Chapter 14 - Those Who Follow God Wholeheartedly Will Receive the Promise

Introduction

As I read this chapter, I felt like I had already preached on it. Strange. Did I preach on this chapter or not? ... It turns out that the scripture I preached on Sunday was on this very chapter, with the theme of loving God wholeheartedly. If I were a bit lazy, I would just preach Loving God Wholeheartedly again, but let's be a little more diligent. The theme of this chapter is: Those who follow God wholeheartedly will receive the promise.

That's a good saying! I believe that if I were to write a book based on my Bible study of Joshua, titled Obtaining the Promised Land, it would sell well. Why? Because who doesn't want to obtain the promised land? Everyone does! I tell you, people have this characteristic: they all want anything that benefits them.

Do you want to live well? Of course! I dream of it! Do you want to suffer from senile dementia when you get old? No! I don't. Do you want to be rich your whole life? Yes! Do you want your prayers to be answered immediately? Do you like that? Yes!

Wholeheartedness is Important

But here's the problem. After much contemplation, I've found that there are really not many people who are wholehearted, are there? I ask you, do you want to get into a prestigious university? Of course! Who doesn't want to get into a prestigious university? But as soon as you open the math textbook, all you can think about is English. Then, when you open the English textbook, all you can think about is physics. That's not being wholehearted.

If a person is not wholehearted, I tell you, forget about getting into university, making money, or obtaining God's promise... Just forget about all of that. So, when we evaluate people, we look at whether they are wholehearted. Even if a person has flaws, if they are wholehearted, they are powerful! Wholehearted people are very powerful. Pastors who are wholehearted and pastors who are not wholehearted achieve different results. The same goes for university students. Some are wholehearted in their studies, and some are not. The same goes for revolutionaries. Some are wholeheartedly committed to the revolution, and some are not.

Do you understand? We, brothers and sisters, must understand what wholeheartedness is. If you are Buddhist, be wholeheartedly devoted to your Bodhisattva. If you are Christian, be wholeheartedly devoted to your God. So, what's the problem? The problem is whether people are truly wholehearted or not. Wholeheartedness is very important. Since we are all Christians and are talking about the Bible, let's talk about following God wholeheartedly and receiving the promise!

Who is Joshua chapter 14 about? It's about a man named Caleb. We also have a Caleb among us. Our Caleb is quite similar to the Caleb in the Bible, following God wholeheartedly! Following God wholeheartedly is good! So, sometimes, I encourage those among us who have children to name their children Caleb. But this causes a little trouble because our Caleb gets a little unhappy. Why? Because it becomes confusing when we talk about Caleb. It doesn't matter; just follow God wholeheartedly!

Joshua led Caleb to conquer cities and seize territories! Do you know what kind of person was conquering cities and seizing territories? An 85-year-old man! At 85 years old, it's good enough if you don't have senile dementia, but he was still able to take up arms and follow Joshua to conquer cities and seize territories until the day they divided the land. Joshua was already a bit old, and then he divided the land. Although there was still much land to be taken, it didn't matter; they would just divide the land they had taken first.

Caleb and Joshua were actually good friends, brothers in hardship. Why? Because they were almost stoned to death by the Israelites back then. Thank God for His protection! Joshua later succeeded Moses as the leader of Israel, and Caleb came to find Joshua. I tell you, what a wholehearted person remembers is different from what a person who is not wholehearted remembers.

Especially what a person who follows God wholeheartedly remembers is different from what a person who does not follow God wholeheartedly remembers. Speaking of this, I especially like to talk about myself. Why? Because I have been wholehearted since I was young. In my family, my parents were hospitable, and there were many guests coming and going. What's the favorite habit of northeasterners? To put a bag of sunflower seeds in the middle of the table, set up a few pipes, and then chat while eating sunflower seeds and drinking tea. Oh, everyone in that room would laugh so hard they would bend over, like a Zhao Benshan skit. Everyone was competing to show off their skit skills.

