How To Have A Mountain In Your Heart

James O. Davis is the founder and president of Second Billion (TM). You are invited to learn more about Second Billion by visiting www.billion.tv.

TEXT: Numbers 13: 25-33; 14: 6-10; Josh. 14: 6-15

TOPIC: The Mountain Top

THEME: How to live on the mountain while living in the valley.

HOW TO HAVE A MOUNTAIN IN YOUR HEART

INTRODUCTION:

1. I believe God wants His people to live on the mountain top.

2. This is the familiar story of the children of Israel when they are located at Kadesh Barnea. Moses has sent 12 spies to survey the Canaan and have come back with their report. Ten of the spies give a negative report and two of them give a positive report. The names of two men who gave the positive report were Joshua and Caleb.

3. There are a lot Churches and Christians today who are living in verse 33. They are living in the desert overcome by their problems rather than enjoying the benefits of Canaan.

4. They have unsuccessful lives because they have unsurrendered wills. Yet, Caleb was a contrast to the rest of his people. He walked in victory and lived on the mountain top. Throughout the entirety of his life, Caleb lived on the mountain top in his heart.

5. Even during the 40 years of wilderness wanderings, Caleb lived on the mountain top while the rest of the people lived in the desert.

6. What causes one Christian to live in victory and the other in defeat, one Christian live on the mountain and the other in the desert, one to live in the Spirit and the other to live in the flesh?

T.S.: How did Caleb live on the mountain all his life? There are three steps to living on the mountain top the entirety of our lives.

I. WE MUST SURVEY OUR CHALLENGES (Numbers 13:22)

Our challenge is four-fold as we move into uncharted land.

A. Our Challenge is Strong in Pride (v. 22)

Ahiman--What I am

Sheshai--Who I am

Talmai--What I can do

They were strong in pride. They challenged anybody who came on their turf. They said you better look at what I am, who I am, and what I can do.

B. Our Challenge is Strong in Position (v. 28)

They had walled cities to protect them. These cities were built on the mountains. They were high up. They had an advantageous position. They were in control.

C. Our Challenge is Strong in Population (v. 32)

They devoured the land. They were so many of them, that the land could not contain them.

D. Our Challenge is Strong in Proportion (v. 32)

They were 8 and 9 feet tall. Goliath was a descendant of these people. The Anakims were an entire race of giants. The Hebrew People were of average height.

II. WE MUST STIMULATE OUR COURAGE (14: 6-10)

The King James states: They are bread for Us." The NASB states, "They are prey for us."

What made Caleb and Joshua different from the rest of the people? What makes one church different from another church?

A. We Must See from God’s Perspective

The number one problem that people have in their lives is seeing things from God’s perspective. Do you look up at the problems or down at the problems?

They had a grasshopper complex. They had a grasshopper mentality. Instead of saying, "Look how much bigger God is than the giants." They said, "Look how much smaller we are compared to the giants.

They were little thinkers. Little thinkers make big stinkers. Little thinkers make a big stink why we can not possess Canaan.

So many Christians have a grasshopper complex. They want to live on thee mountain top and live in victory. Yet, they think so small in their hearts. All they see are the giants in the land. They see the giants of:

Doubt

Discouragement

Debt

Depression

Bad Economic times

Family Problems

When we start thinking like grasshoppers, we start acting like grass-hoppers. Eventually, we become grasshoppers. You are headed in the direction of your most dominating thought.

The grasshopper complex slows down the work of God, stymies the work of God, and stops the work of God.

If you have grasshopper complex, then everything looks like a giant. Everything to a grasshopper looks impossible. Yet, from God’s perspective, everything changes.

Eph. 2:6--God has raised us up together to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Thus, we are looking down on our problems in Christ Jesus. We must see them from a divine perspective from above rather than grasshopper perspective below.

Did you know that all of the people who said that they could not conquer Canaan died in the wilderness. Only Joshua and Caleb entered into Canaan.

B. We Must See through God’s Purpose (14: 9)