Becoming a Believer That Takes Territory

As we are kicking off a brand new year, 2026, we're going to be moving into a brand new sermon collection called built different because we are declaring 2026 is the year of being built different. Everybody say I am built different. Look at your neighbor, tell them you are built different. I know this is a popular phrase today, built different, but we're actually going to borrow it from Numbers chapter 14 verse 24 because God says something about a mighty man in the Old Testament named Caleb who was one of the leaders in the nation of Israel and in verse 24 God speaking says this about that man, but my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit, everybody say built different. Caleb was built different because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully. I will bring him into the land into which he went and his descendants shall possess it. Can we read it one more time? But my servant Caleb, because he has a and has followed me, I will bring into the land into which he went and his descendants shall possess it. What I want to do today is just talk to you for a little bit from the subject of becoming a believer that takes territory. This is how I want to kick off 2026. I believe that God is calling our church to be built different. Therefore, like Caleb, we must be leaders. We must be the type of believers that take territory. I don't know about you, but I want everything that God has for me. How about you? Lord, we say thank you today for your word. We're grateful for your spirit that you pour out so generously upon your bride. God, thank you for your love today. Thank you for drawing us near. Thank you for allowing us the privilege of hosting you in your own house. God, I pray today for a spirit of revelation to rest upon this church. God, I pray that our hearts be opened wide to receive the seed of God that would germinate today by the power of the Holy Spirit and produce 100 fold fruitfulness in our lives. God, I pray that you raise up world changers from this church, nation shakers, history makers from this church. God, I pray that you would challenge and change us in 2026. I pray that we would circle 2026 on our calendars and we would all say that was the year that God did so much. It was a watershed year. I mean, I thought it was enough what he did, but he kept pouring out in Jesus name. If you agree, just say amen. Amen. Amen. Well, welcome to the first Sunday of 2026. Happy new year. It's a new year, new day, new season. Welcome to 2026. I don't know about you, but I expect 2026 to be awesome. Anybody else? Every single year I find myself doing this thing where I'm like, this year is going to be the best year that I've ever lived. Anybody else? I mean, I do it every year. I don't care how last year went. I'm like, this year is going to be awesome. It's going to be amazing. And with that heart, I'll sit down and write out resolutions and goals and dreams. Where are my resolution people at? Anybody else in here? You do that. You make new year's resolutions. Three of you guys. Okay. Wow. It's okay. It's not anti-spiritual to make resolutions. It's all right. Okay. You will not offend the sovereignty of God if you make some resolutions. The way I see goals and plans and dreams and resolutions is it's an opportunity for me to write out my prayer list. Because ultimately at the end of the day, I know you

would agree. We all just want to do what God wants us to do. Amen. But just in case he's going to let me pick what I do on a few occasions, I want to make sure that that prayer list is fresh. Here you go, God. If you have forgotten about some of the things I would like to do, here you go. You know, and then I pray into that. And I think that's fine because if you're a father or a mother in here, you know that what I'm about to say is true, my job is not to dominate my kids. I wanna influence them in the right direction, but it's not all about what I wanna do. I've got some things I wanna do and I wanna bring them along, but I'm also open to listening to their dreams. And I believe that our Heavenly Father is the same way. So don't miss out on the opportunity to just update your prayer list. Something I do every single year is I imagine all of us, I don't know why this is the day I choose, it's probably because I like it so much. I think about all of us collectively together at our Christmas Eve service this year. That's what I do. I imagine all of us are here, we're all singing a carol, we've got our candle lit, we've got the Christmas trees up, and every year, you know, standing here with my family and just getting to see all of your beautiful faces and thank God for the church that he's building here at Legacy. I always imagine that moment. And then I ask myself the question,

what do I want to be true about my life in that moment? That's what I do. And I think it's a good practice. When I was a kid, the very first book I think my dad ever recommended to me was Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen Covey. Anybody read that one, a few of you guys? It's a good one. If you've not read it, I would encourage you to read it because one of the laws in there, one of the habits of highly effective people is to begin with the end in mind. You ever heard that before? Begin with the end in mind. If you want to, you know, strike the target, you've got to identify the target. If you want to, you know, end up somewhere, you've got to determine where you want to end up, right? You gotta put it in the GPS. I'm trying to go to Disney World, right? So you gotta put in the address, like if you expect to get there. It's a destination. Another way of saying it would be destiny. You gotta set some intentions. That's why I love the beginning of the year. That's why I love the first Sunday of 2026 is because we get to set some intentions. And so what I like to do

