Well, church we are here. This is our final Sunday here at wildfire. Next week we move up to our new space, which is exciting and I, I thought maybe I'd get a couple of claps, but that's ok. Maybe I wanna go. Oh, that feels really natural. Uh Not force du and uh no, so, uh if you're newer with us, we are moving into the new space here, just a couple of miles up the road, still in the neighborhood, still in the same school areas here that in between two districts. And so we're excited for that. Well, as we think about our transition into this new space today, I want to talk to you about what does it mean to be strong and courageous, to be strong and courageous. And as we get ready to transition, the biggest transition in our church's history, uh we're gonna actually discuss here week two of our series is that we're gonna discuss the largest transition in the country of Israel's history there when Joshua led them into the promised land. So we're gonna be in our Bibles here in Joshua chapter one, starting in verse six. Last week, we covered verses one through five. We're gonna pick it up in verse six. So I invite you to, if you've not watched or listened to last week's sermon, you can do so online on our website youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, anywhere you get those things. Uh So because these are connected now 18 years in ministry, one thing I have never heard somebody say to me is pastor. I just have too much courage. I'm just too courageous. I don't know what to do with it. And I've never heard that uttered. I've never heard that as a struggle, but I've heard very much the opposite because all of us could use more courage. The word courage itself, the English word comes from has the Latin root core which means heart because courage really is a hard word. It's to be bold, it's to be brave. It's to act, not just without fear, but to act despite our fear, to take a movement or a step or to speak boldly in a way that takes heart. And we could all use more courage wherever you are in your journey, whether situation or circumstance, you find yourself in every single one of us in this room or watching online or listening later could use more courage in their lives along with that. That's why when we say you want to encourage someone, what you're doing is that you are filling that person's heart with courage that you are lifting them up if you were at a restaurant and your friend or family member or coworker has an empty glass. When you encourage them, that's like refilling their glass, pouring courage into their spirit, into their heart and lifting them up. We could all use courage from within and we could all use more encouragement from one another. And when we are feeling down, when we are feeling dismayed, another way to describe that is that we are feeling discouraged. In other words, we are feeling apart from, removed from the courage. We need to get through the day and not just to survive but to thrive. And so as we talk about what it means to have courage, we are continuing our study of this character Joshua. And last week, we shared from the Old Testament here in Joshua, one that Joshua was a worker, he was a warrior and he was a worshiper. And so the people of Israel were following the lead of Moses. They escape Egypt in the rule of the largest superpower in the world at the time, they don't have the faith to enter the promised land. What should have taken only 11 days to march there ends up taking them 40 years because while it only took a couple of days to get the people of God out of Egypt, it took 40 years to get Egypt out of the people of God. And so they get right to the edge of the promised land. And their leader dies and Joshua has been there for the whole ride. So he was born a slave, they escape. He looks up to Moses early on in his life, he, he becomes moses' assistant. And so he's there on the mountain when he receives the 10 commandments, he's there leading the charge in various battles that they had. He's there in the tent of meeting when Moses was communicating with God and Joshua After that communication says I'm not going anywhere. And so we see that he was at one point he was a spy and there the time he was a servant, but we see that he worked hard that he was a warrior. He was battle tested and he was a worshiper that he wanted to follow the God that Moses had followed all of these years. And so he stands on the precipice of this large transition. How can I lead a group of a million untrained people into battle into this land that God had promised us, which is why they call it the promised land. Well, we shared last week that past experience prepares you for present obedience that everything in Joshua's life built up to that moment that we're reading here in Joshua, one where he needed enough courage to act. Pastor Erin mcmanus described courage this way. He says, courage is the difference between dreaming the life you want and living the life of your dreams. I've heard it said that there are two kinds of people in the world, those that do and those that might, right? The world is not changed by good intentions, the one days, the some days, but rather it's those that walk and step encourage today and they take an action of boldness for something that they believe in. Author Bob Goff. Put courage this way. Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's deciding that fear isn't calling the shots anymore. I like that description. So to have fear in your life does not mean that you can't be courageous, but rather you're putting fear in its place. No fear. You go over there. And so today, we're gonna see a man having a conversation with God and we know that Joshua is afraid because the first thing that God told him was don't be afraid. And so you don't tell someone not to be afraid unless they already are afraid. And so you have this person in his grief, in his mourning, in his wandering and in his wondering, do I have what it takes? Am I enough? Are we ready? Are you real God? And it's in this context that God's gonna tell Joshua three different times, be strong and courageous. And let me tell you when God says something three times, you write it down, right? You take heart, you take a mental and emotional note. And so the courage that is given to Joshua in this passage is available to you and I today. And so what we're going to look at, look at as a church body this morning is that courage is really three things. Courage is a calling. Courage is a choice and courage is a command. Courage is a calling. Courage is a choice and courage is a command. And where this comes from is that every time God tells Joshua be strong and courageous, he follows it up with something else to give a different angle or aspect or value behind the courage that He's giving Joshua. So let's take a deeper dive into this first thing. Courage is a calling. This comes from Joshua 16 which reads, be strong and courageous for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. And in the previous passages again, pointing back to last week, it was this promise given to Abraham, then given to Moses and now given to Joshua that I will give you this land and see. Courage is a calling because our calling is based on God's promises. God promised a few things to Joshua and when God speaks, everything must listen. Because the power of God's word, the power of God's promise was used to create the world as we know it. God said, let there be light later in the gospels. Jesus himself is described as the word. And so God's word matters that when God says something, it will come to pass. And so if it's a promise of God, you can take it to the bank. So what did God promise to Joshua? Well, he promised him three things that actually give for those that want to do a deeper dive if we're not gonna cover all of the book of Joshua in this study. But if you wanna go deeper, the promises of God to Joshua actually give the structure of the book. So the first thing that God promises to Joshua is that he will enter the land that really covers Joshua one through five. He says that you will enter the land and then He promises him that you will then possess the land. Isn't it interesting as well to think of how many things do you own? But how many things do you actually possess, right? We're gonna talk about the difference between having something and taking possession of it fully here in just a few minutes. But right now just take note of that, that you will enter the land and that's really chapter six through 12. And then you will distribute the land. And the importance of that was that this land isn't just for you, this land is for the people of God and, and promise growth in the tribes of Israel and that the, the numbers, the people themselves would grow and, and promised distribution or the spreading out of ownership of the land itself. So God simply put promises to enter the land to possess the land and then distribute the land. And those are those final chapters here, chapters 13 of 24. But we see in here that courage is a calling. But here's the thing, the fact that courage is a calling means that we still have to answer. I'm gonna share with you. I have this bad habit. Maybe someone else can relate. But on Sundays now this part is not a bad habit. On Sundays, I pull out my phone and I put my phone on do not disturb mode and I, I turn the volume and the ringer off. My bad habit is that I always, every single week, forget to turn the volume back on. And so for the first couple of days during the week, I always miss calls all the time and especially from my wife who can attest to it because she's sitting right here and so I'll get home from working or get home from the store. I'll go somewhere and she be like, do you not have your phone? I'm like, what, what are you talking about? I called you like four times like you didn't call me, I never, you, you totally called me. Yes, you did. Sorry. And so she called me, but I never answered because I didn't have the ringer on my phone wasn't in a spot to let me know to where, then I could answer it. I wonder how many people have received a call, a call from God, a prompting from God to do something. But for one reason or the other, you don't have the ringer on and so you miss it. It's not enough for me to say, oh, my wife called me. When she calls, I should answer little spouse dating tip. When that person calls, answer it, it'll go better for you right in the same way. Don't silence God. He's calling you. He gives you a prompting like, oh, all right, I'll get back to it later. God, bye. Like God. I want to hear from you. God, I want to hear from you. Great. Are you Lord God? Tell me what to do but not now, I if courage is a calling, then we have to be willing to answer the call. It's not enough to receive it. We have actually have to answer and follow through. The second thing we see is that courage is not only a calling. Courage is also a choice. Courage is a choice. This can be found in verses seven and eight which read this. God speaking says only being strong and very courageous. Being careful, take note of that word, careful. We're coming back to that in a second. Being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded. You do not turn from it to the right or to the left that you may have good success. Wherever you go, the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and you have good success. So the first time he says, be strong and courageous, but then he says, be strong and very courageous. And then this really unexpected word comes next. Careful. Doesn't it seem like careful, should not go with courage, be strong and courageous, be careful. And it's like a paradox, right? Like jumbo shrimp, you know, like these words shouldn't go together. But if you're a parent, you get it right. Be wait, wait, wait, be careful. OK. Why do we need to be careful? Why do we need to be careful or says to be careful to do all those written in the law? What's interesting here is the first phrase is be strong and courageous and fight the battles that I've prepared for you. Then he says, be strong and very courageous, being careful. In