Be Strong and Courageous: Joshua's Faithfulness

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in

practical ways.

Okay, we're back. I'm Jeff and this is Kyle, and

we are the Bible Guy. That's right where the Bible

Guys this week? Anyway, Yes we are. Chris is out

of town and so I have the great privilege of

being with Kyle dobbin Meyer. Kyle is a good leader

and a good Bible guy, and so I think it's

gonna be fun to this.

I'm excited.

So we have to talk about this in fun and

practical ways. Yes, you heard the rolling, Yes, so exactly,

let's do it too.

So one of the things, you know we've been talking

about was, you know Moses. We we read earlier this week.

You know Moses, he's passed epic life. Yes, and so

you know we've been talking a little bit about our

ministry experiences.

You and that's right because Moses and us were very

very similar to you means easy comparis.

So I'm going to ask you a few questions actually

about my ministry experience and see if you.

Know me very well and I know Jeff, you know,

oh yeah, here.

I swear he remembers everything he reads or sees, so

this may be easier for him, but I'm gonna try

to keep I'll keep an easy one. Okay, we'll start

off an easy one.

So you're going to ask yes, your like ministry history

questions to see how well I know.

It, and I'll probably stick with true and faulty like

that sort of thing.

Okay, Okay, well this is assuming I've been paying attention.

Well, yeah, exactly, who knows? Who knows? And yes, some

of these you'll be like, what was your name again, Carl?

You just introduced me.

Okay, So first thing, first things first, and hey, hopefully

you're paying attention earlier. But when I was did I

did I feel called in the ministry when I was younger?

Like when I when I was growing up? Was there

ever a time where I felt called in the ministry?

Called in the ministry? I know you resisted being called

in the ministry when you were young? Did you feel called? No? Yeah?

I think yeah, I think you you were paying attention

to an episode.

Or two ago. That's good. So yeah, so you didn't

feel cold.

It wasn't until I was older.

I was actually twenty two on a mission trip to

Westford and and the church I was a part of.

I was serving as a high school leader.

Wow, and had no interest ever before that, Just like you,

I was like, you know, resistant to the whole idea

for sure.

Good okay, okay, well that was good. Then I knew

that one. Yeah.

Yeah. What year did did I start at Heritage Church?

What year? Oh? No, you've been here?

This is a tough one.

Yeah. Well, see, COVID messes everything that does.

Uh COVID was what eighteen years ago?

It was like, yeah, hang on a second, I know

this one. Have you been with us eight years? Nine years,

seven years, seven years, seven years? Okay, I knew that years. Yeah,

so then that would be twenty seventeen. Okay, yes, it

was good. Yeah. I was trying to so I offered

you a job when my son was getting ready to

marry your sister, and so I was trying to remember

how long of them been married? That that's why what

year was it?

Twenty seventeen?

Yeah?

Yeah, yeah, okay, I mean there there was a lot

of trains, a few things, you know, in twenty seventeen

and twenty eighteen. Uh that God was I think testing

and challenging with hair, but also a lot of great things.

There was the kids space, there was the youth space,

and also that's when I started. So a lot of

great things happened that year. Yeah, okay, next question. So

I was a youth pastor for ten plus years. Did

I ever leave a student on a trip? Accidentally leave?

Did you ever leave a student? I'm almost positive you did. Okay, yeah,

didn't you? No, I didn't you never have that one. No,

I said, I did.

You ever leave?

Because you were a youth pastor for a long time,

I never did.

So I threatened till if I told everybody, if you

weren't on time, I'll pull away and leave.

Yeah.

And there's been more than one time. I was driving

to the front of the parking lot when somebody came

running you know. Oh yeah, we weren't asking to leave.

Yeah. When I think back on that, I was kind

of I mean, I was kind of a jerk sometimes,

but you know, for some of it, for good reason.

We go on these mission trips cross country, be driving,

you pull and forty fifty people with you, and you're

just thinking we're getting the car, use the bathroom now.

By the time we get in the car. We're not

stopping these big vans. And if you know who Connor

meat is, feel free to give him a shout out,

because that kid, we would he would it be an

hour down the road. He'd be like, I have to

use the bathroom. I'd be like, nope, no, And I

did not win any favor with his parents for a

period of time there. But Connor meade smallest bladder on

the trip for a while there.

