Scripture Reference: Joshua 14: 7-12
“I was forty 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, 8 but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. 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.' [a]
10 "Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 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. 12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said."
Sunday, September 13, 2009, Pastor Ishmael Kimbrough of the Peoples Baptist Church delivered a message, taken for Joshua 14: 7-12. This passage concerns Caleb and his inheritance which was promised by Moses. Caleb was 40 years old when Moses sent him to spy out the land of Canaan. (Moses had also sent Joshua, and only Joshua and Caleb brought back a good report.) Although not being born an Israelite, Caleb never gave in to peer pressure; he stuck with his convictions to follow the LORD his God wholeheartedly.
At the age of 85 Caleb was amazingly vigorous, still able and willing to fight. Caleb's request was, “Give me this mountain.”
In his sermon Pastor Kimbrough, focused on the mountain, and Caleb’s mountain-top experience. Pastor Kimbrough explained that Caleb, by this mountain-top encounter, witness the grandeur, the magnificence, the
greatness, and splendor of the Mountain View. When God meets a person on the mountain top and tells him something, the person is never the same and never gets over the experience. And so it is today, the mountain-top life is the one lovely, full of glory, peace, love and joy in the blessed Holy Spirit.
One beautiful thing about Caleb’s encounter with the mountain, it is that he received this wonderful gift on his 85th birthday. Another thing is the kind of gift Caleb asked for. He surely had lofty desires; he asked for a mountain! During Caleb’s time, a mountain the biggest thing in the world. He did not ask for a molehill, and he did not ask for a beautiful plain; Caleb wanted to get possession of the thing that could be seen from a distance. A plain is beautiful; but it cannot be seen and appreciated unless you are down on it. The little hills are beautiful; but they also cannot be seen from very far away. But when you look at that great old mountain lifting its head above all the country for hundreds of miles around, you are made to stand and appreciate God’s grandeur.
So, we see the greatness of the man's character when we see man’s choices. This is still just so today. You see, when some men make a choice, they choose tobacco; others may choose liquor; some others may choose hogs, or cows or horses; and others, too numerous to mention, make all kinds of choices that go to make up the real character of the man.
You can see the greatness of Caleb when you see his choice. He said, "Give me Mount Hebron," and there the old hero sat on the side of that great old mountain with a sparkling, splashing spring bursting from the mountain side to sing Caleb to sleep at night. Caleb said he got that gift because he wholly followed the Lord.
There is something about Jesus Christ that is elevating and uplifting. You may see a man one week all dirty and ragged, and the next week that same man could give his heart to Jesus, and you will see him with his ragged clothes all clean; you will see a great change in him. He will look like a brand new man; and if you did not know that he was the same person, it would be difficult to believe your eyes. You can see men one week look like a beast, and the next week like a man, and the next week look like a gentleman, and the next week like a saint. You can see that the reforming grace of God has come into that man’s heart and life. He is a delivered man and is now ready to climb the mountain.
Caleb said to Joshua, “Give me this mountain for and everlasting possession.” Are ready for the mountain-top experience?
“I was forty 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, 8 but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. 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.' [a]
10 "Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 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. 12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said."
Sunday, September 13, 2009, Pastor Ishmael Kimbrough of the Peoples Baptist Church delivered a message, taken for Joshua 14: 7-12. This passage concerns Caleb and his inheritance which was promised by Moses. Caleb was 40 years old when Moses sent him to spy out the land of Canaan. (Moses had also sent Joshua, and only Joshua and Caleb brought back a good report.) Although not being born an Israelite, Caleb never gave in to peer pressure; he stuck with his convictions to follow the LORD his God wholeheartedly.
At the age of 85 Caleb was amazingly vigorous, still able and willing to fight. Caleb's request was, “Give me this mountain.”
In his sermon Pastor Kimbrough, focused on the mountain, and Caleb’s mountain-top experience. Pastor Kimbrough explained that Caleb, by this mountain-top encounter, witness the grandeur, the magnificence, the
greatness, and splendor of the Mountain View. When God meets a person on the mountain top and tells him something, the person is never the same and never gets over the experience. And so it is today, the mountain-top life is the one lovely, full of glory, peace, love and joy in the blessed Holy Spirit.
One beautiful thing about Caleb’s encounter with the mountain, it is that he received this wonderful gift on his 85th birthday. Another thing is the kind of gift Caleb asked for. He surely had lofty desires; he asked for a mountain! During Caleb’s time, a mountain the biggest thing in the world. He did not ask for a molehill, and he did not ask for a beautiful plain; Caleb wanted to get possession of the thing that could be seen from a distance. A plain is beautiful; but it cannot be seen and appreciated unless you are down on it. The little hills are beautiful; but they also cannot be seen from very far away. But when you look at that great old mountain lifting its head above all the country for hundreds of miles around, you are made to stand and appreciate God’s grandeur.
So, we see the greatness of the man's character when we see man’s choices. This is still just so today. You see, when some men make a choice, they choose tobacco; others may choose liquor; some others may choose hogs, or cows or horses; and others, too numerous to mention, make all kinds of choices that go to make up the real character of the man.
You can see the greatness of Caleb when you see his choice. He said, "Give me Mount Hebron," and there the old hero sat on the side of that great old mountain with a sparkling, splashing spring bursting from the mountain side to sing Caleb to sleep at night. Caleb said he got that gift because he wholly followed the Lord.
There is something about Jesus Christ that is elevating and uplifting. You may see a man one week all dirty and ragged, and the next week that same man could give his heart to Jesus, and you will see him with his ragged clothes all clean; you will see a great change in him. He will look like a brand new man; and if you did not know that he was the same person, it would be difficult to believe your eyes. You can see men one week look like a beast, and the next week like a man, and the next week look like a gentleman, and the next week like a saint. You can see that the reforming grace of God has come into that man’s heart and life. He is a delivered man and is now ready to climb the mountain.
Caleb said to Joshua, “Give me this mountain for and everlasting possession.” Are ready for the mountain-top experience?
by: B. Stevenson
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