Stay Focused

You remember I was real discouraged and frustrated about some areas in my life where it felt like, rather than moving towards what God had intended for my life, it felt like I was moving away from it. And God really started to speak to me through this passage of scripture. But if it's any indication of how much the devil was fighting me these last few weeks as I was working on this sermon, I believe that I am on assignment today to release a word from God that will

catapult someone into their God given destiny and purpose. I am fired up, ready to speak with God's put in my heart to speak with you. But how fit, how fitting that they would allow a Canadian to preach to you on this holiday weekend. Yes, yes, yes, I know it's Independence Day, Happy Birthday America. But did you know that is also Canada Day. Yes, we're celebrating a birthday too. I like your shirt right there, mister Canada. Someone's like,

what's Canada? It's kind of our birthday too. But basically Canadians are going to just take Monday off to listen to the new Drake album. That's what we're all gonna do together. It's a good thing. But hey, since we're both celebrating, look at the person next to you, let's just make them blend them together, do a hybrid. Look at the person next to you and say happy Independence Day. Hey, that's right, that's right. Stay stand in for just a moment.

I want to jump into our scripture for today. We're gonna be looking at numbers, chapter thirteen, just to give you a little context before we look at our key verse. Moses has led the Israelites out from under Egyptian slavery, oppression and captivity. He's leading them somewhere, though, He's taking them on a journey into the promised Land. This is the same land that God had promised generations ago. To

their forefather Abraham. And after all that time in Egypt, they're finally on their way and they get to the edge of the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, and God gives Moses an instruction. He says, send twelve men, one leader from each tribe into the Promised land, and he sends them in to explore for forty days. So for forty days they are looking at the promise that God had given them so many generations before. And they come back to Moses after forty days, and they give

them a report on what they had seen. And this is where we're gonna pick up numbers thirteen, verse twenty seven. It says they gave Moses this account. We went into the land in which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey. Here is its fruit. It tells us earlier that they picked up a cluster of grapes that was so big that it took two men to carry a single cluster of grapes out, and represented

God's promises, God's provision. They lay that fruit in front and Jesus are in front of Moses and said, here's it's fruit. But the people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of a knack there. The Amalekites live in the Nagive, the Hittites chevy Sites and Amorites live in the hill country, and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan. Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, we should go up and take possession

of the land, for we can certainly do it. But the men who had gone up with them said, we can't attack those people. They're stronger than we are, and they spread amongst the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, the land we explored devours all those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephelin there. They were believed to be giants. These are some big people, they said. We seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes,

and we look the same to them. My sermon title for today's message is this, stay focused, and at any point during my message that the person next to you it looks like they're starting to doze off, or you catch them checking Instagram, you have my permission to nudge them in the side. Real hard right in the rib and give them my title again. Stay focused. In fact, why don't you practice right now at all our locations. As you take your seat, hit the person next to you,

tell them stay focused, hey, real quickly. For those of you at are Valentine location, this is gonna be old news because you probably see my boys running around the lobby. But for other locations and those of you joining us online, let me show you a picture of my family real quick. Here we are up on the screen. That's a servant dur in love week. I got two little boys. My oldest his name is Zion, he's three and a half. My youngest, his name is Elias, he just turned one.

And that's my wife Anna. We've been married for eight years now, just celebrated eight years of marriage. That's pretty good. She's my Georgia Peach. And as you're celebrating our anniversary, it brought to mind right after we got engaged, held the pastor who is marrying has set us down for pre marital counseling, and uh, I remember one unspecific session where he kind of cautioned us and he wanted to let us know that well, every couple will experience conflict

in their marriage. He he suspected that we would experience a little bit more than usual. And here's why me and Anna grew up very differently. We had very different experiences growing up. I'm from Toronto, Canada. I have a loud, big, obnoxious family. She's from rural Georgia. Her family's so sweet and proper. Our experiences were growing up were so different, and he just wanted to warn us that because of our different experiences, we just might have a tendency to

