The Courage of Conviction

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Good morning, CCW.

Turn your Bibles to Joshua chapter 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

I've been waiting for two months to say those words.

So excited.

Joshua chapter 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Thank you for being here.

Met lots of guests this morning out in the lobby, and uh God is doing something special here.

But thank you for joining us today.

We are glad you're here.

As you're turning to Joshua chapter 1, I want you to go back with me to the Wizard of Oz.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Do you remember the land of Oz?

Do you remember your introduction to the cowardly lion?

He came out of the woods with two of the great insults of our time.

He came out and he said, Put them up, you shivering junkyard, to the tin man.

Put them up, you lopsided bag of hay.

And he went after Toto, big mistake.

Went after a lady's little pup.

She came around that tree and she smacked that cowardly lion right in his face.

And he said, Why'd you have to go and do that?

You didn't have to go and hit me.

And she said, Why, you're nothing but a great big coward.

Later in the movie, he spouts life-changing poetry.

Get ready.

What makes the elephant charge his tusk through the misty misk or the musky musk?

What makes the muskrat guard his musk?

Courage.

What have they got that I haven't got?

Courage.

It takes courage.

Why?

Because two of Satan's great tactics this morning I want you to know about are fear and doubt.

See, fear debilitates a person.

In 2008, New York Times put out a study through Dr.

Burns, how the human mind reacts to fear.

And the most concrete thing that neuroscience proved through that study was when the fear system of the brain is active, the exploratory activity and risk-taking systems of the brain are turned off.

Let me break that down.

Fear systems turn off the faith systems.

Fear paralyzes and faith mobilizes.

You see, Satan uses fear to make you believe some great lies.

Let me tell you a few of them.

One of his great lies is this, church.

I can't.

I just can't.

A second one is God won't.

God won't.

A third lie that he gives is nobody really cares.

And a fourth one is it's too late.

It's just too late.

Well, I want to remind you in this study, two of twelve spies had great courage.

And God tells Joshua in chapter one of this book, be strong and of good courage.

Now listen to me.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the readiness to face it.

If you look up the word and its definition, it is not being without fear.

In fact, why would you even need courage?

It's not fearlessness, but the opposite.

You must have the presence of fear, or why would we need courage?

But 2 Timothy 1.7 says, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.

Let's pray this morning.

Father, we ask that you would uh fill this place full of your presence.

Lord, I pray this book would do its work.

God, that you would speak to hearts.

God, draw people.

Lord, we've worshipped you.

We've come to the table.

It's set.

Now, God, I pray that you would deliver the spiritual food that we need.

Let your Holy Spirit work, draw us to what you want us to learn today.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

The first point this morning is this taking Canaan land.

Look at Joshua chapter 1, verse 1.

Joshua 1:1

It says, After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, Moses, my servant is dead.

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

He told them to take Canaan land.

Canaan was their land.

It was their promise.

They were it was a land and they were the individuals that that promise was given for.

I want you to go back to Genesis chapter 12 just a second.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

I want you to see a little bit of context for this.

Genesis 12, verse 7.

Genesis 12:7

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your descendants, I will give this land.

And there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him.

And so all the way back, right from the beginning, it was God's intention that this land was going to be for his people.

But the land ownership was unconditional from God, but their possession of it was conditional to their obedience.

Sometimes we get where we need to be only because we access what is already there.

Let me explain.

Children here, you'll laugh at this.

One of my field trips in high school was going to the Unity University of Delaware Public Library.

Talk about an exciting field trip.

We went to the public library to learn about this brand new exciting thing.

Internet.

I went to the library on a field trip to learn all about the internet.

And we got on that for the very first time in my life.

I was looking up things.

There was no Google.

I don't even remember it was how we searched, but we were searching things, and a page would come up, an article with stuff about what you were looking for.

It was amazing, right?

I thought this was going to be boring, but I was plugging in stuff about sports and I was finding out information, and it was so fast, like it took three minutes.

And there it was.

And then you had to bring money because if you wanted to print paper at the library, they made you pay for the sheet that you were going to take.

But all of the access was right there.

Man, do we cannot have it today?

The power that we have, right here.

