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Amen. So you're there in Numbers chapter 14. So Numbers chapter 14 is the story of how they became, the children of Israel became, you know, kind of sentenced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. We see what happened and why God passed that sentence, where he even got the number 40. We see in Numbers chapter 14. So this morning and this evening for Father's Day, I'm going to preach a sermon on a specific character in the Bible. We're going to look at the man Caleb. So we see Caleb in this story in Numbers chapter number 14. Now Caleb is sometimes overlooked in the Bible, and I believe the reason he's overlooked many times in the Bible is because he was not alone in what he did here in Numbers chapter 14. He was actually with Joshua, and of course, Joshua is the one who ends up taking over for Moses. So I think that we don't get to see a lot of, you know, preaching or analysis on the man Caleb, but today we're going to look this morning and this evening at Caleb the father and Caleb's traits and why Caleb's traits made him such a good father and such an example for fathers today. So this morning I want to look at a very specific character trait of Caleb in a couple different areas, but this morning I want to look at Caleb's strength. Caleb's strength and how that applied to him, you know, being a good father and what a man's strength means for, you know, his children especially. So that's what we're going to look at this morning. If you look down at Numbers chapter 14, let's look at this story of Caleb and say what kind of strength. I want to look at all the aspects of Caleb's strength this morning, and then we'll apply that to fatherhood and how important all of these aspects of a man's, of a father's strength are important for his children, all right? The first characteristic of strength that I want to look at this morning, we're going to look at this story in Numbers chapter 14 and Numbers chapter 13 is the story or the characteristic of the strength of his faith, the strength of his faith. Many times people will look at the physical strength of Caleb, and we're going to look at that in a few minutes, but I really want to focus first on the strength of Caleb's faith. So let's look down in Numbers chapter 14 and verse number 24. We'll get, now it's interesting because as we look at the story of the spies and Caleb and Joshua, he kind of gets a call out here from God in verse number 24 all by himself, all right? Now I don't know exactly what that means, but it shows you that Caleb is a special person and Caleb has a special faith about him. Look at verse number 24 of Numbers 14. It says, but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, he had followed me fully, him will I bring into the land where into he went and his seed shall possess it. So the context of this story is back in Numbers chapter 13. So let's flip back there for just a few minutes and get the context of what God is talking about in verse number 24 of Numbers 14. So we see the congregation is rebelling against the Lord in Numbers 14 and the reason that that happens is because of what happens one chapter earlier. Look at verse number one of Numbers chapter 13. So they are, the children of Israel are in the wilderness, they are not in the promised land yet, that they are preparing to go into the promised land and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan. That's the promised land, which I give unto the children of Israel, of every tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a ruler among them. Then Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran, all those men were heads of the children of Israel. Skip down to verse number 25. So God commands the children of Israel, the nation of Israel, to pick one man out of every tribe, so 12 spies as they're known in the Bible. These 12 leaders of these tribes, look these weren't just any person in the tribe. These were, you know, high ranking men, leaders, rulers of these tribes, of these families and they were to go across the river and spy out the land and bring a report back. Look at verse number 25. And look, they were there for 40 days. They weren't there for like two or three days. They spent a lot of time there and they came back and this was the majority report. Okay? So in verse number 25 we see the report from the majority of the spies. And they returned from searching the land after 40 days. Verse 26. And when they came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel under the wilderness of Paran to Kadesh and brought back word unto them and unto all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. So they brought back, literally, they brought back the fruit of the land. And they told him and said, we came unto the land whether thou sentest us and surely it flowed with milk and honey and this is the fruit of it. So they bring back like the produce from the land, whether that's actual fruit or milk or honey or whatever it is, like showing them how rich the land is, how good the land is. And then look at verse number 28. It says, nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in the land and the cities are walled and very great. And moreover, we saw the children of Anak there and the Amicalites dwell in the land of the south and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb, now we see Caleb jump in here in verse number 30. It says, and Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it for we are well able to overcome