A Different Perspective | Christine Caine

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Yes you give it all for Jesus and for Him only ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus all for your glory ♪

♪ Come on and praise the Lord with me ♪ ♪ Sing if you love His name ♪ ♪ Come on and lift your voice with me ♪ ♪ He's worthy of all our praise ♪ ♪ Come on and bring your offering ♪ ♪ Sing if you've known His grace ♪ ♪ Come on and lift up your holiness ♪ ♪ He's worthy of all our praise ♪ ♪ Bless God in the sanctuary ♪ ♪ Bless God in the fields of plenty ♪ ♪ Bless God in the darkest valley ♪ ♪ Every chance I get I bless your name ♪ ♪ Bless God when my hands are empty ♪ ♪ Bless God with the praise that caused me ♪ ♪ Bless God when nobody's watching ♪ ♪ Every chance I get I bless, come on lift it up ♪ ♪ Bless God when your weapons fall on me ♪ ♪ Bless God when your walls are falling ♪ ♪ Bless God cause He goes before me ♪ ♪ Every chance I get I bless your name ♪ ♪ Bless God for He holds the victory ♪ ♪ Bless God for He's always with me ♪ ♪ Bless God for He's always worthy ♪ ♪ Every chance I get I bless your name, hey ♪ ♪ Every chance I get I bless your name, hey ♪ ♪ Every chance I get, come on and praise the Lord with me ♪ ♪ Sing if you love His name, come on and lift your voice with me ♪ ♪ He's worthy of our, our praise, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Come on and praise, you're all free ♪ ♪ Sing if you love His grace, come on and lift up your holiness ♪

♪ He's worthy of our praise, yes He is, He's worthy of our praise ♪ ♪ Oh, He's worthy of our praise, He's worthy of our praise ♪ Come on, lift Him up. He's worthy of all our praise this morning. You're worthy, Lord, you're worthy. He's so worthy of all our praise today, isn't He? He's so good, He's faithful. Do you believe He's worthy of our praise today? He's so worthy. You know, last Sunday, we introduced a brand new song to you. It's called, How Majestic. It's based out of Psalm 8, 1, where King David said, "'O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.'" You know, majestic maybe isn't a word we hear often today, but in the Bible, that word holds great significance, explaining the name of God. That word in Hebrew is adir, and I'm sure in my Texas accent, I probably didn't say that right, but the Lord knows my heart in it. But here is what it means in that Hebrew word. That word majestic means His name is mighty in power. His name is excellent. His name is magnificent. His name is noble. His name is unmatched. It's unmatched. So when David said, "'O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name,'

he's not just saying, your name is beautiful. No, he's saying, God, your name is greater than any other name. Your name is higher than any other name. Your name is unmatched. So as we sing this song together, let us worship in full view. of who our great God is. God, your name is majestic. Your name is unmatched in every way. Thank you, Lord. ♪ Lift your voice and magnify the Lord ♪ ♪ Earth and heaven sing in one accord ♪ ♪ Holy and most glorious, the one true living God ♪ ♪ Lift your voice and magnify the Lord ♪ Come on, this is our response this morning. ♪ And O Lord, our Lord, you were greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ How majestic is your name in all the earth ♪ ♪ And O Lord, our Lord, hallelujah, God, you reign ♪ ♪ How majestic is your name in all the earth ♪ ♪ Testify to all that he has done ♪ ♪ Bear witness to the cross and his great love ♪ ♪ Victorious at Calvary, the final battle won ♪ ♪ Testify to all that he has done, oh, we declare it out ♪ ♪ And O Lord, our Lord, you were greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ How majestic is your name in all the earth ♪ ♪ And O Lord, our Lord, hallelujah, God, you reign ♪ ♪ How majestic is your name in all the earth ♪ ♪ Oh, in all the earth, oh, give him glory in this place ♪ ♪ Give him the praise, come on, church, we sing, praise the Lord ♪

♪ And praise the Lord, and no other name is worthy ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, and worship the King of glory ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, every voice, oh, no other name, no other name ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, worship the King of glory ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, and no other name is worthy ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, worship the King of glory ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, our Lord, you were greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, our Lord, you were greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ How majestic is your name in all the earth ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, our Lord, hallelujah, God, you reign ♪ ♪ How majestic is your name in all the earth ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, our Lord, you were greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ How majestic is your name in all the earth ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, our Lord, hallelujah, God, you reign ♪ ♪ How majestic is your name in all the earth ♪ ♪ Lay your whole life down before the King ♪ ♪ And joyfully surrender everything ♪ ♪ Jesus is our great reward for all eternity ♪ ♪ Lay your whole life down before the King ♪ ♪ And Jesus is our great reward for all eternity ♪ ♪ And lay your whole life down before the King ♪ ♪ Oh, we surrender ♪ ♪ We declare our dependency on you this morning ♪ Oh, we love you, Lord, oh, we love you, Lord. You're worthy, worthy. And when it says in Psalms, lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. So all across this room, let's just lift up our hands and we're gonna declare this chorus to him today. Oh, Lord, our Lord.

