Faith Over Fear (Feb 13) Ed Gregorcic

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

Hey, good morning, everybody.

Glad to be here with you again this morning with my friends.

Thank you, Jeremy.

Good to be with you.

We're going to be in uh Joshua chapter 1, verses 1 to 9 this morning.

Joshua 1:1–9

So go ahead and load up your Bible apps and turn to Joshua chapter 1 verses 1 to 9 this morning.

Joshua 1:1–9

And those of you watching online, if you're watching online, a hearty welcome to you there as well.

And lots of room for you here.

Lots of room for you here.

So come on down here.

So just a quick update for you all.

Pastor Mike, as I was told today, Pastor Mike and his wife Ange and the children are resting and comfortably and recovering from this illness.

And it is certainly our hope and our prayer, and we're going to pray for him that they will be back next Sunday.

I know Mike.

I know him well.

He's a dear friend of mine.

I know his dad, too.

His dad's a good guy, and he's a pastor in Mississauga as well, too.

So I have an affinity there and a love for Mike and Ange in the family.

So join me right now.

We're going to take a minute.

We're going to pray for Mike and Ange and for the rest of our service here.

So, Father, thank you.

What a beautiful song to start off our morning.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

The sun is shining.

It's another day to glorify the name of Jesus Christ.

Lord, a lot's going on all around us these days, Lord, but as we emerge from these difficult times and we look forward to the days ahead, we pray also for Pastor Mike and for Ange and for his children.

Full recovery from this illness and back in the saddle again, pushing forward, moving, moving forward with the gospel of grace, Lord.

We pray for that.

We pray for all families, everyone watching online, and those of us in this room who have had our own share of difficulties in these days and looking forward to better days yet ahead.

So bless this time, our time in your word, Lord, guide us this day.

Thank you for this opportunity to gather here.

May we never take this for granted.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Alright.

So as I said, we're going to be in Joshua chapter 1, verses 1 to 9.

Joshua 1:1–9

Have you ever heard the expression that you can't judge a book by its cover?

You ever heard that expression?

I've learned that the hard way more times than I care to admit, to be quite honest with you.

You know, you see something or you see someone, and based on their appearance, you just draw conclusions.

I get it.

That's some of the things that you've experienced in the past.

So you just draw these conclusions based on the things you see.

Well, it was about uh, oh, I don't know, a number of years ago, maybe 15 years ago or thereabouts, I was I was on staff at Harvest Bible Chapel in Oakville.

We had just started the church, so it's a number of years ago, and uh God was doing incredible work there.

And I was sitting in my office one morning, and it was uh, what was it, was early December, if I remember.

So, you know that time of year when fall gives way to winter, right?

You know, and there's that battle between the two seasons, but winter is coming on nice and strong.

So it was that particular morning, and uh it was early in the morning, and there was ground fog, which is often the case around that time of year, especially down there.

We the building was very close to uh to the waterfront.

And you know about ground fog, right?

It starts from the ground and goes up.

You can actually look up and see the blue sky, but as far as you can see this way, it's it's it's just fog.

And in there was a large driveway.

There was a driveway that went from Lakeshore Boulevard, came all the way up, and then you made a hard right towards the entrance to the office.

And there was this fog, you could hear the traffic, couldn't see anything.

All of a sudden, as I'm looking out, I see out of the mist, out of the fog, I see this figure of a man.

And he was a big dude, man.

He was a big guy, and he's walking up, he's walking up the driveway, he came where my office was, I was right at the intersection where you make that hard right, and there he is, he makes the right and he's going towards the entrance of the office.

Hmm, okay.

So I'm looking out, and he had a bunch of uh coats on and layers and layers of clothing on, so you know, right away I'm just assessing this, thinking this guy, this guy's been out outdoors, this guy's probably been uh, you know, sleeping outdoors.

So sure enough, about a minute or two goes by, and and the uh receptionist, church receptionist comes down the hall, she peeks her head into my office, she says, Pastor Ed, can you come up front here?

You know, can you come up front here and talk to this guy?

Sure, sure enough.

I go up, I meet this guy, there's an adjacent room just nearby, we go inside and he he has this backpack on.

You can imagine this big backpack, kind of went from the you know base of his neck down to his back.

