The Commission

If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Joshua, chapter 1.

Joshua, chapter 1. Well, as we mentioned last week, this book of Joshua is a continuation of the story that ultimately we started at the beginning. A story that went from a global group of people to God starting over with a family to God calling out a specific man. And through that man, God established a nation. And that nation was set free from Egypt, wandered in the wilderness,

and now comes to the edge of the promised land. Always the goal that God had for his people was that they would dwell in the land. And so that's what he's going to bring them into. And that's what Joshua is going to be commissioned to do. As a matter of fact, the title of the message this evening is simply The Commission because God is now going to tell Joshua

what he is going to do, what his plan is. And as he commissions him, he's going to tell him a bunch of different things, not the least of which is an exhortation that he will repeat over and over again to be strong and courageous. And so, chapter 1 takes on two forms. The first half is going to be the Lord commissions Joshua. The second half is going to be Joshua commissions the people.

And so we pick up in verse 1 of chapter 1 and it says this, Now it came about after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise. Cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.

From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the great sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong.

Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This 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 the laws of the world. All that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. So this commission that God gives to Joshua

is going to take on three parts. He's going to tell him about the land. He's going to give him a promise. And then he's going to give him an exhortation. So let's first of all talk about the land. Now, unfortunately, before we get to talking about the land, within that section, I want to point out one word. I want you to look at verses 1 and 2, or verse 1 again.

It says, Now it came about after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying. Now, perhaps you notice the emphasis I tried to give to a word there. And that word that I wanted to emphasize to you is the word servant. Because I think as God begins to commission Joshua, he uses this word, and he uses it, he uses it specifically.

The first time he uses it, he refers to Moses. Isn't it interesting that after all of the things that Moses did, all of the miracles that God wrought through Moses, the law coming through Moses, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna, the striking of the rock, all of the plagues in Egypt, all of the things that we could think of that we can remember Moses by, God remembers him in one way. Moses, the servant of the Lord. Now, I think that that's a significant thing that when God is speaking to Joshua, that he tells him.

I think it's important because as he points out to Joshua that Moses was the servant of the Lord, we are reminded of a philosophy that runs all the way through Scripture, but really gets picked up and emphasized in the New Testament when Jesus told his disciples upon their asking, Lord, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He says, whoever among you would be great must be the servant of all. It's almost like there's a theme that runs all the way through Scripture that tells us that if we want to be who God has truly created us to be, we must stop thinking of visions of grandeur and we must first start thinking about being a servant. Because when it comes right down to it, at the end of the day, at the end of our lives,

our lives can be hopefully summed up with one phrase, a servant of the Lord. After all, when Jesus was telling his disciples about being, being a faithful steward and a faithful servant, do you remember the last thing that any disciple of Jesus says before he enters into the kingdom? When God speaks to him, he says, well done, good and faithful. Remember the word that's used there?

Good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy that has been prepared for you. And so I want to remind us all that if we want to be great in God's kingdom, the greatest honor that could be bestowed upon us in the kingdom of God is to be great in God. To be referred to as the servant of the Lord. But there's a second time that the word servant is used here. If you take note of that,

it says in the middle of the verse that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' servant. Now, Joshua is about to be elevated from the place of being Moses' servant to being the servant of the Lord. Isn't that great? When you graduate in God's economy, you graduate to an even, greater amount of service. But I'm reminded of something here. We can never despise the day

of small things. If we are faithful in the little things, then God will add to us even greater things. But we must first prove ourselves to be faithful in the small things in life. And as we are faithful to do the small things in life, God can then begin to entrust us with more. Because that's exactly what's taken place with Joshua. Joshua has simply been Moses' servant

all of this time. And always done what Moses asked of him to do. Always was with Moses. We remember that the way that Joshua was faithful is that he served alongside Moses. He was with Moses on the mountain and he was always with Moses in the tabernacle. Always with Moses at the gate of the tent of meeting. In other words, he was faithful to serve Moses and he was faithful to hear the Lord.

