 I'm going to speak a message that I believe is for this house and this church. And I want you to just stay with me. And I'm going to read Hebrews 11-1. If you have your Bibles, you can open to Hebrews 11-1. It says here, now faith is. Say this with me together. Now, faith is. Faith is not tomorrow. Faith is not when you have a problem. Faith is not when you got sick. Faith is now. Faith is built on consistency. Faith is today. I walk in faith now. Now, faith is. The substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. Faith is the substance. Faith becomes the source of our sight for the things that God has for us. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Hope is our sight. Faith becomes the real thing for our hope. And then watch this second part. And you'll understand this a little bit better towards the end. Verse three out of this same chapter. By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. So that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Isn't that interesting? That everything God created, He created us out of things He saw but were not yet visible. You know, somebody saw this church before it began. Somebody saw this room full of people before this room was full of people. You know, there was a time when we launched the church. I'm from Church of Truth. Generation for Truth for those of you who maybe watched the youth ministry and things like that. And when we launched the church 23 years ago, Pastor had this vision one day as he was praying and asking God. And one day he saw a vision. You know, at that time there was about five people coming. The church just launched and he would go to the kitchen. You know, the kitchen was on the side like this and he would pray in the kitchen and he would peek out to see if anybody came. There was nobody there yet so he would go and have church all by himself, you know. And one day as he was praying and he'd see one or two people show up. He's like, okay, we can start church. And you know, they would start church. And he said, one of the times I was praying all of a sudden I saw an open vision. I saw the whole room full of people. The hallways were full of people. And people were staring into the building from the windows outside. And then it was as though it all disappeared and there was just five people in the front row. And there came a time four months later that that exact image that he saw happened. The whole place was packed with people. There was people staring in through the windows. There was people packed in the hallways. And I realized that before you see what you see, somebody has to see it before. And that's the way God works and that's the way God demonstrated even his faith to us. He spoke into existence what was not yet, but he already saw it. The Bible says that we were in Christ before the foundation of the earth. Jesus already seen our life before we were even born. In fact, the only reason why we're born is because he completed his plan for our life. You're not born and God's like, man, what do I do with this? I know the girl, man, what do I do with all these girls? You know, God has a specific plan. And I love this phrase that destiny is always chosen by God, but its fulfillment is decided by you. Destiny is always chosen by God, but its fulfillment is decided by you. I want you to bow your heads with me for just a moment. Father, we thank you for your word that has the power to change our life. I thank you for every person here. Lord, I just pray that you would move in our heart, that you would empower us, that you would stretch our faith, that you would speak to us. Lord, I pray that you would use me to speak your word, and I pray for miracles to happen tonight, for salvation to happen tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Why don't you open to Numbers chapter 14 verse 6. Numbers chapter 14 verse 6. We're going to be in this chapter for a little bit. So if you have your Bibles open, if you can put it on the screens. But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jehphune, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes. And they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel and saying, The land we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. Now, if you're wondering what the context is here, God has promised to deliver His people. They came out of Egypt, which they were in slavery for a very long time. They came out of Egypt, and God did so many miracles along the way. And the sea split, and the manna from heaven, and all these supernatural things happen, and all these events. And they finally come to that place that God has promised them. And so they finally get there, and Moses sends out 12 spies. 12 spies. So the 10 spies come back, and they say, Hey, this land, we can't conquer these people. This land that's supposed to be ours, this promise that's supposed to be ours. I don't think we could do this. The giants are too big. And did you see the walls? Did you see the circumstances? We can't do this. And then Joshua and Caleb, the two spies, they come back. And this is the context where we pick up. And they hear the report, and the Bible says they tore their clothes. And they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel saying, The land we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them. It's not interesting that the two spies come back, and they give a completely different report. What I want to talk to you tonight about is a message I titled, Through the Lens of Faith. So if you're taking notes, Through the Lens of Faith. It's interesting that the 12 spies went to the same land. The 12 spies saw the same kind of circumstances. They saw the same giants. They saw the same walls. They saw the same reality. And spies, you know, they were there to give a report, an accurate report, an evaluation of what's taking place so that these people can prepare for war. And so the 10 spies, they come back and