Claim Your Mountain! Joshua
14:1-10
This is the final week of
“The Me I Want to Be.” Week one we talked about how we are called to shine like
starts, to put away false versions of ourselves and be who God has called us to
be. Week 2: Renew your mind.—becoming Phil. 4 people. Week 3: Renew your
time—getting serious about our priorities to make the most of the time God has
given us. Week 4: Deepening my relationships—we are molded by who we associate
with and our part is a vitally important part of God’s overall quilt of
existence. Today we finish up with a challenge for you to claim your mountain!
How was Caleb, at 85 years
old, able to still have the urgency to claim his mountain? He had three
characteristics that we need to nurture in our own lives if we want to claim
out mountain: wait, want, and will.
WAIT: Long-term faithfulness. He waited 45 years to stake
his claim:
o
Wandered the desert for
40 years until a generation died off.
o
Sometimes something has
to die before you can move forward.
o
What is it in your life
that you need to release so you can grasp what God wants for your life?
o
Let me give you a tough
but true biblical truth: God does more great things over 40 years than he does
over 40 days. God more often rewards the determined than the distracted.
o
Waiting is God’s proving
ground, and its tough. I don’t even like to wait at the grocery story, but no
matter what the Cauley Curse activates.
o
At 85 he said, “I am
still as vigorous as I was when God sent me out.”
o
Once you have served God
faithfully He will put in your heart the…
WANT: Long-term focus. I don’t know if he could see the
mountain during the 40 years of desert time, but I’m sure that occasionally
they would walk in the shadow of his promise, and when it did it caused him to
become more focused on God’s promise.
o
One of the great
struggles of our culture is that we want everything now. Instant gratification
is an addiction.
o
If we are not careful we
sacrifice what we want most for what we want now.
o
When we get our eyes off
of God’s best for our lives, if we isolate and insulate ourselves we give
temptation power over us.
o
One of the reasons we
encourage gathering in worship and in Connection Groups is that it allows us to
have people around us to remind us not to give up wanting God’s best for our
lives.
o
If you practice the
wait, experience the want, then pray God will give you the…
WILL: Long-term fearlessness…God is able. Even at 85 Caleb
did not choose the easy path, he chose the challenging one.
o
Retirement is not a
biblical concept. Before the 1960s with the onset of Social Security, it was
virtually unheard of.
o
We say it around here
all the time, if you are not dead, you are not done.
o
“If God be for us, who can be against
us?” Romans 8:32
o
What are you afraid of?
One speaker said that fear is vision without hope.
o
What you fear, or who
you fear has power over you.
o
What you fear, or who
you fear becomes a god, it controls your life, your actions. It causes you to
have a fight, fright, or flight reaction.
o
Fear is why the people
of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years. They forgot that they serve a
God who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, more than they can ask or think.
Ephesians 6:12b-13—“take
your stand against the devils schemes. For our trouble is not against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
realms.”
o
What would you do for
God if you knew you could not fail?
How do you know if it is your mountain?
It moves you. When
you talk about it, think about it, consider it, you feel a tug at your heart,
your eyes may get teary.
It motivates you. It
is something that you will get up early for and stay up late for. When you are
working on it, time flies.
It matters to you.
You can tell it matters because it begins to impact how you manage the two most
important “books” of your life, your checkbook and your date book.