I would sit in the corner of our house on a small stool, reading books, would you believe it? People thought this child was very interesting. They would laugh and chat, but it had no impact on me. I would read my books, practice my calligraphy, and do whatever I needed to do. As a result, our neighbors would say, Don't underestimate this kid just because he's quiet. He knows what's going on. Can a wholehearted person not know what's going on?

As I've grown older, I've basically forgotten the bad things I've seen; I remember the good things that have happened. I didn't see the bad things, and I saw the good things. That's how a wholehearted person is. I find it very interesting. What have I been preaching about a lot recently? I've been preaching about ginger strips a lot. But what am I actually preaching about? I'm preaching about loving God wholeheartedly! Some people can't eat after listening to me preach because they think of ginger strips whenever they eat. Why don't they think about loving God wholeheartedly?

I tell you, brothers and sisters, either you repent and become a person who loves God wholeheartedly, or you continue down your path of loving the world half-heartedly. Then I can give you a prophecy: those who are not wholehearted should not think they will receive the promise, nor should they think they will live a good life. Don't just say you won't live well in the future; you haven't lived that well in the past, have you?

So, brothers and sisters, don't love the world. Sometimes I laugh so hard I bend over. I took everyone out to eat, and I joked, Can you still eat? As a result, everyone could eat. I said, Doesn't this look like ginger strips? Everyone ignored me. I saw that I couldn't influence the people I was eating with! Guys, they were eagerly snatching up the fish heads and other dishes! Who cares if it looks like ginger strips! That's what wholehearted people are like!

Caleb came to find Joshua, and what did he remember? He said:

Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the word that the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh-barnea. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ (Joshua 14:6-9)

Do you understand? See how Caleb wholeheartedly followed the Lord God? Moses was happy! Who wouldn't be happy to have such a disciple? I tell you, everyone is happy to have a wholehearted disciple. The thing I hate the most is leading a group of people who are not wholehearted. It's good enough if I don't get a heart attack. Sometimes my heart pounds, why? Because I'm angered by these people.

Moses revealed to Caleb: Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. Do you understand? Caleb wholeheartedly followed God! And in the blink of an eye! Forty-five years had passed. This is not a joke! Caleb was interesting. Because he followed God wholeheartedly, those forty-five years passed in the blink of an eye.

So, brothers and sisters, do you know what it means to wholeheartedly rely on God? It means that forty-five years are nothing! Actually, Caleb was wronged. I could have gone in. I wasn't unfaithful! But I had to be punished with the Israelites! But a wholehearted person like Caleb has a characteristic: he doesn't like to complain. So, brothers and sisters among us, if you like to complain, you must change this habit!

Oh, working is too tiring... Oh, this is too dirty... Oh, when will I receive the promise! Oh, there's too much homework! Oh, this requirement is too high! Anyway, there's always something to say. The person who really has something to say is Caleb. Take me, for example, I haven't taken a needle or thread from anyone, nor have I taken advantage of them. Instead, they have received many blessings from me! Yet they still have to mess with me behind my back. It's really life-threatening!

But because I wholeheartedly follow God, I can't see these things. Although I occasionally mention them, and I feel sad in my heart, but because I wholeheartedly follow God, I know that one day I will stand before God and receive the reward He has prepared for me in eternity. This is my hope! This is the hope I have in following God wholeheartedly! I want to return to God every day. Some people say, Do you want to die? This is not wanting to die, this is wanting to return to God. This is called eternal life, don't get it wrong. I'm not complaining. If I were to complain, I would have so many complaints. But sometimes, as I think about it, I can't remember them, so I don't complain.

I think, God is so good! Actually, I look forward to God's greater promises being fulfilled among us every day. I thank God! If you ask me, what is your greatest hope? My greatest hope is that every brother and sister among us can stand before God and thump their chest and say: I wholeheartedly follow the Lord my God! I will surely obtain the promised land!

