless us and be with us for the moments that we are together in this manner, in this act of worship, that it may indeed be to the glory of thy name, and that it may be accepted by thee, through the merits of thy Son.
[6:43] And all that we ask with the forgiveness of our sin, and the forgiveness for all our shortcomings, is in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
[6:54] Amen. Let us now read from the Old Testament, from the book of Joshua, and chapter 14. And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eliezer the priest and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel distributed for inheritance to them.
[7:24] By Lord was their inheritance, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes and for the half-tribe. For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and a half-tribe on the other side, Jordan.
[7:39] But unto the Levites he gave none inheritance among them. For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. Therefore they gave no pardon to the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance.
[7:58] As the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did. And they divided the land. Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Canaanite, said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God concerning me, and thee in Kadesh Barnea.
[8:26] Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to espy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.
[8:39] Nevertheless, my brethren that joined up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, Sure to the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children forever, because thou hast fully followed the Lord my God.
[9:02] And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, ever since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness.
[9:14] And now, lo, I am this day four score and five years old. And yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in.
[9:31] Now therefore give me this mountain whereof the Lord spake in that day, for thou heardst in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced.
[9:42] If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, Hebron, for an inheritance.
[9:57] Hebron therefore became an inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenesite, and to this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.
[10:10] And the name of Hebron before was Kedjet Arba, which Arba was a great man among the Anakims, and the land had rest from war.
[10:21] May the Lord bless unto us the reading of that portion of his word. And seeking the Lord's blessing and help, let us turn to verse 12, that is Joshua chapter 14 and verse 12.
[10:39] Now therefore give me this mountain, for if the Lord spake in that day, for thou heardst in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced.
[10:51] If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him and gave him to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, Hebron, for an inheritance.
[11:10] Last week we looked at the character of Abraham's nephew, Lot. I think it would be right for me to say that Lot was a beacon to warn us, especially of the choices that we make in this life.
[11:27] not merely the choices that unbelievers make in life, but also the choices that believers make in life.
[11:39] But remember that Lot was a believer. From Bethel, from the house of God, from the place of the altar of the Lord, he made a choice.
[11:51] That was to lead him as a believer into a spiritual famine. From being a companion to those who feared and loved the Lord, he became associated with the most wicked generation of the earth.
[12:06] He may not have intended to dwell among them as he pitched his tent just outside Sodom, but eventually and sadly we find him a dweller in the city.
[12:20] And a thing to remember is that his choice had consequences not only for himself, but for the members of his household. At the destruction of the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, his wife became a pillar of salt as she looked back towards the city in disobedience to the direct command of God.
[12:41] And we know that Lot moved them to a place called Sor, which means insignificant. And how he ended up in a cave as a drunken man committing terrible sins with his daughters from which came the Moabites and the Ammonites, who became the archenemies of the covenant children of God.
[13:01] Choices that we make can affect others, even our loved ones, even members of our own household, and can affect ourselves as regards in the future.
[13:12] If it were not for the testimony of Peter in his letter, where he tells us that Lot was just and a righteous soul, we would have imagined Lot to have been a lost soul.
[13:28] One simple choice in his life between his spiritual privilege of being with the covenant children, being at the place of the altar of the Lord, and his desire as he looked upon the fertile region around the cities of the plain.
[13:44] We know his choice. We can see a simple act, but one with great consequences. We must always be careful in our choices, whether it be in marriage or in home or in workplace or place of residence, whatever.
[14:08] We must do it all with an eye to our spiritual good. Truly, Lot was a brand plucked from the burning. Lot is an example to us of the long-suffering and the restoring grace and mercy of God.
[14:24] We have the New Testament example for us in the Apostle Peter himself, who denied that he knew the Lord three times with curses, but the Lord in his grace restored him.
[14:36] It is easy to think that we would never sin like Lot and Peter, but it may well be good for us to heed Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 12, Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
[14:55] Have we not been studying the power and the deceptive power of sin, reminding us that it is possible for the Christian to backslide, that it is possible for the Christian to fall into sin, but by the grace of God that a Christian can be restored.
[15:17] Remember in our study of Philippians, we noted that Paul said that our duty was to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We noted that as Christians we have been saved in the sense of our justification, and we noted that there is another sense in which we can think of salvation that is totally in the future, that is our glorification.
[15:42] But what about the present? The period between justification and glorification. In this period we can say that we are still being saved. We have been saved from the power and pollution of sin.