Huge, huge backpack.

So he takes it off, puts it over here, we sit down, I get my hot coffee, something to eat, so on.

Starts taking off layer after layer.

And as we start to engage in a conversation, man, did I realize that was I wrong?

Was I wrong?

Because this guy was intelligent, he was winsome, he was funny, he was kind, and he had this kind of comfort, this kind of sense of peace, this inner peace about him.

You know, so time is going by, and he and I are kind of hitting it off, or laughing and joking, and I got him some nice breakfast and some to eat, and sure enough, yeah, he had spent that night outdoors.

In fact, he'd spent many nights outdoors.

So over the course of the next, I don't know, hour, hour and a half, I start to get to know him and hear his story.

Some of the other staff came in, and you know, we we were just we were having a pretty good time.

And then I looked at him, his name was Robbie, I'll never forget this.

And he would he would have been late 40s, early 50s at the time.

And uh he starts telling me his story.

And it was one of uh absolute brokenness.

It's a hard story to hear.

He was from Prince George, British Columbia, in the northern part of BC.

It's a town I visited a number of occasions in the past.

And he was uh hitchhiking his way across the country.

Two years.

Two years before this very day, he left home and he started hitchhiking his way across across the country.

He made it all the way to the Maritimes and was actually hitchhiking his way back home while he was sitting in front of me.

Well, it kind of begs the question, right?

Why?

I remember saying Robbie, like, why?

Why are you doing this?

That's when he told me his story.

He says, Well, you know, Pastor Eddie says it was about two years ago.

Working hard.

He was married to his high school sweetheart.

He and his wife had one son.

He would have been uh in his late teens, about two years before this day, when uh one day suddenly his son dies.

No apparent reason, a tragic death.

And you can well imagine he and his wife were absolutely devastated by this tragedy.

And as he goes on to tell me the story and the grief and the fear and all of those emotions that overcame him, and it was especially hard on his wife, who he knew from the time they were in high school.

And and uh they they had the funeral service for his son, and it wasn't but maybe two, maybe three weeks after that that the grief of losing her one and only son was too much to bear for his wife, and she took his life, she took her life.

So, in the course of three weeks, he loses not only his son, but his wife.

Shattered.

You can well imagine.

And at this time now, I'm speechless, I'm looking at him, tears welling up in my eyes.

And he said, Then he says, you know, Pastor, and then it was just this one day he said I couldn't take it anymore.

The grief and the fear and all the emotions that overcame.

I sat in that house and it was filled with all these memories.

He said, I just got this backpack, that one that was sitting right there on the floor.

He said, I got that backpack and I just started putting clothes in there.

He said, I got my coat on, I strapped my backpack on and my core, I walked out the house, I locked the door, walked down the driveway, his pickup truck was there in the driveway, and he said, I just started walking.

No particular place to go.

I just started to walk.

I just had to get out.

He said, It wasn't long before you know it.

He caught a ride and another ride, and the next thing he's hundreds of miles away from home, and he said, Well, you know what?

I'm just gonna make my way across the country.

I did not want to go back.

It was a journey of despair, but God had different plans because while on this journey, while he was traveling across the country, literally hitchhiking his way across the country, he would stop off in towns and he would seek out churches and he would he would work.

He wasn't looking for handouts.

He would do things, he would work around uh areas for uh for provision, for just to make some ends meet.

While on the journey, by God's grace and the God's people pouring into him, he came to saving faith in Jesus Christ the Lord.

He grew up in the church, as he told me, but it was all here.

It was all ahead knowledge.

It's through those tragedies and that circumstance that he he he repented of his sins and it traveled into his heart and he had a relationship with Jesus Christ.

This journey of despair became the actual pathway of discipleship.

And he made his way all the way to the Maritimes, and he was sitting in front of me now two years after the fact, and this is like I said, early December.

So then I draw the conclusion I can't let you go.

I can't just let you walk out of here.

You know, northern Ontario and the prairies in the wintertime, hitchhiking, that's not a good plan.

So he just looked at me, he goes, No, no, no, don't worry about it.

No, I'm I'm good, I've done this.

I said, No, no, Robbie, just wait here for a minute.