other words, he's nervous about it, being careful to follow the word of God. It's almost as if he's saying it is more important and it is more difficult to obey the word of God than it is to physically fight a battle because he adds these qualifiers behind it to make sure be careful. Now, anytime I hear the word careful, I have this flash ball memory with my kids. Do you have some of these moments that you, you hear a word or you smell something, you hear something and you think back to a moment you had maybe with friends or spouse or kids. Well, I had this moment and, and I always think back to a time we were hiking and I was, I was curious if I still had it this week. So I looked way back at my phone and I found the clip. So you actually get to see the memory that I'm talking about because we got it on, on the phone. But we were hiking, Bell Rock in Sedona. And this was years ago, we only had our two boys at the time. Chloe hadn't been born yet. Now, the difference between kiddos. So my oldest is just like reckless and just like full speed ahead, he would take off ahead of us. We couldn't keep up. And so the entire time the hike, every turn or corner, there was a group of concerned adults wondering who's this child's parent? Because they would ask him too because he was so fo focused on getting to the top or as far as he could, they would say little boy, where's your parents? He goes. I don't know. And then he would take off running. And so every time we turn the corner there's like these parents like looking like go and then I would have fun with him like, no, I don't know who's no. Um, and, uh, and so we have the one taking off and then Carter was real little and, and Carter loves his mama and shout out to all the mama's boys. Any mama's boys out there, I'm a mama's boy so I can appreciate it. My mama's in the house so I can say that. And so, uh, and so Carter was very concerned because there was a lot of spikes and a lot of cactuses on the path. And so he was very much in protection mode. He wanted to make sure that mom was gonna be OK. And so this is the setup for the clip. So go ahead and check this out. It's pretty short. So we'll probably play it through twice. So go ahead and check this out. Oh OK. OK. OK. Food. Oh Thank you so much. Oh You too. OK. So painful. Oh OK. Thank you so much. I love that his heart was to protect, right? He saw dangerous spiky things and his natural instinct was to protect. Ok. In this scenario, you have the holy Spirit of God being the one saying, be courageous, careful, careful, right? Even then I think he said three times. It's biblical. OK. And so careful. OK. So, so be strong, be bold, be careful. Why? Because it's a choice. Courage is a choice and you have to choose it every single day. When you're walking on the path, there is danger to the left and to the right and that you have to follow the word of God. And he says in there and he expounds upon that in verse eight, what does that mean to follow the word of God? How is it that we can stay on the path that God has called us to where He tells us three things. Number one first, he says to speak it. He says, not simply letting the words depart from your mouth, meaning you say it over and over again. So you speak it. Because what you say, how you speak shapes the season of your life. Do you know that how you speak about the season that you're in shapes the season that you're in? And so you wanna speak the word of God, but then you wanna think it, you wanna think the word of God, it says to meditate on it. So even more than just speaking it, but meditating on the word of God, it's plain putting God's word on repeat. Growing up in the midwest, there was farms and corn and cows and, and cows. Have you ever seen a cow eat? It's not cute. You know, they chew. I, I also wonder this, ok. If cows mainly eat grass, that's why are they so large? Right? I I I'm telling you, I just don't think diets work for that reason. So I try to avoid salads. I mean, look at animals, it's nature people. OK? And ok. Actually, I like salads. I just like the other stuff too. Um, there's too much information. And so anyway, if you look at a cow and, and how a cow eats it just kind of this big shoes. Right. And some animals like them will swallow. And this is real gross. But then regurgitate it, chew it some more and then put it down. I mean, they, they just chew gnaw that thing and just chew and chew and chew. That idea of repeatedly chewing is what it means to meditate in your mind. Are you repeatedly chewing on the word of God in your mind? The word meditate is similar to the uh the real word is similar to mutter when you repeatedly say something over and over. Now meditating is not just like some new age practice. In fact, all humans are actually really good at meditating and here's how I know because every single one of you, every single one of us in this room has had a thought on repeat. You replay that situation, you replay what somebody said to you, you replay what somebody didn't say to you. You replay when you got hurt or betrayed or you replay something that hasn't happened yet, right? And ends up being worried because you think about all the different ways that this situation could resolve itself. And so you keep playing over and over and over and over again. What meditating on God's word does is that it's dwelling inside of it and it's, it's making God's word in your home. Similar to in John 15, what talks about abiding or dwelling in the vine dwelling in God that you put God's word on repeat that instead of worry, you, you put you lean into and repeat the promises and purposes of God. Now, back then, they didn't have the full word like we have, but at minimum, they had the 10 commandments in the, in the law that was given to Moses. But Moses really was putting together ultimately, the first five books of the Bible. So to what extent Joshua had available to him, I'm not quite sure. But what I know is that it was enough for him to think it to speak it and then thirdly to do it to actually do what the word of God says