Open—M. Rogers
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Our God and our Father, we're thankful that we could have this open meeting, this assembly meeting.
We thank thee for those that Almighty right raise up.
To address our conscience.
We know that each one of us have a need, each one of us have a concern, each one of us need to be encouraged in the pathway. So we would ask our God and Father to raise up those.
Who love thy people?
Who desire their best might be led by the Spirit of God to address our conscience. So we ask this Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, precious name, Amen.
Stronger, weak, fewer, many. And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad. And what cities they be that dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds, And what the land is.
Whether it be fat or lean, whether they be good wood they're in or not, and be of good courage and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first stripe grapes. So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zen into Rohab. And the men came to Hamath, and they ascended by the South, and came unto Hebron.
Where Anaheim, Aheman, Shimshai and Talmay, the children of Anak were. Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoon and Egypt, and they came into the brook of Eshkol, and cut down from Sansa branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bear between two upon a staff, and they brought of the pomegranates and the figs. The place was called the Brook Eschol, because the cluster of grapes which the children of US Israel cut down from thence.
They returned from searching the land after 40 days, and they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and all the children of the land, of children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadish, and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came into the land whither thou sent us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey.
And there is the fruit of it. Nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walls.
Very great. Moreover, we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South.
And the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of Jordan.
And Caleb still the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are able to overcome it. But the men that went with them said, We are not able to go against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched under the children of Israel, saying, The land through which we have gone to search, it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that we saw in our men of great stature. And there we are, we saw the giants.
The sons of Anak, which came out of the giants, and we were on our sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
And then while we're in this portion, we can come down to the verse six of the next chapter. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jeffuna, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes and they spake into the company. The children will say in the land which we passed through to search, it is an exceeding good land.
If the Lord delighted us, then He will bring us into this land and give it us a lamb which floweth with milk and honey, and then we come on down to verse 24 of this chapter.
My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully him I will bring in the land wherewith he went, and his seed shall possess it. Now the Amakites and the Canaanites in the valley tomorrow turn you and get you in the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.
There's dwelling on the spirit of Caleb for just a second. We see here that there are 12 men that are sent up into the land of spy. And as they come back out, they see they all bring report. And if you read in our chapter in in in the 13th chapter there we see that they all seem to agree in verse 27 that the land is a beautiful land. It is flowing with milk and honey and they have evidence of it by holding a branch of grapes between two men. The thing was so huge.
That they're bringing out grapes that are that big.
And they all agree, all 12 of them agree, the fact that this land is a beautiful land.
Ten of them though bringing up an objection, and the objection is that these.
00:05:01
The children of Anak at the end of verse 28 moreover, we saw the children of Anak. You could take the word moreover and put in the word but but we saw the children of Anak there. They all agree on the fact that it's a beautiful land, but.
And yet Caleb and Joshua stand up and persuade the people that God can help us to overtake the land.
There was Joshua and Caleb and roughly 600,000 people standing there. If we didn't read it, we can read it.
In the following chapter here where they rise up and they want to stone them.
Moses, Joshua and Caleb and maybe a few others are standing forth to go in.
And the large part of the company wants to stone them.
But Caleb, I just want to focus in on Caleb for just a second in light of what we've just been taking up. Caleb saw something there that his heart affection, that he wanted to go in and possess the land.
And we find out in the following chapter there that all the rest of the men of the everybody was to die off.
Except for those that were 20 years and under, the rest were to die off. And so we find Caleb as he turns out into the wilderness with all the company. He goes with his brother and he finds out he and Joshua are going to be the only ones that are going to be the old men. And they have to be out there.
For 40 years.
He saw something in that land he wanted bad, but he had to turn around and go out with his brother and.
And wait for it.
Let's turn over to the book of Joshua, The story continues.
I am so thankful this portion in Joshua 15 rounds out the story of what we see here.
It's a beautiful type to see this story of Joshua and his family. The 1St 12 verses of Joshua 15 have to do with the division of Judah as they are going in the land, They're possessing the land and it talks about all the boundaries.
But then we have in verse 13 this few verses here.
And unto Caleb the son of Jefuna, he gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the command of the Lord, to Joshua, even the city of Arba, the father of Anak, which city is Hebron. And Caleb drove fence the three sons of Anak, Shishai, and a human, and Talmay the children of Anak. And he went up Fence to the inhabitants of Deber. And the name of Deber before was Kirjas Seifer.
And Caleb said he that smiled Kurja seifer, and taketh it to him, will I give Exa my daughter to wife. And off Neil the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it, and gave him AXA his daughter to wife. And they came to pass, as she came unto him, that she moved him to ask of her father afield, and she lighted off her ***.
And Caleb said unto her, What was that?
He answered, Give me a blessing, for thou hast given a Southland. Give me also springs of water.
And he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. Well, it's beautiful to see this.
This portion here because of the fact that 40 years before, 40 years before, when those 12 came out, the excuse was that that the Anakins, the enemy, was so great they could not take it. That was the excuse.
And so Josh or Caleb turned around and went out into the wilderness with his brother and, and I'm going to presume he had a family while I was out there because I don't know. And I'd love to hear afterwards exactly, maybe their ages. I'm going to assume that Caleb might have been 20 when he went into Spy the Land.
And now we know that it's at least 40 years later. So he's got to be somewhere maybe around 60 years old. And he's now one of the oldest guys. He is the oldest between him and Joshua.
And he had to spend 40 years up there. He had a family, apparently.