So I went back into the office, got the staff together, we pooled our resources, and we bought them a one-way bus ticket back to Prince George.

I went back and I told him that, and he was overcome.

No, no, no.

I said, Don't worry about it, man.

And we got you some other provisions, got you some food, some money, you know, you'll be all right.

In fact, one of the staff actually drove him down to downtown Toronto to the bus station.

So then he was collecting his stuff and he's putting all his layers of clothing back on, and he's about to leave, and he turned back, and he was a big dude, man.

And he gives me this big giant bear hug.

I'll never forget it.

He says, Pastor Ed, tears in both of our ears, thank you very much.

Another opportunity for the grace of God.

And off he went.

Just like that.

In and out.

I remember as the cars driving down, I didn't know quite what to make of this.

Like, what do I do about this?

I kind of made my way back into my office, shut the door, sat down on my desk, and I just began to weep.

So fast forward now, I don't know, about six, seven weeks into the future, and not that I forgot about him, but you know, other things start to prioritize your time.

And and the phone rings.

I pick up the phone, I answer, and it's him.

It's Robbie.

And he says to me, he apologizes first.

He says, you know, I should have called you beforehand.

He says, I made it safe and sound.

You know, we exchange pleasantries, a few jokes, a few laughs, and then he said this, and I wrote it down.

I'll never forget this.

He said, Pastor Eddie, he says, I'm home now, I'm back in Prince George.

He says, I'm home now.

Then he said this.

He says, There's no more running from my yesterdays.

No more.

No more running from my yesterday.

He goes, it's still hard.

He says, at times it's so hard, he says, I don't think I can actually breathe.

It's still hard, he says, but I'm learning, I'm learning each day.

I'm learning each day to trust Jesus Christ now because he is with me.

We ended our conversation.

I hung up the phone and I just marveled at God's grace.

This is a tough story.

It's a true story.

I'll never forget that.

A story of courage, a story of moving out in the face of unbelievable grief and brokenness and fear.

You know, we're surrounded by that these days, aren't we?

We're emerging from that.

Things are improving, but you know, I can't stress it more and more and more.

For for the say the sake of us and for your well-being, for the church, for your families, this is a time where we need to be courageous and brave.

Not a sense of bravado, not being foolish, but but bravery.

Courageous.

You know, the the Webster's dictionary defines courage this way.

It says, courage is moving forward, is the ability to do something that frightens you.

Simple, right?

Pretty accurate here.

It's strength in the face of pain and grief and fear.

And what about fear?

Well, fear is defined this way.

You know, it's that unpleasant, often strong, overwhelming emotion caused by the anticipation of or awareness of a danger.

Either real or perceived.

I'm sure we've all experienced that more than once.

But do you see the connection between the two?

Because there ain't no courage without fear.

Just not, there isn't.

So courage is moving forward in the face of that fear and doing what's right.

Today we're going to look at, as I said, Joshua chapter 1, verses 1 to 9.

Joshua 1:1–9

And in three occasions, in nine verses, God says to Joshua, be strong and courageous.

Three times in nine verses.

We come to this passage here.

I'm going to set you a little bit of context, a little bit of the framework as we dive into this incredible passage here, this narrative here.

We see Joshua, this man, divinely chosen by God, commissioned, as it were, by God, and mentored, apprenticed by Moses.

One of the greatest leaders that ever walked the face of the earth.

He apprenticed at his right hand side.

He was there.

He was there with him through thick and thin.

This was now his occasion to take the mantelpiece on.

Torch is going to be passed.

It's now his to lead this ragtag nation of Israel into the promised land.

We can come to terms with that.

We understand that.

He's going to complete the work.

Joshua, leading the nation of Israel into the promised land, a promise that God had made 400 years beforehand.

400 years earlier, and this promise was reserved for Abraham and his descendants, and it was passed down, passed down in succession, all the way down the line.

And now, this is the assignment, Joshua.

This is your assignment.

You will lead this nation of Israel into the promised land.

And remember this about an assignment.

Every one of us has one every single day.

That the assignment that God has given you is one of the means, one of the means that God uses for your sanctification.

You would trust in God, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and in the Word of God.

So the next time you bemoan, as I've done many times in the past, oh man, I got to do this again.