they give the right facts, right? The giants and the armies, and they said we're like grasshoppers in front of them. We're nothing. We're going to get squashed by these people. But Joshua and Caleb, they come back with a completely different report. Because they went into this land, but they didn't look at it by the eyes of the circumstance. Or by the eyes of the physical reality, or the natural things that were taking place. They saw this land through the eyes of their faith. My Bible says that we will walk by faith, and not by sight. You see, sight is what we touch, feel and see. It's the physical reality. But for a believer, our sight should not dictate what we expect and what we believe. So Joshua and Caleb, they look at the giants, they look at the walls, but they see it through a different set of eyes. And there's a place in your faith where it becomes a greater than a reality than what you see in your natural. See, we will walk by faith and not by sight. Our sight should not dictate our faith. Our faith should dictate our sight. So they come back and they said, God is going to give us this land. Listen, their protection has already lifted from them. Just don't fear. Don't be afraid. What a faith. Right? Man, what a faith of Joshua and Caleb. Amazing faith. Amazing. We read it like a story, and it's like, oh yeah, this is a nice story. I learned it in Sunday school. But can you think about what it meant to say what he was saying? And you would think that people are like, man, thank you, Joshua and Caleb. That's right. God promised us. Man, alright. And everybody's cheering. Joshua, man of faith. Praise God, man of faith. It's not what happened. Let's read on verse 10. And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. That was the response of the people. Do you know that everything that the enemy does, he does to attack your faith? Look, the first thing he does with Adam and Eve, he always puts a question mark on what God said. Right there in the Garden of Eden. Did God really say that you will die? Question mark. What about Jesus after, you know, God, the Father affirmed and said, this is my beloved son, and then he goes into the desert. And he says, what does the devil say to him? If you are the son of God. Question mark. God just said he's the son of God. The devil always tries to bring doubt to what God said. He always tries to put a big old question mark and said, did God really say that? Is that really yours? Are you really going to do that? Question mark. So everything that the enemy does, he does to attack our faith. So they want to stone him. What a natural response. Now watch this. Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel. Can I tell you that God will always meet you in the realm of your faith? You see, the glory of God is the very presence of God. God will always show up into that realm of your faith. You know, I remember David, he goes into this camp where Goliath the giant is talking for 40 days just cursing God, cursing the people of God. And it's interesting that David, he comes in and I always misread this story. There's a time where I saw this story in a new light. He comes in and you know, there's an atmosphere of defeat. For 40 days he's talking trash. You know, so he comes in, there's already that atmosphere of defeat and doubt and everyone's just sunk into their chairs. Nobody knows what to do. And David hears Goliath and he reacts, he responds and he said, how can this man do such a thing? And he said, I will fight him. Remember when he comes to the king, he starts persuading the king. But I think David was actually talking to himself. He was in this atmosphere of defeat. He was a man. He had feelings. He had the same fears we deal with. He was not Superman. And he came into this atmosphere and he's standing before the king. And I think he began to talk to himself and he said, wait a minute. When the lion would take one of my sheep, God's power would fill me and I would go and chase him down and conquer that lion. When a bear would come and attack, God was with me then and he was talking to himself. He was changing the atmosphere that was around him. He was declaring the promises of God. He was speaking the word of God into the context of that reality. And he said, if God was with me, when I went after the lion, if God was with me, when I went after the bear, God will be with me now and I will defeat this Goliath. Sometimes you got to talk to yourself. Sometimes you come into an atmosphere like in your school, like in your college, like in your workplace. And it's heavy and it's thick and it's full of defeat. And you got to begin to talk to yourself because see people of faith, they don't blend in. They begin to shift the atmosphere. People of faith, when they step in, everybody feels it. Everybody knows it. What just happened? And look what Jesus, look what the Bible says here. Verse 11, then the Lord said to Moses, how long will these people reject me? And how long will they not believe me with all the signs which I have performed among them? You see, what was God looking for? Was God trying to prepare them from war? No, he didn't ask him to prepare some swords and shields. He was just asking, he was expecting them to finally believe. He just wanted them to believe. And he said, how long will they rebel against me after all the signs that I have performed? You see, there comes a time in our faith where we got to look back what God did yesterday and it will encourage us for what God's going to do tomorrow. There's times in our faith where we got to talk to ourselves and say, no, no, no, no. If God was with me then, if God rescued me then, if God provided for me then, he's going to do it again, he's going to do it again, he's going to do it again. And you step in, you step in by faith. And this is the powerful part, that God always shows up into the realm of your faith. You see, all the congregation wanted to kill them. But