boy god sure has been good to us that's what we ought to have in our heart i want to thank him i want to praise him everything give thanks and uh... i can say for sure god sure has been good to me and uh... i got a lot to be thankful for a lot of catching up to do probably on being thankful as well and uh... so i think we I've had a good morning of singing, good devotion time, I trust a good Sunday school hour. So turn, if you would, with me just some things I want to give you from Deuteronomy. You turn there with me, we come across this word in Hebrews, as we're working through Hebrews, talking about Christ being the surety of the better testament and the covenant and all those things. And then we've been dealing, if you've been here on Wednesday nights, we've gone through and talked some about the land that God had intended to take his people to. And, So as I said, and I kind of thought about Lord, you know, I don't just, I don't just, you know, I want to go through books just cause, you know, I got nothing better to do. You know, I feel like that's the way we ought to preach. But I don't ever want to stick to that also, like not be able to adjust. And so I always pray and ask God, you know, God, you want something else? I mean, I'll preach something else, you know. So we've taken a few detours along the way and adds to our time spent in some of these books. And so today might be a little bit of that, but it kind of does, the burn of my heart, it kind of does mix here, kind of a little bit with the land thought that we've been thinking a lot about. Most of us have had some experience with the spiritual, spirit-filled life, I think to some degree. Maybe some have not really availed themselves of all that God has provided for them so that they could live. victorious Christian life that God has intended for all of his children to live in, that's where God wants all of us to be. He wants all of us to be joyful and all of us to be victorious and all of us to have an abundant life and that's where the abundant life is. The abundant life is in the will of God, where God wants you to be and the abundant life is in him. So, Deuteronomy chapter number seven, I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna start out, I don't do titles much, you know I don't do that, but it does help, I like to have them when I can. But if I had to give a title this morning, I would say, know this on the journey to Canaan. As Moses, the man of God here, is speaking to the people of God, he wants them to know some things. And I get that from chapter seven, verse number nine, know therefore. So evidently whether you're, whether we've been What my message is to you this morning, no matter where you may be, if maybe you've never been in that place, maybe you've never even been saved, and you'll find some help this morning, I think. If you have been saved and maybe you've just never really grown in the Lord, and I believe there's a lot of people like this in our day, and they've never understood what really the Christian life is, I think they have a very, and to whose fault, I don't know, but maybe a very shallow understanding of what God intended for them. God wants more for you than to just save you from hell and wrath to come. That is what he wants for all of us. And for this cause came I into this world. I believe that. And God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repent. And so I'm not making light of that, but that's not all God wants for all of us. He doesn't just want you to miss hell. He wants you to be with him forever. And part of that's missing hell. Thank God, but there's more to the Christian life and the life lived down here for God and for His glory and all that God has in store for us than just the kind of the shallow understanding, I think, that maybe some, not even here, but maybe that listens somewhere down the road or online or something. But most of us know and understand God has a will for all of our lives. When He saves us, He is the Lord of our lives. We're gonna see that here in just a minute as well. So, we know evidently one of the first things that Moses begins to deal with, whether you are headed to that land, which is the group we're dealing with now. They've been brought out of Egypt and they're headed to a land that God wanted to take them, right? He didn't wanna just deliver them from, but to somewhere, right? So they're headed there. God's gonna take them there. And whether that's you or whether I think that many of us maybe this morning may be more familiar with. Maybe we've been there and maybe God's judgment has allowed things in our life to put us out in the desert that we might long to get back and get right with God, you know. And I think either group that my audience that I am intending to preach to this morning is that group that is headed to that land. Now, I can't really help you if you're enjoying Moab. You had no intention to go back and you have no intentions of being in this. That's not really who my heart is for. My heart is for those, whether initially or later down in their Christian life, they have a longing in their heart to get back to Jerusalem, to get back to the land that God had promised them. And if that's you, I wanna give you some thoughts on your journey to Canaan, okay? So there's a lot that preachers can preach and a lot that can be said about the journey on to Canaan, but a lot of things that get left out are the most crucial things that are dealt with initially by Moses, and that is the battle of the mind. He's gonna talk greatly about a lot of enemies that you're gonna face when you get into the land. They're going to be big. They're going to be scary. They're going to worry you. You're going to fear. You're going to doubt. You're going to have all kinds of... There's actual enemies you're going to face. There's going to be temptations that you're going to be presented with. And that you don't need to be involved in sin and things you're going to battle with. But on your journey back, as you turn yourself towards that land and