experience some conflict. He thought we would see things a little bit differently. Let me give you just a couple examples real quick. I was thinking about the first time we met each other's family, because it was a culture shock for both of us. The first time I visited Anata's family in rural Georgia, I met one of her friends who asked me if I wanted to go mud in mud In. I thought he met mudbath. I'm like, sure,

sometimes you just gotta treat yourself, you know. But no, no, no, mud in is intentionally driving your jeep through mud, trying to get your vehicle as dirty as you possibly can. I don't understand this, Chris. That was foreign to me. But Anna's first time visiting my family in Toronto wasn't easy either. I remember she got in on a late flight, so I picked her up from the airport brought her home to meet my family. It was her first time

meeting them. It was already late, so my parents had been in bed, and I remember when I walked her in the house and my dad came down the steps in his raggedy white boxer breeze. I remember how awkward she looked. I was like, Anna, this is my dad. Nice to meet you. And just to clarify, that is not a Canadian thing. That is strictly a Mark Joseph's thing. But it was hard for her. It was hard for her,

and so the counselor wanted us to know. The pastor said, hey, you might experience more conflict in your relationship, because it would make sense that you would see things so differently as you go throughout your marriage. He just wanted us to be mindful of it. And that made sense to me that two people with two different experiences would just come to different conclusions about things. That made perfect sense.

But what's always been interesting to me is how two people can experience the same thing and come to two very different conclusions. You can be looking at the same thing and come to a whole different set of beliefs. You know this when you go home at Thanksgiving. You're sitting around the Thanksgiving table and you think you're talking about the same issue, but somehow your uncle Carl comes up with some crazy theories and you're life, are we

even talking about the same thing here. We recently had this controversy around our office. It got bad, It got pretty heated. It was a particular issue where I knew my opinion represented the minority, but every time the issue would come up, I always felt like I had to say something. I couldn't keep my mouth shut and listen. As a Canadian, it goes against my nature to disagree with people, but I felt like I needed to stand

my ground on this one. And it got bad because people were like I had coworkers losing respect for me, and they're like questioning my salvation, like do you even you're God? Man? But I felt like it was such an important issue. I felt like I needed to speak my mind on it. And I don't want to cause division at any of our locations today. I don't want to create a problem for you Terry at the Uptown campus. But I feel like it needs to be said, the Greatest Showman was a really bad movie. It was a

really bad movie. No no, no, no, no no, it was a really bad movie. I walked out of the theater and I looked over and expecting her to be just as disappointed as me, and she was smiling. She was so happy. I was like, you loved it. She's like, I loved it. It was so good. I was like, Wolverine shouldn't be singing. Wolverine should be stabbing. That's why he should be doing. I didn't understand it, same version as everyone else. Two very different conclusions looking at the

same thing, two very different beliefs. That's what initially drew my attention to this passage in numbers thirteen. Because for forty days, spies, these twelve great men of faith, these twelve leaders from one from each of the tribe, they go into the Promised Land for forty days they're exploring. This place is amazing. Can you believe that God said He's gonna give this to us? Oh my goodness. Okay, okay, over there, I see, oh man, those looks like some

some cities over there some big walls. But oh my gosh, look at that. This place is flowing with milk and honey. No one knew what that meant, but it sounded awesome. Well, well what's that? Oh my, do you see that. That's a big deal. Oh no, that's just a campus safety volunteer. Okay, okay, oh no, no, no, no, whoa no, no, There really are some big people in this land. They look like giants. But whoa speaking a big Look at that. Look how big those grapes are touching your neighbors say, those are

big grapes. Those are massive. I can't wait to tell Moses about these grapes. In fact, rather than tell them about it, why don't we show them to them? And so two of them carry this cluster of grapes and pontomegranates and figs. They represent God's blessing and provision in the land, and they bring it back to Moses, and they set it down in front of them, and they begin to give their report. Ten of the spies come

