A Different Spirit

A Different Spirit.
Sermon Notes – Ps. Jim White
Sunday 22nd November 2009
• One of the great things about going away for a couple of weeks is that you get to come back home again! That might sound a bit strange – but over the years, we’ve been to a few different places – a number of different churches – we’ve meet and caught up with great friends... But there’s no other place that I’d rather live – and no other church family or part of the body of Christ that I would rather belong to, than Seacoast Church in Ballina.

• And I’m not just saying that to be nice. There have been a couple of meetings that I’ve been part of already since being back. One was a combined churches prayer meeting Thursday night. I only received the details at the last minute, so I sent an SMS to everyone I have a mobile number for. If you missed out, there’ll be more.

• But let me tell you, if it wasn’t for the people from Seacoast Church, it would have been very light on. And when the pastors and ministers started praying, it was the men and women from Seacoast that rose up in agreement and encouragement.

• Then we had a Ministry Team Meeting on Friday. I came away from that meeting totally inspired and full of faith about what God is doing through this church. We talked about the 25th Celebration coming up, what’s happening with the youth, with Seacoast Pantry, with our plans for outreaching to Mullumbimby, Global Care, the men’s group... That meeting was full of vision and faith. Then there was the morning motorbike ride to Byron Bay with Seacoast Riders – bacon and eggs on the beach...

• There’s a great description for what the people of Seacoast Church are like. I believe we are a people with a different spirit.

• I’m not making judgement on any other church, because I believe the body of Christ is diverse and many faceted, and God works through the expression of all the different Christian Churches. In fact, Venese and I are building great relationships with a number of the other Pastors in Ballina. But there is definitely a call and mantle upon this church to carry a “different spirit.”

• And when you are talking about a different spirit, you are talking about the spirit of men and women who are like Caleb. There are a number of characteristics about Caleb’s life that I want to share with you this morning. I already see many of them in operation in the people in this church, but it’s good to recognise and identify the principles of life and faith that God wants us to live by and walk in.

• Just to refresh your memory, Caleb was one of the twelve men who went in and spied out the land that God Himself had promised to His people after they came out of 400 years of bondage in Egypt.

• In Numbers 13 and 14, we hear about how ten of the twelve spies came back and said – yes – it’s just like God said – it’s a land flowing with milk and honey – and they brought back some of the amazing fruit – but they said, in Num 13:28, “Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. Verse 31 - “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants[d] (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

• But Caleb’s response was different. In verse 30, Caleb tells everyone to be quiet, and says, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

• And in Num 14:7-10, both Caleb and Joshua said to the people – “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ 9 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.” 10 And all the congregation said to stone them with stones.”

• And in verse 24 – God says – “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.”

• You can read the whole story for yourself – but the bottom line is that those who have a different spirit – who believe and follow after God wholeheartedly – these are the ones who inherit the promises of God.

• I looked up the meaning of “Caleb”. Many have translated the Hebrew name as dog, or bold. And Caleb certainly was full of boldness, and focussed and determined like a dog with a bone. But others say a more correct meaning is “whole-hearted”. But I like the definition I found which says Caleb means, “raging with canine madness.”

• It’s having a bit of mongrel about you. Sometimes you just have to get what God’s saying and run with it – even when it seems to be out of the box – or on the edge.

• This morning, I’d like to highlight four characteristics of people with a different spirit. People like Caleb. People who live life outside the norm.

• 1. People with a different spirit – see from a different perspective:

• The other spies went in and were overwhelmed with what they saw with their natural eyes – the size of the giants, the size and fortification of the cities, they saw themselves as grasshoppers in their own sight... and isn’t that a key to the perspective they were taking?

• Their perspective was grounded in fear and intimidation – it was limited by the comparisons and judgments they made about their own abilities and resources compared to what they saw.

• But Caleb however, saw through the eyes of faith. His perspective was based on what God had already promised. He knew that all the resources of heaven were with them. Caleb said, those giants are our bread. In other words, they are set before us to be fed upon rather than to be fought with.

• Caleb’s perspective was based on who God had called him to be – one who would possess the land and all that it contained. God had said to him, every bit of land where you put your foot is yours for the taking.

• Rather than coming under fear and intimidation, Caleb rose up in faith. His faith was in God, whereas the others had faith only in themselves – how they saw themselves and the circumstances that were before them.

• Caleb’s reality was not based on his natural vision – his reality was based on the reality of God working in his life.

• What are the giants in your life right now? What is stopping you from taking possession of your promised land? Does it have something to do with your perspective – what you are looking at – or the basis of what you believe about yourself?

• People with a different spirit are grounded in the Word of God – which carries the truth of who God is, and who they are. Anything that opposes that is a lie.

• 2. People with a different spirit – are anchored in hope:

• Accompanying Caleb’s faith, was his hope – hope that was more than just wishful thinking. It was hope that had substance to it.

• Caleb maintained his hope for the promises of God for 45 years. When God first showed Caleb the promised land, he was 40 years old. It wasn’t until he was 85 years old, that they finally came around the mountain again, so to speak. But in all that time, he still held on to his hope for the inheritance God had promised.

• Caleb said to Joshua, I am just as strong now as I was then. Give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day. And Joshua blessed Caleb with Hebron as an inheritance.