it. So I believe that even in the pair of Joshua and Caleb, that Caleb was a very strong leader in that pair. Caleb, I'm not saying he was leading Joshua, but Caleb was very outspoken here and even tried to stop this majority report that was coming out when basically they were giving information. And if you look down at verse number 31, they were given information and they were starting to give opinions that they weren't asked for. There was kind of outside the scope of what their job was. Look at verse 31. So just to point out, we do see Caleb speak up on his own here. Look at verse 31. But the men that went up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. That is way outside the scope of what they were supposed to do. They were supposed to go out and check out the land and check out maybe where cities are or whatever, but they are not to go out and give some opinion that is outside the word of God. Give some opinion that was outside the scope of what they're doing. This is like somebody that comes to remodel your kitchen in your house and starts giving you marital advice or something like that. I mean it's just something that this isn't what you're here for, this isn't what you're supposed to do, and they just come out and not only do they just go outside the scope of what their job was, they start contradicting the Lord by going outside that scope. There's a sermon series in itself right there. Look at verse 32, and they brought up an evil report of the land, which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, the land though which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. So look, they're just freaking people out at this point saying we can't do this. Now they did see giants, this was a real thing, they did see these men of great stature, they did see these great walled cities, but they went outside their scope and they brought up an evil report, meaning it's a bad report, that's what it means. It means it was a negative report, they started giving anti-biblical, anti-godly advice to the children of Israel, and that's what you see in the whole chapter 14, is it affects the people, the people are literally to the point where they want to stone Moses and Aaron, because they are so affected by this evil report that these 10 spies bring up. Look at verse number 6 now of Numbers chapter 14. Numbers chapter 14, look at verse number 6. So they tell this, 10 of the spies give this majority opinion that this land cannot be conquered. But two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, try to set people straight. Look at verse number 6, it says, And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is exceedingly good land. So they all said the same thing as far as the land goes, alright. In verse number 9, they recognize the dangerous, evil report that the 10 give, they said, Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land. For they are bred for us, their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Look, they're saying, look at verse number 8, it says that the Lord, if the Lord delighted us, and I really like verse number 8, I'm sorry I skipped over that one, but in verse number 8 it says, If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which floweth with milk and honey. They're saying, if the Lord is pleased with us, he will deliver this land no matter how mighty these people are. I mean that shows the humility of these two men. Or they didn't just say, the Lord will deliver this to us no matter what we do or how we treat him. They literally say, you know, if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land. They didn't say that the giants weren't there. They didn't say that the giants weren't powerful. They said, if the Lord is pleased with us, none of that matters. They literally said, the Lord is with us, fear them not. That takes great faith as they stared in the face of these giants and they just knew that as long as the Lord was with us, we are not going to have any problems with these walled cities, these fenced cities, or these giants that make us look like grasshoppers. Look they just had a lack, look, their faith outweighed their fear with these two men. They had, I mean turn to Matthew chapter 10 and verse number 28. They had a lack, they had a lack of paralyzing fear. It's easy to say, it's easy to stand up here and say that we should only fear the Lord and we should fear nothing else. But that is almost impossible to do in your life. But what is important that you do is that you have a lack of paralyzing fear. And we'll explore that in just a few minutes. But look at Matthew 10 verse number 28 where Jesus says, in fear that the Lord is Look at Matthew 10 verse number 28 where Jesus says, And fear them not, which could kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Look that's easier said than done. But these two men at least overcame that paralyzing fear that the other 10 spies had. Caleb's faith was unshakable. It was very strong. I mean, don't you think, think about they were, they were there for 40 days, and 40 nights camping overnight, discussing every single night around the campfire, I'm sure what they all saw. And I mean, don't you think there were debates and that there was strife amongst that group of 12 people when you had these two? I mean, it might have started out where there was eight that were on the right side, or there was 10 that were on the right side. And maybe I don't know this for sure, but maybe just one after another, they all fell to just seeing more