Over the Hill or Taking the Hill?

And usually when we have a communion service, the message ties in with the theme of communion in some way or another, the death of Christ. What our salvation means, the fellowship of the body of Christ in some way, the theme of the communion service is highlighted even in the message, but not so today. Actually, this communion service was originally scheduled three weeks ago on Palm Sunday, and Pastor Dan was to preach that Sunday. He had a great message on the triumphal entry of Christ that just fit beautifully, not only with Palm Sunday, but also with communion. And then that Saturday afternoon and evening, we got the 12 to 14 inches of snow and the rest is history. We had to cancel that service. And so we bumped communion up to this Sunday, but I find myself in a position of diminishing weeks to finish what I have intended to preach from the book of Joshua. And so we're going to head back to Joshua this morning. Joshua, chapter 14, we're going to look today at probably the most famous octogenarian in the scriptures, the most famous 80 something in the Bible. Caleb, the man Caleb, what a man he is. Chuck Swindall in his book, Strengthening Your Grip, has a chapter on aging. And he says this, he says, you know you're getting older when most of your dreams are reruns. When the airline attendant offers you coffee tea or milk of Magnesia, you know you're getting older when your mind makes commitments, your body can't keep, or when almost everything hurts and what doesn't hurt doesn't work. You know you're getting older when you sit down in a rocking chair and you can't get it started. You know you're getting older when you sink your teeth into a juicy steak and they stay there. Well there are lots of signs of getting older. Those are a few of them. Some of you could give us others. I'm sure signs of getting older. Aging is not a choice, but our attitude in life is a choice. None of us can choose to stop the aging process regardless of the wrinkle free cream advertisements on television. None of us can change that process of aging, but we can do something about our attitude toward life. Caleb illustrates that. Remember who Caleb was? Caleb was one of the two spies, one of the twelve spies, that was sent into the land of Canaan. After Israel had come out of Egypt and been delivered by God to the verge of the promised land, Moses sent in twelve spies to spy out the land and bring back a report. Ten of those spies brought a negative report. Two of them, Caleb and Joshua brought a good report that they could take the land. Now it's 45 years later because of the rebellion of the people of Israel. Their unwillingness to take the land, they wondered in the wilderness for 38 years. For that whole generation of Israelites to perish in the wilderness with the exception of two men, Joshua and Caleb. It's been seven years in taking most of the land when we get to chapter 14, and so it's 45 years later and Caleb approaches Joshua with the request. Just as the land is about to be divided up, Caleb comes to Joshua and says, I have a request for you and you might think it would be something like this. Leave me alone. I'm tired. He's 85 years old. Or you might think it would sound something like this. I deserve a comfortable shady spot in Canaan. I've been through the whole wilderness journey. I've been through seven years of battles. Now I want to sit down and take it easy. Or you might think it would sound something like this. You owe me Joshua some benefits for all of these years. You and I have served together. Or maybe this. I've done my part. Now it's the time for the younger people to step up and do their part. But Joshua's request sounded nothing like that. In fact, if you'll look in Joshua 14 at verse 10, we'll go back later to verse 6. But look at verse 10, which starts his real request. He says, now then just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for 45 years since the time he said this to Moses while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, 85 years old. I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord has promised to me that day. You yourself heard then that the Antichites were there and their cities were large and fortified. But with the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said. Wow, his request is, give me those mountains. Let me at those fortified cities. I want to take the giants. There's no quit in this man. And in so doing, Caleb demonstrates for us the attitudes that should carry us through life. Caleb becomes an illustration to us that the aging process does not have to be the end of the book for us. It just moves to a new chapter. Caleb shows us that old age can be the time of the greatest effectiveness and influence for Christ. So if the little old lady you helped across the street this week was your wife, this message is for you. But even if that's not the case, if you're younger, 40 something, 30 something, 20 something, teenager, this message is still for you. Because if you do not develop the attitudes that Caleb still demonstrates at age 85, if you do not develop those attitudes early in life, you will be over the hill by the time you hit 30. Your life will have been lived and you're just kind of trying to drift through life. If however you develop these characteristics, these attitudes, then you will remain vibrant, influential and effective right on up through old age. That's what Caleb teaches us. So what are those attitudes? What does Caleb demonstrate that should become our attitudes as we approach life? Notice first of all, Caleb is a person of vision. Look at verse 6. Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgau and Caleb, son of Jaffin of the Kinesite, said to him, you know what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. I was 40 years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land and I brought him back a report according to my convictions. But my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I however followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. What Caleb is doing here is summarizing the historical events that took place as the twelve spies entered the land of Canaan to spy it out and bring back a report as to how good this land was. It really is a summary of the events described for us in Numbers 13 and 14. So hold your place here in Joshua 14, flip back with me in your Bible to Numbers 13 because we're going to see the kind of vision that Caleb had at age 40. The amazing thing is he still has that vision at age 85. That's the incredible thing. Here's the point. You will not have this kind of vision at age 85 if you don't have it by 40. If you do not develop the attitude of being a person of vision early in your life then you will not age well. As you age you will become a narrow viewed cynical sarcastic grumpy person. Now who are you looking at your wife like that? What then is this attitude of vision? Well let's see what it is back in Numbers 13. Vision first of all focuses on opportunities not obstacles. Look at Numbers 13, verse 26. Speaking about the spies after they go into the land and says they came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kedish in the desert of Peron. There they reported to them into the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account. We went into the land to which you sent us and it does flow with milk and honey. Here is its fruit and if they had stopped there it would have been okay. But they didn't. They started giving a good report but noticed how verse 28 begins. But yeah this is a good land just like it was reported to us. Flows with milk and honey which is a metaphor for how fruitful it is. Here's the fruit of it. Look at this but but the people who live there are very powerful and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw the sentence of Anok there. The descendants of Anok were men of great stature to look at them. They would have been the NBA basketball players of the day. Really tall guys. Verse 29. The Amalakites live in the negab. The Hittites, the Jebysites and Amorites live in the hill country and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan and Caleb senses what's happening. What's happening is the report is shifting to focus on the obstacles in the land and not the opportunities that lie before them. And so Caleb interjects in verse 30. Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said we should go up and take possession of the land for we can certainly do it. Now there's a focus on the opportunity. When he sees the report beginning to shift to a focus on the obstacles, children of Anok are there, fortified cities, lots of different tribal groups. And he sees the fear beginning to rise. He jumps in and says, no wait a second. Yeah, I saw the same obstacles. I saw the same thing. These other spies saw. But I'm going to focus on the opportunities and the opportunities are we should go up and take possession of it because we can do it. But then the other 10 spies, Joshua and Caleb being the only two who stuck with the promises of God, the other 10, verse 31. But the men who had gone up with him said we can't attack those people. They are stronger than we are. And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. Now I want you to see the report and how it focuses on the obstacles, the problems in taking this land. And I want you to notice something else as we read them. When you begin to focus on the obstacles, they become magnified. You exaggerate them and they further intimidate you. Notice the report, verse 32, they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land that explored. They said the land we explored devours those living in it. Really? What does that mean? The land itself is going to eat us up and devour us. Not even yet talking about the enemy. Just the land itself is too too difficult. Notice the next statement. All the people we saw there are of great size. Now wait a second. Come on. There were some tribes there, the descendants of Anak, who were NBA size guys. But not everybody. You mean to tell me all the people are like that? That's just not true. That's an exaggeration. Verse 33, we saw the Nephilim there, the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim. Interesting change of words they use. Earlier in the report, they referred to them as the descendants of Anak. That's their tribal name. But now they call them the Nephilim. You know where that came from? The Nephilim were the men who were of great stature and great renown and military might prior to the flood in Genesis 6. And so this is a highly charged term. This is a term that is deliberately designed to evoke fear in the people that are hearing this report. These are no longer the descendants of Anak. They're the Nephilim that we've heard so much about. Now notice the next statement. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes. And we looked the same to them. And I've always wondered about that. We looked the same to them. How did they know that they looked like grasshoppers to the people of the land? Did they go up and ask them? You know I'm beginning to feel a little bit like a grasshopper when I see a... Do you see me that way? Do you see me as a grasshopper? Tell me how you feel about me. Are you kidding me? No, they didn't say that. They didn't do that. But what happens is when you begin to focus on the obstacles and the problems, the barriers in the way of doing what God has called you to do, when you focus on those problems, they become magnified in your eyes. They become all like giants. You begin to exaggerate them and then you get the grasshopper complex. I look like a grasshopper not only in my own eyes, but I'm sure that's how they saw me too. No way I can stand up against them. Negative view of yourself and what you can accomplish even with God's strength and power. That's the grasshopper complex. That is a focus on the obstacles, but vision focuses on the opportunities. There were only two of the twelve spies who said we have the opportunity to take this land. God promised it to us. He's leading us to do this. We've got to trust him for the future. That's the opportunity. Oh yeah, I saw the obstacles too, but I'm not going to focus on those. We all have a choice as to how we're going to view life. We all have a choice as to how we're going to view what God tells us to do and how God is leading us. Either we will put up all kinds of obstacles and reasons why we can't do it or we will say God's leading in this, we can take this land. Let's move forward. We have a choice. But a person of vision focuses on the opportunities, not the obstacles. Notice in chapter 14 of numbers, a person of vision looks to the future and not the past. I want you to see how the ten spies and their report marked markedly differs from that of Joshua and Caleb. In this regard, the ten spies are looking to the past, Joshua and Caleb looking to the future. Look at the emphasis on the past, chapter 14 verse 1. That night, all the members of the community raised their voices and weft allowed. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly said to them, if only we had died in Egypt or in this wilderness. Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and our children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better? Notice, wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt? They said to each other, we should choose a leader and go back to Egypt. You can tell where their heart is, where their focus is, we want to go back. Now, what does going back mean? It means to go back into bondage to Egypt. It's amazing when we get our eyes off of the Lord, when we become people not a vision but of nostalgia, that the past, all of a sudden, looks a whole lot better than it really was. The past was not good. Egypt was not a good place to be, but they want to go back because at least it's familiar, at least I'm not threatened by what's in front of me. And so the people who are discouraging the people of God are focused on the past. Let's go back to where it's familiar. But notice those who focused on the future, verse 5, then Moses and Aaron fell face down in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jaffuna, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, the land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. Now want you to see the focus on the future here. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord and do not be afraid of the people of the land because we will devour them. I love that twist on words there. Remember what the naysayers said, the land will devour us. Joshua and Caleb are saying, no, no, no, we will devour them. The Hebrew literally says they are bred for us. Today we would say it they are a piece of cake. This is no problem for God. We can devour their piece of cake for us if we are trusting the Lord. Here is the reason why the end of verse 9, their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them. Do you see the focus on the future there? The focus on the past says, oh, the future is too threatening. I don't think we can do this. Let's go back where we are comfortable. Even if it's Egypt and a focus on the future, people of vision say if God is leading us to do this, if God has promised us that this is what He wants us to do, we can move forward, we can take this land. We've got to go forward. You know, throughout history, there have been many who have looked at the future and misread what was there, where we're intimidated, where had no vision about what could be accomplished. In 1837, John Erickson was a leading British surgeon who declared, the abdomen, the chest, and the brain will be forever shut out from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon. While I'm glad somebody didn't listen to him, I'm glad somebody said no wait a second, I think we can go there. In 1840, it was said that anyone traveling at the speed of 30 miles an hour would surely suffocate. In 1876, President Rutherford Hayes said of the newfangled telephone. That's an amazing invention. But who would ever want to use one of those? In 1878, concerning the newly invented electric light, the British Parliament declared, it's good enough for our transatlantic friends, but unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men. In 1908, Harvard astronomer William Pickering made this prediction. The popular mind often pictures gigantic flying machines speeding across the Atlantic and carrying innumerable passengers, it seems safe to say that such ideas are wholly visionary. I mean, that's not practical. In 1939, popular mechanics magazine said that computers in the future might weigh as little as 1.5 tons. In 1943, international business machines, CEO Thomas Wilson, that company would later be known just as IBM. But the CEO of IBM in 1943 said, I think there is a world market in the future for perhaps