to one conclusion. They start talking about the giants in the land, the armies, the walls that they would have to bring down, and two of the spies, Caleb, and the text would later tell us Joshua felt the same way. They had a whole different set of beliefs. They said, we can do it, we can take this place. God is with it with us. How is it that two people can be looking at the same thing and come to two different conclusions. I've come to believe in my life that what I believe is not a product of

what I see. It's a product of my focus. That's how two people can get the same diagnosis from the doctor and one of them be absolutely devastated, while the other person experiences hope and peace and strength and God

like never before in their life. That's why I've sat down with two different couples going through the same situation and once we're not gonna make it, We've got to give up, and the other says, no, no, no, We've got some battles to fight, but we can forgive each other and we can move on, and we believe God is with us and that God has something in store for us. It's a matter of your focus. Your focus. It's not that Joshua and Caleb were is more spiritual

than the others. All of these were leaders from each of the tribes. There were great men of faith, and maybe today you are standing on the edge of something God has been trying to bring you into. It might not look like canaan. It might look like peace, it might look like joy, it might look like freedom, it might look like healing. God is always trying to bring you into something, But so often we stand at the edge, never possessing what God has promised us because we lack focus.

And maybe you're here today and you've been so discouraged and you feel like everybody else is winning and everybody else is getting ahead, and you feel like, maybe I don't have faith. I want to encourage you today. It's not that you don't have faith. In fact, the Bible says that God has given us each a measure of faith. Jesus says that all you need is faith the size of a mustard seed to be able to speak to

these mountains and say move. If you have just a little bit of faith, he said, nothing would be impossible for you. It's not that you don't have faith. It just might be that you don't have focus. Even great people of faith have weak moments, and I think that's what happened to these tense spies in this passage forty days staring at the promise, and somewhere along the way

they lost their focus. But I really believe that the reason Joshua and Caleb were able to keep their focus was because they practice so much discipline throughout this whole process. And I want to look at three things today that Joshua and Caleb did so well that I think will help someone who's here today that God is calling you into something. This might be the message that gives you the faith either confidence faith in yourself or hope faith in God to move forward and what He's promised. And

the first thing is this focus. What you think When I was first started reading through this passage, I was judging these spies so hard. Man, I was judging them. I didn't understand how these ten men could spend forty days staring at grapes and pomegranates and figs after all this time in the desert. I would have thought they would have been so excited to be finally coming close to the promise God had given. I was judging them because I didn't understand how they were so preoccupied with

these giants. Why do you keep talking about the giants? Man? Giants? Sounded like Alan iverson practice giants. What you're talking about these giants for They come back and they give their report and they say, see, they give their report and they say, Moses, look at these grapes. But then they start going on about these giants and armies and the walls. And I'm judging them because I'm like, I just don't understand how they could miss the promises and be so

focused on the problems. And I thought about, I thought about getting up here to appreciate you and be like, if you just worry about devouring those grapes, God will devour your giants or something like that. Don't tweet that, but something like that. Judging these guys. But the more I read through number thirteen, the more I was able to get some context of what was going on in their lives. And the more I got context, the less I was judging them, and the more I was actually

able to relate to them. See. Context is a powerful thing, because context is the key to compassion. It's real easy to make snap judgments off of snapshots when you look at someone's life, they should have done this, or they should have done that. But if you can zoom out and get some contexts. Instead of judging them, you start having compassion on them. Look at your neighbors, say, if you knew my story, snop, come on, say it. If you knew my story, if you knew my story, you

wouldn't be judging me today. You'd be celebrating me today. If you knew what I had been through, if you knew what God had brought me through, how he kept me, how he saved me, you wouldn't be standing here judging me. You'd be celebrating me. You'd be thinking God for what he'd in my life. Yeah. I know, I got a waste to go, but by the grace of God, I'm

still standing here. Context is the key to compassion. And I'm reading through this passage and I started to see where things went wrong because at the beginning of numbers thirteen, God speaks to Moses and he gives them a simple instruction. See, you got to understand that Moses is, in an informal sense, Israel's first king, but he's very much so a prophet of mouthpiece to God, from God to the Israelites. God would speak to Moses and then he would relay that