In 1980, something this was a catalog at Radio Shek, everything that's in it.

But now we've got all this access to power.

All we have to do is tap in.

And so Israel had all of this access, all of God's promises before them.

They had seen the mighty works of God, but they still had to do something.

You're never going to find out that information if you don't at least say Siri.

I'll be careful.

She might answer me back.

You have to do something to access this.

God had given each person that land.

By the way, church, God's given you a land.

A land of influence.

A land that you can make a difference in, a territory of your own.

But to take that land, it takes courage.

Letter A this morning is this.

We see the command from the Lord.

It's important that taking that territory, it's important to know who has who has the right over it.

And God says, the Lord said, Who said?

Right there.

It says the Lord said.

This is a direct revelation to Joshua from God.

And it's the first command, a pledge.

Now, what happens here?

Moses has died.

Joshua had been mentored by Moses.

He was Moses' minister.

He went with Moses all through that time in the wilderness.

He went with him before that.

And he was a minister him.

Well, this was not just the Lord speaking to Joshua.

This was a transfer in leadership.

It signified a relationship, a trust.

I don't know about you, but man, I want relationships with people that hear from God.

I want to be around some people who say to me, and the Lord said.

And so Joshua had this opportunity.

God spoke to him, and this is what he said.

He said, Arise and cross.

He gave him a command, arise and cross to take this land.

A few months back, several months back, Heather and I began to pray about God's calling in our life.

It was January of 21.

And we do what the Bible calls a term called putting out a fleece.

And it was a private thing.

It wasn't something that I talked to a lot of people about, but it was about God's calling for the ministry for us to be a pastor.

And we gave God a deadline, which is scary.

When you put out a fleece, it's real direct.

And we said before God, this was January 21, God moved by December.

I was turning 40 in December of 21.

And we put that before the Lord.

And I'm going to tell you, I was getting nervous.

I started to think, why did we do this?

Why did I say it?

Because, you know, now it's hard to really go back.

I'm going to tell you, why did we ever do that?

Crossed my brain.

Well, in July of 21, Pastor Danny's on vacation, the previous pastor of this church, and he calls me from vacation.

We're just chit-chatting and just talking here and there.

And he wanted to hear some updates about church members.

We're going through that.

Then we kind of start talking vision.

And he pauses in the middle of that and he says, Rick, I know you're ready.

I'm like, oh yeah, awesome.

He says, I know you're ready.

And then he chokes up in the conversation.

He said, Rick, the Lord is releasing me.

In the middle of the conversation, this is happening.

And I'm like, from what?

What does that mean?

And he yells back, Susan is nearby.

He says, Susan, this is happening live.

The Lord is releasing me.

I'm like, from what?

What is happening?

And he says, I know that you're ready.

He says, when I come back, you're going to preach every other week to the end of the year.

And then in January, I'm going to announce my retirement.

And I'm like, what?

What?

Is this for real?

And I thought back to what we said between ourselves about December.

And I thought, can this be?

Is this really real?

But this is what I learned from that.

When the Lord spoke to God's man, in the moment he obeyed.

In the moment he listened.

The Lord spoke to Joshua.

When the Lord speaks to you, in the moment do you perk up your ear?

In the moment you say yes, God, no matter what's going on.

In that moment, letter B as this acclaim for the land.

Look at verse 2, the end of the verse through verse 4.

He said, Go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I'm giving to the children of Israel.

Listen to the territory.

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I've given you, as I said to Moses, from this wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea, toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory.

Claim the land that is yours.

That's what you have to do.

Go walk into that land.

Now remember previously, these guys over here, the dissenters, 10 out of 12, no, we can't.

There's big giants there.

There's no way.

We'll get eaten up.

We're like grasshoppers.

We can't.

And now Joshua's lived through 40 years of their rebellion.

And I'm telling you, he's chomping at the bit.

The Lord said, and Joshua, we're going to find out what he does.

Well, it's a claim for the land, a territory for you.

Have you ever had to claim something?

I think when I was in about seventh, eighth grade, I don't remember the grade, but I had a Gatorade bottle, and under the lid it said Chicago Bulls in six.