I hope that every brother and sister among us is like this. I tell you, this hope in my heart has really been there for a long time. Actually, some brothers and sisters have broken my heart, but because I wholeheartedly love God and wholeheartedly follow the Lord my God, even if those people have broken my heart, once, twice, three times, four times, five times, six times... It's like a hundred times doesn't taste fishy. As the northeasterners say, eating a hundred raw beans doesn't taste fishy. If you don't believe me, chew a raw soybean in your mouth, and I tell you, that fishy taste won't go away for a long time.

But I can chew a hundred beans and not find it fishy. Why? Because I wholeheartedly follow God. I think that although these people have disappointed me once, disappointed me twice, disappointed me three times, I still want to bless them, still want to edify them. Brothers and sisters, I often sigh, no matter what kind of person he is, in my heart I believe that this is a person who is willing to follow God, and I am determined to bless him by the strength God has given me.

Recently, a sister came to me for training. The most important thing is to train her to be wholehearted! Because in the past, she was never able to overcome her fear of difficulty. When she encountered something, she would prepare to go around it, jump over it, and just didn't want to face the difficulty. But how far can you go if you keep doing this? You can't go far! Actually, I wish I could take out my thoughts and show them to her. Whether she believes it or not, that's not what I care about, but my God knows my heart, and He will surely remember me.

These past few weeks, I have been thinking about this matter every day, nagging again and again, oh, I myself feel like, how did I become an old nanny? An old nanny is fine, it doesn't matter, this is called hoping your child will become a dragon! This is not appropriate in Christianity, but the meaning is this meaning, just hoping that everyone can become a faithful servant in the presence of Jesus Christ, become a child of God who receives the promise, no matter how many years, one day the brothers and sisters I serve will be full of the stature of Jesus Christ.

I thank my God for giving me such faith in Him.

Follow God Wholeheartedly, Obtain the Promise

I tell you, what Moses told Caleb has not been fulfilled after forty-five years! It was only when Caleb came to Joshua that he said: The land where my foot stepped that year is Hebron. What kind of place is Hebron? Hebron is a holy land! Hebron is an amazing place. Why is it a holy land? Genesis records that the earliest place where Abraham lived was Hebron.

Later, although he walked and moved his tent, and traveled throughout the land, building altars everywhere, finally in Hebron, there was also the oak of Mamre, also called the cave of Machpelah. You can go back to Genesis to see, and as a result, Abraham bought that cave of Machpelah in Hebron. Abraham was buried there, Sarah was also buried there, and Jacob was also buried there.

In other words, that place was a place that Abraham had walked through, and it was also the place that Caleb had walked through when he was a spy. Actually, not only had Caleb walked through this place, but Joshua had also walked through it with him, so what happened? Caleb was the first to act, Caleb said to Joshua: You must give me Hebron, the place where my foot stepped. Don't think I've forgotten this place.

For these forty-five years, I have been dreaming of obtaining this land every day, this is called being wholehearted! Brothers and sisters, let me tell you something from the bottom of my heart, I want to experience every promise in the Bible, no matter how many there are! Am I being too greedy? But this greed is good! Greedy to obtain God's promised land! Every time I read these words about promises, I feel so good! I say that this promise is mine.

Didn't we talk about Psalm 91 on Sunday?

God is my refuge, God is my fortress, although a thousand may fall at my side, and ten thousand at my right hand, I will not be harmed, because the Lord my God will be with me, the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday shall not come near me.

Actually, is that how it is in reality? Whether that's how it is in reality is not important! What's important is that I want it, and you want it too! Caleb said I want it! Do you understand? I want it!

Do you know that Caleb lived with this hope for forty-five years! In these forty-five years, many people said: Oh, it's over, my life is over. I'm already forty years old, and in another forty years I'll be eighty years old, what can I do? What can an eighty-year-old do? Caleb wholeheartedly follows God, whether he is eighty years old or a hundred years old, he will obtain that promised land! As a result, Caleb obtained it!

Caleb carried this ambition every day, carried the hope in eternity every day, and people with character are like this. Caleb is by no means an ordinary person, because Caleb fought with people who were several heads taller than him, and he won as soon as he went up. Caleb, an 85-year-old man, fought with the Anakites, who were all giants, and as a result, they were all knocked down by Caleb. The person who defeated the giants was Caleb, was David, who made Caleb victorious? It was God who made Caleb victorious. God delivered the enemies into his hands, there was no defeat! Those who wholeheartedly follow the Lord do not look at size at all.

