# Taking Our Promised Land: Understanding Work and God's Grace

## Understanding Work

In this section of the sermon, Pastor Ken discusses the concept of work and its relationship to righteousness. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the true purpose of work in our lives as believers. Here are some key points to consider:

- **Work and Righteousness**: Pastor Ken poses the question of whether God and Jesus worked to earn righteousness. He highlights the fact that their worthiness and righteousness are inherent to their nature, and they did not have to work to attain it. This challenges the idea that we, as believers, need to work to please God and earn righteousness.

- **Purpose of Good Works**: Pastor Ken emphasizes that while good works are important, they should not be done to attain righteousness. Instead, they should be a natural outflow of our faith and relationship with God. The focus should be on receiving and enjoying Jesus' free gift of salvation, rather than trying to earn it through our works.

- **Avoiding the Trap**: By understanding the true purpose of work and good works, we can avoid falling into the trap of feeling unworthy and constantly striving to measure up. Instead, we can operate in the promised land and enjoy the grace and righteousness that comes from our relationship with God.

## God's Grace and Promised Land Principles

Pastor Ken also delves into the concept of God's grace and how it relates to taking our promised land. Here are some key insights from this part of the sermon:

- **God's Work in Creation**: Pastor Ken highlights the fact that God worked diligently during the creation of the world, not to earn righteousness, but out of love for His creation. This serves as a reminder that our worthiness and righteousness are not based on our works, but on our relationship with God.

- **Jesus' Example**: Drawing from Jesus' statement in John 5:17, Pastor Ken emphasizes that Jesus worked not to attain worthiness, but as a natural expression of His divine nature. This serves as a model for understanding the purpose of work in our lives as believers.

- **Operating in the Promised Land**: By understanding the role of work and good works in our faith, we can operate in the promised land and enjoy the grace and righteousness that come from our relationship with God. This allows us to avoid the trap of feeling unworthy and constantly striving to measure up through our works.

## The Balance of Work and Faith

In this new segment of the sermon, Pastor Ken introduces the concept of balance in our approach to work and faith. Here are some key points he highlights:

- **The Balance of Natural and Supernatural**: Pastor Ken emphasizes the importance of balancing the natural and supernatural aspects of our lives. He points out that while God gives us favor and guidance, we also need to take action and work towards our goals. The combination of the two creates an explosive force in our lives.

- **The Role of Faith in Prosperity**: Referencing Joshua 1:8, Pastor Ken discusses the role of faith in making our way prosperous. He highlights the need for us to put the word of God first and meditate on it, as it is through our actions and faith that we make our way prosperous.

- **Avoiding Extremes**: Pastor Ken warns against falling into the extremes of either relying solely on God without taking action, or working excessively without acknowledging God's guidance. He emphasizes the need for balance in our approach to work and faith.

As we continue to explore these principles, let's remember that our worthiness and righteousness are not based on our works, but on our relationship with God. By understanding the true purpose of work and good works in our faith, we can operate in the promised land and enjoy the grace and righteousness that come from our relationship with God. Let's strive for balance in our approach to work and faith, allowing the natural and supernatural to work together in our lives.

"Unlocking God's Grace Through Balanced Work and Faith"

- A boy asks his dad and mom where humans come from, and they give different answers
- The speaker discusses the importance of claiming the promises, rights, and privileges we have in Christ
- The 10 spies' fear-filled report and the 2 spies' faith-filled report are compared
- The power of words and imagination in affecting outcomes is emphasized

- The speaker emphasizes that believers are accepted and loved by God, and are heirs to the throne as joint heirs with Jesus Christ
- The Holy Spirit gives believers vision and strategy to win in life through Jesus Christ
- The focus should be on God's goodness, not on discouragement or negativity
- The Old Testament account of taking the Promised Land applies to New Testament believers
- Believers are called to be strong and courageous, and to meditate on the word of God for success
- There are three types of land represented in Israel's history: Egypt (sin and slavery), the wilderness (salvation but carnality), and the promised land (Christian maturity and fulfillment)

- The speaker discusses the choice of living in a land of sin or in the promised land of God
- He emphasizes the struggle of believers in the wilderness and the importance of overcoming it
- The concept of work and its relation to righteousness is explored, with the reminder that good works do not earn salvation
- The speaker encourages understanding and applying these principles to thrive in the promised land of God

- The speaker emphasizes the importance of receiving Jesus' free gift of salvation and enjoying it
- He shares a story about a roommate who refused to work and relied on fasting, causing financial strain on others
- The speaker discusses the two types of works: those done by Jesus and those done by believers
- He highlights the importance of balancing faith and action in order to prosper and take possession of God's blessings

- The speaker discusses the principle of putting the word first to make our ways prosperous
- Emphasizes that we don't need to work hard to earn God's favor, as it is already there
- Encourages the audience to walk in God's favor and use their authority to command healing and blessings
- The speaker mentions that the message will be continued at a later time

Believers are encouraged to claim their promises and rights in Christ, focusing on God's goodness and not on negativity. The importance of faith, vision, and strategy in winning in life through Jesus Christ is emphasized. The speaker discusses the three types of land in Israel's history and the choice of living in sin or in the promised land of God. The balance between faith and action is highlighted, and believers are reminded to walk in God's favor and use their authority to command blessings and healing."""