start headed that way, first off, you better be fully prepared in your mind. So that's kind of the burden of my heart this morning, is to help our minds as we journey to this land. I think most of you know the way that we believe that spiritual land, I just want to say it again, I'm not talking about this being heaven, okay? I'm talking about this being the spirit-filled life. There's no enemies to battle in heaven. There'll be no sorrow in heaven. There'll be nobody kicked out of heaven. Nobody judged to Babylon. Nobody taken over by the Assyrians when you get to heaven. This represents the perfect will of God for all of us to walk worthy of the Lord and to please Him in all that we do in that Spirit-filled life where we are emptied of ourselves and we are full of God, not fulfilling the lust thereof, walking in the Spirit, the spiritual life. So I just wanna make sure we all are on the same page. So let's begin our reading in Deuteronomy chapter number seven. Now, I'm not gonna say there's not been, can I give you a little something for this totally, this is a total rabbit and I don't wanna chase it, but I want you to chase it when you get home. If you've got kids, don't be afraid to be intimately involved with their decision on who to marry, okay? I think a lot of us feel like, well, I don't want you to feel, I don't want my kids to think I'm trying to control their life. You know what God said? Control their life. That's what God said. He said, do not let your sons and your daughters marry a bunch of Gentile dogs that don't love God. That's what he said. Do not make an arrangement for that. Do not be involved with that. Do not allow your children to marry people that do not believe God. Don't be intermarried, right? And it's okay for us as parents to be very involved with that decision in your life. And just because the world says you're 18 and decide what you can do, they're right, legally, they can't, you know, we can't legally stop you, whatever. But that doesn't mean that that's right. You can legally drink a beer when you're 21, doesn't make it right. You can smoke a cigarette when you're 18, doesn't make it right. Some people can still drive cars at 105, doesn't mean they should be. Right? So, don't be afraid, don't let the enemy try to say, well, this is none of my business, they need to make, it's every bit of your business. God said it was your business, right? Now, I'm not for a lot of this other stuff, you know, I do believe, so let's not chase the rabbit, okay? You all know how I believe. But I'm tired of the enemy trying to throw us around like we don't need to be involved. Parents, we ought to be very involved. And we shouldn't feel bad about that. God has instructed us and entrusted us with our children, and he wants to see these things go on. And he said, if you allow your children to marry people who don't have a heart for God, you know what's gonna happen to them? Look down, neither in verse three, they shall make marriages with them. Thy daughter, thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me. He said, don't let it happen. All right, let's not chase that now, let's go on. All right, our message is the battle of the mind, thoughts on our journey to Canaan. Chapter seven, verse number six. How about we start there? For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. Now, if you followed this story even up until now and on beyond it, they sure don't seem like a holy people to me. But what is being said here is that is God's purpose and plan and intention for the life of the redeemed people that he has just brought out of Egypt. He has chosen you to be a holy people. That's no different in 2025. The grace of God is appearing to all men, right? And it's also teaching us, and I am God and this is the world we live in, we should live the same way around. Same thing today. God has chosen us a peculiar people and said, be holy as I am holy. God wants a holy people, right? Now we can take it a step further. God has made us holy. and declaration, judicially. But that's not what we're talking about. The expectation practically is God wants us to be a holy people. We got no business involving ourselves with idols, got no business involving ourselves with how are we that are dead to sin should we live any longer therein, right? God's intention for saved people is for them to be a holy people. And you know what? If you don't want to be holy, I don't know what land you think you're going to, but you're not headed to Canaan because that's a holy land. Right? Read your Bible. That's a holy land. You know what they call it? Journeys to the holy land. They call it the holy land. You know why they call it that? Because that's what God said it is. And when people sinned there and defiled a holy land, they got booted out. Right? So if you don't want to be holy, message ain't going to help you this morning. If you don't want to renounce sin, if you don't want to turn from idols, if you don't want to live a pure and holy consecrated life for God, the Spirit-filled life will not be for you. Right? He said, thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. You know what makes me think that that saying there? I may not be holy to you, but unto my Father, You know what his expectation is, his thoughts of me are? They're a holy people, right? Kids don't get mad at your parents when they have expectations set out for you and you don't walk in that. I expected you to have enough sense not to marry a Gentile. Right, so you shouldn't, I think some things, you think some people have some common sense. They have expectations that they've raised you in the fear of God and they expect you to walk in that. Do something with the life you've been given. They expect you to be holy because they've done their best to try to keep you holy and raise you in a holy manner. And the expectation is for you to keep the fight going and raise your children and their sons and their sons to live holy, right? I don't know where this idea of Christianity is that it's just this matter of skipping