Now, if you knew the comp the contest, the contest was who was going to win the championship of the NBA that year and in how many games.

That was about March I got that lid.

I kept that lid.

And I waited.

And guess what?

The Chicago Bulls won in six.

But I had to do something.

I had to claim my prize.

I had to send that cab with a letter, with my name, and information on it to Gatorade.

I got all the information I sent it in, and guess what happened about six to fourte weeks?

A great prize arrived at my door.

I had a Gatorade towel, a Gatorade shirt, a Gatorade squeeze bottle, some Gatorade powder mix.

I had a Gatorade sweatband, wristband, I had a Gatorade duffel bag.

Man, was I awesome.

I claimed my prize, Darren.

But I had to claim it to get it.

It was there.

It was a promise.

It was in the writing.

But I had to do something.

Y'all hear me?

Sometimes you gotta do something to claim what's already rightfully yours.

Every promise in the book is mine.

Every chapter, every verse, every line, all the blessings of his love divine.

Every promise of the book is mine, but I gotta claim it.

It doesn't just happen sometimes.

And so, what about uh any of y'all ever been to baggage claim?

Now this one gets me.

You gotta go to a place to pick up what is rightfully yours and stand in line like you're getting tickets to a sold-out concert and maybe fight with somebody if it kind of looks like, right?

I hate baggage claim.

I won't go to baggage claim.

I went to a funeral a few years ago.

I wore everything that I was going to have for the funeral.

I had it all on me.

I had a computer bag that had some extra shoes.

Everything I'm walking through Atlanta Airport, I'm like, man, is anybody else hot?

I had it all.

Everything I was gonna wear for two and a half days, it was on my person.

And so I don't like that kind of claim, but I'm telling you, you want to get your stuff, you gotta claim it.

Every promise in this book, church, listen, is ours.

The promises are God.

Satan wants to tell you you can't.

He won't.

He wants to lie in your ears.

But the promises of this book are yours and mine for the taking.

Side message about Israel.

They walk into the land.

They never did take all of the land.

God promised, and they never went past the Euphrates rivers.

God has so much for you.

And sometimes we get about three-fourths of the way in and we get comfortable and we say, that's good enough.

God has more.

That's right, we're settling.

God has promised so much, and He wants to do much through you.

He wants to do so much through you.

Whether there's five, thirty, sixty years left in this life.

A lot of people will hear that lie.

Well, it's too late.

This is who says?

Why is it too late because you're 50?

Why is it too late because you're 40?

Why is it too late to obey God and claim what He's promised?

Well, I did this and my career went this way.

Okay.

You can still claim the promise.

It hadn't changed what God is willing to do.

If you'll burn the boats and lay claim, it's yours.

And let me tell you, he's already paid the ticket.

He's paid the fare.

I want to ask you a question.

Are you in your territory?

Are you right now in the place that God has for you?

I want to explain a couple of things.

In every story, there's a setting.

You're in your setting.

You're in Chelsea, you're in Westover, you're in Harborsville, Starrett, Wilsonville, Columbia, whatever it is, you know, every town that's in this two miles.

And you're there, you're in your setting.

You've got your house, you've got your school, you've got your job.

Is that what God has for you?

There's a setting and then there's a circle.

You've got a family God's put you in.

You didn't have a say in that one.

You've got your family within your setting.

You've got your circle of workmates.

You've got people that are within your realm of influence.

And then the third thing about your life, you've got gifts.

If you are a Christian, the Spirit of the living God resides in you, and He's given you a gift so that you can impact your territory.

I want you to hold on to that for a moment.

The wilderness is not where you're supposed to be.

Indifferent, bored, passionless, without purpose.

The wilderness isn't where you're supposed to be.

Pitching a tent toward nothing.

It was not their promised territory.

There's a couple of really important questions for moving forward that I want you to think on through this message.

I want you to discuss maybe with your spouse.

I want you to think about these questions.

Are we where we're supposed to be?

Physical location.

Setting at work.

Are we where we're supposed to be?

If not, I might have to burn some boats.

Number two, are we using the gifts God's given us where we are?

God's given me a spiritual gift.

Am I using it?

