Negative to Positive
February 16, 2025 Speaker: Ted Detiveaux Series: Mindshift
Topic: taming the tongue Scripture: Numbers 13–14
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Series: Mindshift
Sermon Title: Be Positive
A positive person is marked by optimism (sees the glass half full)
Optimist - a person who is inclined to be hopeful about the future and to expect good outcomes.
Pessimist - a person who is inclined to expect poor outcomes. They always expect the worst and can be a downer for everyone else (Gloom Despair and agony on me)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IIKE9p5SEw&t=26s
The science of positive thinking shows that positive thoughts and emotions can improve your health and well-being.
How positive thinking affects the brain.
- Positive thoughts increase serotonin, which can make you feel calm, focused, and more emotionally stable
- Positive emotions can reduce cortisol, the stress hormone
- Positive emotions can activate the prefrontal cortex, which can help with creativity, problem-solving, and mental productivity.
How positive thinking affects health.
- Positive thinking can lower the risk of heart disease.
- Positive thinking can enhance the immune
- Positive thinking can improve mental well-being.
- Positive thinking can increase pain tolerance and pain relief.
When we engage in positive thoughts, our brain's reward system is activated, reinforcing the inclination toward optimism.
Our Main passage will be in Numbers 13-14. Some history about this story:
A little over two years before our story God has just rescued Israel from Egyptian slavery in which they were forced to hard labor enforced by brutal task masters.
Up to this point they have witnessed God do some incredible, supernatural things that we have only read about as part of Israel’s history. But they were blessed to witness it firsthand.
- Things like the ten plagues in Egypt
- The Crossing of the Red Sea and the drowning of the Egyptian armies
- The great awesome sight at Mount Sinai, (the cloud, fire and thunder)
- Quail and manna from heaven to feed 600,000 men plus women and children
(Show map) Israel leaves mount Sinai and eventually comes to Kadesh Barnea. This is where Moses sends out the spies into the promised land. This is the land that God had promised Abraham and his descendants.
God told Moses in Numbers 13:1
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.”
Though the Lord had spoken to Moses to send out the spies, it was a tragedy that it had come to this. For the spies were sent due to their unbelief that God would lead them to a good place.
Deuteronomy 1:21-22
21 See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’ 22 Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.’
The Israelites should have marched forward with all confidence to possess the promised land.
How many times like the Israelites we walk by sight not by faith. We have the Missouri slogan “show me.” It is because are skeptical and prefer evidence over promise.
Even with their hardened hearts, God proved to be merciful to the Israelites yet again by granting their request in allowing them to send out the spies. Though they should have taken Him at His word.
Regardless, they were to send out one man of prominence from each tribe to go and spy out the land.
Moses sends out 12 spies into the land with this instruction:
17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country,
They were to go and make a report of what they had seen regarding the land and the people.
- 18 and see what the land is, land
- and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, people
- whether they are few or many, people
- 19 and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, land
- and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, land
- 20 and whether the land is rich or poor, land
- and whether there are trees in it or not. land
One of the last and most important things that Moses says before sending them out was:
Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
Courage - ḥāzaq put forth strength, use one's strength.
It is as though Moses is forewarning them that they might encounter things or people that have the potential to discourage them from accomplishing their mission. But they are to be of good courage. It was a mental shift they must make. They are to use their strength to fight off discouragement. They were to remain positive. They were to remain hopeful about their future.
They were also charged with the task of bringing back the fruit of the land. There was an expectation that they would indeed return regardless of what they faced. That is a positive mindset. That was so that everyone could see with their eyes a glimpse of the abundance the Lord was bringing them to. So that their hearts would be encouraged to take possession of the land that the Lord had prepared for them. They were to bring back a positive report which would promote positivity throughout the Israelite camp.
Speak Positively (Positive People Produce Positivity) (that’s the goal)
This was not just a one-day assignment, but for forty days they were to collect their data for their report.
25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.
In the Bible, the number "40 days" often represents a period of significant testing.
- In the story of Noah, it rained for forty days and forty nights. Noah’s family’s faith was tested.
- Moses was with God for 40 days and forty nights when he received the ten commandments. (it was a test for the Israelites)
- Jesus found himself in the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and he had been fasting for 40 days and forty nights.
- In our story today we see yet another test for 40 days. Perhaps over that period they lost focus of what they were supposed to be doing.