hell and living loose. They didn't come from the Bible. God wants his people to live holy. He's made you holy and he wants you to live holy because he's holy. You've got a holy spirit, a holy book, and a holy God, and a holy heaven to go to. Be holy. And he said, the Lord thy God have chosen thee to be a special people unto himself. I'm sorry, mom and dad, we just tired of feeling so awkward. You know, so-and-so does it at class and they do it and this one does it. I'm sorry, you're not like everybody else. And if you got problems with that, you might be. That may be what's wrong with your heart. You're of the world and the world receives its own. But God's people are a special people. We can, how many of you have even tried to fit in? You can't even fit there anymore. The world doesn't want you, you're not like them. You're special, you're different, you're peculiar. Zealous of good works is the kind of people we're supposed to be, right? So, remember we're going to a land and this land, you're gonna be different. You're gonna be mobbed, you're gonna be ridiculed, you're not gonna be like everybody else. This is a special land for a special group of people. I kinda like that word. Special. I've had it used about me before, but not in the same way, Chris. When God said about you, said you're special. That's kinda nice, isn't it? You know what that means to God? You are unique. You're not the average Joe, the average Adam. You're special to him. He's redeemed you by his blood. You're special. You're chosen, you're beloved of the Lord. So that ought to make you feel good. Isn't it good to be special to God? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. But I'm more special than that. Because I loved him, he loves me. Talking about Christ. We love him because he loved us. So let's encourage ourselves in this thought right here. God delivered them out of Egypt. He heard their cry from the cruel taskmaster. He didn't have to. And heard their cry, sent a deliverer. Moses delivered them, the man of God, and delivered them. And now he's got a plan for them. He's got a path laid out for their life. When you come out of Egypt, you don't have plans. Nobody was piping up with what the rap thought that they might go. The destroyer was on their heels. They were just following God's deliverer. And when you and I come out of Egypt, we, now, before long, they start getting murmuring and complaining. But at first, you know what they were doing? They were just following the man in front of them that was following the man in front of them. You know what we've been doing for years? You've been following James Jones, who was following a man who followed God, right? But the deliverer was at the, he was delivering us at the head of this thing, right? He's led us out of Egypt and he's taken us somewhere. And we're just following him. And when we first get saved, that's so simple. You're just so glad the stench of hell is off your clothes. You're just following Jesus. You're not thinking about what you're eating. You're not thinking about manna. You're not thinking about what you're drinking. You're not thinking about the temperature in the desert. You're not thinking about the sun. You're not thinking about nothing. You're just glad to get as far away from hell as you can get. Something happens to us along the way. It's like, this isn't good enough, and I deserve better, and I should have just stayed where I was. Some people think that maybe had it better in Egypt and some had it worse. Maybe some had higher positions and it suffers back. But thank God, there wasn't probably too long and to go back in the hearts of those that were working in them, working under that whip, you know. Hey, that's forgiveth much, loveth much see. But still they all had the responsibility to follow the deliver, get out of that land and head to a land. God wasn't just getting you out of the land. He's taking you somewhere. There's a journey that you're on now. So he said, you're a special people unto himself. I don't know what everybody else thinks about you, but if you're saved, I know what God thinks about you. Isn't that good? I don't know what to, you know, you young people struggle with that. I don't know how I'm perceived in the group or at school or at church or how I'm, well, I don't know. There's a lot of faults in you. Listen, you'll create a lot of things about yourself that aren't even so. Well, nobody even likes me over there. You'll get that in your head and there's nothing further from the truth. Everybody probably loves you more than they love everybody. It's crazy how our minds, but they do that to us. But you know what would help us sometimes in casting those imaginations down? Well, I don't know what they think about me, but I sure am glad I know what God thinks about me. I'm a special person. Now, I've said that about my boys before too, but I didn't mean that. So, here you go now. Okay, watch this. above all people that are upon the face of the earth. Now, God loves all the people on this earth. Now, let's be careful now in how we mean that, but I can say that in a general sense, God so loved the world. It's what the Bible said. So, but unto you and me, we're special, right? And we ought to be able to encourage ourselves in that. I don't, listen, a special person, you know what bothers me when I see people that have been raised for God and they've gone to church in our groups and they've been raised right alongside where you've been raised, they've been raised in the same thing, been taught the same stuff under the same man and you see them and a life separated out for them to give them a life for God. and try to keep the dogs of sin off their heels and try to just give them a life of peace and joy, and then to just watch a person that's meant for something special just wallow in mud like a pig. That's not what you were intended for. You know what happened to the prodigal son? He came to himself and he thought, what am I doing here? I don't belong here. That's what happens to a saved man when he gets out