is I like to begin with the end in mind. And so I imagine that Christmas candlelight service and I ask myself the question, what do I want to be true about my life in that moment? And I would encourage you to do the same regarding 2026. But don't just do that about your year. Can I encourage you to do that about your life? Have you ever thought about, you know, where you're at today, first Sunday of the new year, and where you want to be on the day that you die, for instance? Now, I'm not trying to be overly morbid on our first Sunday here, but there is this awesome exercise that I do almost every year, and it's been so helpful for me, and it's called write your own eulogy. Have you ever done this before? Maybe you never heard of it. I would encourage you to try it out. It's actually pretty awesome. Because what you do is you get out some paper and you just start writing, okay, on the day of my funeral, what are people going to say about me? And then you get the opportunity to ask yourself that question. How do I want to be remembered? What do I want my legacy to be? Begin with the end in mind, right?

And then you can write out the speeches of the people who speak at your funeral. But you don't start with your spouse and don't move on to your kids. No, you actually start with God himself. If God himself attended your funeral, how would he eulogize your life? Begin with the end in mind. I've done this exercise multiple times, revised it, edited it, rewrote it, because there are some things that I would like to hear from God on the day of my death. Anybody else? Well done, good and faithful servant would be a great start, right? But as I think about the end, and I want to begin today and look towards that moment when I move on into glory, you know the one thing I would really like to hear from my heavenly father when I get on over to the other side? Whenever he's standing there in the pulpit and he's talking to, you know, whomever is there, I want him to. point at my casket and say, bro, was built different. That's what I want God to say about me. Listen, this brother right here, man, was built different. Let me talk to you for a minute about Lyle.

He had a different spirit about himself, man. It was like when the going got tough, the tough got going. Man, let me talk to you for a minute about my boy, Lyle. He had a different spirit. When I told him about his prophetic promised lands, where I told him about the places that I was sending him into, he did not shrink back out of fear. He did not allow intimidation to get the best of him. He recognized that there were giants inhabiting the places that I was calling him to go, but he said, let's go. Let's get it. Put it together. Let's make it happen. I think God might say that about me. And he could have done a little bit better strategizing at times, but you know what? He was more of a shoot the name kind of guy. That's just the way that he was. But let me tell you something about my boy. He was built different. Anybody else in here? I want God to say that about me regarding the person that I've become. I also want God to say that about the promised lands that I have inhabited, the territory that I've taken. And that's what I want to talk to you about today. I want to be that person. You want to be somebody like that?

I want to talk to you about being a believer that is built different and being the type of believer that takes territory for the kingdom of God. And I believe that is something that God is speaking not only over our house, but also our generation as he is raising up leaders like Caleb. Leaders like Caleb are rare, but I believe that God is raising up leaders like Caleb that are built different. I believe that God is raising up churches that have a different spirit like Caleb that are built different. I believe that God is raising up business leaders like Caleb that are built different. Businesses that are built different. If you agree, just say amen. And I want to be somebody who is built different. How about you? I want to be somebody that fulfills everything that God is calling me to do. How about you? When I think about Caleb, I think about how the New Testament remembered King David. And in Acts chapter 13, this verse says, always stuck with me, and I think about it every single year, where the Bible says, now, when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. I don't want to die until God says that right there about me.

Whenever Lyle served God's purpose in his own generation, fell asleep. Just fell asleep. Just, just enough. Just, I'll fly away, oh, Lord. I'll fly away. When I die, hallelujah, bye, bye. I'll fly away, hallelujah, bye, bye. I said, man, this bro right here, he's built different, man. He didn't die until he breathed out everything that God breathed in at birth. Every single thing that God has called me to accomplish, I want to accomplish. What about you? I want to be like David. And then his body was buried with his ancestors. And then his body decayed, only after he had served God's purposes. And this is the type of leader that I want to be. I believe it's the type of leader that God is raising up. And I believe we have a church filled with people today that are gonna lead like this. If you agree with me, just say, that's me. Now say with me one time, say, I am built different. One more time, tell your neighbors, say, you are built different. Now listen, you are called to be built different. I'm not just giving you something unique to you or to legacy alone. If you read through the Bible, you will see