how many of you know that if God is for you, who can be against you? How many of you know that if a whole nation rises against you but God is standing behind you, no one will touch you. And do a thousand fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand. This evil will not touch you because if God is for you, who can be against you? And this is that amazing assurance that we have that when we respond to the word of God, when we step out in faith according to what God said, you better believe that His glory will come into that midst. You better believe that He will show up, He will meet you. Because my Bible says that signs and wonders that the power of God will follow those who believe. You see, we all pray for power, want power, but you don't need power if you don't go. Why? This is nice, if we're just going to come and sit here, why don't we need the power of God? We need the power of God because we're going to go. And power of God is a sign to follow believers, it's a sign to follow faith. Deuteronomy 31, and we're just following the same story in a couple books. You don't have to open it. Deuteronomy 31-7. Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, be strong enough, good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. Be strong enough, good courage, you will go. Before I continue, let me read another passage. This is Joshua himself. So we'll skip another book. This is written about Joshua. Now we're going to get into what Joshua himself is writing. How many of you are interested to hear what he himself was writing? He's saying, I was 40 years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me to Kadesh to spy out the land. This is Joshua 14-7. And I brought back the word to him that was in my heart, the word that was in my heart. You see, the reason why Joshua saw this land through a different set of eyes, because the word of God was hidden in his heart. You see, he was able to see things around him through the promises of God, through the word of God, through what God said. And I realize that so many times we look at things with just our physical eyes, and we allow those situations to dictate what we're going through. But when we look at it through the promises of God, we see it completely differently. Joshua saw this land completely differently. The report he brought was completely different than the report of the 10 spies. He says, I gave him word that was hidden in my heart. Not word that he saw, but word that was hidden in his heart. Now watch this. Nevertheless, my brother who went up with me made the heart of the people melt. But I wholly followed the Lord my God. So Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever. Because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. And now behold, the Lord has kept me alive. And he said these 45 years ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness. And now here I am this day, 85 years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me. Just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. T.D. Jakes, praise the Lord. You know, if I can have somebody on the keys, we're going to pray in just a few minutes. You know that after, after, Joshua has experienced this. Did you know that all the people, they couldn't enter this promised land? They had to go into the desert. And you know what happened? For 40 years, nothing happened if we can turn it down. Nothing happened for 40 years. But do you know that if you hit the word of God in your heart, even the desert will begin to work for you. Even that time of silence, even the valley will cause your faith to grow on the inside of you. And though Joshua, a man full of faith, a man who believed that this land was going to be theirs, went for 40 years, can you imagine, 40 years circling in the desert. No victories, you know, after such miracles, right? Sea split and manna falling from heaven, pillar of fire, pillar of cloud. Miracles from such a high to such a low, 40 years. Sometimes we go through a desert in our faith. But I believe Joshua in the desert continued to hide that word in his heart. He continued to protect what God has promised. He never stopped dreaming. He never stopped seeing. He never stopped imagining. I think in the desert he would dream of how they would enter. He never stopped believing what God said. Because he said 45 years later, I hid the word of God in my heart. I want to ask you, the promises of God, the word that God has given you, is it on your shelf or is it in your heart? Because if it's on your shelf, it's up for grabs. The enemy can come like a thief in the night and take it from you. But you got to hide it in your heart because if it's in your heart, they can take everything from you, but they can't take your faith. And it's interesting to me that none of those people who didn't believe were able to enter into this promised land. The Lord actually had to wait for them to die out. And then finally, Moses begins to speak to Joshua. And he says, listen, be strong and of good courage. You will go and you will lead the next generation into this promised land. You see, people without faith couldn't enter into that promise. Not because God didn't want them to, but because they didn't believe God. They didn't believe God. So Moses says, you're going to take the next generation, you're going to take them by their hand, and you're going to lead them into this promised land, and you're going to cause them to inherit it, and you will divide that land among them, the next generation. Can I tell you that everything that God does in your faith is generational? It's connected to other generations. If it ends with you, it's not from God. It's generational. But you see, Joshua, he wasn't taking the next generation to a place he hasn't gone before. He was taking them to a place he's already been in his faith. So when he was walking them to the promised land, he said, I've already been there. I've seen