of Canaan. When he's in Assyria, whether he's in Babylon, I don't care whether he's been pushed out by Rome. I don't care where he's at in life. If he's not in Canaan, he feels like a foreigner and a stranger. He doesn't belong where he's at. I've never felt at home anywhere. On Sunday morning, when the church is meeting and worshiping God, you know where I belong. I belong with God's church. I don't feel comfortable. I don't feel like I belong at home even. I'm not where I'm supposed to be. God, I'm a peculiar, special person, holy unto the Lord, and I belong where he told me to be, in his will. and I'm not at home anywhere else. So I want to encourage you. I don't get all the other thoughts out of your mind. If you're not in Canaan, you're not where God wants you to be, period. Well, I feel like I'm doing all right. I'm not sinning all that much, but I'm just kind of hanging in there. No, you're not. You're soon to hang out. It's coming, you don't think it's coming, that's why it's gonna happen to you. Right? Well, I just get tired of all the fighting and all that. Well, I'm sorry that you do. Take it up with him that chose you to be a soldier. He didn't choose you to be a bent rider. He didn't choose you to be a complainer. He chose you to be a soldier and fight in battles. And if you don't like that, try quitting. See if he'll let you. I'm serious about this matter. This ain't a joke to me. This ain't just like, I'm not here for political reasons to try to further my business ventures. Right? This is serious to me. I feel like if I backed up or quit, God'd kill me for long. Because he chose me to be a soldier. That's what he called me to do. I better get to soldiering. Your boy brother Jones wrote a good book on that. It'd be good to read it. Soldier it. Now, well we gotta get to the first point. All right, so here we go. We're gonna deal with the mind now. He said now, or my message now, remember, is thoughts as we journey to Cana. What are our thoughts? What's the first step? Well, I think we've kind of got there. The first step is knowing that's where you belong. The diet of Egypt isn't yours. You'll eat what God puts in your mouth. You know why? Because you're happy you ain't in Egypt. Yeah, the food might have been pretty good, but it was going to kill all of us before it was over with. Taco Bell's pretty good, but it's going to kill your pastor before it's over with. Right? The world's pleasure and sin for a season sure is good. And when it finishes, it's deadly to you. There's a deadly poison. It don't kill you all at once. It's just little by little and it's building up like arsenic in your system. It's gonna kill you in time, right? So here's our, let me try to stick to this. Let me skip to verse nine, and then we're gonna go back and catch verse seven and eight, okay? I want you to read verse nine with me. So, remember our thoughts about knowing this on our way. What do I need to be thinking on? Well, what do I need to do, okay? First off, I need to realize that's where I belong. I need to repent, right? And I need to start heading in that direction, okay? All right, that's all good. But I promise you, before you even get turned around, you're gonna face opposition. If you even intend to go that way, there's opposition. The enemy didn't care to let thousands of his soldiers die in pursuit, in a pointless pursuit that he knew he would never capture them. I'm talking about the real enemy. I'm talking about Pharaoh's father. You don't think he didn't know? I wonder how much he knew through which seed was. Anyway, so, so, There'll be no expense spared to keep you out of Canaan. Have we not seen seven nations that started and there's seven nations now trying to run that little Jew out of that land. They bother nobody there. I can't remember the last time I've seen a Jew drive an airplane into a building in New York. Can't remember the last time they strapped a bomb to themselves and blew a bunch of kids up. As far as I know, they just stay in their land, do their own thing. What is it about that? I don't know, but the enemy despises it. He hates them, and he hates us, and he doesn't want anymore for us to be where we're supposed to be, as he wants that Jew to physically be where he's supposed to be. You will face opposition. Jesus said it before he left. In this world, you shall have tribulation, but be of good comfort, or cheer, maybe. I have overcome the world. All right, now what's gonna happen? Well, I'm gonna tell you what you better first do. If you start walking before you prepared your mind, I'm worried that you're gonna faint in your mind when your feet are still moving. See, he said there was a danger in the New Testament about people growing weary and fainting in their mind. I believe there's people that still go to church that quit in their mind. Their feet still take them to church, but they've grown weary and they fainted. Now, eventually their feet will fail them too and they will quit going. You mark my words. But don't let your feet fool you into thinking you're in the will of God. So, All right, I've got to get my mind, my heart, all this has got to be right. Okay, so I'm going to face battles. Where's the first battle? Well, if I was going to oppose you, I'd want to do it and not have to, not expend a lot of forces to do so. If I could sow a seed of doubt in your mind without having to, you know, send a legion of enemy against you, I'd rather just sowed a little seed of doubt in your mind, right? I mean, some of this to me, the warfare is as practical as real warfare. And so I think the easiest way to stop a man on his journey to Canaan, I know people that have jumped on an altar and intended to go to Canaan, but they never got their mind and heart right. And so they think I'm gonna put my foot and go that way, I'm gonna put a tie on when I get to church now, I'm gonna put a suit on, my kids are gonna dress right. That's all well and good, but if you don't have your heart and your mind ready, you ain't gonna make it. I'm telling you, you'll fail before you