because it makes the difference that nothing changes unless you actually change. There's a story of the baseball great Ricky Henderson, the greatest baseball player at stealing bases in the history of the game. And he played for a number of teams. But when he was playing for the Oakland A's, this was story was really seen as legend. And then they actually confirmed it on an interview with Mike and Mike in the morning, the old ESPN show if you remember that show. And uh and so they were interviewing me, they asked him if it's true. And so he confirmed that it was true. At the end of the baseball season, they got into the off season and the Oakland A's were doing accounting in December and the accountants came up that they were a million dollars off and I'm not great at accounting, but if you are a million dollars off, your job might be at risk when, if you're accounting, like something's not adding up. And so they started going through everything and they realized that Ricky Henderson had never cashed a million dollar check and they went and talked to him and here's what he said. He said, well, as a kid, I dreamed of becoming a millionaire. And so when they gave me that check, I was so moved that I framed it and I put it in my house. It's like, wow, I did it. I'm a millionaire, but then he kind of wasn't yet, you know. And so here was, they were, he was missing a million dollars. It was literally hanging in his house, but he didn't have access to that money until he actually went to the bank to cash it. I wonder how many people have been given a call from God or been given faith from God. And they have it sitting up on their, wow, it doesn't matter how many times you read the word, how many times you speak it or say it until you actually do what it says, you haven't cashed the check, you haven't actually received all that God has given you and it's a choice. So be strong and be courageous, but be careful because life is dangerous. There is difficulties on the left and on the right. And so therefore you have to choose to walk in God's power and you do so do so through speaking the word, thinking the word and then actually doing what it says, that's a choice you can make. And when you make that choice, you can be courageous. First, courage is a calling. Second, courage is a choice. Lastly, courage is a command. This means that it's not optional for Christians. You know, if you look up on Google and you type, start to type in a phrase, it'll automatically fill in with other options or the most searched things. And so if you type in a Christian is, or why is a Christian blank or Christians are? And the number one things that pops up is judgmental. What if, what if people associated courage with Christianity in Christianity with courage so much so that when you talked about being a Christian, it was already assumed that you were bold and courageous. And if you see someone's courage, you think, oh he must be a Christian because church, this is who we're called to be. And this is what we're called to do. Courage is both who we are and what we do. This is why God can say be courageous. It is your being. It is your identity and then to go do what I've called you to it is both. And we see this here the third time God says, be strong and courageous is found here in Joshua 19. Here it reads, have I not commanded you? So he expands it, he's gonna give you two positive and then two negative. Be strong and courageous. It says do not be frightened. So the antithesis of that so be strong, don't be frightened, don't be afraid and do not be dismayed. Do not be disheartened or discouraged to have courage to be courage. Why? Where does this courage come from? Says for the Lord, your God is with you. Wherever you go, we can follow God's commands and we can be courageous because God's commands come with God's presence. God's commands come with God's presence. He's not saying be courageous. See a I'll talk to you when you finish the battles. He says, no, I'm in the battles with you right now when I was doing some prep work for this message as I do every week, I tend to look at 23, sometimes four or five different commentaries or what are the scholarly contexts and issues that we're wrestling with within a passage. But one of my go tos on a regular basis is a guy who's since passed away. His name is Warren wears be and I like for a few reasons. One, he's super practical, speaks in everyday language. Two, he loves to alliterate, you know, that love me some alliteration. Uh But in three, he always gives practical illustrations, but normally it's like, here's the Bible passage, here's the context and it's kind of like this thing over here you go. Oh, ok. That makes sense. He doesn't typically put in personal stories because he's seen as a scholar and it's a commentary and, and a lot of times when you put in personal things, those things become dated over time. But as I was preparing for this week's message, what was crazy to me is how God works and encourages me and my heart in this passage. And so here we are getting ready to move into our first ever church building. And I'm reading through this passage and while I know this is the passage that I'm prepping for our transition to the building, Warren Werribee did not know when he wrote this like 30 plus years ago, but this is exactly what he wrote about Joshua 19. And he, and he got, he switched from practical to personal. He wrote these words here. He says when I was leading our first past trip, God led us to build a new sanctuary. The congregation was neither large nor wealthy and a couple of financial experts told us it couldn't be done. But the Lord saw us through. He used first chronicles 2820 as a special way to strengthen and assure me throughout the difficult building project. I can assure you from experience that the promise of God's presence really works. Ok. But is that really applied to me? God? Just kidding. Like, I mean, isn't that crazy? Like we're praying through this in our building project going through? And here's something written 30 years ago on the exact verse right here. I said, OK, but he didn't quote Joshua 19. He actually referenced first chronicles. 