Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to the Grace Church Messages Podcast! These are the weekly Sunday messages from Grace Church in the greater Cleveland, Ohio area. Listen to biblical teaching from our weekend services to help you understand Scripture, follow Jesus in your everyday life, and grow in your faith. Perfect for the morning commute, the treadmill, or wherever life happens.
If you don't know me, I'm Josiah. I'm the young adults pastor here at Grace, and it's an honor to be with you today. Also, isn't it great to be a church in multiple places? I want to welcome the Olmsted Falls campus, the Lorraine campus. We also have our Spanish campus that meets at noon upstairs. So such a blessing to be part of a church in multiple places at once.
Well, in this season of great transition for our church family, Pastor Sam and some of us on the ministry staff thought it would be helpful and encouraging if we finished up our promises series and followed it up with a series on entering in to what God has for us. Entering into promises. Fulfill. We'll be focusing on the story of Joshua over the next several weeks, specifically because Joshua carried a community through a very important transition from the wilderness wandering into the Promised Land.
Now, I want to be clear. We're not trying to compare our transition right now to the nation of Israel. That breaks down quickly from their wilderness, the promised land transition. That's not really exactly what we're trying to do. What we're trying to do is to look at how to live faithfully in a time of transition. And what better place than the Bible to find how to live faithfully during a time of transition?
So we'll be looking at the themes and this story of Joshua, like, how do we embrace courage and take steps of faith and celebrate God's victories and deal with defeats and fight the right battles the right way, and fully step into God's promises? As we are in the midst of lots of changes. There's so much we can learn from Joshua's story.
I hope we all really lean in over these next several weeks. I want you to picture a scene with me from Deuteronomy 31 six. All of Israel is gathered together after they've wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and they've gathered at the shore of the Jordan River. It's emotionally charged moment because their leader, their beloved leader Moses, who has led them out of Egypt, who had spoken face to face with God, who received the commandments, who took them through battles and through the threat of starvation and thirst, and who had walked faithfully with them through the desert.
Their leader, Moses, was speaking his departing words to them. He wasn't going to be able to enter the Promised Land with them. So he was speaking some of his last words. So there was grief, and there was sadness in the air. But at the same time, the air was charged with, excitement and intimidation because they were about to enter into something exciting and scary at the same time.
They were about to cross the Jordan River and take hold of the promised land that God had promised for them. They were going to enter into God's promises, fulfilled. They'd be entering into the unknown with courage. They'd be entering into a land filled with both blessing and resistance. They'd enter into trust when the details weren't all clear, and they'd be entering into the next chapter of God's plan for them as a nation on these shores of the Jordan, at the threshold between two seasons.
Moses spoke to the crowd. This crowd that he loved so much, and he exhorts the whole community to be strong and courageous. Now stay there at that scene, because one of the people in that crowd was Joshua, the next person who was going to lead the nation of Israel. And Moses cause of Joshua out of that crowd and brings him up in front of the whole nation.
And he looks Joshua in the eyes and says, be strong and courageous. And later in that same chapter, God calls Moses and Joshua to the tent of meeting, where God would speak to the people, and they're standing there in the presence of God, and in the presence of God. It says, the Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.
And from that place of thick, powerful presence of God, God's voice speaks to Joshua. And you know what he says? He says, be strong and courageous. And then we flipping our Bibles a few pages over to Joshua chapter one, and the people are there at the shore of the Jordan River, ready to enter in. This is right after Moses had passed, and they had mourned for Moses for 30 days.
And really, they're ready to go in now. And right before they go in, God speaks to Joshua again, and he says, be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous. Three more times. God's voice to Joshua. And then the people rather rally around Joshua, and they pledged their allegiance to him. They say, we're going to follow you.
And then they follow it up with be strong and courageous. Seven times Joshua is instructed to be strong and courageous. Why did he need all of these reminders? And how does one go about obeying a command like this? This is we're going to talk about this morning. First, let me tell you a little story. When my wife and I were younger, we took a trip to Florida.
We wanted to see the sights, but we didn't have a lot of money, so we thought it'd be fun to take this cheap canoe trip that we found. We pictured a guided tour down a luxurious river. Well, we got to this remote place out in the middle of nowhere and realized that it was not going to be a guided canoe trip.
