Joshua: A Man of Obedience

Such as I set the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart received my sight. As you come in and find your seat, we’re going to sing our call to worship, number 61, verses 1 and 2, “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us.” Words are on your screen. Stan will sing. He tender cares, we need more disciples to prepare. All the saints in Jesus. Morning, morning. Welcome out on this Sunday morning. We’re going to give you a heads up right now. You spring forward next week. Already the clock changes, so you remember that. Also next week we got Baptist Men’s Day, so the men are going to be responsible for the breakfast and singing in the choir next Sunday. So that’ll be a treat.

I’ll give you a little bit of background. We just finished February, and we had a G. H. Newton scholarship fund that we sent to the Baptist College. So I’ll give you a short story long. Preacher Newton, my grandfather, was here for a bunch of years, and in the old church he gave one of the fellows a chance to preach. He was 14 years old. The name was John Hamrick. John Hamrick went on to be the pastor at Central Square and then the first president of Baptist College. And so they started a scholarship fund that we send money to in February because that was my grandfather’s birthday, so they kind of chose that month. So we’ve been taking donations, and then we send that money to them, and it goes to students that are trying for some religious vocation. And so we generally get a note from them every year.

Well, now we’re in March. We’ve got Easter offerings, so we’ve got another opportunity to give back to God. And so we’ve got the bulletins and the notices and so forth on the back. And we also have a little video we’re going to show this morning in just a minute. We’ve got any prayer requests? Anybody else? Pastor John. All right. Yes, sir. Very good. That’s good to keep in prayers. Anybody else? All right, let’s have a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to come here today, to come here to worship You. We ask You to put Your special hand upon those mentioned here today and those that we are not even aware about. Lord, thank You again for our opportunity to be a witness for You, and help us and give us opportunities that we may be examples and go out into this world. Lord, we know there are others that could use our touch to just kind of lead us that way. Stand behind the pastor, Lord, as he brings us a message. We ask these things in Thy name. Amen.

For almost 100 years, in big cities with 100 skyscrapers and tiny towns with one stoplight, on college campuses and Native American reservations, churches too many to count, hundreds of thousands of men and women and boys and girls have made hundreds of thousands of life-changing decisions. Almost none of them knew her name. And yet, she was there. Annie Armstrong lived more than 100 years ago. Only this one picture of her survives. The history could have easily forgotten her. But Annie Armstrong is worth remembering. In the late 1800s, when most women had no voice, Annie was one of the first to speak up. First, for the urban poor in her hometown of Baltimore. And then, for Southern Baptist missionaries around the world who desperately needed support. It was for these people that she helped start the National Women’s Missionary Union as its first executive leader. She gave women a platform in their local church and in ways that they’d never done before. These women helped focus Southern Baptist attention on the hurting and the lost and the missionaries trying to reach them. Annie wrote letters, 18,000 in just one year. And she traveled across America, encouraging missionaries and inspiring churches to pray, to give, to act. She worked long hours, paid her own expenses, and refused to accept a salary. And in the darkest days of the Depression, right before she died, an offering was named after her. Today, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering helps missionaries in the U.S. and Canada start new churches and meet needs through Compassion Ministries. Over the years, Southern Baptists have given more than $1 billion to that offering. And 100% of it, every penny has gone straight to the mission field. There’s still work left to do. A need is bigger than ever. And that’s why, even though she lived more than a century ago, and even though only one picture of her survives, Annie Armstrong’s influence lives on. Because today in North America, just as it’s been from the beginning, anywhere a missionary is sent, every time a new church is born, anytime someone gives to her offering, so that a lost person might be found, Annie is there. So again, those offering envelopes are in the bag back there. You can donate through Realm, and we’ll be showing more videos like that throughout the month. So we’re going to continue to see that.

Sing. All Power, the Hail of Jesus’ Name is our next song. It’s actually 202, not 200. That’s my being. But the words are on your screen and you can stand and we’ll sing.