• Venese shared a scripture with the Ministry Team on Friday that is timely for all of us. Heb 6 – speaks about God not forgetting your labour of love, about the call to be diligent to the full assurance of hope until the end – not becoming sluggish, but imitating those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. It’s a hope that is sure and steadfast, which enters the Presence behind the veil where our forerunner Jesus has already gone.

• It’s a hope that is founded on the presence of God.

• I sense there may be some of you who are struggling to maintain hope in some area of your life. Hope for your children, hope for a better marriage, hope for financial breakthrough, hope for ministry. Hope for your inheritance – whether it’s a natural inheritance or a heavenly one.

• You may have unfulfilled expectations from the past. Or perhaps you are looking at your own limited resources as you try to deal with the problem.

• But people with a different spirit have a hope that is an anchor. You don’t give up, you don’t become faint, you don’t allow discouragement to overtake you.

• Discouragement is basically, a lack of courage. But Caleb had a different spirit – he was strong and of good courage. His courage and hope carried him for 45 years.

• Discouragement will cause you to draw back. This is a word for someone this morning: “Don’t draw back from what you are hoping for and believing for.”

• Heb 10:35-39 – “...do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
37 “ For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. 38 Now the just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”
• Keep your hope in God alive – not only for your salvation, but for all that accompanies salvation. All the things that God has promised you – the things that maybe only you and He know about that you carry in your heart. Have a Caleb spirit of faith and hope in the face of the giants of unbelief and fear.

• We don’t just lose our confidence – we cast it away. We make a choice to draw back. But it’s a trap of the enemy – because he knows there is a great reward for those who keep their hope alive.

• 3. People with a different spirit – position themselves in faithfulness to God’s appointed leadership:

• Caleb was not a lone ranger. He was passionate and strong and courageous, but he was positioned as a man who was faithful and loyal to being part of the people of God, and to godly leadership. For us, it’s about being part of the body of Christ. The church is God’s plan. He will build His church. Our confidence is not in men – but in God’s divine ability to bring about His purposes and plans.

• Caleb could have caused an uprising – and undermined the leadership of Moses. He was a strong leader in his own right, and yet he knew that he would ultimately fail if he stepped out from under the covering of God’s appointed authority.

• John Bevere talks about this situation often. You can be 100% right – and yet make everything 100% wrong if you rebel against those in authority over you. John Bevere says how vital it is to keep yourself “Under Cover.”

• I have experienced it time and time again – when people take themselves out from under the covering and leadership that God has appointed and anointed – particularly when it’s done in rebellion or anger or pride, the fruit is often isolation and barrenness.

• I’ve experienced it first hand myself, many years ago when I listened to murmurings and complaining about church leaders – and I found myself feeling isolated. My heart attitude took me out from under the covering that God had placed me in – and He Himself hadn’t given me the right to make that judgement. It could have sabotaged my whole journey to where I find myself now. By God’s grace I eventually saw things from a different perspective.

• People with a different spirit will seek to serve and work within the scope of influence that God has given them – with loyalty and faithfulness, ultimately to God.

• Faithful patience and endurance and steadfast hope, will always attract the attention of God. It might take some time, but you will inherit your promise.

• 4. Lastly, people with a different spirit, are called to take possession of their inheritance:

• Caleb said, “let us go up at once and take possession.” There’s nothing passive about that statement. Faith is an action word. Possession doesn’t just come to you – you have to take it.

• The word possession means – to occupy, to seize, and to drive out all previous tenants. We’ve all had to drive out some previous tenants in our time. Like fear, and rejection, and abandonment and intimidation. If you want to possess the things of God, you have to drive out from your own life those attitudes and emotional bondages that want to block you from your inheritance.

• A good place to start is to renew your mind with the truth. Drive out lies with the truth of God’s Word. Drive out emotional instability with faith.

• I have been reading a book recently about repositioning yourself, and there is the testimony in there about this guy who broke free from addiction simply by putting into place James 4:7, which says, “submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

• Every time he felt drawn back to his addiction, he would just do what James said – submit and humble himself before God – resist the enemy’s temptation – and see him retreat.

• We have to be proactive in first of all possessing our own inner life – or more correctly – allowing Jesus to possess it.

• But then there are action steps for us to take. Pray for the sick – exercise your faith – take a step forward. God can direct a person who is moving – but there’s not a lot He can do if we sit passively and safely waiting for Him to do what is our part.

• Remember, Heb 10 says that the just shall live by faith. And that He takes no pleasure in those who draw back or cast away their confidence.

• What will it mean for you to possess your inheritance, and to occupy the land God is giving you? What is one step of faith that you can take to move towards your promised land? What decision do you need to make? What do you need to let go of?

• People with a different spirit ask themselves these kinds of questions all the time.

• When I think about Jesus, I think about how different He was to those around about Him.

• He had a different perspective to just about everyone. The kingdom He taught about was an upside down kingdom compared to this world – it put others first – not self, it was based on things unseen – by faith, His kingdom was based on grace and love – not law... He had a different perspective on life.

• And He offered hope to a hopeless world. And He still offers genuine hope – hope with substance – to this generation.

• He knew what it was to be under the covering of His Heavenly Father – and He only did what the Father spoke to Him. He was obedient – even unto death.

• And Jesus was one who took possession of His inheritance. What was His inheritance? Us! The one’s He died for. His inheritance is our eternal life.

• People with a different spirit are first of all different because of the life of Jesus Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit that abides within them.