So man, But so for me, I've always been I

hate being I hate being a minute late.

Yeah, okay, hate it.

Hate being a minute late. So I always shoot for

being five ten minutes early. And then if I say, well,

sometimes and you've been a part of this before, sometimes

where we've had there's traffic problems out out on the

road or whatever, and people come say, hey, we need

to start the service, you know, five minutes late, and

I'm like, no, we start on time. Remember, it's just

a frustrating thing for people. So as a youth pastor,

I was like, if I say we leave at five,

I do not mean we leave at five fifteen or

five o five.

The youth pastors, I will leave you.

At five o'clock, right, and your mom and dad will

have to figure out how to get you home or whatever. Yeah,

and my kids were always just scared enough that I

really would do it that I never had the leavening.

I just want to brag for a minute, as just

because you understand the challenge of this and the youth

when you're homeing people across country. I made an agenda.

This is I don't know, eight nine years ago, coming

home from Nashville, Tennessee with the group of students. And

I made an agenda three months before the trip, and

that I gave you to the parents where I said

I'd be home on Saturday at four thirty pm or

whatever whatever.

The time was, four thirty pretty much Saturday. I had

made that agenda.

We pulled into the parking lot at four thirty pm, literally,

and you're talking. We stayed in the hotel the night before.

We got a couple of gas breaks along the way.

That's impressive.

We stopped and got gas off the exit off six

ninety six, and I was like, I told people, four

thirty And it's funny because I.

Was doing ninety five miles an hour and a bus

is not a good way to do that. Yeah, but

I was pretty proud of myself. I was made to

speed limits and yeah you got them there. Good job, Okay, okay,

good hey man, Okay, so you didn't have to leave anybody.

Did you have another one?

Yeah, I'll give you another one, just a truer false question.

And this is for anybody who pays attention to famous

mega church pastors. Okay, true or false that I met

Stephen Ferdick.

You met Stephen Ferdick. I'm going to say that is false,

and you.

Are right, good jolly. I never met him.

No, okay, I don't think.

I think he's a good speaker, but I'm not actually, actually,

I don't think I've been to a conference.

Oh maybe I did. I went to I went to

a to one that.

Hed Kregershell and him or the or the or the

headlining speakers, which I'd like to meet Gregorshell.

That'd be cool, right, Yeah, he's a great leader.

He'd probably greatly like five minutes of nuggets of wisdom

and great leader.

Yes, great?

Yeah, Well, good, Hey, that was very interesting and I

think I got three three, three out of four.

You assumed I left a kid at I as soon.

As you left one, But I remember Zarba did and

I thinking, you know, as youth pastors, if you haven't

almost left a kid, Oh yeah, you're not that good

of a youth passage that you're not trying hard though,

did you almost?

Absolutely?

Okay? Well good, well, hey, Now Moses in this past

as we're going through the key passages throughout the Old Testament,

we've gone through Genesis through Deuteronomy, which are the called

the Books of Moses. Obviously, the last couple of words

in the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses didn't write about his

own death right, so somebody buttons that up. I think

the way that it's so kind to Moses and all

those things, I bet you it was Joshua. They helped

write that, or somebody like that, like Joshua. But then,

just before Moses dies at one hundred and twenty years old,

he lays hands on Joshua and he says, be strong

and courageous. God's going to use you to lead the

people into Israel, right into the Promised Land, and there's

going to be battles ahead, so you're gonna have to

be strong and courageous. Well, then, now in Joshua, Chapter one,

very creative title to Joshua's book, it's called Joshua, and

it's all about his leadership and how God uses names.

There's not the Book of Moses anywhere, right, but there's

Joshua has one book, and it's called Joshua. So in

Joshua chapter one, it says, after the death of Moses,

the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua, son of Nun,

Moses's assistant. He said, Moses, my servant is dead. Therefore

the time has come for you to lead these people,

the Israelites, across the Jordan River, into the land I'm

giving them. I promise you what I promised Moses. Wherever

you set foot, you will be on land I have

given you. From the Negev Wilderness in the south to

the Lebanon Mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River

in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west,

including all the land of the Hittites. No one will

be able to stand against you as long as you live,

for I will be with you as I was with Moses.