message to the people. And so at the beginning of numbers thirteen, God gives him one specific instruction, take twelve spies, send him into the land to explore one thing. So Moses is writing down as to do list, to do explore the land. Got it a simple instruction? You see, God is always trying to bring us into things. But God is not the author of confusion. God always makes it real simple. We like to complicate our faith, but God often just gives us one next step. He keeps

things real simple for us. He gives them one thing, explore the land. Moses takes that list, and look at this in numbers thirteen eighteen. Now he's passing on that list to the twelve spies, and he takes the one thing that God put on the to do list, and he starts making things so complicated. Numbers thirteen eighteen. It says what he says, See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are stronger, weak, few or many? What kind of land do they live in?

Is it good as a bad? What are the towns like that they live in? Is it on wall they're fortified? How's the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in the land? Or not do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land. Moses starts complicating the very simple thing that God asks them to do. It's like when my wife sends me to the grocery store to pick up salsa, and along the way she starts texting me about diapers and bananas. Of course I forgot the salsa. I can only think about

one thing out a time. I'm a simple person, Moses complicates. It's the simple instruction that God gave them to pass on. The difference between God's lists and Moses's list is the difference between what dads have to think about when they go on vacation and what moms have to think about

when they're packing. Moms are like, I need clothes for myself and close for the kids, and towels for the beach, and toys for the beach and snacks for the car and a first eight kit, and dads are like bathing suit, toothbrush. Are you ready to go yet? It's not fair. Moses has them considering things that God never asked them to consider. No wonder they were talking about armies and walls and giants. Moses sent them into the land thinking about things that

God never asked them to think about. And what I've realized in my own life is that so often my self consciousness is a product of my failure to be God conscious. When I start thinking about things that God never asked me to think about, I start undermining the very confidence that I need to move forward into what He's called me to. We do what Moses did all the time. God gives us a simple instruction and we start adding all kinds of considerations. God speaks to you

and he puts it on your heart. He says, I want you to make church a priority because I want you to set a legacy of faith for your family. A simple thing, and we go, yes, God got it, make church a priority. And then we start adding all kinds of considerations. What's the weather like this week? And how's the parking lot going to be? Is pastor Stephen going to be there? Is it the Canadian guy again? How were the kids? Were they crazy or extra crazy?

God speaks to you through his word and he says, I need you to start trusting me with the tithe And remember, every time God gives you an instruction, it's not because he's trying to keep you from something He's always trying to bring you into something. Every good and perfect gift comes from God, so he puts it on your heart. I need you to start trusting me with the tithe and we go, yes, God, I got it. I'll do what you say. And then we start considering

all these other things. Did I get the promotion I wanted? What were the bills? Like? Do I have all this shoes? What kind of vacation do we want to take this year? What kind of school do we want to put the kids in? And we start considering things that God never asked us to think about. That's where the ten Spies

went wrong. They undermined the confidence that they needed. God was sending them into the land because he wanted them to bring back a report to be able to encourage the Israelite community about what God had in store for them, and instead Moses had them thinking about all kinds of things, giants and walls, and instead of encouraging the people, they discouraged the people because of what they were sent into the land, thinking about, so what do we do real? Practically?

We need to focus our thoughts because I think so many of us we have thoughts that end up dictating what we believe in the conclusions we come to, and we never stopped to ask the question where did this even come from? What would it look like if you took time to actually think about what you're thinking about. Look what Tewod Corinthians ten fives says at the end of it. Paul says, we take captive every thought and

make it obedient to Christ. In other words, he says, every thought that passes through my mind, I grab hold of it, and I make it to submit to what God has spoken over my life. If God hasn't said it, I don't need to think about it, because what I believe is not a product of what I see. It's a product of my focus. I need to focus what I think. But the second thing that I see. The two spies do so well in this passage, and this is number two. Focus what you hear, because look what

happens in the text. They come back from the land. They're giving their report to Moses, and they start talking at first about the promises that he had given them, and he says that they say this in verse twenty seven, it says, we went into the land in which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey, here is its fruit. But but, but, but but the people who live there now they're talking about the problems are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.