We watch boxing matches, there are 80 kg ones, 60 kg ones. The 60 kg one cannot compete with the 80 kg one, let alone the 100 kg one. But with the Lord Jehovah, no matter how big your opponent is, it doesn't matter, God will make him die before you, he will definitely not go back alive. Because our God is too powerful! Who can withstand our God? If God wants to give us that land, as long as we wholeheartedly follow God, do not fear or be dismayed, go in and possess the land, you will surely possess it.

God is Our Strong Backing

Caleb said, Give me Hebron. What does this mean? It means give me the most difficult place to conquer. What kind of person is this? Can't we find an easy one? Why do we have to find a difficult Kirjath-arba, where the Anakim are all giants. In the era of cold weapons, the bigger one wins. But this is not effective with God, because in God's law, God's miracles are more powerful than the physical laws of nature. The physical laws of nature are useless, miracles are useful, because our God is a God who performs miracles.

Let me tell you, these Anakim were very powerful people, all mighty warriors, but even they were no match for Caleb. Actually, I often see this kind of thing in my life. Isn't it strange? Once an evil spirit was in my mother's body, and my mother was so strong! Even though my mother is over 80 years old, she is stronger than my sister.

My sister is small and weak, her arms are skinny, but this ghost, through my mother's hand, wanted to kill my sister. As a result, this thing was very interesting. When the real fight broke out, wow! A miracle happened. My sister grabbed my mother's arm, and that hand shocked her like electricity. My mother was like, Ouch... and lost all her strength. After the evil spirit was driven out, my mother is now very normal.

In other words, this matter is very interesting. When my mother was controlled by the evil spirit, she often got up at night to strangle my sister, who was right next to her, and she often put scissors, knives, and other things under her pillow, which was quite scary. Fortunately, my sister didn't know that they were for assassinating her, or she would have been scared to death. Later, my mother told the truth, she really couldn't get close. I said, why couldn't you get close? She said: I just couldn't get close, there was a strong force blocking me.

I have also experienced this. You say, why have both of us siblings experienced this? Because we are people who wholeheartedly follow God. No one can stand before those who wholeheartedly follow God. Once I served a big guy who was 1.9 meters tall and weighed 100 kilograms. He was a taekwondo master. In front of him, I was like a dwarf. That evil spirit, oh, scary, came over to hit me, but as soon as he raised his hand, a mysterious force knocked him down with a bang, and he fell heavily on the ground.

I was so scared, my colleagues around me saw it with their own eyes. The monkey boxing he did was like a performance, super beautiful. Later, I gradually discovered that martial arts, when practiced to the highest level, is the martial art attached to him. That is really the highest martial art. As a result, what happened? He got up again to attack me, and fell to the ground again with a bang. This was not once, but twice.

There was a young man who was a sumo wrestler, weighing 300 pounds. If he stuffed me under his butt and sat on me, I might lose my breath. I am a bold person. He came to me and asked me to release him. As soon as I released him, wow! Those two big hands opened and wanted to strangle me in front of me. But he couldn't strangle me, he just kept a distance of 20 centimeters. When I drove the ghost out, I said, what's wrong with you? He said my ghost wanted to strangle you. I said, why didn't it strangle me? It couldn't strangle me! I said, God! You are so great! If it weren't for you, ten of me wouldn't be enough for him to strangle!

What happened when Caleb wholeheartedly followed God? It was that the most powerful master in the Anakim, were all giants! They carried guns that ordinary people could not lift. Let me give you an example, what does it feel like when ordinary people can't lift it? That thing weighing hundreds of kilograms is deadly! If you swing it on your body, it's not like hammering an iron nail, or you can try it. I once bought a four-kilogram sledgehammer, and when I chiseled it into a brick wall, it fell off with a snap. It was very powerful and fierce. What can stop a hundred-kilogram sledgehammer from hammering down? Nothing can stop it.