[15:56] It is that process that we call sanctification. And that is what Paul speaks of when he says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Jesus had to exhort his disciples to watch and pray lest they enter into temptation.
[16:15] However, tonight I want to turn and to look at another Old Testament character that we can say is the very opposite of the Lord.
[16:27] Over the 20 years that I have been with you I think I have preached upon this character twice. For he is a person whose character challenges, rebukes and encourages.
[16:39] Of the two million adults that left Egypt only two made it to Canaan and here is one of them Caleb along with Joshua. What we are going to look at in particular tonight is requests that Caleb made of Joshua.
[16:57] Now therefore give me this mountain whereof the Lord spake in that day. For thou heard in that day how the Anakims were there and that the cities were great and fenced.
[17:09] If so be the Lord will be with me then I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said. the scene set before us is that Israel is about to enter the promised land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and Joshua is in the process of dividing up the land by law so that each tribe will have its inheritance.
[17:34] At first glance the story does not seem too remarkable just another leader showing up and asking for his allotment of the land but if we dig a little bit and understand the background the uniqueness really starts to shine through.
[17:52] Caleb became a man who trusted in God and the promises of God and when a man comes to know God and believe the promises of God it changes a person's perspective on life.
[18:09] Caleb had a new perspective because God gave him a different spirit. Caleb's assurance of who he was in God and what God had promised him became the compass of his life.
[18:26] Caleb knew there could be no half-heartedness following God. He would follow God with his whole heart. One of the wonderful things about God is that he not only asks us to give what he has given us.
[18:46] He only asks to give to him what he has given us because he has given us a new heart and then he asks us to give that back to him wholly.
[19:01] To give our hearts totally back to him. the story of Caleb begins 45 years earlier in the time of Moses.
[19:16] Caleb was one of the original spies sent to the promised land by Moses and who spent 40 days spying out the land and its inheritance. We find the story in the book of Numbers in chapter 13.
[19:31] And there we read and Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said unto them get you up this way southward and go up into the mountain and see the land what it is and the people that dwelleth therein whether they be strong or weak few or many and what the land is in that they dwell whether it be good or bad and what cities they be that dwell in whether they're in tents or in strongholds and what the land is whether it be fat or lean whether there be wood they're in or not and be ye of good courage and bring of the fruit of the land now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes so they went deb and searched the land from the wilderness of Sin and Rehab as Moses came to Hamnah notice what it was that Moses sent the twelve spies to do they were to explore the land it was the land
[20:32] God said he was going to give to the Israelites he was not sending them on a mission to decide whether or not to actually possess the land they were just supposed to go and explore the area that was now to be their home the land God had promised to give them since the days of Abraham they were to report back us and the people about what they would face when they would enter into the land and when the 12 spies returned to all the people they said we came into the land where thou sent us and surely it floweth with milk and honey and this is the fruit of it nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land and the cities are walled and very great and moreover we the Amalgites dwelt in the land of the south and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Ammonites dwelt in the mountains and the
[21:35] Canaanites dwelt by the sea and by the coast of Jordan we be not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we and they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched and to the children of Israel saying the land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature and there we saw the giants the son of Anach which came of the giants and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers so we were in their sight and as a result of the report the people were terrified and did not believe that God would deliver the land to them safely and so they rebelled against the Lord and were consequently sent back into the desert for 40 years but not all of the 12 spies agreed with the proposed course of action two of them
[22:37] Joshua and Caleb had a different attitude and dissented and tried to encourage the people to have faith and to believe in God's promise we read that Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said let us go up at once and possess it for we are well able to overcome it but the men that went up with him said we be not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we numbers chapter 14 we read that the people wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb and would have done so if it was not that the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation what about the report of the ten spies what do we make of that report the affirm that God was faithful it was a good desirable land it suddenly does flow with milk and honey they said and they gave back the evidence for the fruit of the land but they were concerned about the obstacles they said the people are strong we are not able to go up against the people they are too strong for us the land devours its inhabitants all the men are of a great size we became like grass of bush in our sight and theirs the problem was that they focused upon themselves and their inadequate resources and abilities and power to possess the land to think that it could not be done was to limit