2820. Why? Well, because, because you're gonna see the connection here. It is the verse it says, then David said to Solomon. So how cool is this? David is speaking to Solomon to encourage him in the largest building project of all time, the temple of God and to encourage him actually quote specifically Joshua one night. And he says to his son, be strong and courageous and do it, do not be afraid and do not be dismayed for the Lord God, even my God is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished. Isn't that crazy? This tells me that that promise given to Joshua is not only for Joshua, but for believers today because the context has changed, but that same presence, that same power. David used to encourage Solomon and then Jesus used to encourage his disciples as well when he's getting ready to ascend to heaven. Mathew 28 he says, therefore, go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father son, the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you for behold, I am with you to the end of the age church. Courage is not dated. Courage is present day right now. And what it means to be a Christian, to be a Christian is to be courageous because the same principles and promises given to Joshua then are available to you. And I right now. But we have to remember that courage is a calling. Courage is a choice and courage is a command. It is not optional. There are not believers and then courageous believers to be a follower of Jesus is to walk in co it's who we are and it's what we do and we can do that because of God's promise, God's power and God's presence. I said it last week, I'll say it this week. I could say it because if you truly live and believe that the creator of the world, the savior of your soul is with you right now. The same God that defeated death is with you this very present moment. Then what are we to be afraid of? I get that we're in a culture war. I get that things seem dark and divided. But we have the God that conquered death and we get worried because somebody tweets something because the market turns because gas costs a dollar more. Oh no, it's done. Who's done is different. It's not done. You see, it's not the same, but it's similar. And that old hands actually sing and almost refer to the promise hand as heaven. But I don't necessarily equate the two because Jesus or Joshua fought a bunch of battles in the promised land and I don't know about you. I don't think we're gonna be fighting battles in heaven. But what I would equate it to a picture within or a similar context for us to apply this is that it represents the victorious Christian life that when you cross into the promised land with the power of the Holy Spirit, you will have to fight battles. Your life will not necessarily get easier, but you will have God with you and that you can walk and fight and stand and speak with courage. And when you do that, you can experience victory. So what did Joshua do? Verse one? He's terrified. He's afraid by verse 10. And these three commands to be strong and courageous. Notice his response. He says in Joshua commanded the officers of the people. He said pass through the midst of the camp. I command the people prepare your provisions for within three days. You are to pass over this Jordan to go in and take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. From verse one. He's terrified to verse 10. He says in three days, it's go time. What's the difference. Different is courage and our courage. Church should be even greater because we have the story of a risen savior and the Holy Spirit that dwells within every believer so that we can live a courageous life. Do hard things to be bold, to be brave, to not shrink back, but to fight from a place of victory that has already been promised by God Berne Brown, author, speaker put it this way. She says courage is contagious. Says a, a critical mass of brave leaders is the foundation of an intentionally courageous culture that every time we are brave with our lives, we make the people around us a little braver and our organizations bolder and stronger. We're switching locations next Sunday. But church, I want, I really want us to believe that the best is yet to come. There's gonna be battles for sure. But let us be a church that is defined by courage def defined by the fact that we have been called by God to reach this community and world with the good news of the gospel that we can be bold in our service, that we can be brave in our witness that we can be extravagant in our generosity and give what God's called us, to give and speak what God's called us to speak and love how God's called us to love that we can do so despite our fear, despite our circumstances, because we are not defined by those circumstances. But by the courage that God gives us because we have God's promise, we have God's power. We have God's presence and the one who created and saved the world is with you. He is with me that you can walk into the battles tomorrow, knowing that courage is who you are and having and walking in courage is what we do because we are Christians. Amen. Pratt is good. God is here. I want you to have that courage. And it starts with belief in Jesus, the same God of Joshua. This is seeing God today so be stronger, be courageous dear heavenly Father. I'm not sure what people are walking through, but God, we could all use more courage. It's a hard word. It's, it's about bravery. It's about being bold. Some of us need the courage to leave. Some of us need the courage to stay. Some of us need the courage to speak whatever prompting you've laid on our hearts and on our lives. God maybe walk in it. May we be careful, be careful to speak and to think and to do the word of God so that we can stay on the path that you've called us to when we rest in your power and in your promises and in your presence, God, that we can be people of courage today, we love you and we lift our lives up to you soon that we pray. Amen.