But look what Caleb does. In verse thirty, he says, shut up. He focused what he heard. He looked at them and said, I don't need to hear all that. It wasn't that Caleb wasn't aware of the giants and what was in the land. He knew about it. He had spent forty days looking at the same thing as they did. But he looked at him and said, I don't need to hear all that. Man. There are some things in my life that things I need to deal

with that I am very aware of. I don't need someone always coming in my ear just telling me about all the things that are wrong. I need people in my life who can speak God's promises over my life. Tell me what God's declared over my life. God said he would give us the slan. I don't need to hear about all these giants. You gotta focus what you hear. Man.

And we pollute our faith, we pollute our hearts, we pollute our spirits because we expose ourselves by what we hear these ten spies come back, and they're talking about grapes and promises at first, and then they're talking about giants and walls. But in the moment they start sounding like Sir mix a lot instead of men of faith talking about butts. Caleb has the fortitude to say, stop talking about that, man, I don't need to hear all that. Touch Your neighbors say, I don't need to hear all that.

See there are some of us in this place today that God has put some things on your heart. There are things that God has called you to. But the reason you haven't had the confidence to move forward is because there are still voices in your life that are talking you out of what God is calling you into. Dreams He's put in your heart, dreams he's put in

your spirit. And every time you get ready to believe him in, every time you get ready to take that step, there's someone in your ear saying, but but but but but but but but but but didn't the doctor tell you wouldn't be able to conceive again? But but but but but but but do you really want to put yourself through all that heartbreak again? After what you've been through? But but but, but do you really think you're qualified

for that job? And we let these voices talk us out of what God is calling us into because we lack focus. But you gotta become selective with your hearing. Man like my kid, It's amazing how he can hear me when he wants to hear me, and doesn't hear me when he doesn't want to. You gotta become selective in your hearing because your faith is a product of your focus. You gotta focus what you hear. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the

word of God. In other words, my faith is not determined by what I see. My faith is determined by what I hear. I gotta submit my life under the words that God has spoken over my life. I need friends who will stand in my corner and claire what God has said over my situation. God said, I belong to him. God said he I'm a child. God said no weapon formed against me would prosper and prevail. Hallelujah, Thank you God. I don't need people to talk me

out of the battle. I need friends who will come into battle with me declaring what God has spoken over my life. He said he would give it to me. Faith comes by what you hear. What you hear, what you hear. Encourage the person next to you. Look him dead in the eye at every campus, and with faith, look at him. Say God is with you. No, no, no, no no, say it with faith, God is with you. You can do it. I don't know what it is that God has calling you today, but God is with you,

and you can do it. I don't need to hear all that. I'm a friend and mine school who is so good at pointing out people's little mannerisms that they did things I would never notice. But he had a way of picking up on those little things you do, those little weird things you do. I remember one time he was like, hey, do you notice how this guy clears his throat between every other word? Hey man, how you do it? I never noticed it before, but once

he said it, it was all I could hear. And we wonder sometimes why we're so focused on the wrong things. It's because we haven't become selective enough in what we hear. I'm not saying you can't be friends with the person, but I had a friend the other day who started talking real negatively about something I care about. And it's not that I don't want to be friends with him anymore. I love the dude, but I just have to say

I don't need to hear all that. Some of you wonder why you're so anxious, and it's like, maybe it's because you're listening to the same news cycle every night at eleven o'clock. Maybe you need to change up the music you listen to, because faith comes through what you hear. So if it's not pure, if it's not true, if it's not excellent, if it's not praiseworthy, if it's not honorable, then I don't need to be hearing that kind of stuff. Man,