[24:18] God's power or to doubt his faithfulness you know it is always easier to be pessimistic and negative when facing difficult circumstances it seems safer the way you do not set yourself up for possible disappointment or failure now as we examine ourselves I am sure that we can find areas in your life and in my life where we have not yet lived by faith because we fear what seems difficult or impossible by your own abilities or resources maybe that is why tonight you are outside the salvation of God as these spies that came back said that God was faithful that it was a desirable land a land flowing with milk and honey and gave evidence of the fruit of the land they believed
[25:23] God's word and maybe tonight you who are outside the salvation of God you believe God's word you believe what the Bible says but you are more concerned about the difficulties and the obstacles than to put your trust in what God has promised Joshua and Caleb desired to obey God and they focused on God's power and resources their confidence was in doing God's will both groups of spies saw the same things but drew different conclusions they both saw that what God said was true about the land but ten measured the difficulties against themselves the other two measured the difficulties against God two of them put the obstacles into proper perspective they said it was conquerable with
[26:23] God and the Lord's strength they were willing to go up and meet the challenge that was before them do you find yourself backing away from the challenges of the gospel by saying I am afraid that if I commit myself to Jesus that I will not be able to continue when faced with trials and temptations maybe you are saying tonight I do not have the time or enough time to think of the challenges that the gospel presents well Joshua and Caleb were not of that mind they saw things with the eye of faith they leaned upon the faithfulness of God to his own word however here in Joshua 14 we move fast forward 45 years here is Caleb a man now 85 years having survived the 40 years wandering in the desert and having fought alongside
[27:27] Joshua as he took the promised land and he has now come to claim the promise of God in verses 6 to 9 we find Caleb laying out the facts then the children of Judah came into Joshua and Gilgal and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenesite said unto him thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee and Kadesh Barnea 40 years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to Ispaya the land and I brought him word again as it were in my heart he is reminding Joshua that then in verse 9 Caleb claims the promise God had made to him and his descendants to Moses because of their faithfulness and Moses swore on that day saying sure the land whereon thy feet have throttened shall be thine inheritance and thy children forever because thou hast wholly followed the
[28:32] Lord my God now Caleb picks the biggest battle he is about to take on the giants in many ways Caleb had been prepared for the task that was set before him he was the perfect person to lead the fight against the giants he had the most experience he had seen the most battles he had spent 45 years waiting for the opportunity it reminds us that whatever we face today and in the future that God has been preparing us for it you can take comfort from that we can draw strength from the realisation that whatever hurdles we face God has been preparing and equipping us to meet because he is in control because he knows what he is doing and he will walk with us to handle the situations of life that we have to face now
[29:36] I am not saying that it is always clear to us in the midst of challenging situations to see how God has been preparing us for that situation or to see how that situation prepares us for the next that is why we have to remember in every situation we face that God is in control and that God is with us that is what I say and chapter 43 reminds us when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shall not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon you you see he will never leave us he will never forsake us we recently noted how David in his battle with Goliath went now and he said thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield but
[30:38] I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied David he that there is a God in Israel.
[31:07] David's promised victory was based on God's help. He said, the battle is the Lord's.
[31:21] The Lord had told Joshua, as written in Joshua chapter 13, there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.
[31:32] There were in the land of promise, but there is still much to be done. And we can apply that to the land of our own soul. There is much yet in us that needs to be brought into submission.
[31:48] We are exhorted to mortify, that is to kill, the deeds of the body in order to live. Yes, we have been justified.
[31:59] Yes, we shall be glorified. But there is still the work of sanctification, that work between our justification and our glorification. Yes, we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
[32:16] There is much yet in us that needs to be brought into submission. But as we apply that to the land of our own soul, we can also apply it in a wider context to our communities.
[32:31] In every community, there is still much of the land that remains to be possessed. this is the biggest battle that we can engage ourselves in.
[32:43] The battle to conquer this mountain for Christ, whether it be the mountain of our own soul or the mountain of our wider community. The mountain of our own soul.
[32:57] There are many giants in the land that needs to be conquered and many strongholds that needs to be pulled down. We need to do battle with the sin that has so easily beset us.
[33:11] Then there is the mountain of our community, the mountain that confronts us within our communities where there may be much apathy. Oh, let us remember that we come as ambassadors for Christ and therefore we have to proclaim the gospel message to our people.
[33:28] As for God to besiege you by us, says Paul, we pray you in Christ's death, be ye reconciled to God. Caleb was first of all a man of faith.
