Pastor Fernie's Desk

Numbers 13:17-20

¹⁷ When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. ¹⁸ See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? ²⁰ How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

Numbers 13:26-33

26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”30 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.”31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

• Our text gives us an entire LESSON on what Attitude can do for you or what Attitude won’t do for you.

• This text shows us two groups of people;

1. Positive People
2. Negative People

• People that are successful do not have fewer challenges than those who do not succeed. In fact, they may both be facing the same challenges.

• THE DIFFERENCE? – They RESPOND to difficulties differently. Why? Because the SEE them differently!

• Joshua and Caleb saw their challenges differently from the rest of the LEADERS that were sent out to EXPLORE the land of Canaan.

• Moses sent out LEADERS to a VISION TEST. (“Explore” the Land)

• Do you think that God doesn’t know what a situation looks like? Of course he does. He wants to see if WE KNOW what it looks like.

• Our problem is that WE SEE THINGS, NOT AS THEY ARE BUT AS WE ARE.

Quote:

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies WITHIN US”.

THE FIVE “BIG” CHALLENGES THAT PEOPLE FACE

1.    DISCOURAGEMENT

There are two kinds of people in the world:

A.   Splatters – They hit rock bottom, fall apart and stick to the bottom like super glue.

B.   Bouncers – they hit rock bottom, pull themselves back together and bounce right back up again.

Question: Are you going to GIVE UP or GET UP?

2.    PROBLEMS

• Everyone has problems; Bill gates, Donald Trump and even the Apple Corporation has problems.

3.    CHANGE

• This is what was happening in our text. Moses CALLED FOR CHANGE!

• All the existing leaders that were LUKEWARM didn’t want to EMBRACE CHANGE.

• They were so out of shape that the minute they saw CHALLENGE in the EXPLORATION they immediately PROFESS defeat.

4.    FEAR

Destructive Effects of Fear

A.   Fear breeds more Fear.

B.   Fear causes Inaction.

C.    Fear causes Distraction.

Quote;

“I’ve been through some terrible things in my life, a few of which actually happened”.

5.    FAILURE

Quote;

“A man is defeated not by his opponents, but by himself”

• Out of all the leaders that MOSES sent out to a VISON TEST, only two of them passed the EYE EXAM!

• Why was that? – ATTITUDE!

• Some things in life are beyond your control, some things are within your control. In other words; “THE GREATEST DIFFERENCE MAKER IN YOUR LIFE LIES WITHIN YOU – NOT OTHERS = YOUR ATTITUDE!

• You got to start “LUVIN YOUR ATTITUDE”!

• When I say Luvin your Attitude, I don’t necessarily mean to love what you have now, but to add love to it to make it a better thing in your life. (I.E. “Luvin your garden, Luving your yard, etc.)

“WHEN YOU LOVE YOUR ATTITUDE, AMAZING THINGS HAPPEN”

1.    THERE’S A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR APPROACH TO LIFE.

2.    THERE’S A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE.

3.    THERE’S A DIFFERENCE IN HOW YOU FACE CHALLENGES.

Demosthenes, He was called the greatest orator of ancient Greece. He the worst speech impediment ever. He overcame it by reciting verses with pebbles in his mouth and speaking over the roar of the waves at the seashore.

Martin Luther, If you’ve studied Church History; you know him as the father of the Reformation. He made use of the time he was confined in the castle of Wartburg to translate the Bible into German.

Beethoven, He wrote his greatest symphonic masterpieces after he had become deaf.

- Chuck Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than money, education, circumstances, failures, successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company.. a church.. a home.

We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…

… WE ARE IN CHARGE OF OUR ATTIUDES”.