Got a picture here, okay, which is me about 15 years ago. What does it look like I’m doing? I’m close to it, that’s for sure. Can you even think? Looking at a rock. Well, it’s a rock wall is what it is. I’m actually praying and it’s in Israel. They call it the Wailing Wall. Y’all ever heard of the Wailing Wall? Well, you’re about to hear about it today.

So, what’s at the Wailing Wall is this wall was there when Jesus was there. It’s in Jerusalem. So, Jesus would walk by this wall. It’s on a place that was called the Temple Mount and it was one of the big walls that went around the temple. So, it’s a pretty sacred place. And it’s, like I said, it’s over 2,000 years old. Now, here’s the name. It’s, it’s, and it was, you know, it was on the western side of the city.

So, the neat thing about this wall is when people pray at it, which is what I’m doing here, they would take slips of paper and they said, I mean, thousands and thousands of little slips of paper would kind of go into the wall and they think it’s kind of a special place. And, and there’s always hundreds and hundreds of people around it. I mean, all day long. It’s really kind of, it’s really a neat place.

And, but here’s the thing. Do I, do, I mean, I pray, I just want to pray there because I was there. But do you need a place like this to pray? No, you don’t. Where can you pray at? Anywhere. Okay. What would be anywhere besides just anywhere? Where? You can play at school. Yeah. Well, if you want to, if you’re kind of sitting there soaking and just relaxing. Yeah. You could do it right now. Yeah. Absolutely. How about even when you’re driving? Yeah. See, I would, yeah, that’s, that’s important. Don’t close your eyes. That’s true.

Why, by the way, why do we do that? Why do we close our eyes? Very good. So, you don’t get distracted. Yeah. You know, when, when, when the Jewish folks pray, they usually rock. You know why? It keeps them awake because a lot of times when we, when we, when we pray, we can almost tend to go sleep, don’t we? And, unless it’s a real short prayer.

So yeah, you can pray anywhere. And I want to just encourage you to do that. And, and here’s, there’s a verse in Philippians. It’s chapter four. It says, don’t be anxious. I mean, so don’t worry about a lot, but make your requests be made known to God, you know, pray and, and with thanksgiving. So you’re kind of expecting it. And He says, and then the peace of God, which defies all understanding will be on you.

And so what’s really neat about that is when you pray, just be real, just talk to Him. Like we’re talking like you answer me, which is really kind of neat. Just talk. And, but let me ask you this is praying. Just always asking for stuff. Why not? You’re right. Why not? Well, think about it. Is it why, why would you sometimes when you pray, not always ask for something. Do you think you might want to just get things right with Him and maybe say, God, I’m sorry for this. Or maybe sometimes it’s just when you pray with Him, just listen, you know, pray kind of works both ways. And sometimes God will give you some thoughts and put something on your heart that you weren’t thinking about. And so that’s prayer too.

See, prayer is not, it’s kind of like conversation goes both ways, doesn’t it? Sometimes I ask you a question and you come back at me. Prayer is the same way. So always think. See, you ain’t got to be at a whaling wall, even though that’s a neat place. There’s some neat things going on there, but you, but, but you can pray everywhere.

And when you’re driving, yeah, don’t close your eyes. Okay. That’s a good idea. Okay. Let’s pray right now. Father, thank you. Thank you for always listening and, and realizing that prayer is just talking to you and we can do it anywhere, but help us to do it everywhere. And even if it’s in a bathtub. And so, help us and always, maybe not always talk. Maybe sometimes we need to listen to and hear what you got to say to us. Thank you for these kids and, and let them have just a great time now in your son’s name we pray. Amen. Thanks guys.

The offertory will be number 422, Surely Goodness and Mercy. So, Sam will sing. The choir is going to bring a special, The Old Rugged Cross. So if you know it, which I would assume everybody does, you’re welcome to sing with us if you want. This is part of our kind of easy series we’re doing where, all of our specials will tie into obviously the story of, of the resurrection.