And oh, Lord, our Lord. Every voice. You are greatly to be praised. How majestic is your name in all the earth. And oh, Lord, our Lord. Hallelujah, God, you reign. How majestic is your name in all the earth. Come on, we declare. And oh, Lord, our Lord. Oh, Lord, you are greatly to be praised. How majestic is your name in all the earth. And oh, Lord, our Lord. Hallelujah, God, you reign. How majestic is your name in all the earth. In all the earth. Oh, inhabit the praises of your people this morning, Lord. We sing holy. And holy, holy are you, Lord God almighty. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. For you are holy, yes, you are holy. No one like you, are you, Lord God almighty. Worthy is the Lamb, yeah, worthy is the Lamb. For you are holy, holy. Are you, Lord God almighty. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. For you are holy, holy. Are you, Lord God almighty. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. For you are holy, holy.

Are you, Lord God almighty. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. For you are holy, holy. Worthy is the Lamb. For you are holy, yeah, holy. Are you, Lord God almighty. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. For you are holy, holy. Are you, Lord God almighty. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. Amen. Amen. Come on, he's worthy. He's worthy. Hallelujah. Put your hands together and give Jesus the very best. You can do better than that. The Bible says, oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. We're so glad you're in church. We wanna say hello to all of our campuses and everyone that's joining us online. We wanted to take a moment in today's service and pause and pray because this is a big week coming up for most of our communities. everybody's heading back to school and all the parents said amen and so many of you invest in the lives of students whether you teach via homeschool or you're a teacher, administrator, your coach, your bus driver, you're gonna be serving lunch, you're a custodian, no matter what role that you serve you're

making a difference and impacting the lives of our children which are our greatest commodity everyone and so we wanted to take a moment and pray over you the blessing of God over this year coming up. That's right you know we're newish here so I wanted you to know that I was a middle school and high school choir music teacher for six years in the public school system when we first got married thank you very much and survived and I want you to know that my preference was elementary music I wanted to teach the babies but God assigned me to middle school and you know that's only God so I had a preference but God had an assignment on my life and I chose to allow it to become my joy so I just want to say to you this year that no matter where God has placed you he has assigned you for such a time as this for those children for those teachers those administrators whatever it may be and don't take it lightly don't stress just let the love of Jesus be the overflow of who you are this year and this is your opportunity to be the light to be the light to those kids to be the light to those parents let me shout out to the parents a minute love your teachers love your administrators they may not be perfect they will not be perfect but pray for them pray for them but we love you and we want you to know we believe with all of our hearts that for such a time of this as this God has placed you in that classroom in that homeroom wherever you may be maybe you're at home and let the love of Jesus shine through you let him be your strength thank God that he is strength in our weakness and you will watch the miraculous happen this year if you'll give it all and give your all unto him so we love you we love you a whole lot we're praying for you so why don't we pray right now across all of our campuses let's just ask the Lord to bless this year ahead father we're grateful today that you're in the details of our life God that nothing is outside of your purview and God you care about even the things that weigh on our hearts and so this year ahead Lord we're asking for the blessing of God to be upon our children for the blessing of God to be upon those who are leading them may your hand rest upon them greatly we pray for those in our church family that God serve in this way

whether in a homeschool or in a college or in a high school middle school elementary school wherever they may be God we ask that you would use them as Tammy said but they realize they're on assignment from heaven and God would you use them to make a difference I pray this be a year of revival springing up within our schools God that you would use teachers and different people that walk the hallways God just their example of what it looks like to follow Jesus would spark interest with students come to faith in Christ because of their example Lord and we pray God that you would protect our schools may your hand of safety and protection be around them may the light of Jesus shine bright in them God we pray the the scripture over our leaders in this area that they would not grow weary and well-doing not faint because in due season they will reap a harvest and so God would you give them strength would you give them vision would you give them stamina would you give them the resilience they need to lead well and to lead strong for the glory of God we pray this in the mighty name of Jesus everybody said amen amen amen come on let's put our hands together for all those that are leaning and our schools we also want you to know we have a gift for you so at every campus if you serve in any way impacting children make sure that you stop in the foyer on your way out and you receive that gift hey today's another special day because it's water baptism everybody across all of our campuses so let me just say to you if you've never taken this step of water baptism today's your day and you're thinking well I didn't come prepared well guess what we did so we have everything you need some of you signed up and some of you you haven't but you've never taken that step of obedience someone called the first step of obedience then we want to encourage you to do that today let your church celebrate with you everything that God is doing you ready for the word church Come on, it's preaching time almost. And I'm so excited for you to receive the Word today. Before we do, why don't you find a few people around you,

introduce yourself, make a new friend before you grab your seat. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ The Bible says that we are His masterpiece and that we have been created anew in Christ Jesus. Coming to Women's Nights are just so inspiring. Just being a loving light is one of the greatest things that you can be in someone's life. Coming to a night like that where really one word from the Lord can shift generations to come, I would just encourage you to show up and see what the Lord's gonna do. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ All right, welcome to church, everybody. You glad to be in God's house today? Let's say again, welcome to all of our campuses, everyone joining us online or on demand later in the week. Of course, all of our prison campuses. As we say, you're not a project to us, you're family to us. And of course, our gateway gatherings that are happening across the country. And anyone here for the first time or the first time in a long time, come on, let's put our hands together

across our whole church family today. Welcome those that are with us. It's a great day to be in God's house. Next Sunday, everybody, we start a brand new series called Best Days. And on Friday of this week, the first single off the new live recording called Best Days releases. So you don't wanna miss that. And next week is one year since God brought our family to Texas. And we're loving it. And so make sure you're in the house to celebrate all that. But today I'm so excited. We have a dear friend to Tammy and I and to Gateway for many years. We have Christine Cain in the house, everybody, to bring God's word. And if you're not familiar with Nick and Chris and their ministry, A21 is fighting human trafficking literally around the world. God is using them to rescue men and women and children from slavement. And it's a powerful, powerful ministry. We've been honored even in Virginia to partner with them. And now of course here at Gateway to partner with them for many, many years. And God's not only using them to do that, but she's one of the most powerhouse preachers that I know, everyone.