If I'm where I'm supposed to be but I'm not using it, okay, this is a fix that we can get to quickly, and God can change your heart and move you in different directions?

Are you using the gifts that God's given you in third?

Are you surrendered?

This could be the hiccup holding us back from other things.

Am I truly surrendered?

Am I surrendered to God's call to claim his promises?

Am I halfway?

Am I not surrendered at all?

Am I all about career?

Am I all about building this thing, that thing, that dream?

Am I all in?

The claim for the land.

Because I think sometimes, church, that God has more for your feet to tread.

Has he ever whispered in your ear?

What if?

What if you would just take this step?

Well, God, there's not more money there.

Listen to me.

When has money ever made somebody feel fulfilled?

Oh, it's good for your groceries.

Yes, you need it.

I will admit, I will confess, it is better having than not having, but it's not the most important thing.

Vital to your fulfillment, value, and purpose.

Are you doing what you're supposed to be with your gifts?

We have a next steps class.

I just uh we took about 10 people through on Wednesday and praise God for what He's doing and how God's added to this church.

But the first class we talk about basic beliefs.

The second class we talk about serving.

It's very vital to the organization of this church that people serve.

So we have a whole class dedicated to serving.

Let me tell you right now, are you using your gifts?

We look, I don't know how many coffee people we got.

We need some more coffee people.

How much of y'all like to come in and get some coffee?

Seven.

There's 293 liars in the room.

You like coffee?

We need more people serving that coffee.

It's a great opportunity.

Serving over and over.

We need baby holders.

How many of you like little babies?

Look, I'm telling you, less than the coffee drinkers.

Wow.

We got a whole new message, Darren.

Don't like children.

Where are we going?

We need people that'll hold babies for an hour.

So the same person doesn't have to do it for the next 30 weeks.

Go and sacrifice a week and hold the, I'm telling you, sweet, precious kids.

Now some of them will cry on you.

Okay, yeah, that's true.

It's work.

But we need people that'll use gifts.

Man, we've got a, I'm telling you what, ever since we started basketball, look, this floor needs mopped so much.

Like, I don't know what my gift is.

I don't know either, but if that's one of them, please.

Hurt my ribs.

Can you mop a floor?

It takes about an hour and a half.

There's all kinds.

Heather's giving me that.

About two hours.

Look, my previous church, we had a great big sanctuary, and somebody every week was committed to vacuuming that church.

It took over an hour.

We need people to do things.

We need people to serve.

And here, I want you to understand about CCW, about our serving.

Number one, we're a church on God's agenda.

It's not any other agenda.

We are on God's agenda.

We're here to be an audience of one.

There's one.

We're not here to entertain, we're not here for flow.

We're here to be an audience of our God.

And let me tell you about serving in that way.

I'm not, we're not going to sit together as a staff and have staff meeting and compare other churches and go.

Well, what are they doing?

And we should just pull this ministry together.

No, I'm gonna tell you what happens.

A church best used is a byproduct of the passion of its people.

If there are people here passionate about things that, listen, first it's biblical and we can love people with it, then we'll do it.

We'll try, we're still new, we're still in the new phase.

We'll try anything if it if it's biblical and it loves on people.

And so we're a bypass.

There's things we're not doing, and it's your gift.

We should be doing it.

Come, let's talk about doing it.

We want to serve, and this is what I know.

If there's not a passion for it, passions, passionless pursuits, man, they fail.

We're not just gonna just do something to do it.

We need a passion from the people.

So talk.

Talk to somebody.

The Lord said to Joshua, it is your time to go get your territory.

But that takes vision, that takes work, and it takes courage.

And that's the second point this morning, taking courage.

Turn your Bibles down to Joshua chapter 1, verse 5 through 7.

Joshua 1:5–7

It says, No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.

As I was with Moses, so I'll be with you.

I will not leave you nor forsake you.

Be strong and of good courage.

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

Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you.

Look down at verse 9.

Again, have I not commanded you, be strong and of good courage.

Do not be afraid nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

That word courage is the Greek word amets, and that means to make oneself alert, to be determined.

To do this, it takes determination.

I'm not talking about something easy.

Burning the boats and moving forward means the ease is behind me.