So, Turn Me Into a Book of Continual Study, Agents of Change. Sometimes we’ve got to do some drastic things for change. Talked about Abraham first. He had to have that buy-in. I mean, to leave everything and not know where you’re going. I wonder how long that would have lasted. I’m thinking if I’d told my wife, like I said, honey, God’s got us going. I said, well, where? I don’t know. He just said go. How long that would have lasted. Then we talked about David and how David had to come to a mindset where he had to repent of sin. Everything’s going great in his life up to that point. And then even as Christians, you know, the followers of the Lord, we sometimes do stupid stuff. Casualties with that, with sin, and how God brought him back.

Today we’re going to look at a guy that I think is what an Old Testament professor in seminaries called one of the unsung heroes of Scripture. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t know how I’d want to follow certain people. I mean, think about it. Who’s going to be the guy that follows Nick Saban at Alabama? I would like to be that guy. I mean, he’s brought, you know, the time he’s been there, he’s brought six national championships. Who wants to follow that? Who wanted to follow Bear Bryant when he was the head coach at Alabama? Anybody remember who that was? A guy named Ray Perkins who played for him and was an All-American. But Ray only lasted four years. Who wanted to follow Billy Graham or D.L. Moody or Adrian Rogers at the Great Bellevue Church in Memphis? Who wants to follow that? I mean, think about it. And now you’ve got a guy that’s going to have to follow Moses. Who wants to do that? They could. Wow.

You know, when I was in seminary, I had a, like I said, I had a professor by the name of Dan Kent. Dr. Kent was, he was a relatively younger guy. But in fact, it was a first class. When I first walked into seminary, that was about the first class I took. It was an Old Testament survey. And he made me love the Old Testament. We went, we went from Genesis to Malachi. And that’s the man. I don’t know how we did it, but we got, we got through it. Some guys don’t get out of the first five books. We got through all of it. And he made me just fall in love. And he talked about unsung heroes. Samuel would have been an unsung hero of the Old Testament. But Joshua is just someone kind of special.

So, so if you’ve got your Bibles, we’re in Joshua chapter one. And we’re going to read the first nine verses. So if you’ll stand with me for the reading of God’s word and honor of it. And I thank you for doing that.

Now it came about after the death of Moses, a 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 the 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. And 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. And just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. 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 when 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 that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. And 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.

Please be seated. And thank you again for standing. Isn’t it good that the Lord comes to you and says, be strong and courageous? He says it three times in this passage. I like Him to repeat things like that.

So who is Joshua? I mean, who is this Joshua? One of these unsung heroes of Scripture. I mean, when we think of Joshua, what do we think of? A little song. Remember the kid’s song? Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho. Remember that? That’s about kind of where we got Joshua.

He was from the tribe of Ephraim. He was one of the 12 tribes that had gone into the promised land, and only one of the two that pretty much said, look, I’ve seen what God’s done. We need to believe Moses. We need to go. You know, so apparently he wasn’t, you know, weighed by 10 other guys going, we don’t need to be going in there. Him and a guy by the name of Caleb sat there and went in there and wanted to go in there.

He was a son of a guy named Nun. Got to remember, both of them were born in Egypt, so probably when his daddy came home at night, he’d been working doing bricks or picking straw or stomping in the mud or been doing something all day long and probably bloodied from the taskmasters of Egypt’s whips.

What does his name mean? Well, in Hebrew, the name Moses gave him was Yehoshua, formerly Hosea. And Yehoshua actually means Yahweh is salvation. If you were to try to do it, transliterate it into the English from the Greek, you know what word you get? Jesus.

In Numbers 11:28, he becomes the attendant as a teenager to Moses. So for the 40 years that they were dinking in the desert, Moses has an assistant, and his name is Joshua. Can you imagine sitting under Moses most of your life? You know, I mean, I’m thinking if I want to sit under a guy and be mentored by a guy, I’m thinking Moses would be the guy.