the walls. I've seen the chimes. I've seen the land that flows with milk and honey. I've identified that place. So he was leading them to a place where he has already been in his faith. You can't lead somebody to a place you haven't gone before. You see, so God is calling us to be people of faith, to be a generation of faith, to not allow the statistic of this world to dictate who we are or what we will succeed or where we will not succeed. No, the Word of God is going to tell me who I am and where I'm going to go. Style is not going to dictate my value. God will speak of who I am. See, we will walk by faith and not by sight. I want to ask you, what are you seeing today? What do you see? Because everything God did, he did out of what he saw. You know, everything we designed to spulp it, somebody had to see it before he started making it. They didn't just take a piece of metal and start beating it with a hammer. They said, we'll just see what happens, you know? We'll just pray for a miracle. No, you see, before God causes you to do anything, he first gives you vision. You have to sit with God before you run for God. Sit with God. David sat with God. He said, teach me your ways. Show me, show me, teach me your ways that I may... You know, I was in Africa. I've been going to Africa for ten years. And God has done so many amazing things there. And over 286 church plants through the tribes and the Bible school. I don't know how I ended up there, but this last year I took our interns there. And we were driving in the car. It's been ten years that I've been going there. And I was driving in the car and I thought, how did I end up here? Like seriously, like, what happened? Like, how did I even end up here? And the Lord spoke to me something so powerful. He said, people follow vision. The only reason I, a Russian white boy from America, ended up in East Africa, Tanzania, was because there was somebody there who had vision. And he spoke something to me. He said, you don't need money. You don't need people. And we do need money and we do need people. But he said, you don't need that to be obedient to me. All you need is vision because money will follow vision. People will follow vision. All you need to do is get your sight back. All you gotta do is get to see again. And if you can begin to see, you can begin to move. And if you can begin to move, people will follow you. People will go after you. Money will follow you. Millionaires are looking where to dump their millions. Well, when you get vision, God will lighten up. When he spoke that to me, I realized, I'm only here because there's this man, Godfred Stenruss, who got a vision from God. 37 years ago, he was obedient to that vision. And God connected me to the vision of his life. That's how you're here too, right? God gave a man a vision. God spoke a word to a man. And because he had vision, he might not have much. He might not have enough money. He might not have the right resources. Maybe not enough leaders. But because he had vision, it's just a matter of time. And you know, sometimes we're so worried about birthing that thing that God has given us. But I realized that even this time in the desert, it was vital for Joshua. Because when we got pregnant, out of three girls, when we got pregnant, it would be weird, even though I'm so excited to have a baby. We were waiting for like four or five years to have a baby. It would be weird that one month of her being pregnant would be like, all right, push, let's try to give birth right now, because I'm so excited. I want it right now. No. And not even at three months, and not even at six months. You see, you don't have to worry about giving birth. All you got to do is protect and nourish and feed what's inside of you. And there will come a time, there will come a time when that thing that's inside of you will mature and it will begin to kick and it will begin to push because it will mature in you and it will come out on its own. You see, we're sitting here trying to create things. All you got to do is walk faithfully before God. Joshua says here, we just read, because I wholly followed the Lord my God. You see, he had a dream. He had a word from God. He heard from God. It was supernatural. He was a man of faith, but then there was a desert for 40 years. And that was that process of faithfulness. That was that process where that seed began to mature inside of him. And it was just a matter of time before it burst out of that soil and became a physical, visible reality. You see, just because you don't see the seed doesn't mean the tree won't be there. And when a farmer plants, he waters a soil that has nothing there because he marked, okay, this is where the seed is. And he knows it's a matter of time before it breaks out into the visible world. You see, we just read in Hebrews that everything God did, he created by his word the worlds that we see. But he created the things that are visible out of things that are not visible. This is something so powerful and this changed my life. And the last thing he said to Joshua, he said, the place where your foot has trodden, that's yours. The place that you, as far as you have gone with your faith, that's your territory. You can't go beyond your faith. You can't jump further than your faith. But as far as you have gone, declare that your ground. I want us to pray tonight. First for God to remove the scales from our eyes, that we would begin to see through his promises, that we would begin to see our life through the lens of our faith. You know what happened when Joshua brought the next generation to Jericho? God didn't say prepare for war. God said, get the praise, get the worship. You see, my Bible says that God inhabits in the praises of his people. So he said, get the worshipers, get the prayer warriors, get them all out there. God was not interested to see them do it. He wanted to show them how he's going to do it. So there's some fights or