We were on our own. It was not a very luxurious place. There was definitely going to be no relaxing on our little voyage. We walked up timidly to the little shed in the parking lot where we moved the address that we found, and this lady was there, ready to take our money and get us a canoe. And as we were making that exchange, she leaned in and she said, you're going to have to pay close attention because nobody else is going to be out there with you.
You're all by yourself, and you're going to have to when you're going to see a Y in the river, make sure you go left and you're going to see a little red sign. Make sure that you exit there because there's no other exit for miles. We won't find you. And so it dawned on my wife and I that it was very possible that we would be lost in Florida that day.
So we're getting in the river, and she's putting the canoe in for us, and we're about to step in the canoe. And she says, oh, and one more thing. Don't mess with the alligators, and they won't mess with you. And it dawned on us that it was very possible that we would also be eating in Florida that day.
And so we had a choice. Do we courageously step into this river of unknowns, or do we just turn around and go home and always wonder what it would have been like to go down that canoe trip?
Well, my wife, to her credit, she said, let's go. I said, yeah, it was cheap. We might as well. And so we got in the canoe, and for the next two hours all we saw were alligators. I think we saw 50 alligators in a two mile stretch. Sometimes you'd see their eyes and their nose swimming towards you. Canoes are low.
They'd swim towards us and then go under. And they were underneath our boat somewhere. It was terrifying. One time the river came to a very narrow point, and the only way to get through was to go through this narrow point. But there was a 12ft alligator guarding that little opening. We get a feel its breath on our neck as we close our eyes and glided by.
But we didn't mess with the alligators. They didn't mess with us and we lived to tell about it. Going into the unknown requires courage to face uncertainty, to take calculated risks, to move into uncharted territory. All this stuff of adventure and growth and forward motion. It all takes courage. In the story of Joshua entering the Promised Land. It's a great courage for Joshua to lead the people, so much so that he needed to be reminded these seven times to be strong and courageous.
As I was studying the story of Joshua, I came across a few authors who speculated that maybe Joshua was a pretty timid guy. Maybe that's why he needed to be reminded so, so many times to be strong and courageous. But I found that really hard to believe for a couple of reasons. In Exodus 17, Moses selected Joshua to lead the military, and he did a great job.
So it'd be an odd choice for a naturally timid and scared guy to be the one chosen to lead the military. Then, in numbers 13, Moses tells all of Israel to select one person from each tribe to go in and spy out the Promised Land, and the tribe of Ephraim chose Joshua. Again, it'd be a strange choice if he wasn't kind of a naturally bold and courageous person.
And out of the 12 spies, ten of them, ten of the bravest people in all of Israel were too scared to go in and take out, take over the land. But Joshua and Caleb were the only two who were brave enough to say, God is with us. They said to the whole community, let me find the exact quote.
The Lord is with us. Do not be afraid. He said in numbers 14 nine Joshua sounds like a super strong and super courageous person if you ask me. So why does a super strong and super courageous person need to be told seven times four of them by God Himself to be strong and courageous? I think the reason is because everyone needs encouragement.
No matter how strong you are, and because moving into unknown territory always takes courage. So, like it or not, you and I, everyone in this room is faced with unknown territory at every stage of life. For example, parents, if you're a parent and you know, you know that each stage of raising kids is a brand new unknown, right?
From pacifiers to playdates to permission slips to puberty, you get to relearn over and over and over how to do this. And it takes courage to show up fully present and to bring your best self to that task of raising those kids. If even though the whole time, again and again, you feel like I don't know what I'm doing, anyone really, what we do at the threshold of uncertainty often proves our character and determines whether we're going to grab hold of what God has for us, or whether we're going to remain stagnant and become unfruitful.
Courage is just as necessary outside of the home as it is in parenting, whether in any change in our life, whether it's in our career, our relationships, our identity, even maybe you're switching up jobs or you're up for a promotion. It takes courage to step into that new environment, the unknown relationships, and to face the voice in your head that says, am I good enough to do this?
Or will they like me here? If you're a young adult in the room or watching, joining us, you chances are you could define this stage of life that you're in as a whole season, maybe a whole ten years where everything is possible and nothing is certain, right? It's just a whole series of changes all at once. It takes courage to be faithful to Jesus during a season of so many transitions.