In Exodus 17:8 through 16, when Moses is fighting, you know, as they’re in the desert and the wilderness, and they come against the Amalekites, a battle they should never have won. Moses goes out there with his staff, and as long as he can hold that staff up and keep his arms up, what happens? The battle goes great, but then Moses gets tired. So they put, you know, they put a stone under him for him to sit on. Moses still gets tired. Moses isn’t a young chicken anymore, so he would, Hur gets on one side and Aaron gets on the other, and they hold his arms up, but who’s fighting the battle? Who’s leading the battle? It’s Joshua.

When Moses goes against the Ten Commandments, Exodus 24, do you realize he doesn’t go alone? He looks at Aaron and all the leadership of Israel, and he says, now we’re going to go up there. So while we’re gone, you know who he takes? He takes Joshua.

When God puts him in the cleft of the rock, when Moses says in Exodus 33, he looks at Him and He says, Moses says, I want to see You. See some burning bush? God says, and God says, okay. But He just kind of puts him in the cleft and walks by him. You know who’s just around the corner? Joshua.

And then in Exodus 33:11, the Bible talks about when they came down from the mountain. Where did Joshua want to stay? He wanted to Stay in Moses’ tent. And what happened in Moses’ tent? God showed up. God would have conversations with Moses. You know who was in the tent with him? Joshua. I’m thinking, wow, what a resume, huh? But how do you follow that? How do you follow a guy like that?

At the end of Deuteronomy, when Moses dies, when he goes up to the mountain and God says, let me show you the land. You can’t enter it, but let me show it to you. Takes Joshua with him before that. And God sits down and Joshua is commissioned. And it’s God that comes to Joshua and says, I’ve chosen you. When they would go to Joshua and say, what gives you the right to lead us? So I said, God told me. And I’m scared to death.

Moses, the Bible says at the end of Deuteronomy, he’s buried in the valley of Moab. We don’t know where that is. God picked him up, took him there, and just buried him there. Now Moses is gone. How do you follow that act? The Bible says he was the greatest Old Testament prophet ever. The only guy that probably comes close to him would be John the Baptist in the New Testament. How do you follow that? God tells him to follow. God comes to him.

So what we’re going to see in the life of Joshua, we’re going to see four distinct character traits showing why God was able to use him. Number one is this. He was able to turn his back to the past. I think that sometimes is a hard thing for us to do. There’s nothing wrong with learning from the past. There’s nothing wrong with realizing we’ve done something good, bad, whatever, and gaining some insight. But we don’t need to live there.

Can you imagine trying to follow? I mean, God can say, well, Moses would have done it this way. This is how we did it under Moses. This is how things are supposed to be. Look what God says to him. Verse two, he looks at Joshua and he says these words, Moses, my servant is dead. Don’t be looking for Moses.

You ever watch Top Gun? You know, and you got the Tom Cruise character and he’s in the cockpit. Remember what he says? Talk to me, goose. You know, he’s talking about, you know, the old guy, the weapons guy that was his best friend who’s died. Talk to me, goose. I can see Joshua. Talk to me, Moses. Moses, talk to me. God’s going, Moses is dead. Joshua, Moses is dead. It’s time to move on.

And if you go to Deuteronomy chapter 31 and God’s there talking to him and said, Moses, this is, we’re going to, Joshua’s going to be the guy that follows you. And then in that same chapter, right after he tells him he’s going to be in charge and that Moses is about to die and he’s 120 years old, he said, but let me tell you what’s going to happen when you enter the promised land. When you enter the promised land, he says, all these, so you thought that they were disobedient to me while Moses was alive. They’re going to be worse when they enter the promised land. How would you like to be that leader? Not only do you have to follow Moses, but you know, going in, they’re going to be disobedient.