that God's people are supposed to be set apart. In the book of Deuteronomy, God says this, you have been set apart as holy to the Lord your God. And he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be his own special people. special treasure. Maybe you've forgotten that about yourself, but God says that you, yes, you, are my very own special treasure. I have chosen you. I've plucked you up out of darkness, and I've set your feet on solid ground. I've chosen you. I saw your face when I was on the cross. I said your name when I was bleeding out of my body. I have chosen you from among the nations as my own possession, God says. So we are set apart. We are built different. We're not supposed to blend in. We're not supposed to be the same. We're not supposed to culturally compromise week in and week out. We are supposed to be built different. As we step into who God has called us to become, we fulfill the prayer of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane in John chapter 17, whenever he said, they are not of the world. Just as I am not of the world, I am built different. My kids are going to be built different. My sons, my daughters are going to be built different. My disciples are going to be built different. My church is going to be built different. I'm not of the world. They're not supposed to be of the world. An old American author named Mark Twain once said this, anytime that you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect. No, you ain't supposed to go with the flow. You ain't supposed to do what everybody else does. You ain't supposed to be a chameleon. No, you're supposed to be built different. You're supposed to stand out as one that has been set apart. That's who you are supposed to be. And this is what Moses was praying about in the wilderness, Exodus 33,

whenever he said, how will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? We're supposed to be different. What else will distinguish me? See, you're supposed to be distinguished. You're supposed to be built different. And as someone who is built different, you are supposed to accomplish all that God has called you to accomplish. You are supposed to inhabit promised lands that God has spoken out over your life. How many of you would say, I have some promises over my life? How many of you would remember for a moment prophetic words that have been spoken over your life? You can say, yeah, I've got some territory to take, man. Well, if you're going to be somebody that takes territory, you're going to have to be somebody that's built different. Caleb was built different, and because he was built different, he was able to take territory. There are some places, church, in 2026 that God is calling you into, both in the natural and in the spirit. And I believe with all of our heart that you will inhabit some very significant promises this year. If you will receive that, say, I receive it. So, what do promised lands look like? Like, if you step into a promised land, what does a promised land look like? Let me give you some characteristics of the promised land, because if you don't have any promises, let me at least describe to you what promises look like according to the Scripture. Promised lands are characterized by three attributes. Number one is God's rule. Number two is God's blessings. And number three is God's purpose. God's rule, God's blessings, and God's purpose. When you step into your promised lands, you are able to testify God is in charge, He is Lord, and He is leading. This ain't on me. This ain't all about my ability, my skill set, my strengths, my charisma, my platform. No, no, no. This is God. I'm here because God is in charge. He's leading me, and He's led me to this place. And I can say, I've come here by the Spirit, and I will be sustained here by the Spirit.

See, whatever you give birth to in the flesh, you got to steward in your own flesh. But whatever you give birth to with God's Spirit, God's Spirit will steward with you. So, one of the aspects of a promised place is that God's rule is there. Number two is that God's blessing is there. Now, I don't know about you, but I can't wait to testify and say, oh, I am surrounded by milk and honey, baby. Because that's another aspect of the promised place, is that you are overwhelmed by the blessing of God. And then lastly, it's a place where calling becomes clear. You're no longer confused about what God has said or what God is saying. You know you're right smack dab in the middle of where you're supposed to be because God is leading you, God is blessing you, and you are declaring, I know where I'm going, I know what God is saying, and I'm on my way into promised places. So these are three attributes that accompany any promised place that God is giving you. And I don't know about you, but I want to move into the place where God's in charge. I want to move into the place where God's blessings overflow into my life. I want to move into the place where God's purpose is clear for my life and I'm active in it. What about you? But you know, my favorite promise, it's not actually on this list. I mean, all these things are amazing, don't get me wrong. But the last promise that God says is that it's not just for you, but it's also for your kids.

It's not just for you to be led, but it's for your sons and daughters to be led. It's not just for you to be blessed, but for your kids to be blessed. It's not just for you to discern the call of God on your life, but it's also for your children to know their call and not deviate from it. I don't care what my kids grow up to do. I don't care if they want to be pastors or they want to be in business or they want to be musicians or they want to do something I don't even know about right now, as long as they are yielded to the call of God on their life. That's my goal for them. And that's one of the promises here is that the territories that God is calling you to take are not just for you, but they're also for your descendants. And that's not just your immediate children. That's your whole bloodline. Your whole bloodline, like it may have started with you, but it won't stop with you in Jesus name. There may have been a shift take place in your family tree whenever you surrendered, but you won't be the last person to benefit from your surrender. Your yes has a ripple effect upon your descendants. I'm talking about your great, great, great, great grandchildren that you will never meet. This side of eternity will come up to you in heaven and say thank you for saying yes in 2026 to being built different because something shifted. You never know the impact of your surrender.