I will not fail you or abandon you. Be strong

and courageous, for you are the one who will lead

these people to possess all the land I swore to

their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous.

Be careful to obey the instructions Moses gave you. Do

not deviate from them, turning either to the right or

to the left. Then you will be successful in everything

you do. Study this Book of Instruction, continually meditate on

it day and night. You'd be sure to obey everything

written in it. Only then you will prosper and succeed

in all you do. This is my command. Be strong

and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord,

your God is with you wherever you go.

Yeah.

Wow, that's a man.

I love that.

It's my favorite, my favorite leadership passage in the whole

bottom my gosh, right there. Love it. Yes.

In fact, a lot of people I know, I know,

people like Joshua. One nine is like a life verse,

right in so many ways. Well, I mean, you could

really go this entire little section here, But for somebody

who's looking for a life verse, if you're out there

and you're like, man, I don't have a life verse,

this is a good one to adopt, right, just because

I mean I think we could remember this on a

daily basis, right, Yep.

I think. Uh, we're quick to embrace the verse nine,

be strong and courageous, and I'm gonna bless you. Uh,

and we forget study this book of instruction cantatally, meditate

on it day and night so you'll be sure to

obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper

and succeed in all you do. That is an unbeliev

promise from God. So we like the be strong and courageous,

and I'm going to make you successful. But God tells

us the exact He gives us the exact formula for

being successful, and that is use my words, meditate on

them day and night, be careful to obey everything I've said,

and only then will you be successful and everything you do.

You know, there's there's very few times in the Bible

God talks about being successful in everything we do, and

two of them are when he talks to Joshua. Both

times he has this kind of an argument, or this

kind of of if then promise is not argument, this

kind of if then promise. If you are meditating on

my word, you're taking it in, you're memorizing it, you're

learning it, you're building your entire life around it. You're

making decisions based all of your decisions based on what

my words say. If you do that, and if you

choose to obey me in everything that I say to do,

then only then will you have the exact formula for success.

So then of course you should be strong and courageous.

Yeah, and then even while Joseph old testament, Joseph says

that the Lord is with Joseph, and he succeeded and

everything he did, and it's oftentimes you said, oh and

he was successful, Well, the Lord is with him. Like

the source of it was not Joseph, it was it

was God.

Being with him.

You know.

The thing that stood out to me when I was

reading over this stuff the first time, I was just

noticing the missy here. I love when he says to him,

he says, I promise you what I promised Moses, wherever

you set foot, you'll be.

On land I have given you.

And I don't know, I just something about that is

just so cool because it just makes me think, like

this is land I have given you. And I just

like how he said wherever you step foot, Like I

think he was going down to like the simplest form

in a way of like your footsteps just you know,

every footstep you take is the land that I have

given you. And it's so just thinking about how that

even applies because obviously that was a command he gave,

that was instructions he gave to Joshua. And you know,

we shouldn't take the Bible right away and apply it

to ourselves. Oftentimes I think people mistake that when they

read the Bible, they think it applies to you know,

me here and in twenty twenty four. First you have

to apply it to them. You have to apply it

to their context, their life. What was God saying to

those people? And after you pross you know, then you

take it and apply it.

Then you take the principles principles. Yeah, so this statement

here is made directly to Joshua. Yeah, yep, right exactly.

So he didn't say that directly to Jeff. Yes, yeah,

he said it directly to Joshua exactly. But I can

take the principles that he says, if you do these things,

then I will do this for you. And I can

take those principles and go, okay, well, then God's the

same yesterday Todayever, the way that God treated those leaders,

then he will treat leaders today if we choose to

do the same things right.

Yeah, And with that, it just makes me think though

that like when he's saying, we know, wherever you step foot,

this is the land I've given you, And how often,

you know, do we take some of those things for

granted right in.

Our own lives?

You know?

And I've witnessed it too. You probably have what people

you're talking to.

Just don't even realize that the land that they're walking on,

the house they've been given, the job that they have,

the family they have, almost taking it for granted. When

it's like, well, God's like wants to remind somebody today

maybe that that the things that you have, whether it's

tangible things or the life you have, or the things

that are seen or unseen, that God has actually given

it to you.