In other words, Caleb eliminated these people. In these forty-five years, Caleb wholeheartedly followed God, constantly practiced, and constantly trained by relying on God, and his martial arts became very superb. Even if his martial arts were very superb, he still wholeheartedly relied on God, because people cannot win by their own strength. Caleb did not complain, but continued to work hard and prepare. How strong his martial arts were at the age of forty, how strong his martial arts were at the age of eighty-five, and may even have surpassed his martial arts at the age of forty. He could practice to deflect a thousand pounds with four ounces, which is a very powerful person.

As a result, he said:

Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. (Joshua 14:12)

Brothers and sisters, you must know that the more difficult a place is to conquer, the more it is a good place that people like to live in. No one wants a place where birds don't poop. For example, if you build a house in Lop Nur, can you sell it? No one buys real estate in Lop Nur. But in the center of Shenzhen, it's expensive! And the center of Beijing, you try it, it's all very expensive!

Why do the Anakim giants live in the place that Caleb conquered? That's a good place! Our brothers and sisters must begin to know that every time we face the devil and the enemy, the more difficult it is to drive out the demons, the more difficult it is to deal with the demons, the more we will get treasures! So I tell you, people who wholeheartedly follow God are not afraid of any difficulties, because in our eyes there is only God.

Everything must come before us to worship, everything must be trampled under our feet, even if it is going up a mountain of knives and down into a sea of fire, I tell you, there is no problem, our God will lead us. Is there any problem? No problem! This Caleb is awesome, this is called faith! No complaints, only preparation, only hope, looking forward to God accomplishing His beautiful plan in us, this is called being wholehearted.

I often see people who are not wholehearted, and they think they are very wholehearted. Brothers and sisters, I encourage you to be a wholehearted person. Don't be self-righteous, thinking that you are very wholehearted: whoever encounters such a thing as me, is not as good as my reaction! Do you think you are the highest standard in the world? Is it? Do you think the highest standard in the world is your realm? It's not like this, Joshua and Caleb are not like us, so we should desire to say: I want to be like Joshua and Caleb!

Desire to Be a Person Who Wholeheartedly Loves God

Don't get it wrong, whether you are wholehearted or not, it depends on what you do. If you complain as soon as you open your mouth, if you talk about difficulties as soon as you open your mouth, if you talk about environmental problems as soon as you open your mouth, the whole world is sorry for you, and if you talk about how bad your life is as soon as you open your mouth... I tell you, what is a bad life? It is not being wholehearted. If you are not wholehearted, can your life be good? If you are not wholehearted in loving God, but you are wholehearted in loving the world, what will you do in your life?

In previous years, I worked hard to pastor them, and they followed me on the road of believing in the Lord for several years, and followed me in casting out demons. As they were casting out demons, the young couple came to me and said: We will never be able to grow here with you. Oh, I was sad for a long time. They were my beloved disciples. I don't know which of my eyes was blind. What was the result? They were going to leave, their minds were made up. Don't say any more. Then let's not say any more, they are determined to leave. As a result, how have they been living in the past few years? Have they grown up? Have they matured? No!

Why? Because of a very simple thing, they wholeheartedly love the world, not wholehearted in loving God; they wholeheartedly love work, not wholehearted in following God. Can it still be good? Brothers and sisters, listen to my advice, you say they are living a good life, then you can watch slowly. The information they post in their circle of friends is deadly. After reading it, it is heartbreaking. It hurts him. Why don't he know to serve God wholeheartedly?

He went through the most difficult days of the church with me, but he was not there during the most prosperous days of the church. Isn't this a big loss? So I have to advise our brothers and sisters to be a wholehearted person. Maybe you are also a wholehearted person, but you have misplaced your wholeheartedness. You are wholehearted in loving the world, wholehearted in making money, wholehearted in loving yourself, wholehearted in catering to the flesh, and wholehearted in being selfish. This is useless. Only those who wholeheartedly follow God can inherit the promised land.