So I want to encourage you to surrender because what allows an individual to inhabit more than anything else? You ready for it? You sure? Is your attitude. More than anything else. Attitude determines inhabitation. Let me prove it to you. The territory you take will be determined by the person that you become. Let me say it again. The territory that you take will be determined by the person that you become. The quantity as well as the quality of your inheritance will be determined by the measure of the leader that you become. If you don't want to work on yourself this year, you're going to throw in the towel before we even get started. You can forget about some of the things that you want this year. Better said if you won't let God go to work on you this year, you can forget about some of the things that you want this year. What kept the 10 spies out of the promised land was not necessarily their lack of skills. But their lack of an acceptable spirit. They had the wrong heart posture. They didn't have the right attitude. They had a mindset that was yet to be influenced by Yahweh. They had come to their own conclusions. They had said based upon the way I see things.

This is how it's going down. They were so married to their own perspectives that they could not inhabit their promises. Tell me you don't know a number of people just like that right now. You ain't got to nudge nobody. Don't worry about it. It was Caleb's spirit, not Caleb's skills. It was Caleb's spirit, not Caleb's skillset that prepared and positioned him to inhabit the promised land. And we can never forget this church, no matter how hard of a cultural pill today it is to swallow, we've got to remember this. And I've been a pastor long enough to know that some people, they cannot stand when you start talking about attitude or heart posture or internal disposition. You ain't going to talk to me about that. I'm going to decide how I feel, when I want to feel it. I'll determine how I think. Thank you very much. I will not be influenced. The hardest thing about preaching is not preaching. It's preaching to a people that have already determined what they will believe before they even show up. I'm telling you, a lot of people in 2025, not 2026 in Jesus' name, but a lot of people in 2025, man, they just patronize their pastors. Like for a lot of people that go to the other services, not this service, but I've been pastoring long enough to know I'm not really their pastor. I'm the pastor of the church that they go to. I'm telling you, one of the things about being a shepherd means God granting you supernatural perspective on the people you pastor's heart posture. Now, I'm not saying we're always right. Of course, we're not always right. Paul said, we know in part, we prophesy in part, but our job as a pastor, as a leader, and a feeder is to put our finger on things that are holding our people back from their promised places. Now, what I learned in 2025 is that a lot of people will gaslight their own pastor. I didn't know this before. I'm going to be honest with you. I thought it was always the pastor that gaslighted the follower. You know, I subscribe to Julie Royce. Like, it's always, you know, like spiritual abuse.

Like, I don't want to be a spiritually abusive leader. I want to be a very kind, empowering, loving, supportive leader, right? And so, a lot of times, if I were to confront somebody, I don't accuse them. I try to share with them truth on a platter of grace based upon my perspective, tempered in prayer. Hey, I've been praying about this, and I feel like something's wrong. Like, your heart posture's a little wonky. Like, I don't know. Am I misreading something? I just seem like you're angry all the time. You're upset. You're unhappy. Is your marriage good? Yep, going great, better than ever, more connected, super romantic. That's incredible. I love to hear that. You know, I could be off here. I've been just observing a few things and just trying to, you know, watch your behavior. I love you, and I want to, you know, share with you. I think there might be some things that you might want to consider could be some blind spots, you know, that are keeping you back from prophetic promises that I know that God has spoken out over your life. And I want you to inhabit those places. But, you know, I know that it's not your skill set, it's your spirit that's going to hold you back from inhabitation. And I would just like to say that I think you should open up and be a little bit more easily influenced by truth than you are. Pastor, I really appreciate that. That's amazing. You're off. Dang, my bad. You know, win some, you lose some. Good talk. All right, see you later. Two months go by. You know, I'm kind of seeing the same thing I was, like, two months ago. You know, I'm I just want to bring this back up again like you could you consider you know Off again pastor, honestly, I don't know what's going on. You're misreading me. That's not what I meant That's not see sometimes you have to believe the pattern not the person Because this is what I learned in 2025 sometimes in an effort to be self-protecting people will gaslight you