A boy asks his dad, Dad, where do humans come from?

His dad says, well, son, God made Adam and Eve, and they had babies, and those babies had babies, and grandkids had babies, and eventually along we came.

Kid goes to his mom, mom where do humans come from?

Well son started out with little amoebas you know 1 celled organisms and went up to amoebas, then it went up to sort of a blob, and then eventually they became monkeys, and then the monkeys became apes, and then they eventually became humans.

Son goes to the dad, dad you lied to me, mom told me the truth about where humans come from.

He goes, no, well, yeah, that was her side of the family.

Anyway, Starting off on a good note, hallelujah.

Who remembers what we talked about last week?

The title, we did, we talked about the 12 spies also, did we not?

The 10 spies and the 2 spies, Joshua and Caleb.

And I'm gonna do a quick review on that because we're gonna build on that today.

And I believe that God has something special for us today.

Religion relegates all his power to before and then after, you know, back in the olden days and then after we die.

If you need a miracle, if you've been believing for a miracle, let's just say now in Jesus' name, amen.

He's a wonderful God and He's more than able.

The Bible says that we just need to come to Him and we can obtain grace to help in time of need.

Amen and that's what we're going to receive today.

So last week we talked about the 12 spies and just for a partial review we'll review some of the last week's message.

We found that we all have a promised land.

Israel's promised land was and is a geographic location.

Our promised land is the promises, rights, and privileges we have in Christ.

That's why it's so important for us to receive the divine seed, the word of God in our hearts, so that we can personalize and receive all the promises, rights, and privileges we have in Christ Jesus.

So many people, they have this mentality, well, you're just in it for yourself.

You're just into this Christianity thing for what you can get.

Because without that, I would go to hell.

I don't want to go to hell, and I'm not going to go to hell because we've received our promises, rights and privileges in Christ Jesus.

And as a result of that, I'm incredibly grateful to Him.

And I just want to serve Him out of the fullness of my heart.

I like the idea of pleasing Him, not to earn myself my way to heaven, but just because He's so good, amen, That I'm willing to just sacrifice and shut off certain old ways of living and enjoy His new way of living.

Well, someone might say, well, you know, Ken, you're not much of a clothesline preacher.

You know, you don't preach all about sin that much.

Every once in a while, the subject comes up.

But the Holy Spirit is a really good preacher.

He'll lead us and guide us into all righteousness, and He'll be the 1 to convict us, amen.

And He'll lead us into the way that we should go.

And there will be a voice behind us saying, this is the way walk ye in it.

And the Holy Spirit, you are, I'm speaking this over our congregation.

We are a good sheep and we have a good shepherd and the voice of a stranger we will not follow, amen?

And we have sanctified consciences and sanctified lifestyles and God-pleasing lifestyles because we're so grateful for all He's done for us, it's the least we can do, amen?

So, we found that we all have a promised land and our promised land is rights, promises, rights and privileges we have in Christ.

And we don't have to feel guilty about going after it and saying, it's mine, Jesus paid for it, I'll take it, thank you Lord.

You know when my kids were young and when it was time to eat they let me know and they didn't come before me and say, oh Father we're so unworthy, Could you please, please feed us some sustenance?

They said, Dad, we want food, or Mom, we want food, and we want it now.

And they were bold, amen, because they knew their rights and privileges in our family.

And they had a lot of rights and privileges, but they worked for a lot of them too, amen?

A lot of our rights and privileges that we have, we don't even work for.

Jesus paid it and He did all the work, Amen?

We're going to get into that a little bit more when we get into the possessing our promised land.

The 10 spies evil report was just reciting the facts.

They didn't lie when they said what they saw when they went spying over into the promised land, did they?

But their problem was they didn't add the truth to it.

You see, sometimes the truth of God's word can contradict with the facts, or it will add to the story and give you the full picture of what really we need to be thinking about.

But they were so focused on the negative part that they did not focus on the truth.