Just remember that God is never going to forsake you.

He is always there with you.

So he's going to inherit the promised land.

This is between the Nile and the Euphrates River, from Lebanon to the north to the Great Sea to the south.

We find the Israelites in this occasion at the edge of the Promised Land, on the east side of the Jordan River.

It was 40 years before that they departed.

They left Egypt.

And if you look on a map, on the geography of a map, Egypt to the south, Israel to the north, it's only a few days' journey.

At worst, maybe a few weeks.

And yet they spent 40 years wandering in the desert to get to this point.

How come?

Were they lost?

Didn't they know their way around?

No.

It's rebellion.

It was fear.

They had given themselves over.

Remember, it was just days.

400 years of captivity, 400 years of slavery, 400 years of calling out to God, God, please, God, please emancipate us.

Free us from this.

God raises up Moses, and he is the instrument by which the nation of Israel will be released from bondage and go into their promised land.

And just a few days into this freedom, they revert back to their idolatry.

They make the golden calf.

They worship the golden calf, and they draw the conclusion.

While Moses is up in the mountain seeking God, their conclusion is it's better where we were.

Because we know that.

Even though where we were, where we had come from is slavery.

That's better because we do not know what lies ahead.

You see what fear can do to you?

You see how it can just manipulate the way you think?

And here's the thing about freedom, folks.

We're hearing all about that these days, aren't we?

Freedom will only take root in your heart when you remember the price that had to be paid.

Don't neglect the price that had to be paid and the people who went before you.

If you do, you will suffer the consequences and it will be taken away from you.

Much at stake, much at stake these days.

The freedom.

It's precious.

Don't let it go.

So they're there, they're wandering, and this act of rebellion, you know what happened, this act of rebellion?

A whole nation was wiped out.

A whole generation, excuse me, was wiped out.

40 years of wandering in the desert.

It's estimated that that 40 years before this, that as the nation of Israel had left, there was approximately as many as two million people that were exiting Egypt into the on their way to the promised land.

A whole generation is wiped out.

I read something that on average that would have meant 85 funerals every single solitary day for 40 years.

Two, only two men of the estimated two million who left would actually enter into the promised land.

Only two.

Caleb and Joshua.

And if you remember those two, they were, Moses had sent them, those two, along with the other ten, the twelve spies to go out and do a reconnaissance mission.

Go and check this out before we go up there.

Go and see what we're up against.

And the 12 come back, ten give a negative report.

Oh my goodness, the land is too hard.

There's giants in the land.

We're nothing but grasshoppers.

It's the word that they used.

And Caleb and Joshua are saying, no, no, no.

The land is filled with milk and honey.

It's promised.

Look at the produce that we have.

Massive, beautiful produce of fruits and vegetables and so on.

We must go.

The Lord is with us.

The Lord is with us.

They gave themselves over to their fear.

Caleb and Joshua, the only two.

Now we come to this part.

And Moses, who was the only leader that the nation of Israel had known up until this point, is gone.

He's dead.

He himself would not enter into the promised land.

God allowed him to come up to a precipice to a high point in the land, to look west, to see the promised land, but he would not enter the promised land.

Why?

The book of Numbers tells us in Numbers 27 that he would not enter the promised land because he rebelled against God by failing to uphold God as holy at the waters of Meribah at Kadesh.

There's a price to be paid for rebellion.

So Moses is gone.

He's not on the scene anymore.

Four points I hope to, I hope to really, that we really get our heads around today as we're going to dive into this passage.

Especially as it relates to moving forward in the face of fear and being strong and courageous.

Number one, we have to arise and go at some point.

You arise and you go.

And then the second point is to be strong and courageous.

As I mentioned, we're going to see that three times in nine verses, God says to Joshua, be strong and courageous.

And then to be careful to obey.

And then the last point is because the Lord is with you.

Pray with me and we're going to dive right in.

Father, thank you.

As we've already looked into the introduction into the passage here, and we've set the context.

Now, God, as we go through these nine verses, Lord, instill in our hearts a sense of your purpose, that the assignment you have given us is a means by which you would sanctify us.

And the days ahead, Lord, yes, there's uncertainty, but we go for clarity.

The clarity that comes from your word.