Right so that you don't take anything away from them as a result of their vulnerability and I understand why someone would be fearful but my whole heart in understanding and coming to this new place of even leadership is saying I Want to ensure that we all get to go in together. I want to inhabit the promised places that God has told us that we are called to go and The thing that will keep us from Inhabitation is having a self-protective posture over our attitudes our inner disposition and anytime anybody whether friend or You know colleague or pastor or spouse? Tries to check us on that posture. We shut them down and tell them that they're off We're just gaslighting people that God has raised up to speak into our life and what we don't realize is that that posture is keeping us out of our promised places and The whole time we're mad Because somebody must be gatekeeping The reason I've not entered into my promised lands is because somebody is holding me back Bruh you holding yourself back Yes, it's true there are giants in the promised land, but you know what I've realized as a pastor now I've been in ministry two decades. You know what? I've realized is that the devil Don't have to fight nobody who is actively fighting God God's trying to get their attention. God have other people talk to him. God will appeal to him There'll be a word like this. Hey, it's time to have a teachable spirit This is the thing and I'm gonna get into this next next week actually It's time to have a spirit that is open to being influenced by truth It's time to have a spirit that is open to being influenced by the Word of God. It's time to have a spirit stop discipling yourself It's very it's really important, you know a pastor is actually a spiritual chef They are our job is to hear from God and design a menu For the family, I think one of the things that is plaguing Christians in 2025 is That we want to design our own menus and when anybody suggests that we should try a different dish You're of the devil no, I'm discipling myself. I know what I need you have no idea

Read through the book of Jeremiah pastors and leaders are actually a blessing. I shouldn't even be pretty I don't want to preach this I don't want to tell you that pastors are a blessing if I'm your pastor but nonetheless the Word of God says that one of the attributes of God's blessing upon a nation is priest So what is the spirit How'd that go by the way, was that fun? I was like I wasn't none of that was even in my notes It's just I Just you know sharing what I'm learning actively and the reason the reason I want to share it is because I Want all of us to step into the places that God is calling us to go into I? Want all of us in there I want all of us together Collectively to be in the promised places that God is calling our church to step into and what that requires is a different spirit Are you with me? You sure? Requires a different spirit now the primary facet of a different spirit is right there in numbers He had a different spirit He followed me fully The primary attribute of a different spirit is someone who fully follows God Fully follows God, and this is this is what I want God to speak out over you at your funeral Whenever whenever he whenever the God of heaven is eulogizing your life. I want God to say about you She Followed me fully. She followed me fully. She had a different spirit. He had a different spirit. He was built different because he followed me fully. What does it mean to follow fully? If you want to take one note from the day, just write this

down. Having a different spirit starts with quick obedience. To follow God fully, you must be someone that quickly obeys God. And that is the one thing. If you didn't get anything from this message at all, I'd like you to write that down and make a commitment to yourself in 2026. I'm going to be built different. Therefore, I will quickly obey God. I will quickly obey God. I will quickly obey God. You can read this about David this morning. I read it about Noah. I don't know if anybody's starting a brand new Bible reading plan, but multiple times in the book of Genesis, whenever we're hearing the story about Noah in the ark, the Bible says he did all that God had commanded him. He did all that God had commanded him. And that's what it looks like to be built different. Would you stand to your feet? We're going to pray. I want to encourage you as we pray is that open your heart to just getting raw and honest before God. Let that just be a standard for you this year. Don't do the thing where it's like, don't try to gaslight God. Maybe that's the reason I told you that whole story. Just life lessons as a pastor. Don't try to gaslight God whenever God's like, hey, let's

talk about that thing that you're holding back from me. And you're like, what thing? What are you talking about? God ain't nothing there. He already knows what's happening. He already knows what we need before we even tell him. So if you don't mind, just going to sing one song together. But before we do, would you close your eyes, bow your head? I just want to create space for anybody in the room that needs to make a commitment on the first day of a brand new year to follow Jesus. If you're here today and you want to commit your life to Jesus for the first time, would you just lift your hand real quick? Anybody want to give your life to Jesus today? We're going to pray together. If that's you, just lift it high. I'm not going to have you come down or anything. We're just going to pray together. All right, cool. I don't know that I see any hands. If you want to recommit your life to Jesus today on the first day of 2026, would you also lift your hand? Awesome. I see you. See you. Great. Awesome. Wonderful. Awesome.

Cool. Great. Praise God. Let's go. I may have missed somebody, but I see six or seven hands of people who say, yeah, today's the day for me, Pastor. I'm going to recommit my life to God. Can we pray with them? Let's pray. Jesus, I repent of my sins and I turn from my ways and I turn to you. Today, I commit my life to you only. Holy Spirit, you're the helper. Help me. Fill me. Guide me. Lead me. All the days of my life, I belong to Jesus. And everybody said, Amen.