five computers. In 1946, Daryl Zannick, the head of 20th Century Fox, suggested that television had a very limited future. And I quote, people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night. Why was he wrong? In 1977, while serving as president of digital equipment corporation, Ken Olson said there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm glad people didn't just say, okay, those guys have got it, we can't proceed any further. I'm glad somebody said, no, wait a second, I think we can move forward. We're not going to stay here, we're not going to keep in the past. Let's move forward. You see people of vision are people who look to the future, not the past. And as a church, we need to look to the future, not the past. If we have any kind of vision, we need to look to the future, not the past. So people of vision focus on opportunities, not obstacles. They look to the future, not the past. And then thirdly, people of vision look at God's resources and not hours. You saw it there in these first nine verses where basically the 10 spies were saying, we're looking at our resources. If we go up, our women will be taken as plunder. We will be defeated by the sword. They're looking at only their resources in battle. How can we do battle? But in verses five through nine, you noticed consistently those who were people of vision said, the Lord will do this. If the Lord is pleased with us, He'll lead us. Don't rebel against the Lord. Don't be afraid of them because the Lord is with us and He's taken their protection away. Over and over again, their focus is on God's resources and not hours. Two years ago, Saddleback Church, founding pastor Rick Warren, was recounting the amazing history of Saddleback Church in Orange County, California. And he mentioned a now humorous incident that happened during their first five years. The treasurer and the key lay leader informed him that they were leaving the church because of a computer purchase with which they disagreed. It was only the 1980s and Saddleback was buying three computers for a total of $10,000. Those two people who left over that thought it was a ridiculous purchase because they were convinced the church would never be big enough to warrant three computers. So they told pastor Warren, Saddleback Church will never need three computers. And as he's telling this story, he's recounting the fact that the database today of people who have attended Saddleback hovers around $100,000. And they use literally hundreds of computers to carry on the myriad of ministries both locally, nationally and internationally that Saddleback Church has initiated. Here was his conclusion. Tragically, too many people in church leadership don't have a dream big enough to justify the use of even three computers. People of vision look beyond our resources where we are now and believe God for great things in the future. That's the kind of man Caleb was. He focused on opportunities, not obstacles. He focused on the future, not the past. He focused on God's resources, not his own resources, or the resources of the army of Israel. And we need more Caleb's. We need them at age 20. We need them at age 30. We need them at age 85. We need Caleb's. We need people of vision. People who can see the future, move to the future, not be afraid of what God wants to do in the future. Caleb was a person of vision. But secondly, he was a person of faithfulness. The text describes him as a man of great faithfulness, verse 9, and now we're back in Joshua. Joshua chapter 14, verse 9, so on that day Moses swore to me the land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever because you have followed the Lord. My God wholeheartedly. Notice that phrase. You have followed the Lord. My God wholeheartedly. That phrase is also found in verse 8. It is found again in verse 14 three times. In these verses, that phrase you have followed the Lord your God wholeheartedly is found. What does that mean? What does it mean to follow the Lord wholeheartedly? I believe it means first of all to follow him completely. In other words, whatever he says, however he's leading Caleb believed that and acted on it. Ten of the spies may say the land is too big for us. The inhabitants are too strong. The world's cities are too great. We can't do it. Caleb remembers God promised us this land. God has led us to this point. We can do this. Whatever God says, whatever God says, I will believe it and act on it. That's following him completely wholeheartedly. Following him wholeheartedly means to follow him sincerely with your whole heart, not hypocritically, but sincerely. Following him wholeheartedly means to following cheerfully with joy and enthusiasm, not throwing a blanket on everything, not being a naysayer, but following him with cheerfully. And then it means to follow him constantly. Never to give up. For 40 days has a spy. Caleb maintained. He says, I reported about my convictions. I reported what I believed were my convictions. And you know what? 45 years later he hasn't changed a bit. He's still living by those same convictions. That's consistency he was following the Lord constantly. That's a description of his faithfulness. But I want you to see the motivations for his faithfulness. There are two of them. Because listen, all of us have dry times. All of us have times when we wonder if we're going to keep going, where you want to throw in the towel and quit. I had a couple days like that this week, be honest, where I just didn't want to go any further. What will keep you going on days like those two things? First of all, the promises of God versus 9 and 10. On that day, Moses