ever get there. You try to go where God wants you to go, if you're not prepared, you have immediately drawn attention to yourself from the enemy and the forces that oppose you, you are not prepared to handle. And if you're not walking with God and God's not with you, you ain't gonna make it. So, I wanna say this, there's a long, there's a dry, long, dry desert between you and where you wanna go. You know, I don't know how much of it God test us in those times. Come on now, don't tell me he didn't do that. He just admitted to them and told them that God tried their hearts when he brought them out to see whether they would obey him or no. So I just wonder, a lot of people want out of Egypt, I'm not sure how much they wanna get to Cana. We're gonna see how much you wanna get there when they start costing you. You really wanna be in God's will? People are gonna turn on you. They're gonna say you're trying to be better than everybody, that you just think you're whatever and you're trying to be super sane or whatever. They're gonna attack you. and things you try to do right, he's gonna get in their mind because their mind's not prepared for war. And he's gonna convince them that you're against them, that you said what you said, they're gonna turn on you, you have no idea why. Because their hearts and minds aren't prepared, their minds are just gonna be taken captive, they're gonna believe things you would have never thought they'd have believed. They'll be marching in the street, please steal more of my money. That's how stupid they'll be. I had to take a little jab there. So, all right, so he said, know this, read my verse. So he said, know this, we're gonna take too much time. He said, know this now, all right? Verse number nine, know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God. I wanna give you my outline, I just got 10 minutes. I wanna give you this outline, cause I don't think God will let me come back here tonight. This is just what's burning in my heart. Preacher, I don't wanna get back in that land more than anything. If you've ever been in Canaan, nothing else satisfies you. I mean, they thought the leech and the garlic was good, wait till they got them grapes this big around. Wait till they got there and the land was flowing with milk and honey. Those people never again longed to go back and have garlic and leave back in Egypt. Cause they tasted of the waters that flow out of Jerusalem. They tasted of Jordan. They tasted of those pure waters. They didn't want to go back. They wanted to get back. Sometimes God wouldn't let them go back. They went too far. But there was a longing in their heart. You put them in Babylon, whether they got caught up in it or not, they knew where the good water was. They knew where the milk was. They knew where there was honey that tasted no better than anywhere else. The honey's only as good as the flowers in the land that grows where the bees are getting the pollen. The flowers ain't too good in Babylon, but there's the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley in Canaan land. The honey there is like no honey ever, ever found anywhere else on the face of the earth. I've eaten and drank it of the waters of God before and there's no other food like it. There's no songs that'll satisfy you like this. There's no words that are sweeter to your ears than the words you hear in Canaan. There's no words for us out here. There's nothing for us out here, fellas, ladies. You and I have had it. We've had the drinks of the world. I've had their herbs and their dreams, and they leave so much unsatisfied. They lead to so much destruction and misery. I've never, I've never tasted one time the honey and the milk flowing of God. I never thought, man, I wish I hadn't have done that. I've dreaded going to meetings before and left there going, God, how in the world did I ever regret not wanting to go up there? I've come to church and sat through services. I thought I was about to die. They used to dry my tit. I was preaching them. I was the one drying dead, I ain't poking at nobody. Only to get home and God still tell me he loved me, tell me to get up and keep fighting and keep going. I guarantee you the devil won't tell you that. No sweeter words that you'll ever find, no sweeter fragrances and those fragrances you smell down in Canaan land. The world's cotton milk, but it ain't like Canaan's got it. You know how Canaan's land is? It flows free. Why labor you for meat that can't satisfy? He said you could come buy this milk with no price. There's no price on it. Just come you to the waters. All you gotta do is go. I can't get there preacher. I've tried, don't you tell me that. All you gotta do is go. God said it was free. I can't get there. No, you can't get there. You couldn't get there any more than you got out. But I know one who wants you to get there and who can take you there. Oh yeah, he's the same one that delivered you with a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm. The same one that overcame Pharaoh, that overcame all of his magicians and brought you out with pity and mercy and a strong hand. That same God can lead you to where you need to go. And so, I want you to know, and what you gotta have in your mind, you gotta have what the devotion was this morning. You might stumble a little bit on the way, but I tell you what I'd do, I'd set my face towards Cana, and I'd say, if I fall seven times on the way, I mean to get there. Someday, somehow. See, that's not a heaven song. I know how I'm gonna get there. For by mercy, by grace, I know how I'm getting there. For the Lord himself shall descend out of heaven with a shout. I know how I'm getting there. But I tell you, there's a land I wanna get to someday somehow. I wanna get back into a land that flows milk and honey. I wanna fight from a victorious position. I feel like I'm just fighting a losing battle all the time because you are. You're fighting for things that don't matter. You're battling to keep a home that you built centered around Moab. God's not fighting that battle. You're