In fact, the entire chapter of Deuteronomy chapter 32 is Moses writing a song that the Israelite people had to learn. They’re talking about how disobedient they were going to be. So how would you like that? Well, buddy, it’s not going to be a cakewalk. These people are going to be disobedient. They’re going to get into the land of Canaan.

Do you know why Canaanites were the way they were? If you go back to Genesis chapter 9, Noah has, you know, started to settle in and he started to build vineyards. It’s after the flood. He’s got his three sons. You know, there’s Ham, there’s Shem, and there’s Japheth, okay? And so he’s got his three sons and there’s that one scene where he gets drunk one night and he kind of exposes himself in his tent. And his son Ham comes in there and Ham comes in and Ham sees his dad and then walks out and it’s almost like in disrespect, talks to his brothers who are not like Ham. They walk in, they kind of cover themselves so they don’t see their dad. They walk in backwards, they cover their dad up and they get him right. But because Ham acted the way he did, remember Noah puts a curse, not on Ham, but on Ham’s son Canaan, which is where the Canaanite name comes from. All those that live in that area. Now, why would God put a curse? Because God, as He looks down the corridors of history, in advance, sees what these people are going to be like. They’re going to do child sacrifice. They’re not going to worship God like their brothers did and like their dad did. They’re going to be an evil people. And so that is what is waiting for them.

How would you like to be Joshua at that point in history? Going, okay, I’ll be in charge, but do I got to have all those problems right off the bat? Well, yeah. We can’t live in the past. You know, there are churches and Christians that live in the past. Sometimes it’s about, we can’t forgive. Do you know why you forgive? You forgive to move on. It doesn’t justify the sin that someone did against you. It doesn’t justify who they are and what they’re about and how they react and their character. It’s for you. When you forgive, you release. And when, and when Joshua now looks at his past, he says, I’m released.

These people dunked in the, you know, just kind of hung around the wilderness for 40 years because of their disobedience. They’re not going in. Their offspring’s going in. Caleb and Joshua are going in, but nobody else. And so we’re going to leave the past behind and we’re going to go forward.

Second is this. He showed that if you trust God, God will trust you. Joshua had trusted God his whole life. How can he not be around a guy like Moses and not be affected? Let me ask you this. Who do you hang around? And the people that hang around you, how are they affected? Were you like a Moses to a Joshua? I love what, what Moses, I mean, what the Lord says to him. Look at verse three, every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given to you in advance. They haven’t even crossed to Jordan yet from the wilderness and this Lebanon. And He goes all the way down. Verse five, no man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. And just as I have been with most Moses, Joshua, I will be with you. I will not fail you, and I will not forsake you. You be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to the fathers to give them. I’m saying, if I need to hear anything, just as I was with Moses, I will be with you. I want to tell you this, told Sauldam Baptist Church, just as God was with Moses, He’ll be with you. That’s how He works.

Joshua had trusted Him his whole life. And Joshua had trusted Him in the little stuff. I mean, he was the attendant of Moses. Moses needed something. Joshua went and got it. Wherever Moses went, whether Joshua wanted to go, he went. He was disobedient. And because he was faithful in the little things, God knew he would be faithful in the big things. See, that’s my thing with Christians. We want God to give us big stuff or do things for us. And God said, be faithful in the little things. Because the little things are just as important to me as the big things.

First of all, let me just share something with you. All things to God are little things. I mean, if He can create the universe with just the sound of His voice, you do not think He can take care of us? And when it starts to carry, it’s always from the inside out for the Christian. It’s not the outside in. It’s the inside out. A guy named Bob Nelson said this. You get the best efforts from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by lighting a fire within them. Joshua always had that fire in him. Moses helped put it there. I bet his dad probably helped put it there. God helped put it there. God pretty much did. He was willing to trust the Lord.