It's the land, the land He has given you.

And so I think it was really cool reminder, I'm

sure for Joshua, instead of just thinking, you know, he's

a leader, he's probably thinking twelve steps ahead and that

God was bringing downright to the simplest forms and hey,

just you know, every step you take, this is this

is mine.

I've given it to you. I provide this is my

provision that you have these things.

Yeah, So here they are. Now, they're in what is

considered modern day Jordan, right, So they're on the east

side of the Jordan River. I'm going to be in

Jordan in three weeks and I'll be right near this

plain where they are, because Aman Jordan's not very far

from there. And so they're in modern day Jordan. And

he's telling them everything from the Euphrates River, which is

modern day Iraq, all of Jordan, everything from the mountains

of Lebanon, all the way down to the Negev, which

is all the way down to the Red Sea in

into the Arabian Peninsula. Right, that's a massive space, much

larger than what Israel is today. God said, hey, I'm

promising all of that to you if you'll go take it.

So it's pretty amazing how the promises of God are available.

But then they had to go defeat these enemies, and

we'll read through Joshua's life and they defeated many of them,

but they didn't defeat all of them, even though God

had promised. And sometimes we're surprised by the fact that

there are battles that have to be fought, that there's

a struggle in the Christian life, right, But there's no

victories without a battle, and we're always surprised by this.

So he chooses Joshua as the leader. It's interesting Joshua

had already led the armies of Israel a couple of

times right against the Amorites, attacked them and a couple

of others, and God had already used Joshua was kind

of Moses's military guy. And so here they are. They've

been wandering through the wilderness for thirty nine years. Right,

They've spent one year at Sinai. Then they wandered through

their wilderness for thirty nine years. Only Caleb and Joshua

said as spies, Hey, we should go in. God promised it.

We can go take it. So thirty nine years ago,

this leader said we can take it. I believe God's

going to give it to us. We can. We can

do it. So then everybody else is dead, including Moses.

Moses also didn't push to go across the river, right,

he just listened to the people. So everybody except for

Joshua and Caleb, they've all died. So now Joshua is

the second oldest guy in the whole country. We know

Caleb was older than Joshua, and he's standing up, going, okay,

because the very is God gives him these nine verses.

Be strong and courageous, obey everything I've command, meditate on,

and I'll make you successful everything you do. And then

Joshua steps up and gives the same speech back to

the people. Hey, God says, if we if we follow him,

he's going to give us our right. As for me

and my house, we're going to cirve the lord. Kind

of mentality, right, that's not where he says it, but

it's kind of that attitude that we're going to do

the right thing and God's gonna bless us. And he's

ramping them up for this battle that's coming. And so

they're lined up along the shore of the Jordan River,

which in those days used to flood, and they're looking

across the river. Now, remember thirty nine years ago, ten

of the twelve Spies came back and went, dude, look

at the size of these grapes. The olives are incredible,

the groves are amazing, the food is spectacular. The problem

is they're all a bunch of giants. We're a bunch

of runts. We look like grasshoppers in their sight, they

are so much bigger and tougher and stronger. It's like

a whole bunch of flyweights going in and had to

fight against heavyweights. Right, that's what they think is gonna happen.

We are gonna get stomped if we go there. Well,

nothing has changed except those cities are more fortified than

they were thirty nine years ago. Right, that's it, And

the rumor has gotten out now that Hey, the people

of Israel are right across the river. Looks like they're

going to want to come over here. So they're all

ramping up their fortifications. They're all building. And we know

this from the next story Rehab, where they've been anticipating

for a while something bad's gonna happen. Israel's coming across

the river. But the people of Israel, God keeps having

to remind them to be strong, to be courageous. He

has to remind he'd already given victories to Joshua. He'd

already fulfilled exactly the promise. Listen, you are the only

You and Caleb are the only two that are going

to survive. Everybody else is going to die. He'd already

Joshua had already seen them walk across on dry ground. Yeah,

Joshua had already The God had fed the people for

forty years, dropping food out of heaven. Yes, right, he'd

already seen. He'd already given them an incredible victory over

the Amorites when they should not have won, won a

battle that they were not equipped for. God had done

so many amazing things, and yet when it's all done,

God has to come to Caleb or Joshua and go, okay, listen,

be strong.