I remember growing up Pleasantville Baptist Church, my first church that I can remember.

And uh just old school Baptist church from 19, this is what I remember, about 1986 to 88, number 487 in the hymn book.

When that director said number 487, man, something happened that didn't happen on other hymnals.

It was like he, the piano struck the chords differently.

And there was an energy, a buzz in the church that wasn't normally there.

And I remember faster, louder, I love number 487.

I guess I should tell you what 487 was.

Number 487 in the hymn book said, onward Christian soldiers marching as to war.

This is bad, I'm sorry.

With the cross of Jesus going on.

And so onward, onward it said, I loved when they struck that.

It was fast, it was hard, the beat, and I got excited, but it was a rally cry.

Forward.

Burn the boats was a rally cry to go forward.

What if in 23 CCW march, no looking back, not half-hearted Christianity anymore?

Let me tell you the problem.

A lot of people will leave here today.

That was a good service, and nothing is exciting.

And here's the thing: so many Christians are living half in, half in the world.

What if we all went in, surrendered, not looking back, onward Christian soldiers, with courage.

Twenty times the phrase, be strong and of good courage, is in the Bible.

God uses it to Joshua four of those times.

The only time God uses it is with Joshua.

Interesting.

At first glance, it seems like, boy, Joshua's getting told the same thing over and over.

How many of you have kids?

We've had some stages with the kids, and I've discovered a child has no problem forgetting something that doesn't matter too much to them.

Am I right?

If I ever say something that benefits them, they never forget.

In fact, they'll bring it back up to my attention, and in their hearing, they'll say, but Dad, you said, added sometimes with this phrase, you promised.

Let me tell you something.

I have not made a promise in 12 years.

I'm making a promise.

Here's the answer to every question as a parent.

You came in for this, this is what you need.

The answer to every question, maybe.

Can we do this?

Maybe.

I ain't promised nothing.

Because you're gonna bring up that file later on.

It's gonna be in your brain.

You forget so much, but in your brain.

At exactly 2 45 p.m., 13 seconds, you said, I didn't say, I'll tell you what I said.

Maybe it appeared that Joshua wasn't getting the picture.

Listen to me.

Joshua's 80 years old when this is taking place.

Look closely.

It's not that he's not getting the picture.

Every incident of be strong and courageous is something separate that he needs to be strong and courageous to.

There's a tie to something.

Let's go back, letter A, to verse 5.

The confidence of the Lord, because external opposition.

What's he say?

Don't you worry, Joshua.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.

As I was with Moses, I'll be with you.

I'm not gonna leave your forsake.

What is he saying?

You're gonna have opposition, but no man, why do you need to be strong and of good courage?

Because no man's gonna stand against you.

Well, that's a good thing to hear, especially in today's time, because there's a lot of outside opposition.

If you're living in today, you know there's a couple of big things.

One is called religious pluralism, and that's where they teach all religions are created equal.

Inside of it, there's some heresies.

One is universalism, which teaches that Jesus Christ already died, so everyone is saved.

Period.

Universalism.

Everyone, if you've been born, I guess since Jesus died on the cross, since that time, then you're saved.

Everyone after that.

It's a heresy.

Inclusivism is a second one, and that states that Jesus Christ, because of his redemption on the cross, his blood is shed for anyone that adheres to any religion.

Now, I'm not going to dig into that, but if you look up the religions of the world today, there's a lot of messy stuff.

Any religion, there is one huge, glaring problem with this, and it's John 14, 6.

Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.

No man cometh unto the Father except through me.

Romans 10, 9 said, You have to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, and then you can be saved.

That's a big problem.

There's political opposition.

We could dig into this for a while, but there is a growing assault to the church of God.

Our religious liberty laws that we have in the land.

I'm shocked at some things that are still here, but it is quickly being minimized.

Presentation, legal, leak, legalization presented on hate speech and discrimination, it's rampant.

So there's political opposition, there's cultural opposition.

We live today in a world that is very digital.

And there's some good things about it, but there's some things that are fighting us.

We're living in a moralistic society about non-immoral things.

This is what I mean.

There's people saying, I have my sin, and they're not calling it sin.