Therefore, because he was faithful in the small things, God entrusted him with something greater. And so, as we move on from there, we see that the word servant's really important because now Joshua's going to be elevated to a new place of service. It says in verse 2, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise, cross the Jordan, you and all the people, to the land which I am giving you to the sons of Israel.

I won't elaborate much on verse 2. I did that last week. But just know that those three commands are important. He had to arise, cross the Jordan, with the purpose of going to the land with the people. Then he goes on to explain the extent of the land. He says, Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you. Just as I spoke to Moses

from the wilderness in this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the great sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. He gave him all of the boundaries of the land. To the south it was the wilderness, to the north it was Lebanon, to the east it was the great river Euphrates, and to the west it was the great sea. That was the extent of the land that God had promised to give to the nation of Israel.

It's interesting because I'm going back through the book of Numbers in my devotions right now. And it's interesting to find that there are particular pieces of land all around the promised land that God says, you can walk through there, but you can't take their land because that land's not yours. That's not the land that I've given to you. That's the land I've given to someone else.

Now I think that that's really important because liberal scholars will look at the Old Testament and they will say, oh, the Jewish people were just a bunch of land grabbers. They were hungry for land and so they stole the promised land, right? Well, that's not true. God had allotted land to lots of other people. It's just that this was the land that God had given to them.

It was the promised land. Now there's a couple of things I want to point out. I want to point out to you about this promised land. I want you to notice what it says. It says, every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given to you. But notice what it says in verse 2. It says, you and all this people to the land which I am giving you. Now there's two different tenses

that are used there. Did you notice that? It's the land that I am giving you, speaking of a future tense, but it's also the land that I have given you, which speaks of a past tense. So which is it? Is it the past tense He has given it to them? Or is it the present tense He is giving it to them? And my answer to you is this. Yes. Because I want you to notice

what it says. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. You know what that tells me? That tells me that the only places they would inherit were the places that they were willing to go, were the places that they were willing to take, God had already given it to them, but He is giving it to them. And while it's all theirs,

they have to decide how much they want to possess. They have to decide how much of God's promise will they be content with. It sort of reminds me of a verse in Ephesians. I can't remember. I did. Look at me go. Ephesians chapter 3, verse 10. We don't need to turn there. Just maybe mark that in your Bible. I have it written right next to that verse in my Bible.

Because Ephesians chapter 3, verse 10 says this. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has already prepared beforehand that we should do what? Do you remember from our study in Ephesians? That we should walk in them. That tells us that God already has gone before us and given us victory in any way that we need, in any way that we want.

All of the promises of God, we are told, are yes and amen. We just have a decision to make. What will I walk in? What all places will the sole of my foot tread? Because I want to tell you a tragic thing that happened with the nation of Israel. Do you know that the nation of Israel only occupied, even in their greatest period of time, if I understand the math correctly here,

they only occupied about a tenth of what God had promised them. You know why? Because they became content. They were content with what they had in front of them and weren't willing to fight the battles that it would take to take all of the land. It's interesting because we'll come to the book of Judges soon. Spoiler alert. We'll come to the book of Judges and you know what it says?

It says that they were unable to drive out the inhabitants of the land. What was the one command God gave them over and over again? In numbers, right? Almost ad nauseum did God say, do not leave any of the people in the land. Drive out the inhabitants of the land. Drive them all out. Tear down their idols. Cut down the poles. Destroy the altars. Otherwise, it will be a stumbling block to you.

And yet they never possessed all of the land. And right now, as we sit here in a very cushy 21st century church, we look back and we go, those poor Israelites. They just wouldn't do it, would they? But I have a question for you. How many of God's promises are you walking in right now? How much of what God promised you and what God has intended for you, are you walking in?

Or are you still living in defeat? Are you still unwilling to drive out the inhabitants of the land? Because before we look at the nation of Israel and say, I can't believe they never took full possession of the land, I want you to understand that those first three chapters that we talked about in the book of Ephesians on Sunday mornings, that's all the riches that we have in Christ. And yet, how many of us still live like beggars in our walks with Jesus Christ?