gonna have to get on board with him. Adrian Rogers shared to some of them, preached a great message, shared it with some of the young men. God will not be used. We try to use God, don't we? God, I've got a nice little place down here at Moab, though. I said, get to Canaan. But God, there ain't nothing wrong with this. Ain't nothing hurting nobody. It's not about who it's hurting and who it's not. It's not about what your desires are of your life, what you think is right. It only matters what the sayeth the Lord. And he's commanded us all to be filled. So, oh man, brother, this is just on my heart. If I could just help anybody. I watch people just battle in their mind. And they're already defeated and they're not defeated. How do we get in our minds that we're defeated people? This sin's overtook me and I can't get out of it. Who convinced us of that? This valley's too low, this mountain's too high, this enemy's too tall. The warriors are too mighty. Who told you that? Without also telling you about God. It wasn't Moses, the man of God. I'm gonna tell you what Moses said. In verse number nine, my first point is, we're gonna have to back up to get these. He said, the Lord thy God. My first point is he is passionate. There's something I gotta know in my mind when I'm going to do the will of God. I gotta know, I gotta have my mind. I'm telling you, if we don't have our minds right, we're not gonna make it there. We're gonna be sidetracked by trinkets. We're gonna be sidetracked by depression and we're gonna defeat ourselves. We've got to, what I gotta have in my mind, you better be convinced of this, buddy. God loves you. I'm trying to keep an alliteration going, so I use passionate. It's a little bit of a stretch to use that word to mean exactly what I wanna mean here. But let's get the verse, back up to verse seven with me. I wanna show you something. Oh, I preach too slow. Look at verse seven. The Lord did not set his love upon you. You know what that says without saying it? He did set His love upon you. Without saying it, that's what He's saying. God has set His love upon you. And He did not do that, nor did He choose you because of anything that you had inherently of yourself. Right? So here's what I got to tell myself. I want to go to that land, not just for selfish reasons, but because that's where God deserves for me to live. God deserves for me to be where he wants me to be. And I'm going to fight to get there if it kills me. He said, there's one thing you better know in your mind, you better know how much God loves you, number one. When you start facing those enemies that don't want you to go, when you're starting to get discouraged and the food ain't all that good and the desert's awful dry and you think you ought to be there by now, you better remind yourself how much God loves you. God didn't choose you, well then why did he? Why did he, Cyrus? Why does he love you? Why would he love somebody like you, son? What do you have to offer, Cal? I can't think of nothing, I love all of you. I don't mean to be that way. And from me all the way down, there's nothing in us. He said, he did not set his love upon you. I just, boy, I love the way that sounds. He didn't just let you just taste a little bit. He set his love down upon you. He said he didn't set his love upon you because you're mightier. God didn't choose you because of what you are, or who you are, because you're a great preacher, because you're great with your words, because you say the best prayers, it just moves everybody, because you can play the piano, because you can sing the best songs. Because you're better than everybody, because you well-dressed and they won't wear them? Not you, I'll look at Taylor for that one, buddy. Because you'll cut your hair right and all the other boys will have it long, that's why he loves you. Do you really believe that, son? Well then why does he love you? I have no idea. Look at what the text says. It just leaves you there, listen. You weren't more than number, you were fewest of all. If anything, there was nothing but negatives on your account. But because the Lord loved you. That's what he said. I searched the most bewildering transition from a verse to another verse you'll ever be left with. He does not give an answer. He just said, because the Lord loved you. Make it make sense, you help me. Listen to the content. The Lord did not set his love upon you because you were mightier, nor did he choose you because you were more in number, or for you were fewest of all the people, but because the Lord loved you. He loved you because he loved you, yeah. We gotta go home, I got four other points. Let me give you an example of this. I'm really wanting to get Tyson, but I'm afraid he's a little noodley for me. I'm gonna use Tyler, okay? Come here, Tyler, let me know. We gotta go home downtown and be silly. Listen, listen now, I want you to get this. Tyler, I'm gonna tell you a story about two little 18-year-old kids that didn't know nothing about life. Didn't have a clue about what love even meant or how to even do it. Lost as a ball in the high weeds. Come together with that little lady over there, Thank goodness she went through a dumb spell and I got in on it. And man, I'm too, so we was married about a year, a year comes up and the Lord blesses us with a child. I mean, that's still right to say, isn't it? Even though I was long, it's still a blessing of God. And I wasn't saved yet, When... I'm trying to hang on. These memories get far from you, don't they, Brother Reed? It's hard to remember. I want to have good memories, don't y'all? And I can remember Amber, you know, about to have Tyler. And that's a story all in itself. They shouldn't even have let me in the room. I didn't have a clue about it. Oh, me. This is what I want to get to. I'm rambling a little bit. Let me get to what I'm getting at. When I went to Hills Baptist Hospital, wasn't it before they shut that down? Is that where Tyler was? Baptist Hospital. So you started out of badness, son. Amber told me that she was going to