Establish us firm in the faith this morning because it's faith over fear.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Alright, so you got your Bibles open, you got your apps going.

Joshua chapter 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Look at this, verse 1.

Verse 1 says, After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, after.

After the death, not before, but after the death of Moses.

And by the way, when you read that, an account that says this king died or so-and-so died, especially in the Old Testament, when you read something like that, that's not just a footnote for history, so that you would take that and understand that it was a footnote in history.

When that occurs in the Bible, when God brings that into the Bible, he's also giving you an indication of what's going on in the community at the time.

The spiritual climate, the emotional climate, the mental climate that's going on.

Moses is gone.

We, all these years later, read that and we can kind of quickly draw our conclusion and move on.

No, no, no, no, no.

There's great fear that's gripped the whole community because he's the only leader that they hadn't known up until this point.

Forty years.

Who's going to lead us now?

You can imagine the discussions that are going on.

Who, remember, Moses went up on the mountain, and it was Moses who spoke directly to God on behalf of the rest of the community.

Who's going to do that now?

And not only that, when there's a vacuum in leadership, then, as is the case today, your adversaries can often take that as an opportunity to advance.

So put yourself in that context.

A lot of uncertainty going on right now in the nation of Israel.

So after the death of Moses, and God describes Moses as the servant of the Lord.

Remember, servant?

We talked about that when I was here last, bond servant, willingly puts themselves under subjugation to the master.

The servant's purpose is to fulfill the desires of the master.

The master's purpose is to meet their needs.

Servant of the Lord.

The Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, and I love that, in one phrase, in one sentence, God has passed the torch from Moses to Joshua.

That's simple.

No fanfare, not a lot of pomp and ceremony.

Moses was you are.

You're the assistant.

You learned.

You apprenticed at his right hand.

You were there for the 40 years.

You saw the good and the bad.

You saw the struggle.

You saw the toll that it took on Moses.

Well, guess what, Joshua?

The mantle now falls to you.

Verse 2.

Moses, my servant, is dead.

Look at the quotation marks in verse 2.

This is God now speaking to Joshua.

Moses, my servant, is dead now, now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I'm giving to them.

Stop right there.

The time for grief is finished.

It's good to grieve.

You need to grieve.

Grieve right.

That's good.

But God's saying, that's now.

Time is over.

Now.

Therefore, because Moses is gone, now, therefore, because he's gone, here's what you need to do.

You need to arise and go.

You know what arise means?

Arise means emerge from, you emerge from this and you now go into that.

You emerge from this, from this sense of fear, from this sense of grief.

You're going to emerge from this and you're going to go into that.

Well, but is there some magic formula?

Like, how will we know?

And God says, here's how you know, you do it now.

But but but how will we know?

Like we when the stars are right, when they're no, here's how you'll know.

I'm commanding you to do it now.

Emerge from this and go over there.

He said, go over this Jordan.

Now you can remember, you can picture Joshua sitting at the pre standing at the precipice on the east side of the Jordan River.

On the river is here, and on the west side is the promised land.

He's not unfamiliar with the promised land.

He has seen something of it 40 years ago in the past.

So he's not unfamiliar, but he's remembering.

See what God's doing?

You see what God is doing?

He's bringing recollection.

The next, these next seven verses are all about recollection.

Remember what I said about freedom?

You better remember the price that it's paid.

You remember the price that was paid?

You remember what happened?

God is bringing recollection.

You're gonna go over it.

You, I love this.

It says, you and all these people into the land that I'm giving to them, to the people of Israel.

Well, wait a minute.

Why does God say you and the people?

Well, what's the what isn't that like redundant?

You know what he's doing?

Joshua, you and the people means you're going first.

That's what leadership is.

You will cross the promise, you will cross this Jordan River and you will lead the people.

Now remember, some 40 years before that, he witnessed firsthand God parting the Red Sea.

The nation of Israel comes out of Egypt on dry land, and then the sea encloses onto the armies of the Egyptian Pharaoh.

See how he's bringing things back to his mind?

Recollection?

Nothing's impossible with God.

You can almost picture Joshua standing looking out, and perhaps maybe even his courage starting to rise up.

You will go.

I'm giving to them the people who look at verse 3.

Every place oh I love this.