and more and more, and they just fell to that fear. And their faith crumbled underneath the things that they were seeing in the world. But look, it was 10 verses two in the end, and it shows you that Joshua and Caleb had very strong faith that the Lord could do what he said he was going to do. Numbers 32 says that Caleb wholly followed the Lord. He just gave it completely to God. Never underestimate the power, this is for the fathers, and we're going to look at Caleb the father in this aspect at the end of the sermon. Never underestimate the power of your faith to your family. The strength of your faith, if we're going to apply this at the end, will determine the strength of your family's faith. Turn to Joshua chapter number 14. Look, and it takes a strong man to go against the majority. It takes a strong man to have 10 people telling you you're wrong, and you're looking and it's just me and this other guy. And there's these 10 people saying, look, there's 10 of us and there's two of you. I mean, what makes you guys think that you're correct, right? But look, it takes a strong man to go against the majority. But Caleb had unshakable faith, along with Joshua here. Look at Joshua chapter 14, look at verse number six. Let's look at another great strength of Caleb. The next thing is Caleb had great faith. He had great strength of faith. In Joshua chapter 14, we're going to see that not only did he have great strength of faith, but he has great strength of mind and of body as well. Look at verse number six of Joshua 14. The Bible says then the children of Judah came unto Joshua and Gilgal, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, said unto them, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God concerning me and thee, and Kadesh Barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to espy out the land, and I brought him word again, as it was in my heart. So he's referencing Numbers chapter 13 and Numbers chapter 14. So it's interesting that Numbers chapter 14, the sentence given to the children of Israel, is no one will go in who is 20 years old and older at this point, except for Joshua and Caleb, who were about 40 years old at that time. So they were literally 20 years old. So now that they're in the promised land, they're 20 years older than all the other men that came into the promised land. But this was 40 years ago, 45 years ago. Nevertheless, look at verse number eight. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swear on that day, saying, Surely the land where on thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. So Moses promises Caleb, and we're going to see this fulfilled here today in these verses where we study Caleb, but Moses promises him the actual land that they spied out, which is kind of a cool thing. So Moses is going to give Caleb the actual land, which turns out to be Hebron, the area is called, that they spied out. He says, And now behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said these 40 and five years. So he's 85 years old. He was 40 years old when he spied out the land. And 45 years later, he's standing in the promised land, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness. And now lo, I am this day four score and five years old. That's 85 years old. And yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in. So look, yes, he's very strong physically. He's able to go to war. He's able to do that. He's also sharp. He's also remembering exactly what happened. He's recalling it. He's recalling the conversation with Moses. He's laying it out to Joshua, saying, look, this is the land that Moses, you remember this, you remember what we did. Now, therefore, give me this mountain. Wherefore, the Lord spake in that day, for thou hurtest in the day how the Anakins were there, and that the cities were great and fenced. And if so, the Lord be with me, then shall I be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb, the son of Jethunah, Hebron, for an inheritance. So this guy, 85 years old, he's sharp as a tack. He remembers exactly what Moses said 45 years ago, and he's strong as an ox at this point. And he still has the ability. It's not like, give me this mountain, and Joshua signs a piece of paper. He has to go take the mountain. He's literally asking permission from Joshua at 85 years old to fulfill a promise that is 45 years old and that he will have to go and fight and fulfill himself. Really? I mean, so he's sharp as a tack, strong as an ox, and he goes, but nothing was given for free here. He goes and he takes it at 85 years old. Look, he has great physical strength. He has great mental health at 85 years old. And look, I'm going on a tangent on this for just a few minutes, but I believe that this is something that is undervalued today, especially in our culture that we live in. I believe that, you know, just keeping yourself healthy, keeping yourself sharp mentally and sharp physically is undervalued today. Look, I believe that gluttony and how we treat our bodies is something that is under preached. It is something that the Bible takes very seriously. Turn to Proverbs chapter 23. It is something that the Bible is very, look, the Bible calls gluttony a sin that is as serious as drunkenness. And as a matter of fact, in this country, I mean, nearly 40% of Americans at this point, this is something when I started preaching two, three, four years ago, it was 30%. Now it's 40%. 