swore to me, the land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance, that of your children forever, because you followed the Lord, my God, wholeheartedly. Now then, just as the Lord promised, He's kept me alive for 45 years, basically, to do what He told me I do 45 years ago. The promises of God. You know what will keep you going in the dry times and the difficult times and the times when you feel like throwing in the towel and quitting? You know what will keep you going? The promises of God. The promise that He is with you. The promise that He is working. The promise that He will reward you for faithfulness, that it's not people's reward you're looking for, it's God's you're looking for. Those are the promises that keep you going, but there's something else that will keep you going, that will motivate you to be faithful to God. And that is the encouragement of others. Did you see it there in verse 9? On that day, 45 years ago, now we're talking about on that day, Moses swore to me and he has never forgotten the encouragement of Moses, that the promise of God to him was because you have followed the Lord your God wholeheartedly. That encouragement of Moses kept him going. Encouragement is so important in the body of Christ. Encouragement is so important in the family. Do your words encourage and lift up people and give them the motivation to keep going or do your words discourage people, cause them to doubt themselves and want to quit? Are you an encourager or a discourager? Walt Whitman, one of the great American writers and poets, struggled for years to get anyone interested in his poetry. He got discouraged and was ready to quit writing and then he got a note in the mail. The note read this way, dear sir, I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of leaves of grass, a book of poetry he was trying to get published. The writer of this note said, I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed. I greet you at the beginning of a great career and it was signed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the esteemed American author and poet, who because of an encouraging word launched the career of Walt Whitman. Do your words encourage people or discourage people? Are you a naysayer or a cheerleader for others? Caleb was a man of vision. Caleb was a man of faithfulness. Caleb was also a man of determination. I love his determination. You see it there at the end of verse 10. He says, after recounting the promise of God and the encouragement of Moses, he says at the end of verse 10. So here I am today, 85 years old. I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. I am just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. And I know what some of you are thinking. Not me, not at 85. I am not as strong as I was at 40. And maybe the Lord gave him some supernatural ability here. But the whole point is, I don't think he would have been there at all if his attitude hadn't had been one of following God with vision and faithfulness and determination. I love his determination. Look at what he says in verse 12. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the anachites were there and their cities were large and fortified. But the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said. I love Caleb's determination. He wants a challenge. He does not see life as a threat. He asks for the most difficult area in the land, the mountain area, the fortified cities, the tall people. Let me add them. I want them. I'm going to take them by God's help. The challenge is me about my determination. What about our determination? Where are we with this same approach to life? Do you view life as a challenge or do you view it as a threat? And I'm talking to everyone here, not just 85-year-olds. I'm talking about all of us. Are you determined to meet the challenges in your life or do you try to skirt them? Do you try to avoid them because they're too threatening to you? Refuse to hibernate. Refuse to worry and curl up and fold up and dry up. Don't back down from the challenge. See it as a challenge and not a threat. Don't back down from it. Caleb didn't. You shouldn't either. I shouldn't either. We had a story about a small boat that left the coast of New England with several miles out into the Atlantic Ocean when a huge storm came up. The boat capsized. Seven people were on board. All seven of them were feared to be gone, to be dead. Coast Guard carried out an extensive search. By the time they got to the boat, it had been pulverized into splinters by the waves. They couldn't find anybody. And so after a few hours they gave up the search, just assuming that all seven people had perished. A couple days later, some beach goers on a New England beach came across a woman lying on the beach, fully clothed, faced down in the sand with her arms spread out. And they got closer to her. They heard her muttering. One more stroke. One more stroke. One more stroke. Amazingly miraculously she had survived that shipwreck and had made it to shore. When she was ready to give out and give up and sink beneath the waves, she convinced herself she was determined to just take one more stroke. What are the areas of your life that present the greatest challenge for you? I'm talking about even daily practical things. Do you look for a way out of those responsibilities or you tackle them head on with determination? Because the way you feel about those things at 20 will not change when you're 85. Do you tackle those responsibilities? Even the seemingly insignificant things, that project for school, that work project, that thing you have to do at the house. Do you