I have my life, I have my style, my living, and it is definitely sinful.

And they're saying, and it's wrong for you to think that I am wrong.

It's wrong for you to point out my wrong.

You have to accept me.

Why are you judging sin?

The world around us is increasingly, increasingly offended by biblical truth.

And so there's external opposition.

Verse 5, it says this though.

He told Joshua, no man, no man can stand against you fighting.

I don't know how you guys grew up.

I grew up fighting some.

And guys would say some dumb things when they're about to get in a fight.

One of the dumb things that I'll never forget, guys would say something like this.

Go ahead, hit me first.

I'm gonna tell you, I never said something so imbecilic as hit me first.

I definitely wanted to hit you first, and I didn't want to get hit at all.

Hit me first.

How dumb are you?

But there was this one that I've never forgotten.

There was a little space of time where the word was step.

You want to fight?

Well, step.

Why don't you step then?

Or a taunt.

You won't step.

Come on, you won't step.

And so it was a call out.

It was like, go ahead, go ahead, let's see what you got.

And you would call somebody out, try to make something lower of them.

I say, why don't you step?

Look at what the Lord said to Joshua.

There's no man that can step to you.

No one is going to be able to stand to you.

There's nobody that will do that.

And if they are able to step, they're going to pay.

I want you to know, church, today, John 16, 33 says, In the world, you are going to have tribulation, but be of good cheer, because I have already overcome the world.

The death, the burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ already paid the fee.

Any enemy coming at me, they can't fight it.

They can't stand against it.

The solution has been provided.

He said, I have overcome the world.

Romans 8 31 says, If God be for us, then who can be against us?

Today you need to hear.

Jesus said, listen to me, church, I stepped.

I stepped to the enemy, and I stepped to their scourging, and I stepped to their nails, and I stepped to their beating, and I stepped to their cross, and I stepped to their grave.

And guess what?

After three days, I stepped right out.

Amen.

He overcomes.

Look at your neighbor and say, He overcomes.

He overcomes.

There's a little part in the back end of that verse that you might just miss.

You might just read over it quickly.

Verse 5, Joshua says, God says to Joshua, as I was with Moses, I'll be with you, so have courage.

You could miss the significance of this statement, the weight of such a massive statement, because God showed himself in astounding ways to Moses.

Look back at the miracles of Moses.

Moses pulled out a stick and it turned into a snake.

And it turned into a snake and ate some snakes and came back and turned back into a stick.

Remember all the plagues?

Water turned into blood.

There were plagues of frogs.

Imagine frogs covering your land, your house, plagues of lice, plagues of flies, pestilence killing all the livestock, boils all over people.

They saw and witnessed the power of God.

Hail, plague of locusts, darkness all over the land.

Remember when they were walking in to get through out of Egypt what God did?

He took the Red Sea and parted the waters before their eyes.

He turned bitter water to sweet.

Moses struck a rock and water sprang from it.

They saw God.

And Joshua, do you think Joshua forgot those things?

When Joshua heard from God, you go forth and nobody's going to stand against you.

Joshua understood what that meant.

And we see, I want you to go down to verse 6 and 7.

Water from a rock.

We see, we see all these miracles.

But look at what happens next.

He says again, be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide.

Listen to this line.

The next reason that he says, be strong and of good courage.

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

Letter B is this the capacity of leadership.

He said, For the people you shall divide an inheritance.

Again, I said, don't miss the wording.

For this people, you're going to divide a land.

Have you ever seen opposition between family when there's an inheritance involved?

For this people, you're going to divide a land.

Internal opposition.

We had external.

Now we've got internal.

You're about to divide a land.

He says, be strong, be of good courage.

You're about to divide a land.

Burke says this about leadership.

Real leaders knock people out of comfort zones, deal with conflict, and manage the resulting distresses.

Joshua was about to be in a proving time of his leadership.

When you hear about an inheritance, people go up in arms.

Families are harmed.

It takes courage for the right kind of leader to be honest and fair.

Have you ever had to point out wrongs to the people you love?

It's tough.

Greedy living, idolatrous living.

Joshua's about to have to have courage to fight internal opposition.