40% of Americans are pre-diabetic, meaning that they're going to have diabetes, you know, in a few years in their life. Nearly 42% of the US population is considered obese. Look, I'm not trying to shame, you know, anybody here, anybody in this country, but the point is that gluttony is a sin. Gluttony is a sin and it's something that's under preached today. Look at Proverbs 23. Look at verse number 20. It says, be not among wine bibbers. I mean, it's talking about people that are like drunks and what among riotous eaters of flesh. People that just can't stop eating. Look at Proverbs 23 verse two. It says, and put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite. It's like, you'd be better off. It's like, just stop yourself from eating. Just stop shoving your face with Cheetos. Just stop eating so unhealthy. Proverbs 23, 21, the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. I mean, drunkenness and gluttony are put together many times in the Bible, meaning they're both very serious things. And look back to Caleb's ability. Go to Joshua chapter number 15. Go to Joshua chapter number 15. Look, he went and he did it when he was 85 years old. He went and he drove out the giants. Talk about irony. The giants are what they were afraid of. And 45 years later, the man that had faith that God could deliver them from the giants actually goes and takes that faith into action and drives those giants out himself with the help of the Lord. Of course, look at verse 13 of Joshua chapter 15. It says unto Caleb, the son of Jethunah, he gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, even the city of Arba, the father of Anak, which city is Hebron. And Caleb drove Vince, the three sons of Anak, Shashayah, Ahima, and Telme, the children of Anak. Those are the giants that he drives out when he's 85 years old. So look, turn to Ecclesiastes chapter number 10. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter number 10. So Caleb has great spiritual strength. He's great mental strength. And he has great physical strength. And look, folks, the way you live your life can cause you to lose all three of those things. The way you live your life, I mean, even just the physical aspect of your life now. As a young man, as a young person, look at Ecclesiastes 10, 18. I mean, don't tell me. You don't have to be much over the age of 30 or 40 to realize, to know some older people in your life that have not lived. A healthy life, they've not lived, a good Christian life, and they're suffering consequences for that. You don't have to be too old to start to see that play out in people's lives as they get past 60, 70 years old. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 10 in verse number 18. Gluttony, drunkenness, idleness, these things will affect you. They will affect your health later in your life. In verse number 18 of Ecclesiastes number 10, the Bible says, by much slothfulness, the building decayeth, and through idleness of the hands, the house droppeth through. The Bible here is saying is that if you're lazy and you don't move and you don't do anything, you're building, your body is going to decay. Your body is going to break down. I mean, look, he kept moving. Yes, God blessed him in his life, but he kept moving in his life. Just think about mental sharpness in your life. You know you can do things, you know that watching TV and watching YouTube and watching all these things on the internet just makes you stupider. It just makes, I mean, I'm serious. I'm not talking about the things that you watch. I'm talking about how it doesn't do anything for you mentally. It doesn't exercise your mind. This is why, you know, the Bible emphasizes reading so much, and I get that there wasn't YouTube in the Bible times, but I mean, what did Jesus always say? Have you not read? Have you not read? Reading, I mean, secular scientists will tell you that reading makes you sharper. Reading is something that is an active thing that you do for your mind. When you're watching something on TV, it's a passive thing. You're just sitting there and you're just taking information in, and look, I'm not saying you can't watch a YouTube video to figure out how to fix your car or whatever, but I'm saying reading is exercise for your mind. Reading will keep you sharper. There's plenty of studies out there that show the more you read, the better focus you will have, the more concentration that you will retain, especially as you get older, especially as you get older. I can already see now, as I get older, it's harder to memorize things, and I don't want to lose that flexibility, so I'm trying to read more and more and more as I get older. I'm trying to read things. Look, you know, even if you read a fictional novel, you sit there and you read a novel, your mind has to work to picture the scenes, to picture the characters. Your mind, you are exercising your mind when you read. You are not doing that when you watch things. I mean, physical activity is the same thing. We have, in my life, in the last 20 years, I've had this idea pushed on me from the culture that says, it's these trades where you go out and you're going to ruin your body if you go out and you be a mechanic, or you go out and you work for a living and you do these things. And the funny thing is, they found out that the opposite is true. They found out that it's the office job that is killing everybody. Literally, there's so many studies out there now. I just pulled up an article that analyzed 13 different studies at this point that say they found that those that sat at a job, that sat for a living, it was the equivalent to being obese and smoking