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.