If you've recently moved to a new community or new, or maybe here you're new here at Grace, you're taking a step into the unknown socially and spiritually, and it takes courage to put yourself out there and try some new groups and move from stranger to family. How about if you're dating or engaged? Moving towards marriage is something that takes a lot of courage.
Maybe we don't think about that aspect of it much, but pledging your whole life, putting your whole life on the line, and promising someone your whole future takes a lot of courage to step into that unknown for the one that you love. Some transitions that take courage are deeply personal. I think if you're walking through grief, the unknown, it feels like unfamiliar territory every day.
To move on without the person that you love by your side. Takes courage to continue to trust and continue to put your faith in the Lord, that he is right in your story, day by day. Maybe you got retirement on the horizon with uncertainties about how you'll spend your time, or how your finances will exactly play out. And it takes courage to follow the good Shepherd into that unknown.
Or maybe there's an unhealthy habit in your life that you know is robbing your joy, but it's familiar and it's the only way you know how to cope. It would take great courage to make a change, to seek help, to open up, find support, to move forward into the unknown. Freedom and victory that God is offering you. Everyone who is willing to grow in meaningful ways must exercise courage to move past what is familiar and into the unknown.
And we're not just facing unknowns individually. We're facing one together. As a church who just sent off our beloved pastor and his wife off to a new adventure, and it's going to take some courage to press forward and lean in during these months where we're asking the question of who's going to lead us next.
Moving intentionally into the unknown requires courage. But isn't finding courage easier said than done? How does one go about obeying a command like take courage? Be more courageous. Here's what we see in Joshua's story. Courage often comes through encouragement. I want you to notice with me the seven times that Joshua was told to be strong and courageous. How many different sources that that same message came from?
First he was called. Sorry. There were several sources of that same encouragement. First, he was called by as one member of a large community. Right. He was standing there with the group as Moses was addressing the crowd, and as he was one member of a large community, he was called to be strong and courageous. I think we similarly can take courage and encouragement by identifying with a larger community.
We're not in this alone. We need each other. We can identify with the many other people that are part of this Grace church family across multiple campuses, and we can take so much courage knowing that we're in this together, because every single one of us is called by God to stretch and to grow. All of us are called to show up, fully present to each of these changes and transitions in our lives.
And to enter those seasons with courage, to be faithful and intentional, to do the thing God is asking us to do in the midst of unknowns. Part of our mission here at Grace is to grow with others. If you haven't heard, that whole mission statement is to exalt Jesus Christ by loving, by making disciples who love Jesus, grow with others, and serve the world.
And so it's actually deep into the fabric of who we are to grow and to grow with each other. It's so important to us as a church family to grow together. If we're all supposed to grow, that means we're all going to need to embrace courage to take, that it takes to move from the familiar old ways to familiar, to unfamiliar new heights.
I'd venture to say that this kind of growth and community is far more likely to happen the more you lean in and intentionally engage. So if you haven't really found your people to grow with yet, I'd say keep pressing in. Keep exploring the many things that were announced already. Keep exploring the many things that Grace has to offer the groups, the recovery groups, the classes, the age specific groups come to young adults.
If you're 18 to 30, we have a good time there. Start serving on a ministry team, and while you're there, put yourself out there a bit. Ask someone good questions. Ask some good questions. The people around you. Lean in to the beauty of and the awkwardness of new friendships. A lot of people don't do that because it takes courage.
It's kind of vulnerable to put yourself out there and open yourself up to a new relationship and a new friendship. But we're really going to need to lean on each other as we continue to walk through the transitions of life. So be strong and courageous and make some friends and engage in community. Hebrews 1024 through 25 highlights the importance of receiving courage together and community.
It says, let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching. We're a family. We support each other, and there's strength and there's encouragement and community. We can be strong and courageous because we're together.
The next source of encouragement that Joshua received was from his mentor, Moses. Joshua was called out of the crowd and his mentor Moses, this leader that he looked up to, looked him in the eyes and said, Joshua, be strong and courageous. I think something powerful happens when someone you look up to looks you in the eye and says, you're ready.