battles that you think you need to fight, but you need to understand that God is going to fight your battle if you're willing to stand. Ephesians 6 talks about spiritual warfare and it's an interesting thing in Ephesians 6 that there's this thread that goes through that whole chapter. It's the word stand. Will you stand in this place long enough to see God show up and fight for you? Will you stand on that territory and say, I'm not giving it up? I'm not giving up my school. I'm not giving up my college. I'm not giving up my family. I'm going to stand on God's promises. And I know that the glory of God will meet me right here. I'm not going anywhere. Stand. You know, this word is really powerful to me because... Oh, it's minus already. I thought I still have time. This word is really powerful to me because there was a time when the Lord spoke the same passage to me after I got saved and God delivered me from drugs, from alcohol. And I got out of prison and that day, or not that day, sorry, a couple weeks later my mom died. That day I started fighting with thoughts of suicide and all this stuff. A long story short, the Lord saved me, delivered me. I encountered his presence and I've never been the same. And it's been like 13 years. I've never touched a single drug, a single drink, a single cigarette. And I believe that who the sun sets free is free indeed. But because of my old life and the things I did a couple years later, I was already leading a small group, like many of you. And I remember a time I was coming in to pay my ticket and they... I was trying to find out, you know, what I owe and different things like that. And they said, oh, just stand right here for a minute and all of a sudden two cops come, pick me up, take me to the place where I didn't want to go. And I ended up getting six months in jail. And I remember, you know, I had 33 arrests on my record before I met the Lord Jesus Christ. So jail was familiar to me. But this time I walked in, I was a different person. And I walked in and I sensed this darkness, you know, this oppression, this heaviness, this... I don't know how to explain it. And I had my mattress, I just turned 18. So I was fresh meat in the adult jail, you know what I'm saying? And so I remember I came in and all these guys, there was a dorm full of people. They had three-story bunks and mattresses between the bunks. So there was not even room to like sleep anymore. So I like have my mattress and I'm standing around looking around all these big old guys with their shirts off, tatted up and all crazy. And I remember I come and I sit against the concrete floor, against the wall with my sheets, with my mattress. And I sit down like this and I'm looking at the ground. And at 18 years old, scared little white boy, I hear a word from God. And it's so clear. And he says, the ground you're standing on is yours. And in that moment when the Word of God sunk into my heart, into my spirit, something happened to me. I remember I got up and I was full of the power of God. Something changed, something shifted. And I remember I started walking around this dorm, praying in the Holy Spirit. Like loud, you know what I'm saying? I'm a loud guy. Like I like to scream and spit at people. So I came into this jail and I got into this place and I started speaking in tongues. And I'm praying in the spirit. People are jumping back. Some people are like, what is wrong with this guy? And as I'm praying in the spirit, and I can care less at the reaction of people. It was like a boldness that came over me. By the way, you know, one of the things that always follows the infilling of the Holy Spirit is boldness. You will know that whenever you experience the infilling of the Holy Ghost, you will feel a supernatural boldness over your life. You will do things you never thought you could do. And so at this time there was a guy shaking under the stairs. His name was Bruce. He started shaking. And he started screaming. Your eyes are shining. And I'm praying in the spirit thinking, this guy is crazy, you know? And he's like, your eyes are shining. And so finally I decided to come and I knelt down under the stairs. This is like me an hour into getting into this dorm. And I sit down and I hug him because I thought I'm in church, you know? How many of you guys know you can have church anywhere you go? Hello? Church is not these walls. You are the church. And so I said, hey, it's Jesus. And he's like, you know, I said, do you want to pray with me? You want to give your life to Jesus? He's like, yeah. I said, just pray with me. Close your eyes so we both closed our eyes. You don't do that in jail. But anyway, we both closed our eyes. We prayed this prayer. It was like 30 seconds. He opens his eyes and his eyes are shining. I see a spark. You guys know what I'm talking about? That spark. When somebody became a born again filled with the Holy Spirit, something happened with him. And he began to say, I feel so different. I feel so light. I feel so good. And I said, it's Jesus. I said, you are now a child of God. We began to meet with him. You know, 12 more people got saved. It was a powerful thing. They kicked me out of that jail earlier because so many people were getting saved. When I was leaving this jail, the whole dorm was on their feet. And they were saying goodbye to me. And they're like, don't come back, man, you know. And I looked around and I saw tears flowing down people's faces. And I said, Jesus loves you. And they said, why are you so happy? I said, because I'm free. These walls don't bound me. These things, they don't dictate who I am and whether or not I'm free. I've met the Lord Jesus Christ and he loves you. And you know what I realized when I left that place? That I didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay there. And I realized that people of faith will always shift the atmosphere. People of faith, they can come into a room and everything will change.