Because we will not, we will not allow the sole of our foot to tread on every part of the land. There's a famous quote. It's always apparently been attributed to Dwight L. Moody, but he actually heard it from a guy, if I remember correctly, his name was Henry Varney, who was a British revivalist. And this is the quote. It says, the world has yet to see what God is able to do with one soul

who is fully consecrated to him. D.L. Moody followed that up with the quote with, Lord, let me be that first soul. Let me put that to you in layman's terms. The world has yet to see what it's going to look like for a Christian who will possess everything that God has intended for them. But maybe he'll start with me. And so he says, you need to go and possess the land.

This is all yours. Wherever the sole of your foot touches, it'll all be yours. That's the promise. Or that's the land that they're supposed to take. But now we see that he gives them a promise. Notice this, because that is a serious endeavor to take on. And so verse 4, he gives them the extent of the land. Verse 5, notice what it says. No man will be able to stand before you

all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. This is the promise that he gives. Number one, he tells them, no one will be able to stand against you.

I don't know if you all really fully grasp the power of that statement, because Joshua was one of the spies that went into the land. And do you remember what the spies saw when they went into the land? First of all, they saw amazing things. They said, the land is beautiful. The produce of the land is amazing. It has more than we can imagine. There's enough room for all of us.

They spent 40 days, right, roaming around the promised land. And they said, it's amazing. Do you remember what else they saw there? They said, but there's fortified cities. And their walls are tall. And they have chariots. And there are giants living in the land. So when God tells Joshua, Joshua, who's well-known, Joshua, who's well-known, Joshua, who's well-known,

Joshua, who's well-known, Joshua, who's well-known, they're all aware of everything that he saw in the land. And as strong as Joshua's faith is, what we're going to see is that strong faith doesn't mean there's not fear. As strong as Joshua's faith is, what he really needed to hear from God is that no man will be able to stand against you. Nothing can stop you.

And I don't think we always really live in that truth as believers in Jesus Christ, that there's literally nothing that can stop us. Because the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is at work in us. Now that doesn't mean we should start trying to run through walls and things like that. But it does mean when it comes to our faith, us living in obedience and us walking in victory, nothing can stop us.

No man can stand in our way. But can I add a caveat to this that I don't think totally gets outside of the realm of biblical truth? While that's 100% true that no one can stand in your way, there is one thing that can stop you. You know what the one thing that can stop you is? You. It's no surprise to me I am my own worst enemy. Right? Because sometimes I'm the problem.

And when I say sometimes, I mean all the time. Because we are our own worst enemy. And the only one that can stand between me and all of the promises of God, the only one that can stand between me and victory, the only one that can stand between me and all of the rest and peace that God has to offer me, is me. I'm the only one that can sabotage me. There's all of that.

Because God's really clear here when he says, no one can stand against you. Matter of fact, another place in scripture tells us that there's no weapon that's formed against you that shall prosper. But man, when that flesh gets in the way, that's when we run into problems. Right? So the first promise he gives us is that no one will be able to stand in your way.

The second promise that he gives him is, just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. How many times have we heard this? This promise from God with the people that he uses. The promised presence of God. Now I want to couple that with a statement that's used about Moses. Because there's a statement that's used about Moses. God says, usually when I speak to people,

I speak to them in dreams and visions. But it's not that way with Moses. I speak to him face to face. Right? And so, that's how God was with Moses. Is that God was a friend of Moses. And so he tells him, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. In other words, the same kind of relationship that I have with Moses, I'm going to have with you. And as I was with him in the wilderness,

parting the sea, providing the manna, flowing water from a rock, doing all of the things that needed to be done, a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night, in the same way that I was with Moses, I will be with you. And again, sometimes I think because we can't physically see God, we don't always find as much comfort in his presence as we should. We don't always find as much comfort in that presence of God quite like we should. But brothers and sisters, God is with us everywhere we go.

Jesus made a promise to his disciples. He said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And it's interesting because he makes the same promise to his disciples. He makes the same promise here because the third promise that he makes is this. I will not fail you or forsake you. I love the extra translation that I believe it was, I think it was Believer's Bible Commentary

that had this. It said, literally what that means is I will never drop you or abandon you. Right? And that's what God promises to Joshua. He says, I'm never going to leave you. I'm never going to forsake you. I'm never going to drop you. I'm never going to forsake you. I'm never going to forsake you. I'm never going to forsake you. I'm never going to abandon you.