He says, every place.

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread.

Look what it says.

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you just as I've promised to Moses.

Why, why, why, why say that?

Like God, what why why would you be that detailed?

You see, because he's also reminding them, remember, recollection, the soul of your foot that you had tread in the past, in the last 40 years, that is the land of the rebellion.

The soul that your foot will tread, that lies in front of you, that's in the future, is the land of the promise.

There's a distinction between the two.

You better understand that.

You emerge from this and you go into that.

It's powerful, man.

It's powerful.

Love it.

And he says, I've given it to you.

The victory has already been won.

Yours is to just go and obtain the spoils of the victory.

I've given it to you.

Just as I promised to Moses.

Recollection.

Remember that?

Then verse 4.

Here in verse 4, God is going to give Joshua somewhat of a geography lesson here.

Look at verse 4.

He says, From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the great sea, toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.

It's a bit of a geography lesson here.

As I said, he's standing, he's facing, he's looking west towards the promised land, and God says the uttermost limit of the land, from the desert of Arabia on the south to Lebanon to the north.

Yes, and from the Euphrates on the east, and from the Mediterranean on the west.

This is the promised land, just as I have promised to your descendants.

And here is a footnote for you, interesting as it might be, the Israelites did not possess the full extent of this land until the days of King David.

Still yet to come.

We see that in 2 Samuel chapter 8 and 2 Chronicles chapter 9.

2 Samuel 8 · chapter mention 2 Chronicles 9 · chapter mention

But notice God adds in there the Hittites.

The Hittites.

Because not only is the geography going to be challenging, right?

You know, there's going to be cliffs and hills and valleys, it's going to be very, very hot during the daytime and maybe even cold at night, and there's predators in the land, wild animals in the land.

Guess what?

There's people there too.

The giants, in fact.

He's recollecting.

And these Hittites, and it's generally accepted that the Hittites were the most warlike of all the nations that Joshua and the Israelites would depose.

These dudes were tough, man.

This is not going to be easy.

You may even lose some of the skirmishes, but the battle belongs to me, says the Lord, and victory is assured.

It's nothing easy about it.

But you will do this.

Because you know why, as we talked about this, there's no courage apart from fear, and there's no mission apart from faith, and there's no faith apart from God.

You will do this.

I love this.

And then he goes on to say even further look at look as we carry on.

Verse 6.

And here's the first time, here's the first time in this passage we're going to hear this.

Be strong and courageous.

You shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to the fathers to give them.

First time.

There's two other occasions where we're going to see this, but here's the first time.

God says to Joshua, be strong and courageous.

You know what he's saying to Joshua?

He's saying the same thing to you and to me.

You have to be before you do.

You know what we do?

We reverse it more often than not.

We come to the place where we think, well, we have to do so that we can be.

No, no.

You be so that you can do.

And the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God dwelling inside of you, you be so that you can do.

He says, be strong, a great.

He says, you shall cause this people to inherit the land.

You know another way of phrasing that?

To cause this people.

You know what God is saying?

When you be strong, you be, you be.

You know what you're going to do?

You are going to motivate this people.

You'll motivate them because they're going to take their cue from you.

They're going to watch and they're going to see how you're going to deal with this.

So you be this because you'll motivate them to inherit the land.

To inherit is to receive by succession.

It's given to you.

Come on, man, let's go.

So you'll inherit the land that I swore to the fathers.

Remember what I said about that?

The price that was paid?

Recollecting?

Look at verse 7.

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do, you see.

Being careful to do.

Being before you do.

Says, only be strong.

What, like you know, in one verse, he already forgot that?

God, no, no, you see.

When God tells you to do something once, you better pay attention to it.

When he says something twice, you better set aside everything else.

But when he says it three times, man, he's trying to get your attention.

You better pay attention to this.

Only be strong and very courageous.

Being careful to do according.

What?

Here's how you're going to do this.

Here's how you're going to do this, Joshua, lest you think that the victory belongs to you, that somehow, you know, you're the reason for this.

No, no, no.

You do according, in agreement with all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you.

He's talking about the Torah, the first five books of the Bible that Moses authored.

And you know, as Moses is authoring these books, the same books that we have, you know who's sitting right there, who is right at the right hand side of Moses, paying attention to all this, maybe even offering some things to say?