26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
The ten spies admit that the land is just as God had said it was. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. There were clusters of grapes so ginormous that it took two people to carry one stalk of grapes. Seeing the fruit the people must have initially believed God’s promises. There must have been a spark of faith even if for a moment. If the ten spies had only concluded their report with this impressive demonstration then perhaps they would have avoided the 40 years in the wilderness. But they continued:
28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.” 30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
Challenge Negative Thoughts (Positive Thinkers Are Positive Speakers)
If there was a man full of faith, one with a positive report for the people of God it was Caleb. Caleb dared to challengethe negativity that the other 10 were bringing. He dared to believe that God was able to bring them to that land that He had promised.
In Caleb’s eyes it was a done deal, he already sees the victory and is ready to occupy the land. That’s positive thinking. That’s hopeful thinking.
Luke 6:45
45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”
Comparison Feeds Negativity
In Moses’ instructions to the 12 spies, we do not find any instructions about comparing themselves to their enemy. In fact, most of the instruction regarded the land (5 of 7). The only thing Moses told them to observe about the people was “were they weak or strong?” and “were there few or many?”
They were to report the news, not give their opinion about the news. It was not up to them to decide whether they were strong enough to go up against the people.
Going back to our definition of a pessimist - a person who is inclined to expect poor outcomes. They always expect the worst and can be a downer for everyone else. These 10 spies did exactly that.
God had specifically promised them by Moses that he would drive out the Canaanites from before them (Ex. 33:2), and that he would do it by little and little, Ex. 23:30. And, after all this, for them to say, We are not able to go up against them, was in effect to say,
"God himself is not able to follow through with His word."
Exodus 33:2-3
2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
Despite Caleb’s effort to rally everyone together to occupy the promised land, the negativity of the ten spies had infected the whole camp of Israel.
32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out,
- is a land that devours its inhabitants,
- and all the people that we saw in it are of great height.
- 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak),
- and we seemed to ourselveslike grasshoppers,
- and so we seemed to them.”
Negativity Distorts Your Identity (they belittled themselves down to grasshoppers)
They were familiar with grasshoppers for this was the 8th plague that the Lord cast upon the Egyptians. In which the locust covered the land and devoured every green thing. It was this plague that Pharaoh’s servant realized that Egypt was ruined, and that God’s plan concerning Israel would be accomplished no matter what. For he says to Pharaoh:
Exodus 10:7
7 Then Pharaoh's servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?”
How was it so evident to this servant, yet so foreign to God’s people? Surely this Egyptian servant recognized that the Israelites were God’s people and to come against them is to come against their God.
But Israel after spying the land is now comparing themselves to grasshoppers. God did not tell them that they were like grasshoppers in comparison to their enemy, nor did Moses, nor did their enemies say that. They believed that about themselves. They believed that’s how they were perceived by their enemies.
(high school – laughing crowds) So insecure about their identity.
Numbers 14
1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.
Surround Yourself with Positive People (Negative People Grumble About Everything)
They had wished to die as criminals under God’s justice than live conquerors in his favor.
What a diluted and even perverse picture of our loving God. Who has done incredibly kind things to them. Their negative thinking would suppose that God went through all that effort in bringing them out of Egypt and sustainingthrough the wilderness ultimately just to kill them, their wives, and their children. This is a great evil to accuse God of such a thing.
What a little time (not a year and a half) that they have forgotten all of their cries for help when they were in Egyptian bondage, and how they forgot the songs of their deliverance when they had crossed over the Red sea.
6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”
Focus On the Good (Positive People Must Remain Positive)
There must be a person or people who would be willing to stand up and go and against the flow and declare the truth of our God. Joshua and Caleb were these people. They were the two witnesses who saw the same things that the other ten had seen, yet they proclaimed a good report. They spoke positive things regarding their future, hopeful things.
Joshua tells them “it is an exceedingly good land” and “it is a land that flows with milk and honey.”
Instead of it being a land in which “it devours its inhabitants” as the other ten spies would have you believe; we will devour them. “They are bread for us.” This victory will fuel us for future victories.
I would love to say that this passage has a happy ending. But that was not the case; well not at this time.
10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.
11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
As a result of their negativity, their disbelief, their slanderous accusations against God, they would wander in the wilderness for forty years until every man over the age of twenty would die except Joshua & Caleb.
29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.
Negative People Grumble About Everything Positive People Produce Positivity
Comparison Feeds Negativity Positive Thinkers Are Positive Speakers.
Negativity Distorts Your Identity Positive People Must Remain Positive
How do we prevent from becoming negative like the Israelites?
How do we shift from negative to positive thinking
- Speak Positively
- Challenge Negative Thoughts
- Surround Yourself with Positive People
- Focus On the Good

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