And I love how God speaks to her and the gift that she is to the body of Christ. And so we're glad to have her here with us this morning. I'm gonna ask you at every campus to get up on your feet and let's give honor and welcome and love to our friend, Christine Cain. Thank you. Well, good morning, Gateway. It is so nice to be back home. You all, hang on, just before you seated on all of our 10 campuses, you're like rabbits. You keep multiplying every time I come back. I want you to turn to your neighbor and say you're the best looking thing I've seen all morning. Okay, hang on. Now you need to turn to your second choice and say you're actually better looking than the person on the other side. I was just like, you can be seated. And I just am so excited to be here. I've been part of the Gateway Extended family since about 2008. So that was when dinosaurs still roamed the earth for those that are unaware. And it's just fantastic to be back. Nick and I so love your pastors. Pastor Daniel and Tammy are just amazing. You ought to thank God that he has brought them to this house. We love them.

And I am here with the single most ravishing piece of masculine flesh on planet earth. No, Pastor. Danielle was talking about my husband, Nick, that's actually who Nick and I celebrated just a couple of months ago, 30 years of marriage. How is that? Let me just say in 2026, if you could do something for more than 30 minutes, that's pretty amazing. So 30 years, my husband is number 14 of 15 children. All the women just cross their legs. Anyway, so I'm just saying that there was evidently no television in that part of Australia. And women, you got to come on September the 24th to our chicks night because you'll find out how that can happen. Anyway, so it is he is 14 or 15. My mother-in-law did not think you're a woman until you popped out like 10 kids. And so we have two, a 24 year old and a 21 year old, and Catherine and Sophia. So I would take my two daughters to my mother-in-law's house. And I would say, this is Catherine. And she is my alpha. And this is Sophia. And she is my omega. And this is the beginning and the end of my childbearing years. This is where it happens. You know, I'm Greek for those of you that know. So I'm into arranged marriages. And I didn't have my first child until I was 35. And my second until I was almost 40, which means I'm going to be 199 by the time my kids have grandchildren. So everywhere I go, when my children are not with me, and I'm trying to marry them off, it's not offensive in Greek culture. So please don't worry. And my husband loves Texans. So I'm putting this out there. I want you to know, since my daughters were in utero, I used to lay hands on them and pray for them. And I would say, Catherine, Bobby, you are the head and not the tail. You are above only and not beneath. You are a leader and not a follower. You're a woman of God. You're a woman of prayer. You are a Holy Ghost terrorist. And you are going to grow up and marry a very, very, very, very wealthy Christian man. So the reason I'm saying that is if you have a brother, a son, a cousin, a nephew that fits that criteria, if you could just give their name to Pastor Tammy, she'll vet them. If they're not a psycho, she'll send me their name. And I am into all of that. I'm joking. But this year, I'm not really. That's true if it works. Okay, just for the record. I want to be a grandmother because I turned 60 this year. And so I am pumped up. I love it. Some people are like, I can't believe you tell people your age. I'm like, honey, the alternative is I could be like And so I think it's fantastic that the Lord has even let me live this long. And I am passionate. So we decided at the beginning of the year, I'm doing 60 things I've never done before,

just to keep it fresh. And a couple of weeks ago, I went wake surfing for the very first time. I'd never even water skied. So that was like a huge thing. We hiked in the Dolomites. We did, you know, I had never seen the Northern Lights. So Nick took me to Alaska to see the Northern Lights, which was awesome. And we slept in an igloo. That was a once and done. And it was great. And listen, you will all be happy to know, because you're Texans, when I was here for Passion, at the beginning of the year, I, you know, I from California, which I do know that probably 90% of all of our campuses are filled with expats. And so the fact is that we are the land of in and out. And so I've been coming to Texas for 30 years and had never ever eaten Whataburger. I know. So I do want you all to know in my 60th year of life, I partook of what will be served at the marriage supper of the lamb. How is that? So you all can love that, which will be awesome. I am going to get to the word, don't get nervous. I am both Greek and a woman. There's only three ways I speak, hard, fast and continuously. So you will not fall asleep today. But I love, I love being 60. And I'm very committed to I think the greatest gift that I can give this younger generation is not even, you know, building a large ministry, doing what we do around the world. I want a younger generation to see that it just gets better with Jesus. I'm not saying life gets easier. But I am saying Jesus is worthy of our all until the day that we die. And I think the greatest gift, I want to be like Caleb, we're going to talk a little bit about him this morning, who at 85 said to Joshua, I'm not cashing in my 401k. I'm as young now as I was then. Moses promised me Hebron and now give me this mountain. That's my inheritance. Listen, you cannot tell me I've been following Jesus for almost four decades. You can't tell me if you've been fixing your eyes on Jesus for four decades, that you haven't grown more in love, more in goodness, more in kindness, more in self control, more in love. I don't understand these people that after 40 years of following Jesus, they look like they've been sucking lemons. They're like, you know what? I've been in the way for 40 years. I'm like, can you get out of the way? But anyway, so I don't understand it. I want to be super granny for Jesus. I think there ought to be a spring in our step, a little glint in our eye.