There's a man named Jay Pritzker who made$15 billion of fortune on the Hyatt chain.

And there were headlines, eleven cousins feuding over a billion dollars of the inheritance.

I don't know about you, but I'd be very willing, as one of the 11 cousins, to just take my share of one billion quietly, peacefully, no fight.

I would take$90 million, no problem.

That's a share.

Eleven are feuding over this.

I'm just, I know it's big of me, I'm just that kind of guy.

Not a word.

Take my 90 million peacefully.

Don't even have to ever see me again.

I'll be on some island.

I know this biblically, though.

Proverbs 13, 22 says a good man leaves an inheritance to his children and his children's children.

God was instilling a charge of leadership over this process.

And he said, You're gonna have to have courage.

Each man here, each woman here, you're a steward of things.

You're a steward of a place in your territory.

You're a steward of something.

And different people have different amounts.

By the way, the Bible says, to whom much is given, much is required.

Don't think just because you get a lot, it means it's easy street.

God wants you and I to be fair.

Good leadership is recognizing needs and doing what's right by the people.

Are you fair in all that God's bestowed?

Are you fair in the way that you lead?

Think about your household.

I want to give you a quote.

We're celebrating tomorrow, Martin Luther King Day.

Here's a quote from Dr.

King Use me, God.

Show me how to take who I am and who I want to be and what I can do and use it for a purpose greater than myself.

Are we being fair?

Are we being righteous?

Talk about a man with courage.

Well, Hebrews 13:7 says this remember those who have ruled over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.

Hebrews 13:7

What I want you to hear there is be a leader worth following.

It takes courage.

Well, look down at verse number seven.

Another reason for courage.

We're gonna look at seven and eight.

Only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law, which Moses, my servant, commanded you.

Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you'll have success.

It's all about following the right God.

He says, to follow this book, listen to me.

It takes great courage.

In the world we live in today, let me tell you, it's not real popular in a lot of places.

It takes big courage to follow.

It says, Don't go to the left, don't go to the right, don't have a gray area, don't justify your means by what you want.

Look at the context, find out what it says, and it says, don't depart from it.

It takes courage.

I'm gonna leave that there because we're gonna dig into that a lot next week.

But I want you to know, God didn't leave Joshua without a plan.

And he's not left you without a plan.

It's all in this book.

Let her see.

Last thing this morning is this the commitment of a legion is shown.

Look down at verse 10.

Because of Joshua's leadership, we're gonna see the commitment of his people.

Verse 10, then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pastor the camp and command the people, saying, Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you'll cross over this Jordan to go in and to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving to you to possess.

And the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, Joshua spoke, saying, Remember the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commands you, saying, The Lord your God is giving you rest and giving you this land.

Joshua's leadership commanded respect.

Joshua's leadership commanded that.

I want you to know, people today don't care what you know until they know that you care.

And so care for people.

Joshua's 80, so it's not like he's a rookie in this leadership.

Okay, he came into this land.

There's men from age 40 to 60 who their parents have passed away in this wilderness, and from 20 and up was allowed.

They've been in there 40 years with Joshua, and they've walked in and they have a good leader and they want to be led.

A word today to men, husbands.

In marriage, our leadership is not based on superior ability, but it's based on God's divine placement.

Leadership means in marriage assuming responsibility for the relationship.

Listen to me.

If something's going wrong, you are the checker-upper.

You got to get in and find out.

It's your job.

The relationship responsibility falls on us, and we're to be accountable to God, putting our wife's needs above our own.

If you're courageous enough to lead in this way, you should see a committed wife.

And wives, if you have a godly husband leading in this way, be committed and submitted.

Parents, the Bible says, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

A true leader in the home leads the way and doesn't just point the way.

I used to hear a lot, do as I say, not as I do.

What an awful phrase that is.

No, you lead me, you show me, you guide me.

What your life is like is what I should want to be like if I'm a child.

Roan said this about child rearing.

All good men and women have a responsibility to create legacies that will take the next generation to a level we couldn't imagine.

John Wesley said about leadership, listen to this.

Do all the good you can by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places that you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

God's put you in a circle, in a setting, in a sphere of influence.

Have you taken that territory and are you leading?