Caleb silenced the people. Number three. This is my last point. Focus what you say. There's a real difference between the way that Joshua and Caleb talked about their situation and the way the other ten Spies did. When I first started reading through this passage, I just assumed that those ten Spies were lying about what they saw. I could understand. Man, They'd already been through a lot. Maybe they just didn't want to go into another battle. Maybe they didn't feel

like fighting again. So maybe they thought, hey, if we just kind of exaggerate about what's in the land. Maybe we can talk them out of it. You know, we'll get there eventually, but we're just not up for it right now. I thought they were maybe making up what they saw, because Joshua and Caleb are saying, like, man, we are stronger than they are. God is with us. We should go up. We can certainly do it. And they're saying, these people are so big, we seem like

grasshoppers in their own eyes. Who's right who's wrong? In this situation? I thought one was telling them the truth and one was lying. But then I noticed a small detail in verse thirty two. Look at this, it says, and they spread amongst the Israelites a bad report. Did you catch that? A bad report? Not a false report, not a wrong report, a bad report. What they saw in the land was very much real. There were big walls, there were big cities, there were big people that they

would have to conquer. They weren't deceived in what they saw. They were deceived in what they said because they spoke about what they saw on the land, and then they started saying all kinds of crazy things, like, man, we are so small, we seem like grasshoppers. In their own eyes. Now, how could they know that? How do they know what they're thinking? They didn't know that. And often where the enemy will deceive us in our life is he'll have us looking out a very real situation but coming to

very false conclusions. And what you say is a reflection of what you believe. There's very little space between what you say and what you believe. And the more they started saying we're so small, we're so inferior, we can't do it, we can't take them. They're bigger, they're stronger, the more they started to believe that that's where the

enemy deceived them in what they said. And I am so guilty about this in my own life, where I can be looking at a very real situation, something that I have to deal with and something that I need to face, but I undermine the faith I need to do it by the words that I say. And it gets crazy sometimes. The other day we got into an argument, just a little argument. Don't worry about us, just a

little argument. We got into an argument. But I remember walking away saying to myself, like, I'll never be good enough for Anna, I'll never be the husband she deserves. I lost my patient with the boys picking him up from school the other day, and instead of just saying the easy thing to say, I'm sorry, you know what, I started saying to myself in the car. They're gonna grow up believing their dad's a hypocrite, and they're gonna hate God, and they're gonna hate Church, and they're gonna

hate me. Crazy conclusions, real simple situation. But we inject all these thoughts and we start saying things that contradict what God has spoken over our lives. I need to do something different. Yeah, I've got to deal with it. Yeah, I've got to address it and say sorry sometimes, but I need to declare over my life the truth of what God has spoken. I am a good husband, I am a good dad. See, there's someone today that you

are looking at a very real situation. But what God is calling you to do is change the way you talk about it. He wants to tell you to focus what you say and make sure every word that comes out of your mouth is in accordance with what He's spoken. Paul Rowe, he said, I believe, therefore I have spoken. What you say is a reflection of your beliefs. For some of you, you're looking at a very real sickness. But that doesn't mean you can't declare the truth over

your situation. I am healed by his stripes. I am healed, I am whole, I am redeemed. Yeah, you might have lost some years, but you can declare over your life that my God is a redeemer, that there is nothing too difficult for him, that my best days are ahead of me. Yeah, you made some mistakes, that's real, But you don't need to believe that God has done with you. He has more in store for you. He has plans

to prossper you, not to harm you. Sometimes you gotta look your situation right in the face and say, yeah, I know you're there. But what Mike, God has spoken is true. And if he said he would give me the land, he will give me the land. Talking about giant walls numbers fourteen eight, Joshua and Caleb speak up and they say, if the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into the land again. Talking about the blessings, they say, a land flowing with milk and honey,

and look at this. They repeat the promise that God initially gave to Moses, and even before that, gave to Abraham, and he will give it to us. Don't rebel against the Lord. Don't be afraid. We will devour them. See the ten spots kept saying, this land is gonna devour us. Surely God's brought us out here to die. We can't defeat them. We're so small in their eyes. But Joshua and Caleb, they focus what they said. They kept repeating the promise that God had said he will give us