We ought to be, you know, naughty, not illegal, not immoral, not heretical, just naughty. I think people need to say, what are you on? I'm just saying the closer I get to the finish line, I've got less time ahead of me. By the grace of God, I plan to live a long and fruitful life. But no matter which way you slice this up, there is less time ahead of me than there is behind me. And so I want to make sure that I'm running faster, I'm running harder, I'm running with more passion towards that finish line. I truly, these can be our most fruitful years ever if we do that. So I'm loving being 60 and you're going to hear about it. And I'm 60, on the 23rd of September, you've got the chicks night on the 24th. So all our campuses, you want to turn up because at the chicks night, we can really be naughty. We can say things you can never say on Sunday morning. And men, I promise you for the married couples, you'll be happy you sent your wife. I'm just saying. And so make sure you come. But on the 24th, on the 23rd, I turned 60, but I have been celebrating for 365 days because you do not get to this age and say, I'm only celebrating one day. I'm celebrating 365 days of being 60. That's what I'm going to do.

And if you would turn with me this morning to the book of Numbers chapter 13, I love the new series we're going into as a church and I'm basically going to kick on part one of what was a three part, but from today has become a four part series of the book of Numbers. I love Numbers. I'm a weird person because there's two censuses in Numbers. You go like, what is all that about? A lot of people avoid it, but people count. So we count people. That's why that's very important. And here is a book that is just full of so much truth. There was obviously the children of Israel had been in slavery. They had been in bondage for 430 years. And God had done some amazing signs and wonders and miracles to bring them out of bondage. I mean, obviously there were the plagues that came and the Red Sea parted and the Egyptian army was drowned in the Red Sea. And God had provided manna from heaven here. There were so many signs and wonders and miracles that the children of Israel had seen. And we're going to pick up the text today. We're about two weeks out of coming out of slavery. And can I say, incidentally, I'm so grateful to God for Gateway Church. I was telling Pastor Daniel this morning,

when I first had the sense of you, that God wanted me to do something and start this fight against human trafficking 2008, when I didn't even know what it was. I had come here for a women's conference and the spirit of the Lord fell so mightily. I don't know if anyone is in the room today that was in there. Yeah, there's a whole lot of chicks putting your hands up. And the fact is that God fell and that was the very first offering that was ever received for 821 before it was 821. We hadn't even registered it yet. And God came and your church gave an incredible offering of $50,000 that kicked off 821. And who would have known that now 19 years late, 18 years later, with tens of thousands of men, women and children that have been rescued and restored and hundreds of millions of people worldwide have been made aware of trafficking. And this last week, just this last week, we had in Greece where we started, that was the offering that was received, the very first seed offering here that was received. There was almost 60 victims that were rescued in one raid just three days ago in Greece and now they're being restored. So I just want you to know, and you've been partners with us all of that time. So it is amazing and just getting stronger.

So the children of Israel had come out of slavery. They had come out of bondage. You would think at this point, they are believing God for the promised land. That you would think that after seeing God move so miraculously, so powerfully, they would be on the edge of their seats going, God could do whatever He wants to do. He is so powerful. I mean, two weeks ago, we were in slavery. We were building the pyramids. We were working in the hot sun, making bricks. We had no rights, no privileges. We were nothing. We were nobodies. And then God came and God miraculously saved us. I mean, I just want you to see how quickly you could forget the goodness of God. How quickly you could forget the miracle working power of God. Two weeks before. They'd been making bricks, then they had come out with the wealth, the gold of the Egyptians, and now they're about to step into the promised land. I mean, they're like about to go in. And this is where we pick up today. Scripture says in Numbers 13, this is the word of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Moses. I want you to note right from the outset,

it's the Lord that's speaking to Moses. The Lord spoke to Moses, send men to scout out the land of Canaan. I am giving to the Israelites. So this is God saying, send them in, I'm giving the land. This is not like a negotiation. We're not having a committee meeting. There's no board meeting. I'm just telling you, I'm declaring and decreeing that I am giving the land to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes. Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the Lord's command. All the men were leaders in Israel. I just wanna pause for a moment, and I want you to see that there was great intentionality on who was going in to see the promises of God. They were all leaders. These are the ones that are supposed to know better. These are the ones that have seen the faithfulness of God. These are the ones that have seen the miracle working power of God. These are the ones that should be going into the promised land, viewing the promise through the lens of the past faithfulness of God, knowing that the same God that brought us here is the same God that is gonna take us there. The same God that can part a Red Sea is the same God that's gonna fulfil His promises

in the promised land. I mean, these are the leaders. These are the influences. These are the ones with the most followers. These are the ones that we love to follow. These are the ones that should know the best. You're gonna find out today, you better be very careful who you're following. You better be very careful what voices you're listening to. You better be very careful where you are scrolling and swiping, because the wrong perspective from one of your so-called influences is gonna determine whether you fulfil your destiny or not. So he goes on, and it says these are the names. Shemua, son of Zachor from the tribe of Reuben. Shaphat, son of Hori from the tribe of Simeon. Caleb, son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah. Egal, son of Joseph from the tribe of Issachar. Hosea, son of Nun from the tribe of Ephraim. Paltid, the son of Raphu from the tribe of Benjamin. Gadiel, son of Sodhi from the tribe of Zebulun. Gadi, son of Susi from the tribe of Manasseh. Amiel, son of Gamaliel from the tribe of Dan. Sethu, son of Michael from the tribe of Asher. Nahibi, son of Voshvshi from the tribe of Naphtali. If you don't speak in tongues, just say this 10 times really fast and you'll be baptised in the Holy Ghost right where you are, just that's how it happens.