The college Heather and I went to, founded by Dr.

Lee Robertson, and he said this everything rises and falls on leadership.

What kind of leader are you being?

You've been given an influence, a circle.

Are you using your giftedness?

Look down at verse 16 through 18, and we'll be wrapping up.

Joshua given his command.

So they answered Joshua, saying, All that you command us, we will do.

And wherever you send us, we will go.

Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you.

Only the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses.

Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words in all that you command him shall be put to death.

Only be strong and of good courage.

Joshua's leadership commanded commitment.

They said, We burnt the boats.

We're going all in.

Listen to the word here.

It says, we will hearken.

That word hearken means it's the Greek word shama, and that is to hear with intelligence.

Have you ever said to your kids before, Are you listening?

Well, I heard what you said.

No, no, no.

Are you listening to what I said?

It says to hear, to hearken.

When they heard his voice, they stopped.

It commanded something.

They heard Joshua.

I don't know.

I like to think of it with his deep, commanding voice.

But when he spoke, it says, We will listen to anything that you say.

By the way, the Bible says, my sheep know my voice and they follow me.

Sitting here this morning, do you hear the voice of God in your life?

If you've never heard the voice of God, if you've never heard him whisper to you, speak to you, I wouldn't leave here today not knowing I have a relationship with him.

My sheep hear my voice and they know me.

And I know them.

You hear from God.

Many things, church, are vying for your ear today.

But to burn the boats and march forward, you have to be courageously committed to the right voice.

Verse 18, they said, We're all in.

That's what they said.

We're all in.

Whoever rebels against you and does not heed your words and all that you command should be put to death.

We're burning the boats behind us.

We are with you.

We're marching forward.

We are all in.

And then they reiterate God's command to their leader.

They say to him, Only, oh leader, only.

Be strong and be of good courage.

They knew that's what it would take.

Well, I want to close.

I was reminded this week in study about a story that I've read.

Written in Blood was a book that Robert Coleman wrote.

And he tells a story of a little boy whose sister had a blood, a rare blood disorder, and she was going to need a transfusion.

Well, the doctor went in and was speaking to little Johnny.

And he said, Johnny, he was explaining the severity.

Your sister will lose her life if she doesn't get a transfusion.

Johnny, will you give your sister her blood, your blood?

And Johnny stopped for a moment.

He thought about what was being said to him.

And he said, For Mary, for Mary, I'll give my blood.

The fact that Johnny had recovered from the same disease two years previously would make it even a harder and even greater situation.

The doctor said and said, The time's coming, Johnny.

Are you ready to give your blood?

So they wheeled them back into a room.

Johnny's lip began to quiver as the doctor brought out a needle and he said again to himself, For my sister Mary, I'll do it.

Mary was pale and thin.

Johnny, full of health, he smiled again at his sister and they watched the blood travel out of his body into a tube.

His smile faded and he sat there weak, looking over at his sister.

He looked up at the doctor and he said, Doctor, will I die soon?

Doctor looked at him, confused.

See, Johnny thought that giving his blood to his sister meant giving all of his blood.

Johnny thought that he was giving his life so that his sister could live.

Johnny was so courageous.

He was willing to give all so that Mary, his sister, could live, sacrificing his own little life.

Church, two thousand years ago, Jesus exchanged heaven's glory to come and grab the weakness of being a man.

And he walked through this earth.

And he marched forward to the cross.

And this is what it says.

He was in the garden before that, and he said, God, if there's another cup, if there's another way, if I can save them some other way, take this cup.

Nevertheless, not my will, yours be done.

For them, I'll do it.

He went all the way to the cross, church, so that you, you, and I could receive God's promises.

The territory that we need to claim.

So many people, he's done so much, are looking at it and going, you know, maybe the world would is just better.

Maybe I can figure out another way than surrendering my all to the one who gave his all for me.

Some today are gonna have to say, Lord, not my will.

But yours.

You see, we say things like, but but God, I want to be a success, not my will.

I want to live here, God, but not my will.

God, I want to be safe and comfortable in this season of my life, but not my will.

I want to build my bank account, God, not my will.

I don't have time to be more committed.

Not my will.

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