[33:47] Let us look at this character ship that made up this man. He was first of all a man of faith. He had to wait 45 years to experience the promises of God, for the promise of God to come through in his life.
[34:06] We see from the story that he never forgot the words that God spoke to him through Moses and that now the time is right and he steps forward to claim the promise.
[34:22] It shows us that we might have to wait to see God's promise and even then we might have to get it by fighting for it. This is part of the story that can be particularly challenging.
[34:36] How do we claim the promises of God? Do we expect to get them like gifts, things that just show up in our life without any effort on our part?
[34:47] Well, I don't think that is what the story teaches us. Caleb was a man of faith but he was also a man who had to fight.
[35:04] He was a man of faith but he was also a man who had to do battle. To claim the promises of God he had to act.
[35:18] To act like there is nothing that will stand in the way of God keeping those promises. It did not matter that he was 85 years of age.
[35:30] It did not matter that the anarchists were the biggest and the most intimidating opposition in the promised land. All that mattered to Caleb was that God had made a promise.
[35:45] And dear friend it is so important for us in our battle in our daily battle to remember that God is in control and that God has made a promise.
[36:01] Caleb here came with his claim of faith. seventh time the Bible tells us that Caleb either holy or fully followed the Lord.
[36:16] And the main thing about consecration is that the will is adjusted to the will of God. When we holy or fully follow the Lord our will is adjusted to the will of God.
[36:33] to totally and wholly follow the Lord means that there is nothing between you and God. So Caleb here gripped his sword and headed off to the hills to defeat them.
[36:47] To defeat the giants this is great faith to stand up and say God has promised this so I am going to live it I am going to have it. Caleb had a clear goal in his life give me this mountain.
[37:04] It always helps if we have a clear goal in our life. It is always good to know what you are doing and where you are going. The apostle reminds us that the Christian life is like a race.
[37:17] In the race we must have our eyes fixed upon a goal upon a winning point and therefore aware of what we are doing and aware of what we are going where we are going.
[37:28] And Caleb was a man of such mind. He had a mountain to climb and conquer. Now mountains in scripture often signifies difficulties, problems that present themselves before us.
[37:46] You will recall the words of the Lord to Zerubbabel. He was governor of the land and was left in charge of rebuilding the temple. And at that particular time it appeared that he was feeling very discouraged.
[37:59] There were many difficulties starting in the way of the completion of the temple. How was he ever going to finish the task? Things were really getting on top of him.
[38:10] These difficulties and problems looked to Zerubbabel like mountains. But the Lord told him to stop trying to do God's work in his own strength.
[38:22] The Lord said to him not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts. In other words he is saying to Zerubbabel it is God's power which will ensure that the building is completed.
[38:37] What about the mountains? What about the difficulties? God says who art thou O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings crying grace grace unto it.
[38:58] All the mountains of difficulties and problems cannot frustrate God's work. The work of God's grace cannot be frustrated. The great mountains will become a plain.
[39:14] Yes we have giants to conquer we have the world we have the flesh and we have the devil. great mountains to conquer but we can do so with the help of the Lord.
[39:32] And we notice here that his faith enabled Caleb to be also a man of vision. He saw the land as the possession of God's people. He is on fire to go out and possess this mountain.
[39:46] He had a vision of what he could achieve in the strength of the Lord. Caleb did not think that his task was an easy matter. But have you and I got a vision of what we could be ourselves?
[40:02] Have we got a vision of what our communities could be like? How easy it is for us to withdraw and think of what it was like in the past and say it will never be the same again?
[40:15] Well, such thoughts can only weaken us. We will sit back and say what will be will be. We can sit back and say where the Lord's people will be gathered anyway.
[40:31] But let's have a vision for our communities. Let's have a vision of what can be in the strength of the Lord and claim his promise. Give me this mountain. Because scripture makes it quite clear that it is through the church and the work of the church that the Lord blesses the land.
[40:49] So let us have that vision. Let us have that vision for our own souls of what we can be through the help of the Lord.
[41:06] Let us discipline ourselves and let us come to see and have that vision of what we can be in the Lord.
[41:19] Caleb was also a man of perseverance. Faith needs to persevere. He was 40 years in the wilderness.
[41:33] Perseverance comes because we see what God sees. In the midst of all the discouragements he had faith and a vision for this mountain and so he persevered. Caleb's perseverance was conceived in the promises of God.
