6 People to Avoid on Your Journey to the Promised Land
Anthony Greco gave the opening message at the 2013 FCA Canadian Convention in Nelson, BC. Following is a summary of his message.
Our responsibility as leaders is to lead God’s people into their promised inheritance, their destiny: the mission and cause of our Lord Jesus! Having the right people helping you lead can help you get there. Having the wrong people leading can hinder from getting where God wants you to be.
Numbers 13:23-33 tells the story of the 12 spies going in to scope out the Promised Land. The bad report of 10 spies caused the Israelites to be in the wilderness for 40 years. Caleb & Joshua though had a different Spirit & they DID enter in to possess the land forty years later.
The 10 spies and the people of Israel in this story illustrate 6 attitudes of people you don’t want on your team:
- The Person who Carries a Negative Spirit
The bad report of the 10 spies caused the Israelites to wander through the wilderness for 40 years. Let’s never shy away from being people of faith because with God ALL things are possible.
- The Person who Overvalues the Past and Undervalues the Future
Where there is no faith in the future there is no power in the present. The people of Israel looked back to Egypt because they were afraid of the future.
- The Person in a Constant State of Being Underwhelmed
The Israelites had seen God’s incredible miracles and had grown too familiar with the power of God. We should always be expectant for what God is going to do and celebrating what He is doing!
- The Person who has a Distorted View of Themselves
“…we were like grasshoppers in their sight…”
How did they know how the people of the land saw them? They projected their view of themselves upon their surroundings. Jesus confronted this in Peter when he made the Great Confession that Jesus was the Son of God. It was until Peter saw Jesus correctly that he saw himself correctly. It is the same with us: it is only when we have a right view of God that we can have a right view of ourselves.
- The Person who Projects Rather than Protects
There are people who just project and spew forth things without knowing the truth. Sometimes this projecting is of distorted views and other times it is of their own vision on top of their leader’s vision. We need people who will love, serve, and pray for their leaders instead of trying to to project their own vision or views upon them.
- The Person who Sees Giant Problems Instead of Giant Potential
Just like the Israelite army at the time of David, the people of Israel at this time were focused on the giants instead of the potential that was in front of them. We raise the bar in our churches when we show people the potential that we can reach when we enter into the destiny that God has for us instead of focusing on the problems that we’ll encounter on the way!
Anthony Greco pastors Calgary Life Church in Calgary, AB.