this land. There's some things we're gonna have to fight, There's some battles that we're gonna have to go through. But if God said he'd give it to us, then I believe that he'll give it to us. Stand to your feet at all your other locations. I'm want to close this thing down. See what you believe is not a product of what you see. For forty days, they were all looking at the same thing and yet came to very different conclusions. Because what you believe is a

product of your focus. You got to focus what you think, focus what you hear, and focus what you say. Because what you believe is not a product of what you see. But get this, the way God works, what you believe will determine what you see. For the ten Spies who believe that they couldn't defeat them, who believe that they would die in the wilderness, who believe that God couldn't

do it through them. For the tense Spies and the entire generation of Israelites who believe their bad report, they would never step foot into that promised Land again, because what you believe determines what you see. But for Joshua and Caleb, the ones who have the courage, the confidence, the focus to believe God for what he had spoken,

because they believe God, they would see that promised Land again. Yeah, it would take some time, and yeah there would be some fights, but they would have the opportunity to lead the next generation of God's people into the promise. Because what you believe determines what you see. And there's someone here today under the sound of my voice. You've lost your focus. You've let too many voices talk you out

of what God was calling you into. You've been considering things, getting all insecure, thinking about things that God didn't ask you to think about, and you've been saying some crazy things. Yeah they're based on what you see, but they don't align with what God has spoken over your life. You need to focus what you say. I believe that God is bringing you into something today. You're on the edge of a breakthrough. You're on the edge of a miracle,

You're on the edge of a blessing. Don't lose your focus now, because what you believe will determine what you'll see. And if you would believe God for it, then by His grace, you will see it. I don't know who this message was for, but it's for someone who was giving up, someone who felt so frustrated that they were on the edge of something God had put in your heart so long ago. Now it's time to possess what

God has promised. Focus, focus in his presence today, right now, I want to actually give a very specific invitation for someone under the sound of my voice. Maybe you're in Ashville, Maybe and you're in Morrisville, maybe you're in Raleigh. You've never made a decision to make Jesus Christ your Lord and savior. You've seen his grace, He's been in your life the whole time. You've experienced his goodness and his mercy,

but you've never surrendered your life to him. It is possible that you could have been looking at your savior your hope all along and completely missed it. When Jesus hung on the cross with a crown of thorns and blood running down his face as he poured out his blood for our forgiveness, there was a thief on either side. Two people looking at the same promise, the same promise, one the same savior of the world. Two people looking at the same promise, but came to two very different conclusions.

One thief on the side of Jesus looked at him and said, if you're really the son of God, he didn't have the faith to believe, and because he didn't believe, he wouldn't see Jesus again. But on the other side of Jesus was a thief who deserved to be on that cross. But he looked at Jesus and said, I want to be with you in paradise. I believe in you. I believe you're the savior of the world. And because he believed, Jesus says, you will be with me today.

God not only wants to spend eternity with you, but God wants to come into your life right now. God is with you in this moment. Don't miss him, render your life to him. Choose to believe it. That's you today. This is your moment, your moment of salvation, your moment of faith. I want to lead you in a prayer right now to surrender your life to Christ, to receive the promise of his grace and his forgiveness. With heads bowed and eyes closed, all over this place, pray with me.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the savior of the world. I believe he died and rose again to forgive my sin and give me life. I receive your grace by faith. Come into my life, made me new. I'll follow you with head still bowed and eyes still close at every location. If you just prayed that prayer. When I count to three, boldly shoot your hand up in the air. Do it courageously. Man, we want to celebrate what God's done in your life.

On three, one, two, three, shoots your hand up. Don't hesitate. Come on across all the locations. Let's celebrate the miracles, a new beginning. And Jesus said, come on, lift their voices, give God praising this play. He's so faithful his promise, still saying well. I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. If you did. There are just a couple of things I'd love for you to do. Number one, subscribe to

our show. That way, the most recent episode will always be in your feed, waiting for you ready when you are. And Secondly, if this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to help us continue to reach others, you can click the link in the description and you can give now and I'll see you next time on the Elevation podcast.