What do you rely on to live today? Do you live on God's promise or on your work? I don't dare to boast about anything else. I know that I am a little stronger than ordinary people, but I don't rely on my own ability, I only trust in God. I feel very strange, some people are far less capable than me, and then they only rely on themselves, what qualifications do you have to rely on yourself? It's hard!

Don't talk about the future, you didn't live very well in the past few years, so isn't it worth emulating me for wholeheartedly following God? Is it! I feel so emotional! After serving God for so many years, when I talk about wholeheartedly following God and inheriting the promised land, I wish that all of our brothers and sisters, without exception, could become people who wholeheartedly follow God. I tell you, this is such a wonderful thing!

Wonderful things are accomplished in this way. When we are determined to follow God and rely on God, even the giants of the Anakim or difficulties as big as mountains cannot stand before God and those who wholeheartedly follow God. This is not the last sentence that says:

And the land had rest from war. (See Joshua 14:15)

If you want to live a peaceful life and don't want to fight, then there will always be wars. If you want the country to be peaceful and there is no war, there is only one way: to defeat the enemy and inherit the promised land. Like Joshua and Caleb, wholeheartedly follow the Lord their God! Even at the age of eighty-five, they are still strong!

There is no harm without comparison. Some Christian brothers and sisters, and some pastor friends, don't like me very much. Why? Standing with me is hurtful: God! You are too partial, you are so good to him, you listen to him as soon as he prays, and you don't listen to me when I pray, and there are more problems. I tell you, the quality of being wholehearted is the key!

A brother told me: Actually, I don't like going to the hospital to pray for people. As soon as I finish praying, people die, so how can I explain it to people? Look at what he said. The more he is afraid of this, the more it happens. Later he said to me: Oh, as soon as I go to the hospital to pray for people, after I pray, the situation gets worse.

An American brother came to me. His father also had Alzheimer's disease. He heard that I had cured my mother's Alzheimer's disease, so he came to me. They have a term called 发粪涂墙 (fa fen tu qiang), which means smearing excrement on the wall, or playing with feces. In his house, his father plays with feces. It's okay to come to me. I can tell you what to do, but do you have the quality of being wholehearted? With the quality of being wholehearted, anyone can draw on God's promise.

I tell you, my mother has been telling a lot of jokes these two days, she loves to talk and laugh, laughing so hard that she is doubled over, and I am also laughing so hard that I am doubled over. This is really family happiness, it's really happy! What is the reason? Because someone wholeheartedly follows God! You say, who is that person? That person is me. Brothers and sisters, I ask you, is the son of Jephunneh good? Yes! Then if I make a summary of all our problems, it is that we are not wholehearted! All problems are because you are not wholehearted in following the Lord your God!

Full of complaints and bitterness, it is just not carefully keeping and following God's words, it is just not believing in God's promises, it is just creating many problems and blaming God. God! Why are there so many problems? God said: I also want to ask you! Isn't it? Aren't you the creator of these problems? The Bible has very good things to say. I tell you, some people don't get property, and some people get double the property. How many times is the difference between this inside and outside?

So I think, brothers and sisters, I don't know if I said it in vain. The words in the Bible are so good:

But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portions: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. (Isaiah 61:6-7).

Serving God, being a priest of the Lord, what could be better than this? No! Being a priest of the Lord God, wholeheartedly following Him, wholeheartedly serving Him, do we get double the benefits? In fact, if you want to be a smart person, can you tell whether following God is a good thing? Since it is a good thing, why is it so difficult to follow?

I'm going to talk about this again. Don't treat feces as ginger rice. If you treat feces as ginger rice, it will be a very tragic thing. You must know that you wholeheartedly serve God and follow Him closely! I tell you, even if someone delays us from inheriting the promised land, even if the ten spies delay us for forty-five years, God's plan for us will surely be accomplished! Forty-five years is just a blink of an eye. If we wholeheartedly follow God, what does forty-five years count for? One day, we can stand on the place where our feet tread, and this land will belong to me and my descendants forever, amen!

May God bless everyone.