Number three, he never hesitated in his obedience. You know why? Because it was never about him. Joshua is going to do whatever the Lord tells him to do. Before they go in, He’ll say, you take these so many days and you get the people, you get them to repent. You tell them to get their act together. It was never about him. You know, when that switch comes on in our Christian walk, life changes. This Last Thursday evening, I did a funeral of a good friend of mine. He was 92. A guy named Harry Gray. Some of you may or may not have known him. Harry was an avid golfer. Harry was one of those guys that golfed. He could golf seven days a week, literally. There were 30 days in a month. He was golfing 30 days a month. I mean, there were times where he, I mean, more than 365 days a year, he golfed sometimes 400 times a year or more.

Now, his wife is one of the most precious ladies I’ve ever met. Laura Ann is just, she’s just special. Loves the Lord, was always in church. And I’ll never forget, Harry came to church one Sunday morning. You know why? Because it was raining and he couldn’t be on the golf course. So he showed up at church, sat in the back and saw this beautiful wife of his singing in the choir. It dawned on him. It’s like the switch came on. He said, look at that beautiful thing in that choir. I gave up coming and hearing her sing, coming from being in church, because I just got to golf one more day.

After that day, Harry never got, you know, he didn’t quit golfing, but he didn’t golf on Sunday. And because all of a sudden he started coming on Sunday, he started hearing God’s word. And as he was coming on Sunday, God was starting to convict him. And I’ll never forget, one day after church, he came to me and he says, Al, I was kind of raised in another denomination and stayed in Tennessee. And I can’t get in. I don’t have any, can find any records on them. I’ve tried to call them. They got no records where they said, would you baptize me? And at the age of 76, I baptized Harry Gray.

Let me tell you what Harry started after that. The day after I baptized him, that next week, he started coming on Wednesday nights. Then he started coming on Sunday school and Sunday morning and Sunday nights. And every time the church did something, you know, Harry was there. All because it started to rain one Sunday morning. The light. He just realized that it was not about him. It was about Him. His life changed. He became one of my head ushers. And he started doing the sign out in front of the church every week. Doing both sides, you know, with a different message. And he would just do it. He just wanted to be involved. It was like he was making up for lost time.

See, with Joshua, it was never about him. With Harry, it was never about him. With us, it’s got to be about Him. Because without Him, life’s tough. I like John Wayne. He made a thing. He says, life is tough. That’s tougher if you’re stupid. The truth of that. Sometimes we can be spiritually stupid. When it’s all about us and what we like and what we want and where we go and whether we’re going to be obedient or not.

And God looks at Joshua here and He says, He says, three times, you be strong and courageous. I’ll take care of the rest. See, you’re going to lead them into a land and possess vineyards you didn’t plant. You’re going to have wells you didn’t dig. You’re going to possess cities you didn’t build. And I’m going to give them to you if you’ll be obedient.

And the last thing is this. His life showed that respect follows consistency if you’re doing it God’s way. You know, Moses even showed grace at his death. Can you imagine how all that Moses had to endure? He leads them out of Egypt. He does all these miracles for them. They’re never appreciative. If it starts getting tough, they’re saying, you should have just left us in Egypt. And Joshua gets to see all this. You know, Moses, because he gets angry that one time and he strikes the rock, which means he dishonored God in the face of all those folks and didn’t obey God. God says, you can’t go in. Moses had all this kind of stuff. And he has to deal with these crazy people. I’m thinking, if you can deal with the Israelites, you can deal with anybody, especially the Lord. Look what he’s got to put up with.

