Whole-Hearted HOTL 2011
Expound on Caleb:
Numbers 14:24 (ESV)
24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.
whole•heart•ed \ˈhōl-ˈhär-təd\ adjective
(1840)
1 : completely and sincerely devoted, determined, or enthusiastic 〈a wholehearted student of social problems〉
2 : marked by complete earnest commitment : free from all reserve or hesitation 〈gave the proposal wholehearted approval〉
synonymy see sincere
— whole•heart•ed•ly adverb
Joshua 14:6-13 (ESV)
6 Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me.
7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart.
“Where have all the old men gone? Why do we get outdated and obsolete? Why are there so few over fifty that are on the cutting edge? Cabeb, feisty old die-hard that he was, wouldn’t understand. At eighty-five he stormed the heights, the ridge where the Anakites lived.”
Dave Roper Strength of a Man, copyright 1989
Key Points:
When You Serve God Fully
1. You See Things Differently
8 But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God.
Speaks of the report that the spies gave to the people.
2. You Declare things with Faith
Not only do you see things with God’s perspective, but the sound that emanates out of your mouth is different!
All the people that where sent into the wilderness knew God, it wasn’t like there were non-believers and believers so to speak. But there was a difference in how they perceived things AND how they spoke!
9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’
3. You GET an inheritance that others don’t!
It’s there! It’s not like there is a LIMITED amount that God will dole out….But you see that an inheritance, promises where given because Caleb served God FULLY! He served God wholeheartedly….
• Also notice how it impacted his generation! It was not just for him but for his children! When you serve God whole-heartedly there is something of God’s favor that is released to your children and beyond!
10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old.
11 I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming.
4. You LIVE differently!
Because of Caleb’s wholehearted service to God, it impacted the quality and quantity of his life….It wasn’t easy, he still was in the wilderness with the people!
12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”
13 Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance.
There is resonating in my spirit what God would do through a people, a local church, our families if we would ALL serve God whole-heartedly, fully….
What would the Lord give, what would be the faith declarations of our mouths, how would not only our families, our church, but our community change and respond to the Lord….
How would every ministry that God has given us change…From people that maybe are just fulfilling a duty, to those who have not “fully” engaged…
What a difference it would make….
We would see different
We would declare things differently
We would inherit not only for ourselves, but for our children
We would live strong, in character and quality
Today, will we commit to live and serve God, fully, wholeheartedly?