If you're full of fear about something, you may be looking at facts, but you're not looking at the truth, because God doesn't give us a spirit of fear, does He?

But a power and of love and of a sound mind.

We don't have to be like the 10 spies were, but Joshua and Caleb, what a difference, amen?

And so we found that facts can deceive us.

And then we found that Joshua remembered, we'll get to that, Joshua and Caleb said, we are well able to overcome.

They said that because they were looking at the truth.

They were looking at God's word, what God had said.

That's why, once again, it's so important to just acknowledge the Word in every area of our lives.

We could have stopped right there and just talked about that today and it would have been wonderful.

The 2 spies good report acknowledged some of the same facts, but they had the opposite conclusion.

Then we found that Joshua remembered past victories.

They had recently defeated Amalek and his confidence in God's ability was bolstered.

And that's why it's so important for us to recite past victories of our own and those who are close to us, to recite God's power, to remember His incredible, incredible strength to usward who believe.

His power is great and mighty to usward right now who believe.

And then we found that our words can affect someone else's miracle.

We found out that the 10 Spies bad report affected every single male there.

Everybody there 20 years and older, God said, you're not going to make it to the promised land.

And as a result, a further result, those 10 spies died sudden deaths pretty much immediately.

The only ones left were Joshua and Caleb, the 2 ones that had the good report.

Our words that we speak to our spouses, our words that we speak

to our children, Our words that we speak to our

spouses, our words that we speak to our children, our words that we speak to our brothers and sisters in Christ, our words that we speak on the job, our words that we speak wherever we are, are incredibly important.

They not only affect us, but they affect those who hear them.

And so we really should watch what we say.

And then finally we saw the power of the imagination, both fear-filled and faith-filled words.

They said we were as grasshoppers in their sight and in our own sight.

I don't think that's a very flattering word picture to you, But sometimes the devil would like to tell us you're a bug.

Whenever you hear something like that, immediately recognize where it comes from.

Immediately realize that you are created in Christ Jesus, that you are of incredible worth, that God so loved you that He gave His only begotten Son.

That you are accepted in the beloved, that you are a new creation in Christ Jesus.

That you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

That you are a son of the Most High God and a daughter of the Most High God.

And you are an heir to the throne and a joint heir with Jesus Christ.

And you no longer have to come into his courts with thanksgiving and enter his gates with praise or enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise because of the fact that you can literally come to the very throne of God at the right hand of the throne and worship Him there and have audience with Him there because He loves you and He accepts you.

I will never get enough of thinking about that.

And I don't think you will either because it's so good.

And so the negative imagination, the evil imagination, they said, we were in our own sight as grasshoppers.

But the 2 spies good report their imagination.

They said, for they are bred for us, meaning that they will swallow them up.

And so that was a whole different imagination, amen?

And the Holy Spirit will give you an imagination.

And it's always a higher level than you are now.

He'll give you a strategy to win in life through Jesus Christ.

Our promised land is to win, not lose, to be a victor, not a victim.

I'm not going to say bad things aren't going to try to come against us, I'm going to say we're a victor every time.

And we are more than conquerors through Christ.

And as we acknowledge this and go forward in these truths, God will make sure that you come out on top every time.

And then we said something interesting last week.

We said, whatever we focus on, we empower.

Because that is going to be the thing that dictates the direction of our lives and also the direction of our mouths.

And our mouth is like the rudder of a ship.

And so this is incredibly important truths that we need to operate in that we will operate in, whether they're working for the positive in our lives, for God's purposes or for the devil's purposes.

So we might as well operate this for God's purposes.

So today I want to talk about, continue along these lines, taking our promised land.

Now this is, although this is an Old Testament account, it still applies to us.

That's why the writer says in Hebrews in chapter 3 verse 15, he said, today If you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation.

Unbelief, set unbelief, not just questioning, but unbelief is a hard heart.

When we hear the Word, we need to have soft hearts concerning the word.

We need to allow the Holy Spirit to make that word come alive on the inside of us.

We need to allow that to take root in the soil of our hearts and reap a harvest of righteousness.

Because every single word the Bible says in, I don't know, 1 Peter 1 23, I believe it is, being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, the word of God, which lives and abides forever.

In other words, when we allow that word to come into our hearts and we have soft hearts, that is incorruptible seed and it will reproduce after its own kind and it will produce God's purposes in our lives and that seed will never fail.

That's what the Word of God is, a divine seed.

So, he said, harden not your hearts as in the provocation.

The provocation was the 40 years that the Israelites wandered around in the wilderness.

And they tested and tried God for all those years because they complained and murmured against him.

And that's what happens when our focus is on the wrong thing.