And yet Moses, right before he dies, blesses every tribe of Israel. And Joshua sees that. Where Moses could have nailed them and been a jerk. And he doesn’t do that. And Joshua comes with that grace. It’s amazing when we get things right with God, what God does with us. How many of you have heard about the Asbury College or University Revival? Do you know how it started? February 3rd, 1970, this year, a revival breaks out on the campus. Dean Custer Reynolds is scheduled to speak. And for some reason, God just comes on Him and says, well, maybe you don’t need to speak today. Why don’t you just take some testimonies? And a young man walks up the aisle and just shares what’s going on in his life. And he starts to confess sin. And then another one comes. Well, they end up, you know, breaking for class. But there were students in there that didn’t want to leave. And the choir that had sung that morning in chapel didn’t want to leave. And all of a sudden, all of a sudden, guys are getting out of their next class. And they still hear singing going on in the chapel. And all of a sudden, more students are coming in. And more students are starting to confess. And all things start to happen. And all of a sudden, people are just feeling like the Holy Spirit’s there. And all of a sudden, they cancel classes for a week. And all of a sudden, a revival breaks out. And thousands start coming. Every state of the country starts showing up at this chapel. And it runs not just for one week, but it runs for two weeks. 24-7. And people are getting right with God. God. And people are all of a sudden sitting there going, you know, I have walked away from the Lord. Now I want to get back to Him. It’s what we want, what God wants us to do.

This past week, I was, I got a phone call from a good friend of mine. His name’s Roland Dan. Roland and I co-pastored a pretty good-sized church outside of Savannah in Springfield, Georgia. And he’d love Roland. Roland’s about six foot five. He’s, I mean, just a big old giant of a man. And he’s what, I’m more of a teacher preacher. He’s kind of what I call the old country sweatslinger. Roland’s going to get up there and just, but just a wonderful man. And Roland was telling me a story about a church that somehow we got back on some things that I’d forgotten that he’d shared with me. And he told me a story about, about a couple. They were in the choir. And, and one day at church, he was talking to, I guess, one of the men in the church and was talking about the guy. And he said, yeah, and, and, and his wife and the guy go, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. That’s not his wife. And he goes, what do you mean that’s not his wife? He said, well, it’s not. They never got married. They just live together. And he goes, but they’re singing in the choir. And he says, well, I know, but nobody wants to say anything.

So Roland made an arrangement. He went over their house and he just shared with them. He says, you know, God, because they were professed, born again Christians. He said, you know, God’s people don’t need to live like that. Plus, here’s the deal. I want you in the service and I want you to hear the word, but you’re singing in the choir, leading worship where everybody sees you on Sunday. He said, I can’t, I can’t let you do that. Well, they got ticked. I mean, they got mad. I mean, who are you to judge? And, and that’s even been said to me. And, but, and so they left the church. Mama went, went, his mama went to the church and she didn’t like that either. So, and it wasn’t a big town. It was a little town in Georgia and wasn’t a big, let me tell you that this church had been around for 160 years, all the way back to the 1800s, much like this church. And in 160 years, they’d had 81 pastors. So that ought to tell you something. In fact, Roland was there like seven years before he came to the church that we co-pastored. And, and that was the longest tenure that anybody had ever been at a church. But she went around town and just, she just, just, she said, oh, my name was Mud. And what Roland would do is every day, every time he’d go into church, the guy had a store right there in town. He’d swing by the store and just check on him, see how he was doing, say, hey, how are things going? Every time he did that. About a year later, he gets a phone call and it’s this guy. And the guy goes, you know, Roland, you were right. Shouldn’t have been doing that. And so how do I make that, how do I make that right with the Lord and the church? I said, well, first thing you need to do is get, come to church and get on your knees and just confess and get things right with the Lord. And because it was an open sin, he says, we need to repent openly, which is pretty hard.

You know why, you know why folks don’t confess sin openly in a church? Because of how they’re treated sometimes, because of what people say. Think people, you know, this should be the body of Christ. We should be able to do things and, and have people embrace us and help us work us through it and walk us down that, that road together. But he says, I would like to see if you would repent for the church.

That next Sunday morning, a couple came down the aisle, came up front, got on their knees and repenting for God. Then they got up and they turned around. You imagine what kind of courage that took? What did God tell Joshua? Be strong and courageous. They turned around and repented for the church. You know what happened that night? It was a wedding that night. You know who showed up? Everybody in the church and they celebrated.