Never going to stand you up. Never going to let you down. Never going to run around or desert you. Right? I stole that from a meme on Best Christian Memes. I didn't come up with that myself. So God makes these promises to Joshua. But after he tells him about the land and after he makes the promise, he gives this fantastic exhortation. And basically it's the same exhortation three times

with a little different explanation each time. So the first exhortation that he gives is this. Be strong and courageous. Notice what it says in verse 6. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Be strong and courageous. Why? Because I've made a promise. Be strong and courageous

because you shall give the people possession of the land because it's the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. The first be strong and courageous is because you are the people of the land. God is the God who keeps his promise. I follow Greg Laurie on Instagram and they had a church. There was a Harvest Fellowship in Maui and it's been destroyed.

And so he's been on the ground and it was kind of fascinating because he took this picture of a rainbow and it's a full rainbow going over the island. It's beautiful. It's just amazing. And he put the back on it. that's captioned at the bottom. I thought it was really cool. He says, remember people of Maui, God always keeps his promises. God always keeps his promises. And I think that is so amazing.

And we can find so much strength and courage knowing that God is the God who keeps his promises. And though the world has tried to rob that symbol from us, we can remember what it always indicates. And that's that every time we see that rainbow go across the sky, we can remember that for thousands of years now, God has not flooded the entire earth in the way that he did with Noah, because he is the God who keeps his promises. He's always faithful. He's always

steady. And knowing that we can be strong and courageous. And then he goes on to give John, second exhortation. Notice what it says in verse seven, only be strong and very courageous. This one's way different because he uses the word very, only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do according to all the law, which Moses, my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to

the right or to the left so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night so that you may have success, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. The second be strong and courageous, only this time it must be strong and very courageous, has to do with the power of God's word. The power of God's word. He starts off by telling him, hey, keep the commandments.

Keep everything that Moses has commanded you. Now, I believe personally at this point in time not only did he have the 10 commandments that Moses had written but Moses we know wrote the first five books he wrote the Pentateuch and so I think he would have had the written words of Moses from creation up to the point in time of Moses's death for him to look back on I think that's going to be an important thing for us to pay attention to as he gives his exhortation but he tells them don't depart from those things don't depart from the law that Moses has given you don't turn from it to the right or to the left so that you may have success wherever you go it's interesting

because God points out that success and the word of God go hand in hand now we must for just a moment define what spiritual success looks like spiritual success does not mean that your bank account will always be full spiritual success does not mean that you will never have issues in your life spiritual success does not mean that you will never face a difficulty ever again you will always be a vehicle and everybody will love you that's not spiritual success spiritual success is the peace of God that you possess in knowing that you are living according to God's word because no matter what this world has or does no one can take away from you the peace of God that surpasses all

understanding when you are living according to God's word because in the will of God when living according to his word You can be in the most dangerous place in the world and yet be the safest person around. Because when you're living according to God's word, you live in true success. He tells him, don't depart from it to the right or to the left so that you may have success wherever you go. And then he goes on to tell him, this word shall not depart from your mouth.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. In other words, it should always be on your lips. As a matter of fact, I think one of the other translations said, this book of the law shall remain on your lips. Now I think that's kind of fascinating because that would indicate to us that where is God's word constantly flowing from for Joshua? Where should it be flowing from?

It should be flowing from his mouth, right? Now there's a couple of things to pay attention to about that. Number one, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. That means that God's word's got to be in your heart. We'll talk about that in the meditation part here in just a minute. But it tells us that we should, we should be talking about God's word everywhere we go.

You should be speaking out the word of God everywhere you go. Now there's a movement right now, and I don't agree with this movement. I don't think I'm going to end up coming back and recanting this, but I don't think I agree with this movement. And that is that within you, you have the power of life. You should speak life into people. That gives way too much power to man.