Now, There are times when discouragement comes our way and I do not minimize that.

I'm not going to minimize the discouragement.

So, the provocation refers to the Israelites 40 years in the wilderness.

So here's the New Testament application to the Old Testament.

You might say, well, Ken, you're just dusting off a story from thousands of years ago.

And it applies to us as much as it ever applied to anybody.

That's the story and the account of taking the Promised Land.

Romans 15, and a lot of us know this already, Romans 15 tells us that these Old Testament accounts were written for our learning, were written for our learning in the New Covenant.

We have much to learn from the Old Covenant, amen.

In fact, somebody once told me, this is sort of a side note, but they said, the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.

The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.

And so there's so much applied to each other.

In fact, the Old Testament is so incomplete without so much of what the New Testament has.

But the fact of the matter is, Without the Old Testament, the New Testament would be senseless.

I mean, so much of it is totally and completely built upon the Old Covenant.

And so we are New Testament people, but that New Testament is built upon the foundational truths of the Old Covenant, the Old Testament.

And these principles that we're talking about today, although they were established centuries, thousands, millennia ago, they are still just as true, just as powerful today.

And we're going to just read some verses.

This is sort of a long section of verses.

We're just going to get into the beginning of the account of taking the promised land.

We're going to start in Joshua chapter 1, verse 1 through 3.

Then we're going to go verse 5 and some following verses.

Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua the son of none, Moses' minister.

Another translation says Moses' attendant or personal attendant saying, Moses, my servant is dead.

Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, unto the land which I give them, even to the children of Israel.

Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses." Verse 5, there shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life.

As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.

For unto this people shall you divide for an inheritance the land which I swore unto their fathers to give them.

Only be thou very strong and courageous." He keeps saying that.

That you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you.

Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper whithersoever thou goest, or wherever you go.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein.

For then thou shall make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Verse 9, the first part, once again, he says, be strong and of good courage.

And so God has called us to be strong, not weak.

The life of the Christian is a life of strength, a life of resolve, a life of character, a life that lasts for the whole long run.

And He can perfect that which concerns you.

And He can bring you into full fruitfulness and maturity.

And He can bring you into a glorious destiny.

Don't let him fool you with any of his tricks.

Stick with the Spirit of God and you'll do good all your life long.

So there are 3 types of land represented in Israel's history.

That's a land of salvation from Egypt, but carnality and immaturity.

And then the third is the promised land, a land of Christian maturity, fulfillment, and reward, even though there are battles.

And so, which land we spend our lives in is our choice.

We've received Jesus as Lord of our lives, I believe.

And if not, then we get a chance to today.

We're out of this land of sin and slavery to the devil.

But now we're making this process through the wilderness.

Now, historians tell us that the Israelites could have made it through the wilderness, some say 11 days, some say 13 days.

But what they had to do is they had to be out there in 40 years and circle the same mountain for 40 years.

But yet, a lot of times, that's what we're doing as believers.

You might remember what Romans chapter 7 talks about.

It says, that which I want to do, I do not do.

And that which I do, I do not want to do.

And I have an inner struggle that God in me wants me to do a certain thing, but my flesh keeps winning over.

And I can't please God because my body rules, and my unrenewed mind rules.

And then you go over into chapter 8 and it says, who shall deliver me from this body of death?

Thanks be unto God, amen, who always caused us to triumph.

He said, now there is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus because we walk after the law of freedom in Christ Jesus and no longer after the law of sin and death.

The Holy Spirit has set us free from that type of lifestyle And that's where we start walking and taking our land, possessing our land, amen?

And the word of God starts taking root and starts taking seed in our hearts, and it rules us, and the peace of God becomes our umpire.

And the Holy Spirit leads us and guides us and speaks to us quietly, maybe sometimes loudly, but always according to the word of God, amen?

And we are directed, and our path is like the light of dawn, it shines brighter too, the full day, amen?

And we start walking in and receiving and experiencing God's goodness 1 way or another.

He'll get the blessing to us Amen, and that's walking in the promised land.

Yeah You can never out sacrifice God you may think that you're sacrificing for God, but it's never a sacrifice because His payback is so great and His reward is so outstanding.

And He has our best interest in at heart in every area of our lives.

It is so worth following after him with all of our hearts.

And I just love hanging around people of like precious faith and who feel the same way about it.

We just encourage each other to go for it in Christ.

You know there's so many things that we sacrifice greatly in this earth to attain.

I think about the incredible suffering that some of these athletes do.

I'm a bicycle rider, so I look at the Tour de France And I look at some of these things where they ride and they race like crazy for 21 days, just a couple days rest in between.

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