as far as their life expectancy. That's why you're starting to see people with stand-up desks and do all these weird things like working out in front of their computer or whatever. It's just the goofiest thing, seeing somebody sit in front of a computer on an exercise ball or whatever, but they're trying not to die. They're trying to stay physical as we all have these office jobs where nobody moves anymore. Idleness, like the house is dropping through is what's happening, just like the Bible says. All right, and look, the strength of your faith, not just your mental strength and your physical ability, but the strength of your faith is super important as a father. You say, so what does this story really matter? It's Father's Day. It's Father's Day. What does this story really matter? We're going to look at another story with Caleb now that I kind of set the picture of who Caleb actually was. It's Father's Day. But the point I'm trying to make here is that the father in all ways, his faith, his mental ability, and his physical strength, here's the point of the entire sermon, it sets the bar for his children. The strength of the father in every way sets the bar for his children. If you're new to being a father, you're like, oh, listen up. Look, I want to talk about sons and daughters. And he sets the bar in different ways for his sons, and he sets the bar in different ways for his daughters. And this is why it is so important. Let's talk about the sons first. The strength of a father defines for his sons what a man should be. That is the bar that he sets. And I have a recent example that I want to use here of this, with my youngest son, with Jacob. Just a couple days ago, we went through this exercise in dealing with heights. We have a project going on at our house, and there's ladders, and there's scaffolding, and there's all these different things. And let me tell you something, I have a lot of experience in this area. I used to work at one of the largest power plants in the United States, and there was crazy heights that I can't even describe to you. We were in situations where we'd be up in the boiler, we'd be sitting in these chairs that were just connected by cables. They'd be called bosun chairs. We'd be hundreds of feet in the air just hanging in this chair. The plant had these chimneys. They were 680 feet tall, these chimneys. And if you don't, there were concrete structures, and there was an elevator that went up the side of each chimney, and the elevator could hold two people. And I mean, tight, like you're in there like this, riding up the side of this chimney. They were 680 feet tall, and if you don't know anything about concrete, let me tell you this, at the top of those chimneys, there was a sway, a movement of three feet in every direction. And when you were up at the top of those chimneys, you could feel them moving three feet in every direction. And there was one guy at the plant who, this was his area to work on these chimneys. So whenever there was something that needed to be done, inspected at the top, many instruments were up at the top of the chimney, measuring the gas flows and the things that were in the gas. This guy was the most fearless person I've ever met in my life when it came to heights. And I never really considered myself afraid of heights, but when I, I went up to that, that platform twice, and every single time you would step outside at the 680 foot level, you would step outside that tiny little elevator, I don't even know if you can call it an elevator, but you'd step outside onto a five by 10 platform that was open grading, and you'd be standing on the edge of this swaying concrete structure, and you could see 680 feet down. And I just remember just an involuntary reaction that would happen to me, I would just grab the side of that railing, crush the field every single time I got out of that elevator. And I just remember thinking the last time I was up here, I told Jacob this too, they said the older you get, the more afraid of heights you get, like that fear comes back. And I remember the last time I was up there just thinking, why am I up here? I don't need to be up here. This is stupid that I'm here right now. And those are the things that were going through my head. And I just looking down at these massive ducks and things that were just, everything was, we were like ants down below. And just thinking, if I fall from here, I'm gonna have a lot of time to think before I hit the ground. But it was a harrowing experience. But the point is, that's a natural, I'm explaining this to Jacob as we're going up on this 12 foot ladder, as we're going up on this scaffolding, and I can see he's got some hesitation there. And I'm like, hey, the hesitation's okay. The hesitation is okay. And that's what this guy would always tell me that worked on the chimneys. He's like, you know what? I think maybe he was trying to make me feel a little bit better. But he always tell me, he's like, you know what? It's the people that come up here and have no fear that I worry about. They just walk around here like nothing's going on that I worry about. So it's okay to have that caution. And that's what I told Jacob. I said, look, it's okay to have the caution, but it can't be a debilitating fear. You need to get up here because I need the help. And I literally said this to him. I said, look, having a debilitating fear of heights is just not gonna work for you as a man. Then, of course, he just came up, and I showed him three points of contact, how to be