However, the word of God is powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to pierce between bone and marrow, therefore, if I am going to speak, let it be the word of God. Let it be what God's word has to say. Right? As a matter of fact, there's an amazing promise in God's word. Again, you might just write this over to the side in your Bible, Malachi chapter 3, verse 16.

I've referenced this multiple times before, but it's really important to pay attention to. Because in Malachi chapter 3, the very last book of the Old Testament, we're told that God commanded that a book of remembrance be written down. So that every time, every time the people spoke about him or his word, it would be recorded. Now, that should tell you something about speaking about what God's word has to say, that it's so important to God that he writes it down when we do it.

You know, one of the best things that you can do constantly with your kids and your grandkids is, speak to them the truth of the word of God. Speak it over and over again, as much as you possibly can. You know what the best thing you can do in your friend group is? Speak the word of God. You know what I have found? People have a much harder time. Gossiping when you start quoting Bible verses because they feel really bad about it.

Now, you might get kicked out of your friend group for a little bit because they're convicted about it. But but eventually they stop doing that. You know what else usually cuts down a lot when you start talking about God's word? Profanity gets cut down a whole lot, not only from the mouths of other people, but from the mouth of you. Do you have a problem with profanity?

Well, maybe you should start speaking God's word. Replace those words with what God's word has to say, right? Maybe every time, you want to say, maybe every time you want to ask God to damn something, you should ask God to bless something, right? God bless it! Sounds a whole lot better coming out of the mouth, right? Speak God's word. He says this word of the law should not depart from your mouth.

The second thing he tells them about God's word is you shall meditate in it day and night. You shall meditate in it day and night. Well, my gosh, where have we heard that before? Well, I read that crazy psalm to us about 300 times in our study of the Bible series, right? Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners,

nor sit in the seat of mockers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. What does he do with the law of the Lord? He meditates in it day and night. Do you guys remember what the word meditate means? The word meditate means to growl or to mutter. In other words, you're thinking about it so deeply that you end up uttering things out of your mouth without meaning to,

and not just because you're thinking about how much you want ice cream, right? But because you're thinking about what God's word has to say. And you're meditating in it. Now, if from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, then what should my heart be constantly meditating on? The word of God. Because if I'm meditating on that all the time, then it's going to change what comes out of my mouth, right?

I was sharing this with my daughters not long ago. I said, you know, when I had the hardest time controlling my heart, I was like, oh, my God, I'm going to die. I hadn't had a hard time controlling my mouth forever, right? That's just something. When I started walking with Jesus, the Lord just sort of took that away from me. There was one summer that I was working around construction guys

seven days a week for about, let's see, this was just on the Facebook machine the other day. I think it was 35 days straight that I worked. And without a single day off, 10-hour days around a bunch of guys who talked like a bunch of guys. And that was when I struggled the most. And when I let something out one time and another guy heard me, I went, okay, I have to start changing the things that I think about.

Because if that's what I'm going to hear all day, then I have to start taking in good stuff all day. And anybody knew if they worked with me, I was listening to praise music or I was listening to Bible teaching. Nobody liked to work with me, right? Because those were the two things I was, if I had any control over the radio at all, that's what we were listening to.

Because I knew if I was going to take in all that other stuff, I had to take in just as much of that stuff. Just as much of the good stuff. Meditate in it day and night. And then he tells Joshua a third thing. He says, not only are you to talk about it, not only are you to think about it, but you are to do it. So that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

Because we can't just know what it says. That doesn't do us any good. That's like looking in a mirror and walking away and forgetting what we look like. We also have to do what it says. Doers of the word. So that's the second exhortation. And it has to do with the power of God because the word of God is living and powerful and it changes who we are. As a matter of fact, I forgot I got a couple of verses up there.

I want you to turn to these. Okay? Go to 2 Timothy chapter 3.

This one should be a little familiar to you as well. 2 Timothy chapter 3.

I want you to look down at verse 14. This is Paul speaking to Timothy. 2 Timothy 3, 14. It says, You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of them, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Jesus Christ.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every, good work. Why does God tell him to do that? Because the Scripture is inspired by God and it is profitable. Go one more place. Hebrews chapter 5. Just a few pages to your right from where you just were.