keep putting it off, looking the other way, not wanting to tackle it? Or do you have the determination to take it on? Because that attitude will carry you through life to the point that when you're 85, you'll be saying, there's that hill over there. I'm going to take it by God's grace. That's not brash self-confidence. In verse 12, remember Caleb said, but the Lord helping me, I will drive them out. This is confidence on God. Confidence in Him. Determination. I moved my yard yesterday evening. I don't expect applause for that, but it was quite an accomplishment. It was the first time I'd been able to get to it this spring, and many of you are probably in the same shape. Every other time I had time to move the yard, there was snow on top of it. So the first chance I'm getting to it, and my yard probably like yours, a lot of it had not really started growing well yet, but a lot of it was also about a foot tall. So you know what it's like the first time. You get all the equipment ready and usually the first time I move my grass for the year, I have a small pushmower, thankfully I have a small yard too. I have a small pushmower, and I bagged the grass because it got a little leaves that kind of got embedded down in it and other junk. The first time I always used that bag, and I knew with the height of the grass in my yard, this is going to be a chore. And so it wasn't until evening I was able to get to it. I was here at the Hunger Challenge the morning at a wedding in the afternoon, so finally the evening comes and I can tackle the yard, and I get out there and I get the equipment ready, get the bag on the mower and start it up, and I start mowing. I got one quarter of the way around the backyard, and the bag is full. So I stopped and take the bag off and empty it. Another quarter of the way around that first time. Stop, empty the bag. I was just about ready to go in and ask Jeannie if she wanted to finish the yard. And I decided, you know what? I remember that story that I was going to use in my message tomorrow, one more stroke. And so I just started saying to myself, one more bag. I had empty a bag and I'd say, okay, come on, one more bag. And you know what? One more bag got me through the whole yard. It got done. Now I'm not the best at determination. I honestly, I have a tendency to look the other way at hard tasks and try to avoid them and not tackle them head on and think that'll be better. I'll feel better about that one tomorrow. But God wants us to be people of determination who say, this task in front of me, this responsibility in front of me that God has obviously placed in my path. I'm not going to skirt it or avoid it. I'm going to head toward it with the determination that God helping me. I will accomplish this. That's the kind of attitude God wants us to develop. I challenge you today, determined to be like Caleb, whether you are young or old. If you're a teenager or 20-something here this morning, I challenge you. If you do not cultivate the attitude of vision, the attitude of faithfulness, and the attitude of determination, you'll be over the hill by the time you're 30. I challenge those of you who are facing retirement like I am to not think about the easy chair and the easy way and the easy place, but to ask God how he can still use you in this church to blaze the way ahead for those who are following you to show what it means to serve Christ with a vibrancy, with a sense of vision looking to the future and faithfulness to his promises and determination to take that next hill that will show us younger folks how to follow where to go, how to do the work of God. If you're old here today, aging is inevitable. It inevitably means decline, decline physically, decline in your health, decline in your strength and energy and focus, but it does not need to mean but decline in your heart for God. I love the way Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 16, where he says, therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, hear any amends there, outwardly or we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed. Day by day, that verse has Caleb written all over it. That's Caleb, that's his lifestyle. Though physically I'm getting older, I'm wasting away my energy, focus, strength is not what it used to be. My heart for God, Caleb says, is still as strong as it was when I was 40, I'm 85 and I'm still ready to take the hill. Those of you who are 50, 60, 70 and 80 can show those who are younger the way to take the next hill. Not retreat to the past, but to take the next hill, to move forward, to look for the future of this church to be more grand and glorious than the past could ever have been. And someday to stand on top of that hill like Caleb and shout victoriously, thank you God for what you've accomplished. Let's pray. Father, thank you for men like Caleb, what a challenge he is to me. May he be a challenge to all of us today, a challenge to follow his lead in being a person of vision, a person of faithfulness, a person of determination. May we not shy away from the challenges ahead of us, but to move forward as a church, to reach more people for Christ than we've ever reached before. Maybe needing to do it in different ways than what we've done up to this point, but help us to be willing to see those new and better ways to do your work and to carry it out for your glory. Lord, help us not to be discouraged by the naysayers. Help us to forge ahead in vision, faithfulness and determination to do what you believe, and we believe you have laid on our hearts to do for your glory in this place. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.