safe, how to not fall off the roof. And as a matter of fact, the next day, I had to actually kind of like tell him like, okay, you should be careful. It's no big deal. Be hanging onto things. Don't be climbing around the scaffolding like you're a monkey because it is dangerous. You know, still keep that caution. But the point is, is this. We have to do this work. I need your help. You are not being able to climb a ladder, not being able to climb up scaffolding. That can just not be a choice for you in your life, unfortunately. Because debilitating fear, just as Caleb showed in the Bible, is just not a choice. That a man can take. Look, and the point I'm trying to get at here is that is learned. That is learned. A young man or a boy by himself just wouldn't go up there. They would just be like, oh, this is a little scary, and they would not go up there. But the point is, it is learned to overcome things by people that are setting the bar, by fathers that are setting the bar. And that's what Caleb did for the entire nation of Israel, is he set the bar. And he set the bar for his children, as I'm gonna show you. Look, being capable, being a capable man is a choice. It's setting the bar. I mean, to be capable and set a capable bar for your sons is a choice that you make. Giving your sons skills, giving your sons work ethic. This is not gonna happen on accident. It is something that is learned. It is something that is taught. It is a bar that they have to reach and grab. And if there's no bar, they're not gonna reach for it. It is that simple. What success is. That is an expectation that is set for them by their father. Or it's not. What success is. What the path to success is. And we're gonna talk about that more specifically tonight. But the point is, this is missing today. This is missing today. And the reason is, there's no dad to set the bar. That's why it's missing in so many young people today. Because there is no Caleb setting that bar for them to reach to. Or dad is just this bar that's way down here. A young child just steps right over it. It is the dad that sets the bar. Look, this idea of standing up to the majority. This idea of do the right thing no matter how many people on your side. That is not something that's gonna come naturally to a young man. A young man needs to be taught that. A young man needs to be taught you do what is right no matter the cost. No matter how many people are on your side, you stand up for your God. You stand up for your family. You stand up for your brothers and sisters in Christ. It is not the default. Because it's never the easy way. The easy way is to not go up the ladder. The easy way is to give in to your first natural fear. That's the easy way. It takes somebody setting the bar and pushing that character in order for a young man to develop it. And the default is what you're seeing today. The default is young men that can't do or handle anything. Did you know that anxiety and depression levels amongst young men, teenagers, are now approaching the same levels as among young women? It's because young men can't handle anything. Men are supposed to be strong. You can understand how feminism and the teachings of this world and all the wicked things that are taught to young ladies today would cause them to be depressed. But even the stronger vessels, even the young men who are supposed to be growing up to be strong men are depressed and have anxiety. You can see this in the coming generations. You can see this in your day-to-day life if you're out there in the world. A boy raised in front of a screen, instead of being outside, setting bars and reaching for bars with their dad, they're not learning these things. They're not developing this character and that's why they can't handle anything. Turn to Joshua chapter 15. There's simply no bar being set for young men today. And it is the father's job to set that bar. It's the father's job to set the bar of faith. For his sons. Preparing his sons to be spiritual leaders to their future families. It is the father's job. It is the father's job to set the bar for mental and physical strength, for all the things that he will need to do to support his family, to be able to go out and protect his family. It is the father's job to set these bars. And it's not happening today. And that's why you're seeing these generational results today. Turn to Joshua chapter 15. How about the daughters? How about the daughters? The father still set the bar with the daughters because as they show their sons the bar and they show their sons what a man is to be, they're also showing their daughters this is what a man is. And this is what you need to be looking for. You know, why is Caleb's story so important to them? Turn to Joshua chapter 15. Look, study after study after study will show you that young women seek out versions of their fathers. You find me, you find me, you know, a girl that just chooses bad men over and over and over again. And you'll see a girl without a father or with a bad relationship with her father every single time. Why? Because her father sets the bar for what a man is. And if he's a piece of garbage, that's what she thinks a man is, a piece of garbage that just wants to do nothing but be in fornication and not make any commitment and not go out and work for a living. That's what she thinks a man is. Caleb's daughter, let's look at her. Look at Joshua 15 and verse number 16. Joshua 15, what does she end up with? She probably understands what a man is. Look at Joshua 15 and verse number 16. The Bible says, and Caleb said, he that smiteth, curjath, seeth her, and taketh it, to him will I give Akshaw my daughter to wife. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it and he gave him Akshaw his daughter to wife. Now look, don't miss this. Caleb basically says, whoever goes and conquers this city can marry my daughter. And this guy goes out and he conquers the city and he marries Caleb's daughter. Now, do you think Caleb did that because he wanted that city? It didn't have anything to do with him wanting that city. It had nothing to do with him wanting that city. He could have gone out and taken the city himself. He just defeated a bunch of giants. He was looking for a man to marry his daughter. He was looking for somebody that had what it took to be a man, to weed out those that didn't have what it took. He wanted the same type of man as himself to marry his daughter. Now look, I understand that things were kind of arranged in that situation, but it doesn't even matter because it wouldn't even have mattered for her. This is what she would have sought out anyway because that is what a man is in the eyes of this daughter. Why? Because of who her father was. Caleb's daughter wouldn't go marry some snowflake. I mean, now look, there's a lot of opinions about how established a young man needs to be before getting married. There's a lot of things that I've heard, a lot of different people and a lot of different opinions about that, but here's why none of it matters. None of those opinions matter at all because Caleb, Caleb was the type of man that would succeed in any environment. Caleb was the type of man, if you took Caleb and you dropped him into history anywhere, Caleb would succeed there because he just had this great strength of faith, great strength of mental strength and great physical strength. There was no amount of war that was gonna stop him. There was no amount of violence that was gonna stop him. There was no adversity that was gonna stop Caleb. There was no amount of peer pressure that was gonna stop Caleb. There was no amount of naysayers that were gonna get Caleb to turn against the Lord. Literally, he's threatened with giants and he's like, I'm with the Lord. There was no situation that you could drop Caleb in where he would not succeed. He would make it through because of the strength that he had in his faith, his mind and his body. And his daughter, by default, would settle for no less. That is the bar that fathers set for their daughters. So look, young men looking to marry a young lady, the key is you. You better not approach a Caleb or even his daughter unless you can take that city. You better have a plan. You better have a way to execute that plan. You better have a way, you better have a track record of executing. Or you're not gonna approach a Caleb or a Caleb's daughter. Look, I'm sure there's people besides Caleb and Caleb's daughter, but Caleb won't have to say anything in a situation like that because his daughter will be like, what, are you serious? His daughter simply won't be interested in anything less. You see the importance of a father? You see the importance of a father in raising daughters? You see the importance of a father's character and strength for his daughter, how it's just as important for his daughter as it is for his sons. Back to fathers. As a father, especially you new fathers in the church, let me just give you a couple things to think about here and take away. If you take nothing away from this sermon, you take this away. As a father, notice I don't say everything. Everyone hinges on who you are. Everyone in your family. Who you marry. Even if you're a young man here and you're not even married, who you marry hinges on who you are. You think you have some woman of faith and character of strength, some Caleb's daughter. The women of strength and the women of character, they're going to be drawn towards the Caleb's. Why is that? Because look, it's a natural instinct. They're going to be drawn towards that for protection and also just naturally they want strong children. So instinctually, they will be drawn towards men like Caleb. Who your children become as a young man, who your children become, the focus should be developing yourself, developing your faith, developing your Christian walk. Because it's not about, look, I know everybody likes to talk a big game. Most men today, especially most young men today, it's a major problem with young men, but most young men should say less and do more. There's a lot of men today, a lot of young men today that like to do a lot of talking. They should say less. They should listen more and they should do more because quite frankly, nobody cares what you say. They care what you do. And that's a good analogy because your children, yeah, they'll hear what you say, but they're going to do what you do. Your sons are going to see the bar you set as a man and that's from doing. Your daughters are going to find out what it is, what a man is and what a man should be by what you do, not by what you say. You need to become a Caleb. If you're a father, you need to be a Caleb because everyone depends on you. A strong, faithful man. The strength of a father determines the strength of his family. For generations to come, Caleb shows this. Caleb is a perfect demonstration for this. Tonight we're going to look at another aspect of Caleb the father and how it can apply to us as well. But a definite, underestimated character in the Bible and a great example for fathers today.