Joshua.

He's apprenticed.

Joshua, come.

He's pouring into him.

Moses is pouring into him.

Be careful to do all that I commanded you.

He's talking about the word of God.

He says, do not turn from it to the right hand, to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

Isn't it interesting?

God says good success.

You mean there's another success that's not good?

Is there bad success?

Yeah, actually there is.

You know why?

Because God's making the distinction here between the definition of success, how the world defines success, and how God defines success.

Big difference.

You know, the world defines success this way, man.

It's the outcome that matters the most, right?

It's the brass ring.

You go for it, right?

You do whatever it says.

Cut corners, lie, steal, cheat, whatever is necessary, hurt people along the way.

Doesn't matter as long as you get over here to the end, right?

Just grab all you can, take all the gusto, all that metaphor, all that stuff.

The journey doesn't matter, it's the end.

And God says, no, no, no, no, no, no, you got it all wrong.

It's the other way around.

It's the journey.

It's the journey that matters the most.

It's the journey along the way.

There's no cutting corners, man.

There's no trimming stuff.

There's no taking things into your own.

You have to walk along the journey.

And the journey makes it necessary.

The journey is what determines the outcome.

That's the difference.

There's no cutting corners, man.

There's no cutting corners.

Because you see, the assignment God gives you and the journey you are on is one of the means by which God uses to sanctify you in the image of Jesus Christ.

Because we have drunk too far from the well of this world, too deep from the well of this world.

I will never leave you and I will never forsake you, God says.

Do not turn from the right hand to the left hand.

Good success.

Look at this verse 8.

This book, you notice in the word, the book is capital?

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth.

You should meditate on it day and night.

So you be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

Then you will make your way prosperous.

You notice that?

This book?

The Torah shall not depart.

Interesting word depart.

Depart means what was once there is no longer there.

It's a wall, right?

Absent without leave.

You once had it, but you've neglected it, and you know what happens?

You just kind of set it aside.

It's a warning.

Gotta watch out for that.

Don't let that leave.

He said, Don't let that depart from your mouth.

The words that you speak.

Meditate on it, the thoughts that you think.

For how long, God?

How long?

Day and night.

Day and night.

Careful to do the things that you are seeking to do, be careful to do.

According to, in agreement with the word of God.

All of it, all that is written in the word of God, the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit will lead you.

Be careful.

Don't let it depart.

Be careful to do according.

Remember, you gotta be so that you can do.

Then you will make your way prosperous.

Then you will have good success.

It's gonna be hard.

Challenges along the way.

Then look at this verse 9.

Have I not commanded you?

I love that.

It's like a rhetorical question.

God's kind of just reminding him, Have I not commanded you?

Did I not tell you that?

Have I not kept up my end of the bargain here?

Test me on it.

Have I not fulfilled every single one of the promises that I promised you?

Have I misled you in any way?

Have I brought hurt upon you in any way?

Have I lied to you in any way?

Do you not trust me with this?

Have I not commanded you?

Then we're here we're gonna look at this again, verse nine.

Be strong and courageous.

Third time, be you be do not, you gotta be so that you can do.

Do not now, do not be, what does it say?

Frightened and do not be dismayed.

So three times in nine verses, God says to Joshua, and he's saying it to you and to me, to be strong and courageous.

And in three times, he's identifying the existential threat that will rob you of your courage if you let it.

You know what they are?

In Joshua's case, and in our case, but in Joshua's case, first and foremost, he says it's the land that you will cause this people to inherit.

So the land is one of the existential threats that will rob you of your courage if you will let it.

As I said, he's not unfamiliar with the territory, but but there's challenges that lie ahead.

There's the unknown and there's predators, and oh yeah, by the way, that's the first fear.

That's a metaphor for your circumstance, for where you find yourself and what lies ahead.

And the second threat, he says, the people.

This land that you will cause, this people, be strong and courageous, be strong a people.

And in that he's referring to the threats from without and the threats from within.

People from without out there, and people from within.

Especially in leadership.

Nothing breaks the heart of a leader more is than to see that kind of situation happening here within his own church, within the church, within our own community.

This is the time to be unified, man.