Hebrews chapter 5. I want you to look down at verse 12.

It says, For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God. And you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Why is God's Word so powerful? Well, because the more we handle it, practice, the more we are able to discern good and evil. The Word of God is powerful in our lives and it gives us the success that we so deeply need. All right, back over to Joshua. Gives him a third exhortation. Switches it up a little bit. Starts off with in verse 9. Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. The third exhortation has to do with God's presence. I love the way he says it. Have I not commanded you? In other words, I know I've said this before. It's kind of what he says there. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. But you notice the next thing he told him there?

Do not tremble. Do not tremble or be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Now, I fully and wholeheartedly believe that God is not someone who wastes his words. I don't think he talks for the sake of hearing his own voice. I think when he says things, there's a specific reason why he says it. That tells me if he just told Joshua three times in a row,

be strong and courageous, and he finishes it up with do not tremble or be dismayed, what can we naturally discern what's going on with Joshua right now? Joshua was maybe a little bit trembly. And Joshua was maybe a little bit dismayed. And Joshua was maybe having a little bit of a hard time being strong and courageous. I believe Joshua was scared and God knew it.

Again, I want to point out something to you. Faith does not mean you don't have fear. And I think that's an important distinction to make in the world that we live in today. Because I see all of these T-shirts and bumper stickers that say faith over fear. And it indicates to us that if I have faith, I won't be scared. Listen, I'm here to tell you something right now.

If you're not scared sometimes, you're probably not paying attention. Fear is the most natural thing that we feel. It's actually one of the most protective things that we feel. It is something that God has built into us naturally to cause us to not do dumb things. Faith does not mean you never have any fear. Faith means you can move forward believing God in spite.

Faith means you can move forward believing God in spite. Faith means you can move forward believing God in spite. Faith means you can move forward believing God in spite. Faith means you can move forward believing God in spite. They say that there's two things that people fear the most. You know what the top two things that people fear are? Death and public speaking.

Those are the two things that people fear the most. Can I just go ahead and say I confront both of those on a pretty consistent basis. And I have to be real honest. I'm scared of speaking in public. It makes me nervous. Somebody asked me not long ago. They said, so do you, you know, I'm six years in now. You've been doing this for quite a while. Been in ministry for two years.

You still get scared when you get up and speak. I'm like, absolutely I do. I'm the most nervous person on the face of the earth. That's why I pace around, right? That's why I have a hard time standing still before church is because I'm scared. Because I get nervous to get up in front of people and talk. I get even more nervous when I do a funeral. But then if I do a wedding,

oh sweet Jesus, I'm so scared I can't stand it. Because if I stand up here in front of you and I mess up something that I say, I make fun of it. We laugh about it and we move on. You do that at a wedding, nobody laughs, right?

People don't forget that stuff, right? They just don't. They're like, hey, remember the time you said your name wrong? Yeah, that was bad. That was really bad. See, you get scared but you have to eventually go, but Lord, you got it. I'm just going to have to trust you right now. And in spite of fear, you move forward. Why? Because I know that God's with me.

Because I know that He's with me. And no matter what you're facing, no matter how scary it is, listen, it's okay to be scared. And it's even more okay to admit that you're scared. We've got to get past this idea in the world today that we've got to man up and not let anybody see what's really going on with us. That's the worst way that we can be. I have no idea how to support you in prayer.

I have no idea how to come alongside you if you never tell me what's going on in your life. Nobody else in the church passed the mind reading class, right? And so we don't know how to come alongside you if you don't let anybody in on what's going on. And if you're scared to death and you're living in fear or you're living in anxiety or you're living in the garbage of the world and you don't let any of your brothers and sisters, any of your family in on that, we can't help you.

It's okay to admit it. As a matter of fact, it's the most cathartic thing that you can do. It's the healthiest thing that you can do is let people in on it. And then remember that God is with you because He's with you wherever you go. Because He promises His presence. Well, God commissions Joshua. I thought I was going to have a bunch of time left over with this study.