Yeah, and didn't I I think I read in there

that's three if between six and nine is the three

times he says it be strong? Yep, three different times. Yeah,

they says be strong and courageous. And you know in

scripture reading, whenever there's a repetition or or for three

for example, that never three is.

Are very important.

You know, we see that a lot throughout scripture. The

time three three of something being said has a lot

of significance throughout you know, from being to end. So

it's very important, you know. But it is funny because

you're like, like you're saying, Jeff, like when you think

that they would know, right, But no, they need to

be reminded to be strong and courageous, and then he

ends the verse by saying, for the Lord, your guy

is with you wherever you go.

And you know, for me, I was thinking about this.

Because you know, I have one of my daughters is

a very she's a little bit of a nervous nelly,

a little bit anxious spirit. Ever since she was younger,

I don't know, ever since she was little, she was afraid.

A little more cautious.

Yes, it's little more cautious, yes, yeah, littlere cautious.

Everything she does just overthinks things, you know, And I

remember she had this, We had this this time where

this is like the verse that she like adopted as

like a five year old. You know, we'd read it

over before she go to bed, you know, for the

Lord's your guys with you ever ago, and so i'd

have her this great this saying I would actually say, uh,

I would ever say, I say knightly.

You have to say say this after me say.

I am brave, i am strong, I'm not afraid God

is with me. And so it became like a thing,

I'm brave, i am strong, I'm not afraid. God is

with you. Became like a mantra, be first you have

somethings that going a wrong, like Knightley, what do we say?

She's like, I'm brave, i am strong, I'm not afraid God.

You know, she'd say it's something her tears, you know.

But it's interesting because it's like it's one thing to

say those things, it's a different thing to believe them.

And I think what God was trying to do is

get them to believe that that, hey, you have to

here's some things to do, be strong, courageous. And then also,

I'm gonna be with you wherever you go, and I

have been with you wherever you've gone.

Right, So I'm sure that was very reassuring for them.

The other thing that really jumps out at me is

how faithful Joshua was in sticking with it for thirty

nine years. Joshua already he could already see the promised land.

He could already envision. He and Caleb both could already

envision the all the land flowing with milk, honey, and

all the blessings of God, that God would fulfill all

of his promises. But then the people said no. And

instead of Caleb and Joshua just grabbing their own little

army and doing their own invasion or going and taking

their own village. They stayed with the people of Israel.

And you know, I think a lot of times people bail.

They bail on their church, they bail on their small group,

they bail on their ministry team. When one little conflict

comes up, or one tension. Oh my goodness, this little

tense moment lasted for six months, or it lasted a year.

I'm bailing thirty nine years, thirty nine years. But you

know what happens at the end of the thirty nine years.

Joshua is the leader of two million people. And God

is going to fulfill every single promise that Joshua believe

you would have fulfilled thirty nine years ago. God is

going to fulfill those things now. And I think that

there's something to be said about somebody who's faithful to

their people, faithful to their family, faithful to their tribe,

even when the other people just can't. It's not that

he went ahead with them and went ahead and doubted God,

and he was still faithful. He still served Moses right,

he still looked forward to the promised Land. He did

the right thing all along. He didn't go ahead and

concede to them. But what he didn't do is he

didn't give up on them either. Yeah. Right, And there's

something to that to just say, hey, you know what,

I think. We bail on marriages too fast, we bail

on friendships too quickly, we bail on career opportunities too fast.

We bail on our jobs, we bail on our ministries,

we bail on our churches, we bail so fast on stuff,

as opposed to just going, hey, if this is where

God has me today, I'm just going to be faithful here.

And at the end, you know, God gave Caleb everything

he wanted, and God gave God gave Joshua the entire

nation and trusted him to lead the people. And there's

something honorable about that.