This is the time to be unified.

So there's the threat from without, there's the threat from within.

There's the land, he's talking about the land, the circumcision.

And what's the third existential threat?

Look what it says in verse 9.

Verse 9, he says, be strong, create, and do not be what?

Frightened.

The greatest threat.

It's the greatest threat.

It's fear.

Fear.

The circumstance, the people, and the third, the third threat to your courage, the third thing, will be fear itself.

I'm gonna quote President FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his inaugural speech in 1932.

You know what he said?

You may be familiar with this line.

As he's addressing the nation, as he's taking on the mantelpiece as a as a president of the United States, he said this the only thing we need to fear is fear itself.

I remember hearing that even as a kid, and through my whole life.

And we have family, my family lives in the United States, and I can remember, man, I had that drilled into me from the time I was this big.

My cousin served in the U.S.

military, and my uncles and aunts and so on, and my brother was a police officer.

Shout out to my man back there, Steve Mackenzie, too, by the way.

Love you, Steve.

Fear.

Rob you of your courage.

Do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you.

You know, up until this point, and then you're on your own, okay?

Alright?

Just you know, I'm busy.

God says, I'm busy.

I got some other work to do over here.

So, you know, I'll lead you up to this point and then you figure it out.

Is that what it says?

No.

Wherever you go.

Wherever you go.

Does that sound familiar?

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 to 20?

Matthew 28:18–20

He says, All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples.

Right?

Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit.

Teach them to obey all that I've commanded you, and know that I will be with you till the end of the age.

Jesus, God says it here, and he says it in Matthew 28.

It's the same God speaking, it's the same God.

There it is.

No courage apart from fear, no mission apart from faith, and no faith apart from God.

So let me give you this little parable as we are drawing to the end here.

There's this little parable.

There were these three guys.

Okay?

These three guys are building a wall, they're laying bricks.

A man walks by and he sees this scene and he stops and he kind of ponders the scene.

He sees the three of them laying bricks.

Assesses it for a moment or two.

Then he does what is natural.

He kind of asks a question.

He says, Hey, hey guys, hey guys.

And they turn around and he says, What are you doing?

What are you doing?

First guy kind of glances back at him.

He says, I'm laying a brick.

The man next to him stops, glances back, and he says, I'm building a wall.

Then the third man puts his tools down, stops, turns around and faces the man, looks him in the eye and he says, I am building a great cathedral.

Which one will it be?

You know what Joshua says at the end of this beautiful letter?

You know what he says?

I love this.

Joshua 24, verse 15.

Joshua 24:15

Joshua now coming to the end of his life.

He's going to pass the Baton on.

You know what he says?

He sums up his whole life this way.

He says, quote, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Let me give you this prayer.

Prayer for courage.

Listen to this.

I asked God for courage that I might achieve.

I was made weak that I might learn to humbly obey.

I asked for help that I might do greater things.

I was given affirmity that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy.

I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of others.

I was given weakness that I might feel the very presence of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.

I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for, but everything that I hope for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am among all people most richly blessed.

Kind of sums it up.

Join me as we close in a word of prayer.

Oh, Father, thank you.

Gracious and heavenly Father, thank you for the challenge from your word today, to be strong and courageous and to never take what we have for granted, Lord.

There's much at stake here.

But Lord, as was the case with Joshua, as he looked and he could do his own assessment.

At times we can come to the conclusion that it's just too much.

It's just too much.

And fear can kind of grab a hold of our hearts.

And the next thing you know, time passes by, and before you know it, the thing we cherish the most, our very freedoms, our very liberties, the fact that we can gather in this room and praise God will be taken away from us.

No, no more.

No, it stops here.

So, God, encourage us in the days ahead in the church.

And we look forward to better things, Lord.

We look forward to new and fresh opportunities to proclaim the gospel message, the message of hope that's so desperately in need of being heard these days.

And Lord, we do this because we love you.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Hey folks, just as we wrap up, it's been my pleasure to be with you here.

As I said, Pastor Mike and Ange and the kids, hopefully, we'll be here next week.

I just want to say from our hearts, it's been a pleasure to be here.

You're your friends, you're like family.

We love you guys.

And as you go, I get to say this know that you are loved.

Thank you.