have that baby, and I was going up there. I didn't go up there with a thought in my mind, boy, I can't wait to see what he looks like, to see whether or not I'm going to love him or not. I want to see if he looks like me or I want to see if he cries or if he doesn't cry. I want to see kind of how his complexion is or what his score is when they check all his reflexes. Make sure there's no problems. If he's got something wrong with him, I may not love him. I didn't drive up to the hospital and wait till I saw that little boy to decide whether or not I was going to love him. I went up there fully intended on loving him. My love for him predated him. I didn't love him because of what he is or what he's not. I just love him because he's mine. And God who knows all things, he doesn't love you because of what you are or what you're not. He just loves you because that's what he has in him is love. I didn't pick that little boy up in my arms and look him over and decide whether or not I was gonna love him. I went up there fully intended on giving him everything I had in me to give him the life I never had. As a lost man, natural affection. Happy? Nathan wasn't waiting to get to the hospital to find out whether or not he was gonna love you. Lauren wasn't waiting to see when you come out whether or not you were gonna be what they expected. We loved you. That picture's our father. Now it's not an exact type, but it's very similar as to why God loves you. I cannot explain why I love that boy. I cannot explain what's in my heart for that little girl out there. I cannot explain that. Especially when they act like me. But there's something in there, Ms. Beth, there's just something in us that would throw you in front of a moving train if they hadn't spoke to you in 10 years. an unexplainable something in you that regardless of what they are, they may not love me, but I can't help but love them. And I want you to know that on your journey to Canaan, I want you to know that you've got a father, thy God, who loves you and didn't bring you out because of what you were and is not taking you there because of what you will be. Whoa, he's just gonna take you there cause he loves you. He's gonna help you get there cause he loves you. The same reason he brought you out. Cause that's just what he is for God is love. I'm going, buddy. I want everybody to go with me, but I'm telling you, I'm headed for a land. And it ain't out there. God showed it to me when I got saved. Filled me with something I'd never tasted of before. And I've only wanted more ever since I've had it. And I'm telling you, if it kills all of us, we owe it to God to get to gain it. But on your way, I want you to remember God loves you. You have a God that loves you with an everlasting love. Not only does God love you. Oh man, the Lord thy God. But look back at verse number nine. When you think about thy God, something else you need to remember. He is God. Singular and capitalized. What does that mean? It means he is powerful. I can't get to, I'm fighting the same battles over and over. Listen, I don't know where the breakdown is. I can't say that I've never been there myself. and I've entertained thoughts of maybe God's just not, or maybe this is just not, I'm shamelessly admitted before you, I've had the same imaginations in my mind. Or maybe God left me, maybe he doesn't care, maybe he doesn't love you, maybe he's not as powerful, maybe I got caught up in an emotional thing. I've had to cast down every imagination that y'all have. But there's something we gotta remember, that God that loves you is all powerful. He is God. There is not an enemy. I don't know why that I'm seemingly to struggle here. I don't understand it, God, but I sure know this much. It ain't because you're not powerful enough to deliver me from it. So I'm just gonna keep butting my head up against the wall till we break through, but I don't know what else to do. and pray God shows us along the way. He goes, I know this, God's powerful for every enemy you're gonna face when you get to Canaan and on your way to get there. He's told him that. I just don't know if I can, no you can't, but he can. You're gonna have to have faith. Not only is he powerful, go back and think about what he delivered you from. If he was strong enough to bring you out, he's strong enough to bring you in. Right? You could offer nothing to get out. You offer nothing to get in. You started in the spirit and you're made perfect by the spirit. It wasn't by the law in the beginning. That's your words. You offered nothing. You can't get in by any laws. Love him. Remember, it's a spiritual battle. You get focused on that physical enemy because your sin maybe can be seen, maybe it's physical, maybe it's tangible. But don't you forget it's a spiritual battle and it's only one spiritually. And it's only one by God, it's not one by you. He's powerful, he's passionate, but he's also, let me give you this. So look at verse 17, the same chapter. If thou shalt say in thy heart, these nations are more than I, how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them, but shalt remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt. So when you're journey along and them enemies look ugly and big, you just remember who he delivered you from, what he did to them. Spoiled principalities and powers. Making an open show of them. That's what he did in Egypt. Embarrassed all of them. just to get you out. Listen, I could preach till tonight's service. I'm not going to do it to you. But God's just doing something in my heart. Speaking of Pharaoh, I better let you go. But listen, let me just at least give you the points. I want you to think on them. And let me just at least give you the points, OK? So oh, man. Read chapter nine, verse one. Thou art to possess over Jordan this day. Go in and possess it. Nations greater and mightier than thyself. Cities that are great and fenced up to heaven. People that are great and tall. The children of the Anacoms. Moses talks about their enemy. He doesn't hide it. It's gonna be a battle. But