And I remember hearing something recently they refer to the

generation probably actually more of the millennial is the unfollowed generation,

because we've grown up in a society where you can

just if somebody you disagree with unfollowed or you know,

cancel culture, that sort of thing. But unfollowing, I remember

that's sticking with me, just that idea of like, hey,

you're you're dead to me, you're done me, And I

think you're right, like I think it's so easy with

the church, small group, family friend, just to cut somebody

off over one or something small. And even for me,

I'll be honest, Like I remember in my church experience

for a few I had actually bounced around from church

to church for a little bit, and remember somebody that

I really looked up to a lot finally kind of

challenged me. He said, Hey, the next place you go to,

you need to like put in roots and just see

the see the the fruit of that and the outpouring

of what God's going to do with your faithfulness. And

even for me, I mean, I've loved being you know,

the church, were both a part of It's our local

church here in Michigan, and I love being a part

of it. But even being asked for the new Stony

Creek campus, which is open up this fall, I remember

just like it was kind of interesting because I didn't

really pursue that. I mean, I when it was being

discussed about the new campus, I had people coming to

me saying, well, for sure you're gonna be that, and

I'm like, no, I'm I'm just doing my job. I'm

trying to keep my head down and be you know,

I'm not going to be the person who in the

past would have been striving for the next thing. I

was like, I'm just gonna keep my head down and

just keep and it's been really cool again, and just

with God's faithfulness, I think it's shown that, like there's

something to that now. I didn't have to wait thirty

nine years, you know, but you see this and you're like, man,

what a beautiful principle of the fact that he was faithful.

He served underneath Moses' leadership, and then when the time came,

God used Joshua big way.

I can remember many years. I was thirty four when

I came to here to church right, and so the

church doubled and doubled again in four years. So we

went from two hundred and forty five people to a

thousand people in four years. And through a series of events,

I wounded up getting invited this thing that Rick Warren

was hosting with a few pastors out in California, and

so I was the young guy because all of Rick's

friends were, you know, fifteen twenty years older than me.

So I was the youngest pastor in that group at

that time. No as me and one other guy from

Arizona and so Rick came over at one point and

just sat down and say, hey, tell me your story.

How do I not know you? You know whatever? So I

start talking about things and he goes, hey, that's pretty great.

Four years man, this is God's got you on a

pretty gret journey. He said, you want to know what

the real test of your character and who you really

are is? And I said what? And he said, the

greatest churches are led by pastors that have been there

for fifteen years or more. He said, so talk to

me when you're fifty four. Wow. Right, And I'm fifty three.

So he said, you know, the greatest churches are not

the ones that spring up fast and you know, just

some guy that can do a thing. It's the person

who is able to lead well for a long period

of time and consistent growth over long periods of time

and building up disciples. And there's a faithfulness thing to it.

And I can tell you this. The things that used

to stress me out when I was thirty four and

I didn't even know the answer. Now literally, I can

make that decision in five minutes on a Tuesday morning.

Yeah right, just because I have so much more experience

sticking with it. I instinctively know the politics of our

organization well. I know who the power players are. I

know where the tension points are going to be. I

know what we're doing well and what we're not yet

doing well. I know where our vulnerabilities are. I see

all those things because I have been here so long, right, Yeah,

And there's just something to that. And I think that

the reason why God chose Joshua instead of going out

and going on indeed and just trying to find some

leader this available right now, was because Joshua understood the intricacies,

the ins and outs, because he was faithful for so

long to stay in there. And if you want to

accomplish something really great with God, a part of that

in ministry is just being able to stick with it

and being faithful for a long period of time. That's good,

and that's what happened. So that he was there forty years.

That's the unspoken thing here, by the way, So having

wandered with Moses for forty years, then Moses dies, he

faithfully serves, he doesn't pull off a coup. Yeah, Moses

chooses him. Then he said, God says, be strong and courageous.

Then he says meditate on my word all the time,

memorize that, learn it, know it. Make all of your

decisions based on the word. Obey everything I commanded you,

be strong and courageous, and I'll make you succeed in

everything you do. Right. He brackets this strong and courageous.

Squeezed in the middle is obey and know my words

and obey everything I say, and I'll make you outrageously successful.

But all of that, none of that promise would have

been made if he hadn't been faithful for forty years. First,

that's wow. Yeah, that's great with them. That's super good stuff. Man,

That's why I love this passage. We can talk about

this for the rest of the week if we want to,

but we got to wrap it up there. Man, dig

into the Book of Joshua. I think you're gonna love

it as a as a reader, as a listener. And

we're going to continue tomorrow in the Book of Joshua

here on the Bible, guys, yep, see tomorrow.