Gul, son of Maki from the tribe of, okay. A lot of names there. I just want, I want a show of hands. Anyone here ever called their kid or knows anyone by the name of Shemua? Shafat, listen, I got up early to pray. God, please don't let me say this word wrong, Shafat. And then Egal, Palti, no hands. Gadiel, Gadi, Amiel, Sethu, Nahibi, Gul, no hands. I'm sure in all of our campuses there would be no hands. Nobody knows anybody by those names. Nobody's ever called their kid that name. Anybody ever heard the name, knows someone of the name, or has called your own children the name, or has the name Joshua or Caleb? Hands up if you know anybody with that, 100%. So 0% know the other 10 names. 100% know the name of Joshua and Caleb. And yet in the text, nowhere does it say, Joshua and Caleb are more anointed than the other 10, are more gifted than the other 10, are more talented than the other 10, are more chosen than the other 10, nothing at all. It says go and pick 12 men, all leaders, equal calibre, equal leadership, equal ability, or go and pick them all. And yet, all of these years later, in Dallas, in Texas, on a Sunday morning, there's only two of the 12 names that we know, and yet we should know all of the names.

There is no reason that Joshua and Caleb should be any more known than the other. The same promises were available to all 12. We're about to discover that all 12 of these leaders. walked the same path, saw the same thing, touched the same thing, and yet we are about to discover that you could be living on the planet at the same time, be listening to the same thing, seeing the same thing, touching the same thing, tasting the same thing, and see two entirely different things, and how you view that is gonna determine your destiny. So all of them were on the earth at the same time. All of them were given exactly the same promise. All of them were responsible for taking their sphere of influence into that promised land, and yet the perspective of 10 negated the destiny of over a million. We're seeing that online every day. We're seeing that online every day. We are all living on the same planet at the same time. We are breathing the same oxygen. We are listening to roughly all the same fake news. We are all on this earth, but I'm telling you, the perspective that you have is gonna determine the you and your lineage are gonna enter into the promises of God or not. All the promises of God for every single believer are in Christ Jesus, yes and amen.

We all have the same access to the same promises. No one is any more anointed, gifted, or talented to receive the promises of God than anybody else because the promises of God are not dependent on us or our gift or our talent or our anointing. They're dependent on Christ. The Paul writes that all the promises of God are in Christ Jesus, yes and amen. And our world is crazy, there is no doubt. Sociologically, politically, economically, relationally, environmentally, in every sphere of life, have you noticed everyone has lost their ever-loving mind? You and I are living in a world where we are calling truth lies and lies truth. We are calling good evil and evil good. Everyone has lost their minds. And then a lot of people, I could travel around the world and people kind of go to me, I'll say, how are you doing? Or how's church? Or how's your business? Or how's life? And literally people, this is how they'll start it. They'll say, well, you know, Chris, before COVID, I'm like, I'm thinking that was like six years ago. You know, there was a time on the earth when BC stood for before Christ. When I thought that it was Jesus that split time. So here is the deal, has the world shifted? Yes.

Has the world lost their ever-loving mind? Yes. Do we feel like we've got whiplash? We don't know what we're waking up to every single morning? Yes. But last time I checked, Jesus is actually the same when? Yesterday, today and forever. And the fact is, He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. And if He's the same yesterday, today and forever, and all the promises of God are in Christ Jesus yesterday, man, guess what? For the Christian, nothing's changed. Nothing's changed. But whether we partake of those promises is entirely determined by our perspective. Not the faithfulness of God, not the ability of God, but whether you and I can keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. He is the author and He is the finisher. He is the yes and He is the amen. So everything around us has changed. It doesn't matter what country you're on, if you're listening to me on the live stream. Everywhere I go, all over the earth, there is instability, there is insecurity. People have gone through betrayal, people have gone through pain, people have gone through suffering. I mean, just breathing oxygen on planet earth in a fallen world means no one is exempt

from pain or suffering or loss or grief or challenge. But the fact of the matter is, in Christ, we have a greater hope. You know, I always say that in the time that we're living in on the earth right now, there is such a victim narrative where so many people, the spirit of the world is entering into the spirit of the church and you're being told that, you know, your history defines your destiny or if your circumstances were different, if you'd been born into a different family, if you had gone to a different school, if you grew up in a different system, then you would be afforded more opportunity and you would have greater agency and then you could fulfill your purpose. But because of all these other circumstances, you can't fulfill your purpose. Well, many of you know my background, that I was left in a hospital, unnamed and unwanted when I was born, that I was the victim of childhood sexual abuse for a decade of my life, that I grew up in the poorest zip code in my state, that I had every reason to be a victim and to live in that. And if it was 2026, with the victim narrative of the world, people would want me to be defined by my trauma,

but I made a decision. that I was gonna make what Jesus did for me bigger than what anybody did to me. I am not defined by what happened to me. I am defined by what Jesus did for me. That's called the Christian gospel. That's called the normal Christian life. And some of us on the earth still believe that there is no more potent force on the planet than the blood of Jesus Christ. We still believe that the blood sets us free. We still believe that you could fulfill your God-given purpose, and it's not determined by what happened to you. The same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives on the inside of all of us. Therefore, we have more agency than we think. But we've bought into the narrative of the world that makes us think, well, I am the victim of what happened to me or what's happening around me as opposed to who's living in me. Same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me. So we never hear of these names again after chapter 14. We never hear their names. I wonder, generations from now, should the Lord tarry? Will your children's children, children know your name because of your faithfulness? Or are we just gonna disappear? Because you get to affect the generations that are coming after you.