I'm not. Okay, verse 10. Then Joshua commissions the people. Notice what it says. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people saying, Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people saying, Prepare provisions for yourself for within three days you are to cross this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess it

to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the Reubenites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, Remember the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you saying, The Lord your God gives you rest and will give you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan. But you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them until the Lord gives your brothers rest as He gives you. And they also possess the land which the Lord your God is giving them.

Then you shall return to your own land, and possess that which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise. The answer Joshua is saying, All that you have commanded we will do. Wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses.

Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous. So the first thing he does is he talks to the officers of the people. He says, You need to get yourselves ready. Get yourselves ready because in three days we're crossing the Jordan. And when we cross the Jordan

it's to go in and possess the land. So get the provisions ready. Get the people ready because we're moving forward. So he commissions his officers. Man, they're gung-ho. Let's do this thing, right? They're excited. But then he goes and talks to another group of people. He talks to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh. And perhaps you're asking yourself,

why does Moses take time to do this? Well, if you remember back in the book of Numbers, the last couple of things that took place right before Moses reviewed the law with them in Deuteronomy is that they fought against two different kings, Og and Sihon. Remember that? And as they fought against those two different kings on the east side of the Jordan River, those three tribes said, Hey, we kind of like it over here.

This is a really good land for her. We got a lot of cattle. Maybe we just live here. And Moses is like, what are you talking about? You're going to not go into the promised land again? No, no, no, we'll go. He says, all right, you got to go in, help your fellow Israelites, take the land. And then when that's done, you can go back and possess that part of the land.

So Joshua reminds them, hey, don't forget, don't forget what you're supposed to do. And they're like, yes, we're ready to do it. But that is sort of, sort of brings to a resounding, and this is how we'll end things, a resounding response from the people. And so they answered him, verse 16, and said, all that you have commanded us, we will do. And wherever you send us,

we will go. Boy, what a, what a boost to Joshua right now. Right? Because again, like we talked about last week, Moses had been the man, right? He had been the one that had led them, set them free, parted the Red Sea, gave the man, gave the water, everything. He'd been the one they'd been looking to all this time. And now his assistant's going to take over.

What are they going to do now? How are they going to respond? Will they accept him the way they did Moses? I think that's one of the other reasons why God said, don't be afraid. Be strong and courageous. Lead them. And of course, they respond by saying, you're the man. We'll follow you. The hardest thing about being a leader is listening to God's voice and telling the people what he told you.

And leading them. Leadership's not for the weak. And Joshua can't be weak right now. This is all that you commanded, we'll do. Then in verse 17 it says, just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Now listen, the comedic side of me kind of goes, if I'm Joshua, I'm going, maybe do just a little better than you did with Moses, right? But that generation's gone, right?

That's a different generation. As we obeyed Moses, we will obey you. Because that really is an amazing statement. Because they're saying, we view you the same way we viewed Moses. And then they go on to say, may the Lord be with you as he was with Moses. And one last statement is this. As a matter of fact, if anybody rebels, he should be put to death. Joshua, we're with you 100%.

And as a sidebar, I just want to say, I've experienced this. And there's nothing that builds the confidence of a young leader that's pretty nervous to put on those shoes and to have God's people say, we're with you 100%. And it happened for me here. And I can't thank God enough for it. That the hearts of the people of Calvary Chapel did what they did. He goes on to say,

only Moses or only Joshua be strong and courageous. Don't be scared. You lead the way God tells you to lead. We're with you. And that sets the stage for what is going to be an amazing book of victory, a couple of defeats, but ultimately the power of God giving the people rest and victory over their enemies. Would you guys bow with me? Father, we come before you.

And Lord, I thank you for the example. The example of Joshua. And Lord, I thank you for your word. And so Lord, as we go out from here, may we be strong and courageous. Lord, in those areas where we fear, may we know that we have the power of your word. May we understand that we have your presence. And may we understand that you keep your promises. And Lord, may your word be the first thing on our lips.

The thing that rolls around in our minds and in our hearts. And Lord, may your word be the guide for our life. Father, keep us close to you, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.