[41:49] His understanding of who he was in God and what God had promised him became the expanse of his life and that gave him perseverance. So for 45 years he held on to that expanse in spite of all the numerous obstacles and problems and delays.
[42:09] Caleb was a man of faith. He was a man of vision. He was a man of perseverance. He was also a man of encouragement.
[42:20] He spread a good report 45 years earlier and he was still full of encouragement. Oh are we ready to encourage others? Are we ready to speak to the unconverted?
[42:33] Are we diligent to persuade them in love to come to the gospel? Caleb was a man of faith. Caleb was a man of vision.
[42:44] A man of perseverance. A man of encouragement. He was also a man of loyalty. He supported Moses and Joshua. He was loyal to those whom God placed over him.
[42:58] But he was also a man of war. He was not afraid of the enemy. Caleb is willing to fight for this mountain. He does not say well I'll have a vision for this mountain I'll sit back and stand still.
[43:15] He does not talk of how good it would be to have this mountain. But he goes out and fights for this mountain. How often we have a vision and feel how good it would be but say I can do nothing without Christ and then stand still.
[43:30] I am sure most of us could take comfort in that. That is much easier to say than to say I'll do all things through Christ which strengthens me. And that was the attitude of Caleb.
[43:42] Since God is with me I will dry them out. Caleb is ready to go to war. The same as he was 40 years earlier. And you may ask well where did Caleb's physical strength come from?
[43:58] Well where does our spiritual strength come from? From walking daily with the Lord. Oh yes he says give me this mountain.
[44:09] Which one? The one where the giants are. Here indeed is displayed to us the courage of his faith. What weapons are we to use in this fight?
[44:24] The armour of God and especially the word of God and prayer. they are the means that God has given us to energise us to go out into the mountain of our soul and the mountain of the world and claim it for Christ.
[44:41] Our weapons must not be carnal but spiritual. David could not go out to fight the giant with Saul's armour neither can we with carnal weapons. The sling and the stones provoke the mocking of the giant but in David's sand they were the instruments of God.
[45:01] People may mock the word and prayer but they are the weapons to bring our souls into submission and in the hands of his servants they are the instruments of God to bring the world into subjection.
[45:14] Let us take the armour of God let us take the word of God and prayer and become men of war and speak to our souls and to a world that desperately needs the message of salvation.
[45:30] Caleb felt he could do anything be anything go anywhere if the Lord was with him. Caleb was single minded so much like a good soldier of Jesus Christ nothing must distract him he must not become untangled with the affairs of the world or with any worldly pursuit that would get in the way of serving the Lord.
[45:53] Caleb was full of determination and so must be the soldier of Jesus Christ be determined to press on with the gospel that brings salvation to sinners and that brings our soul into subjection to serve Christ.
[46:11] Yes Caleb he was a man of faith Caleb was a man of vision Caleb was a man of perseverance Caleb was a man of encouragement Caleb was a man of loyalty he was a man of war give me this mountain and dear friends that is how I and you must be in this world yes let us take encouragement from what we have read here and meditated upon regarding the servant of God Caleb let us give ourselves wholly to the Lord give him our heart yes let us be a people of faith a people of vision a people of perseverance a people of loyalty a people of encouragement a people of war knowing that we are going to have victory through
[47:22] Jesus Christ that we are going to have our victory in him that we have the victory not by using carnal weapons but by using the word of God and prayer and by the word of God and prayer that we can conquer the mountains that stand before us that we can conquer our own soul that we can conquer our own communities for Jesus Christ may the Lord bless these thoughts to us let us pray oh Lord we pray that thou in thy grace and mercy would make each one of us to be a people of faith a people with a vision a people of perseverance a people of encouragement and of loyalty that thou would make us a people of war or that we would go forth in the strength of the
[48:32] Lord that we would conquer the mountains that are up in our own souls that through the help of the Lord through the help of thy spirit that these mountains will become a plain that the mountains that stand as obstacles in our communities in the name of the Lord will become a plain oh Lord we pray that we may have that spirit of Caleb that we would go forth in strength and in the power of the Lord all leaning not into our own understanding but leaning upon thy own promises oh Lord we give thee thanks for the work of thy grace in the soul of sinners that it will conquer that it will persevere and that it will have the victory that thy grace will not be frustrated in any way we ask oh
[49:35] Lord that thou will continue with us in coming days and forgive us for all our sins as we seek the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever more Amen