You and I can't change everything in the world around us, but we can. We can make sure we change the generations that are to come from us. I can't change anything about my past. It is what it is. It will always be that. But the fact is because Nick and I, when we married on the 30th of March, 1996, we drew a bloodline in the sand and we said, you know what, with us, abuse stops. With us, addiction stops. With us, divorce stops. With us, it stops. And because of that decision by the grace of God, our girls are flourishing in life and I'm believing our children's children's children's children, should the Lord tarry, are gonna be blessed. But what happened here, you're about to find out, these names got wiped from the pages of Scripture. And I'm standing here talking this morning and we only know two of the names instead of 12 of the names. And yet there is not one reason why we shouldn't know all 12, except for the perspective of these men. Your perspective today is gonna determine the future of your children's children. Your perspective. So we go on and it says,

these were the names of the men Moses sent out, in verse 16, to scout out the land. And Moses renamed Hashai a son of Nun Joshua. When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, go up this way to the Negev and then go up into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. Is the land they live in good or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications? Is the land fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous, bring back some fruit from the land. It was the season of the ripe grapes. So the Lord's sending them out on a scouting trip. He's saying, go and check it out. Go and check, is there a lot of people there or a few? Is the land fertile or is it not? Is the city fortified or not? He wasn't saying, because if the land's not fertile, I can't fulfill my promise. If the walls are fortified, I just won't be able to do it. I need you to go and check out if I'm actually God and I actually have the power to give you the, he wasn't sending them in to see if God had the power to give them the land. That was a done deal, he'd already decreed in verse one, see the land, I'm giving it to them, done deal. God said, I'm doing that.

Now he was sending them in to see how they were gonna take what he'd already given. See, a lot of us, we think, well, depending on the circumstances, depending on the economy, depending on what's happening around us, that's gonna determine whether God can actually be faithful to his promises. But God is sending us in, in Deuteronomy chapter 10, he says, go in and possess that you might inherit. There's an inheritance, but we have to possess that inheritance. When Nick and I go home to be with the Lord in a really long time because I want grandchildren, when that all happens, I'm gonna leave an inheritance, God willing, for my children and my children's children, but it's not gonna be of any value if it's just sitting in the bank, they're gonna have to go and possess what they're inheriting. In the same way, there are promises, the word of God is full of the promises of God and all the promises of God are in Christ Jesus, yes and amen, but it's up to us to possess what God has given us to inherit. So he wasn't going to say, go and spy out the land to see if I can give it to you. He was saying, go and spy it out to see how you're gonna take what I've already given to you.

I've already given it. Now you go and determine the how. So we go on. In verse 21, I mean, this is a lot. I don't know the last time two guys went into Tom Thumb and came out with a cluster of grapes on poles. Some people would think you'd put something in the plants. That's pretty big. And they were carrying it, I want you to know. They were actually carrying it themselves so they felt the weight of the promise. That they felt it. So it goes on, it says, they also took some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there. At the end of 40 days, they returned from scouting out the land. They did about a 300 mile round trip. Can you imagine how excited the people were? I mean, they'd come out of Egypt. God had promised them a promised land. Now they'd been walking in the wilderness. They were taking the long way around. There's manna from heaven. They're probably waiting. Tell us about what you've seen in the promised land. They'd be so anticipating the good report that was gonna come because their God was faithful

and they'd seen God work faithfully. They'd seen God do miracle. They just needed the leaders to come and tell them and show them that God in fact was faithful and that what God had promised was gonna come to pass, no matter the struggle that they had to have to get to the promise of God. And so it goes on and it says, the men went back to Moses and Aaron and the entire community in the wilderness, the entire community, you're about to find out, why just take one person out when you could take all your followers out? Why just say to one person when you could go online and say to everybody and take everybody out with you? So it goes, I'm trying pastor. And so the men went back to Moses, Aaron and the entire Israelite community in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for them and the whole community. Make sure it's for everyone. And they showed them the fruit of the land. I love this. Because this is what so many of us do. We're holding onto the promise. Let me tell you. Let me tell you about how God saved my marriage. Let me tell you about how I miraculously conceived a child. Let me tell you how God saved that business from going under.