Let me tell you what church is about and what I learned from Joshua. And if, if we’ll do these things, if, look what it says here. He says, he talks about this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, 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. But it takes to be strong and courageous to do that.

You know where Moses had the book of the law placed? He placed it right next to the Ark of the Covenant. You know what the Ark of the Covenant represented? It represented the presence of God. That’s why when they went into battle, you know what went first? The Ark of the Covenant. You know what was in the Holy of Holies? The Ark of the Covenant. And this book was right there. Today is our Bible, but then it was, it was the law of Moses.

When we get things right, God takes care of us. When we decide that we’re not going to turn from the, to the left or to the right, but we’re going to go God’s way, the obedient way, Joshua’s way. When you do it God’s way, it takes care of you. What this life of Joshua is about. That’s why he’s so special. God has picked every one of you to do something. Not to lead the people across the Jordan into the land of Canaan, but He’s picked you to go where God, where you walk, in the neighborhoods that you live, in the circles that are around your life, your universe, and to make a difference. And your life needs to be of the character that you don’t go to the left or the right, but you go God’s way in obedience. Then God blesses.

See, it’s also about God fulfilling His promise. Did He not do that? We winded up this morning. What I just want to share is this. There are things in our lives we just need to say, God, I just need to give, get, give it to You. I need to get rid of that. I want to walk in obedience. I want to be like a Joshua. And I want to, I want to see clearly what You want me to do because I want to affect people in my life. I want to make a difference. Whoever comes through my doors, whoever comes into my life, I want to see something that’s special.

Father, I don’t know how You follow Moses. Joshua did a pretty good job. He learned from a guy who followed You. Moses wasn’t perfect. Joshua won’t be perfect. But if our heart and what we want to do with our lives is obedience, we can be strong and courageous. We can take advantage of opportunities that You bring into our life. If we’ll do the things that You want us to do, if we’ll just get in Your word and we’ll meditate it on day and night, then we’ll have a, we don’t have a relationship with You, but we’ll know what You want us to do and we’ll learn more about You. Then You’ll bless us beyond all measure. Then every place our foot will touch, give to us. Maybe not in ownership, but you’ll walk right with us. Father, help us to be more like Him. And whatever this morning we need to do to get right with You, help us to do that. In Your Son’s name we pray. I need you’ll come. All right, we’ll stand and sing number 324.

You’d have an opportunity to maybe be a Moses to a Joshua, and you’ll have a chance just to share what’s going on in your life. But remember this: God goes with you wherever you go. He does. You know, every place that your foot hits, God’s with you. That’s why you can be strong and courageous. That will be my prayer for you this week. Remember, again, you may be the only Jesus someone sees.

Don’t forget Wednesday nights. We’re kind of in the middle of the case for Heaven and Hell, and it’s with Lee Strobel, and that’s been good. And we’re getting fed, too, with this thing. So, yeah, so, you know, you tell Baptists you got food, and everybody shows. So that’s a wonderful thing. So I think we got subs this week or something, I think. Yeah. I don’t know if you can go wrong with that.

So just, you know, share with someone what God’s already done in your life. Let’s go to Lord in prayer as we’re dismissed.

Father, thank You. Thank You for loving us. Thanks for walking life with us. Thanks for putting Christian mentors in our life. Thank You for my stars. Let’s just talk about the cross and saving us. Thanks for doing all that. Thanks for loving us so much that the God of this universe would want to have a relationship with me and us personally. My stars. That just blows my mind. And, Lord, help us realize that there are people out there who need the very same thing. They’re alone. They don’t know where to go. They’re making bad decisions. It can be changed. Help us just be obedient. We ask this in a name that’s above every name, the awesome name of Jesus. And all God’s people said, Amen. Thank you, folks.