understand this, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee is a consuming fire. Yeah, they may look big, but you better not forget God, he's powerful. I got stopped. He's not only powerful, I've forgotten it, I'm gonna have to look. Precious, I thought I was gonna say peculiar, but he's precious. He is God, there's no other God. Listen, when you're out there in that desert, this matters. There ain't nobody else to help you. There's only one strong enough to get you there. There's nobody else who can help you. You can't prop up on Brother Jones' shoulder. I can't drag you in. You can't float in on Brother Reed's coattail. Nobody, you gotta get there, and you've only got one hope of getting there, and that's God. Every individual. He's precious. There's nothing else like Him on earth. You'll find no help anywhere else. You'll find no satisfaction anywhere. He's precious, right? Okay. He is God. I'll just, all right. So remember this flip over back and just give you this quick. So I got, but listen, the Lord, thy God, he is God. He is powerful. He's passionate. He's precious. And look at what it says next about him. The faithful God, he's persistent. He's not gonna give up on you. You might quit and wall around in the sand and kick, fight, and scream. You might kick against the pricks, but it'll be hard for you because they somebody who made a promise. That's what he says in the next verse. He is faithful who keeps the covenant. They didn't keep theirs, but he sure kept his. And God made a promise to you, my friend. You draw an eye to God, I'll draw an eye to you. I mean, we could just, the whole New Testament filled with promises. God being able to preserve your whole body, soul, and spirit, blameless under the coming of Jesus. The exceeding greatness of his power. God made promises to you, and he is faithful. That helps to know out there in the desert. When you set out your heart to go and you get halfway there and you still feel like you're 10,000 miles away and there ain't no help in sight and you're thirsting to death, it'll help you to remember somebody ain't give up on you. I'm gonna tell you, I feel like I've been on this journey for probably going on seven years now. It's been a long journey. Don't give up and miss out on maybe the greatest blessing may just be right around the corner. I tell my kids, we'll go on a long trip. If you'll just shut your eyes and relax a little bit, you'll wake up and we'll be there. It's so childish, but that's almost how God is with me. If you'll shut up and stay out of the way, I'm gonna get you there. Faithful as he, he started a good work in you. And what did he say he was gonna do? Perform it. He's persistent, oh. He's precious, the faithful God. Oh, 1 Thessalonians 5, faithful as he that promiseth. Now look at this, last thing, I'm done. You better remember this out there on your way to Canaan. You better remember this. I'm done, I promise, this is my last point. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant. And don't forget this little jewel, and mercy with them that love him. I feel like Peter sometimes, Brother Gary, it's like, I don't, why am I sitting here trying to convince God? God knows my heart. God, you know I love you. There's no point in even saying, why are we even talking? I don't need to convince you of that. God, he knows I love him. I'm saying that I love him. I don't love him like he deserves to, but with everything in me, I love him. I take that as, I mean it, not as the objectable truth. I would do better if I loved him. So remember this though. You're probably gonna stumble along the way. You're gonna stumble when you get in the land. Chapter eight tells them how to live in the land, tells them what to do when they get there. So don't you ever forget this. If he's keeping a promise of a covenant, and we're gonna say amen to that, you better say amen to this. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. You know what God's gonna keep showing you? It's right there in your verse. You know what God's gonna keep showing you? Surely I've exhausted it, neighbor. Almost 20 years of walking with him and I just feel like I've done nothing but been a failure. Surely I've exhausted the mercy of God. And you know what I'll wake up and find out? Mercy's ever renewed every morning. I go to him, I get more mercy. I fail him again. I say, God, you know, I love you. I want to get back in the land. I just, I'm struggling. I can't get there. And you know what he does? He reduced mercy to me. He's going to keep mercy towards you. He knows you love him. And you know what he's got for you? He's got mercy. You know what a bunch of failures need this morning? We need mercy. And you know who's got it? God does. He's got mercy. And he's gonna keep his mercy. You know why? Because he's pitiful. God's pitiful. Showing pity and mercy. So remember, keep your mind. Know this. Know this on the journey to Canaan. He is passionate, powerful, precious, persistent, and God is pitiful. Let's stand together. If you need to come, musicians are coming. Brother Reed's gonna come sing for us. And if you need the altar, you just come. Mind the Lord today. Lord, we love you. I'm amazed at how you reveal yourself to such people as we are. We're not worthy to know you like we do. You're too great for all of us. You're too good, too kind, too loving, too holy. But thank you for letting us, Lord, get a glimpse into your glory, for letting us know of your love that is incomprehensible to the human mind. But unto us, by the Holy Spirit, you've revealed things and I want to thank you for it. It's put a longing in us. We want more and less of ourselves. So please help us, Lord. Any person here that has never even begun this journey, I pray for them. May they repent of themselves and their sin and believe the gospel. Help the saints of God that are struggling, discouraged and going through weakness and trials. helping them to be reminded of this little message today. Thank you for who you are, in Jesus' name, amen. Brother Reed's gonna sing.