Let me tell you about that opportunity. Let me, we've all got our stories. Let me show you how faithful God's been. Let me show you the promises of God. This is awesome. They're holding the fruit here. They say we went in. It was awesome. And it goes, they continue. They reported to Moses, we went into the land where you sent us. Indeed, it is flowing with milk and honey. And here is some of its fruit. Yes, it is. Everything God said, it's there. And here is some of its fruit. But this is right where we are on the planet right now and in the church. This next word. However, I'm holding the promise. It's here. However, and one however, kept an entire generation out of their destiny. And right on the earth at this moment, one however, oh yes, God's been faithful. I mean, we can scroll and swipe all day. However,

however, the people living in the land are strong and the cities are large and fortified. We also saw the descendants of Anak there. And I'm sure God's thinking, big deal. Big deal. The Amalekites are living in the land of the Negev, the Hethites, the Jebusites, all the ites, live by the sea and along the Jordan. And they're going, however, I'm telling you there's all these other giants that are there. And he goes, then Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, let's go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it. Because he understood that conquering it was based on the promise of God, not their own ability or how many giants were in the land. They knew it had everything to do with God and nothing to do with them. And how often do we do this church? Well, we can tell of the promises of God and the faithfulness of God and we've tasted and foretasted of the promise of God. But we're like, however, Mr. Dow Jones is having a schizophrenic attack this week. However, you don't know what's happening at work. However, you don't know what the doctor's report is. However, you don't know how my children, however.

And we allow one however, to rob an entire generation of their purpose. And we are right there. They're holding, they've tasted the milk and honey. All the giants are there and they kill people. I'm like, you're alive. You were in there for 40 days and you came out. This is how little we trust God. This is how little we trust Him. I mean they're out there talking about the fact that the Giants are going to take them out but they were just in there for 40 days and they came out. And we have this fear. However, you know, I want to serve but you know what? No, no, I've got to work more and more and more because you don't know what's happening in the economy. However, I know God's promised me this but I'm gonna do this. And we are motivated by fear. And we fear all of the Giants when God's like, you were building bricks two weeks ago and you don't think I can take care of those Giants? You think I'm sending you in there for those Giants to destroy you? And in that second while they're holding the promise of God, they take their eyes off the promise and put it on their problem. And the minute you shift your eyes off Jesus onto what's happening around you, that's the beginning of the end. And in the world that we're living in right now, the fight is for your eyes. Because your eyes are going to take you to your purpose or not. Because where you look, you will go. And what you look at and what you behold, you will become. And that's why repeatedly we read in the scripture, fix your eyes on Jesus. He is the author and He is the finisher. He calls us from the future to the future. That's our telos. He's not pulling us from our past. He's pulling us from the future to that future. And I'm telling you all the promises of God are in Christ Jesus. Yes and amen. And all the plans of God from Old Testament to New are for good and not for evil. They're plans to prosper us and they're not to harm us. And they're plans to give us a future. But a lot of us are living in a however moment. And that however hesitancy will cause you to keep doing laps around Mount Sinai for 40 years and then die in the wilderness. But if you've got a spirit like Caleb that says we are

well able, we could do this. We could do this. I remember when we started 821, Nick had gone over to Greece with the consultants for 45 days. And they did a feasibility study. And it was that that was good stewardship. It was a good thing to do. But before they had gone in, I'd already said to them, you know, this was 2007 actually and 2008. You might remember Greece bankrupted the world. There was a slight economic crisis on earth. And so I said to them, you know, Greece is on the verge of bankruptcy. The church is embryonic in this region of the world. That's why it's so dark. There is so much corruption. This is Russian and Albanian mafia and they like kill people. And there is like, I'm like a woman. I'm 40. I've just popped out another kid. I was not looking to start a ministry. I wanted a vacation on Santorini. And so I was not, you know, and so I was like, there's all these reasons. And I remember I was flying and I flew from Sydney to Bangkok, from Bangkok to Frankfurt, from Frankfurt to Thessaloniki. It's over 40 hours. I've got a four-year-old. I've got a newborn. And I was in the lounge and Nick called me. And I always know this is going to be serious when Nick called me. And you know, Germans are very conservative and I'm very demonstrative. I'm Greek. So there's a different way that we display our emotions. And Nick says to me, when he answered, he goes, Christine, before I tell you this, I want you to remember that you are a Christian. And not only are you a Christian, you're a pastor. So I need you to respond like a Christian pastor. I always knew I'm not gonna like what he said. But anyway, to cut a long story short, he said, I've got the feasibility study here. And it's a hundred page document. We have it. And he said, in this document, ten times there is the phrase or a variation of the phrase that says, it will be impossible. It will be impossible. And the whole reason they gave us for it will be impossible is because of the corruption. There were no laws on the books back then. We had to change. We had to write laws to make human trafficking a crime. There was no, there was the, you know, Greece was on the verge of economic instant bankruptcy really at the time. They gave us all these reasons. And the same reasons they gave us were the very reasons I told them were the challenges when we were

going in. But I didn't send those consultants in to tell me if we could start A21 in Greece. I wanted them to show me how we were going to do that. And I remember very inappropriately loudly, this spirit of Caleb came upon me. I'm in the lounge. I stand up and so loud, every German person in that room looked at me. And I said, Nick, you tell those consultants that God told me where to start in Thessaloniki. And if God said it, then we are Well able to go and start. And here we are by God's grace, all of these years later, hundreds of millions of people have been made aware of this issue, because it's not based on what's happening around us, it's based on the promise God has given us. We are well able to take the land. Gateway, our greatest days are ahead of us and not behind us. We are well able, we are well able to take the land. Friend, I wonder if you know this Jesus I'm talking about this morning, not do you know about Him, but do you know Him? And if you don't, right here, right now on all of our campuses, wherever you are, I'm not speaking to the person next to you, I'm speaking to you. And if you say to me this morning, Chris, you know what, I need a fresh start with Jesus Christ, either you've been away from God, cold in your heart, or maybe a friend invited you into this place, you weren't even sure what you were coming to. I want you to know you're in the divine timing,