And while he was out there, he must have talked of something.
He must have shared with his daughter.
The beauty that he saw in the land.
Because we know. At his age, 60 or so, we know.
His endurance was such that he went in and he took care of the enemy. That was the excuse.
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And we see it's Hebron, right? We see the city is Hebron. This is the city of Annette where they have the Anakins. You get the three Anakins there in verse 14. The very excuse that the other ten had. Josh or Caleb went in to take care of that excuse after meditating upon that and join that for 40 years. He wanted a piece of land and he was going to take it. God's land that was given to him.
But what's compelling about this, too, is that apparently, whatever he had, whatever influence he had about his children.
His daughter says, you've given me this, but I want this too. I want more. And his nephew says, you know, nephew takes him up on the challenge. He gets a daughter because he got a piece of land. There was an influence, I'm going to presume there was an influence upon Caleb, upon his children while he was out in the wilderness, while he had to go out with his brother. And despite what he wanted to do, there was an influence upon his children. There was something to enjoy in the land.
Miss Daughter AXA did not see that land, but she heard about the land.
It's beautiful. She heard about the beauty of that land, and we've already taken it up in the meeting where the Old Testament Saints were to get the land. They were to enjoy the physical. You and I are to enjoy the spiritual. We have a risen head and glory. We're to enjoy that. I think the principle can apply.
Maybe you've been in a meeting like this and you've got to taste of the glory in Ephesians one and the Lord Jesus.
But eventually we leave. We go back to daily life.
If you have been risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. How does that apply?
When we leave.
Like to go back to let's just turn back to that Colossians 3 and read a few more verses.
That follow that verse.
Through the 1St 4 verses.
If you have been reason with Christ, see Colossians 31. Seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead in your life is hid with Christ and God. When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory.
I enjoy Pauls writings because he speaks, I had a class in college called symbolic logic and he speaks in these terms particularly here. And you'll find it in Romans where we have if, then, if, then, if then you always get the you always get the, the, the, the matter, the fact after the if. And it's beautiful because if you're risen with Christ.
Six, those things were above verse four, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear.
Then ye shall also appear with him in glory.
And so we have Caleb looking forward to that thing he says God promises and he influenced his children, His children in land. They say we want more of it. And not only that, they saw their father clear out the Anakins as well.
There is things that are fighting for attention when we get back out in the world, there are things that fight for attention. More than ever that is going to disrupt what you and I can enjoy.
For risen Christ.
I've said it before, I used to work in technology many years ago, and we got to see the advent of smartphones. Before smartphones were happening and we were seeing this, We're seeing this, all this take place, and now we have instant information at our fingertips. How can we use that to help me seek Christ, which is above?
Well, I will share with you a brother that lives up the valley from where we live. He's a dentist. He shared with me an interesting news. I share this with young people and older ones that use technology. We all do, some of us.
I'll share with us because I think that the technology can help us seek things above. Let me share with you. He was asking about it happened to be my son-in-law. He says, what's his name? And I gave him his name and he put it in his calendar. He says, he says I'll pray for you. I'll pray for him because his son-in-law works for the same Police Department. And I think that's very nice because everybody says I'll pray for you. And that's just kind of a statement. No, he's serious. He was putting a note in his calendar.
That he was going to pray for my son-in-law, his son-in-law, etcetera.
He had alarms going off. I could see on his phone he had alarms going off that he was going to lift these ones up before the Lord.
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Can I go? Can I be through the day? Can I be out working in the garden? Can I seek things above? No, my mind is preoccupied. Can I have an alarm go off? Yes. What if a mother is crying with a baby? How can you seek things which are above where Christ stood on the right hand of God? How can that happen? How can that happen when I'm in the office, in a business deals going down or whatever it is?
How can I seek those things which are above? Yeah, these little reminders can happen.
Caleb found it that he was out in that wilderness and he, I'm going to presume, I'm going to put it out there, he impacted his children, his, his next of kin around the campfire, that that was a precious thing to have. And when I get there, I'm going to claim it for what God has given me. And you and I have the exact same thing waiting for us. We've already been taking it up.
Am I caught up with the redemptive nature of the Lord Jesus?
If I caught up with the fact think about this, that he's thinking about me right now.
And he's thinking about you. Have you thought about that?
That's striking the thing. He has the ability. He's God. He can think about me all day long, even though I may not think about him.
When he was on the cross.
Did he not do his work thinking about you?
And so.
Blossoms 3 if he had been reason of Christ, seek those things which were above and that's our position. We are the position. Caleb had his position as a as a child of Israel, a son of Judah, if you will. He had his portion waiting for him and he meditated upon that while he's in the wilderness and he impacted his children to which his children then wanted to have more. I so enjoy that. So I hope that that can be of an encouragement.
To those that are in their teenage years because our our 20s because.
Caleb was right about that when he went in and surveyed the land. Maybe that's an encouragement for other teenagers and such because you're hearing these things for the first time.
Or maybe you've heard it again and it's settling in Ephesians 1, Colossians three other portions.
Are settling in what is in Christ in glory right now, because I can rest assured of this.
Is there is a large percentage of dear believers that don't take up with this. They don't enjoy the fact that our position is in Christ.
Because if that is the case, then we wouldn't be so wound up about things that are happening on this earth right now.
Even on the political scene.
If we're seeing Christ in glory, He's over all. He's going to take care of it.
He's thinking about me right now.
One more time, if you then may risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ.
Sit us on the right hand of God, blessed be his name.