plan and purpose of God. You were created by God for a relationship with God. It's Jesus that connects us to God. And it's Jesus that connects us to the grace of God. Friend, don't leave this place in any of our locations today without having made your peace with God. This is time to stop running from Him. It's time to come home to Him. Some of you have been holding back because of a however, and it's time to get all in again for Jesus. I want every head bowed and every eye closed from wherever you are, from the front to the back, from the left to the right. In this moment, I'm not speaking to the person next to you, I'm speaking to you. And if you say to me today, Chris, I want what you're talking about, I need a fresh start with Jesus, then I wanna pray for you just right there, right where you're sitting, a very simple but powerful prayer. And if you say, Chris, would you include me in that prayer this morning? I wanna fresh start with Jesus just so that I know who I'm praying for. Would you just raise your hand wherever you are now, say, Chris, pray for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Quickly, I can see hands going up. I'm seeing you in every section here.

Keep them going up. I'm gonna give you 10 more seconds and I'm gonna pray for you wherever you are. This is awesome. Keep those hands going up high. That's fantastic. I'm gonna pray a prayer out loud. I want everyone in the congregation to pray this after me. Believers, we are adding our faith to the faith of the people that have raised their hand this morning to say yes to Jesus. I'm seeing you up in the balcony, that's awesome. You can keep putting your hands up. We're gonna pray and we're gonna pray with conviction. We're adding our faith to their faith as they say yes to Jesus this morning. Church, pray this out loud after me. Dear Jesus, I've raised my hand this morning because I recognise my need for You. I ask that You would forgive me for all of my sins, that You would give me a fresh start today and a hope for the future. I want to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ every single day for the rest of my life. Jesus, I receive Your forgiveness. I receive Your love. I receive Your grace. Thank You. Amen, amen.

Come on, can we thank God for people saying yes to Jesus? Come on, you can do better than that. People just said yes to Jesus. We had hands up all over the place and listen, we are so, so proud of you. If you raised your hand, here's what you have to know. That's not the end of your journey, that's the beginning. And we would love to help you take some next steps and there's a couple of ways to do that. First of all, you can just text the word Jesus to 71010. That's Jesus to 71010 and we can follow up with you that way or a better way is in just a moment, we're gonna have everybody stand up and church is not over when we stand up. In fact, we're gonna give everybody an opportunity to respond because we're gonna go into a worship song. But when we stand up, we're gonna have leaders here at the front that would love to pray with you. We'll also have leaders there in the balcony and if you're here with any prayer need, they would love to pray with you today. But then also, if you gave your life to Jesus, come down front, find one of our leaders, they would love to personally pray with you and help you take some next steps. And while we're doing that, we're gonna be worshiping and church isn't over. This is an opportunity for us to respond to the big God that we just heard about.

How many of you know, our best days really are ahead of us, amen? And thank you, thank you, Christine Kane. That was such a powerful word. We honor you for that, such an amazing word. And so I just wanna encourage you. I wanna encourage you right now. Would you just stand to your feet? And I invite our prayer team to come forward, also in our balcony area. And we're gonna step into this time of worship. And so I'd encourage you to respond. If you need prayer, come forward. If you just wanna lift your hands, you can do that. If you gave your life to Jesus, come forward and let us celebrate with you as we worship together. Let's worship. Thank you, Lord. We sing all my life. Thank you, Lord. ♪ With every breath that I am able ♪ ♪ Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ All my life and all my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ We give you praise, Lord ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so and so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able ♪ ♪ And I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ Amen, amen. Well, listen, I wanna share just a few

closing thoughts for you. But even as I do, if you have a prayer need today, you can keep coming forward. We'll stay here as long as we need to. We'd love the opportunity to pray with you. Just a couple of reminders. When you leave today, we're gonna be celebrating water baptisms. We have over 50 people that are already signed up. And if you made a decision today to give your life to Christ, your next step is to go and get water baptized. If you made a decision maybe many years ago, but you've never taken that next step of faith and being water baptized, we encourage you to do so. You can go out in the lobby and to the left across from the cafe, you can sign up there. We have everything that you need, T-shirts, shorts, everything that you need. So we take away all the excuses. We'd love for you to get water baptized today. Also, can we give it up one more time for our educators? So thankful for you, teachers, counselors, coaches, those that are leading homeschool programs. And we do, we have a gift for you. Stop by Connect Central and we'll get you that gift. And then lastly, again, if you're new here, we are so excited you chose to be at Gateway Church this weekend. Church, can we put our hands together

for all those that are new, or maybe haven't been here for a while, but we're glad you're back. And we would love to personally connect with you. There's an area called Connect Central. I'll be there along with some of our leaders. If you have a moment, just stop by there. We'd love to greet you, answer any questions that you have, get to know you a little bit. And if for whatever reason you cannot do that, you can just text the word CONNECT to 71010. Or if you're joining us online, just text CONNECT to 71010 and we'll follow up with you that way. Let me pray a blessing over you out of Numbers chapter six. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen, God bless you. We love you and we'll see you out in the lobby.