You can do this. I believe in you. Take courage. I've watched you grow. It's time. If you don't have somebody like that in your life, you could take another step of courage and ask somebody. Think of somebody that you want to be like and ask them if you could pick their brain, or if you could run some things that you've been thinking about by them, or if you could just ask for their wisdom and advice on things you're going through.
And again, it takes courage because they might say, sorry, I'm too busy. Also takes courage because they might say yes and then give you some advice that you didn't really want to hear. It takes courage, but it's worth it. Proverbs 1920 says, listen to the advice, to advice and accept discipline. And at the end you will be counted among the wise.
Proverbs 27 nine says, perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice. Encouragement from someone you look up to is some of the deepest encouragement there is. And to mentors. If you are in the position of mentorship or influence, or maybe you even have some employees under you. We offer this gift to those who look up to you.
Encourage them with life giving, courage, building words makes a big difference. The third source of encouragement came straight from God to Joshua. Four times. Four times Joshua speak or God speaks straight to Joshua heart. Isn't that amazing that that's the kind of God that we worship. The kind of God that would encourage us, the kind of God that would speak to us, words that give us life and that help us know that we're ready to take on the next thing that he's asking us to do.
So my encouragement to you today would be, make sure you're taking time in your daily life to listen to his voice. We can fill up our devotional time with reading and saying all the things that we're worried about, and then we can forget to stop and even take any breath, any, any moment to listen. God, is there anything you want to say back to me now?
I think I can speak to anybody at any time, but I do think it's respectful not to make him shout. But I think it's good for us to take some time to listen to his voice. And I'm not saying you're going to hear his voice today. I'm not promising that you'll hear his voice tomorrow. But if you make this a posture of your life where you are open and ready to hear from God's voice, you will hear his voice.
Over time, or experience his voice in whatever way that he desires to reveal himself to you because he is with you. And that's really the heart and the most important part of this message today. The foundation for all of this is that God is with you without the promise that God is with you. We'd completely missed the mark on the whole topic of strength and courage.
So far, we've looked at the instruction to be strong and courageous and the necessity of encouragement to give us strength and courage. But if we think that we can accomplish this through the power of positive thinking, even in community, we've missed the mark. We've missed the theme. That's part of the whole Bible. I want you to see that paired with all seven of these commands, to be strong and courageous is the foundation that makes that command possible, and that is the presence of God.
God is with you. So that first one, where Moses addresses all the Israelites in Deuteronomy 31 six, he does say, be strong and courageous. But he says, for the Lord your God goes with you. And then in Deuteronomy 31 eight, when he calls up Joshua and tells him straight to his face, be strong and courageous, he does say that.
He says, the Lord himself goes before you and will be with you. And then when God speaks straight to Joshua, he says, be strong and courageous, for I will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you. And then again he says, I will be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you.
Be strong and courageous. And again he says, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. And even the whole community. When they pledged their loyalty to Joshua, they understood that this was the substance of courage as well. And they said, only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses.
Be strong and courageous. The substance of true courage is the presence of God. And how much more true is that for us today? Those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and have the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, not hovering in front of us like a cloud like Joshua, but alive within us.
As Romans 811 says, If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His spirit who lives in you. Not only is he with us, he's alive within us. I think it's important that we acknowledge, though, that this reassurance that God is with us really only makes sense, and we're really only provide true courage if we're intending to go the same direction as God.
This isn't me for a minute. I don't want anyone to mishear me just because you're taking a risk doesn't make it somehow noble. There's a lot of people who are taking risks with ungodly motives. There's a lot of people who do courageous things with selfishly on a regular basis. The promise that God is with us is one that we can absolutely claim, and we can absolutely bolster our courage.
And he is the source of our strength, but only as much as we're surrendering to going God's way. He's with you if you're with him. He leads, we follow. If he's going one way and we decide to go a different path. We don't get the same reassurance that he's going with us. Surrendering to Jesus as Lord means going his way, and as we go his way, we can take heart that God is with us as we live out our day to day lives with the desire to seek Jesus in His Kingdom.
That's when we can fully claim the immense confidence and empowerment that comes with the promise that God is with us. We see this very clearly at the in the book of Matthew, where Jesus makes a powerful promise to be with us. But notice that Jesus's powerful promise to be with us is paired with a mission. It's part of the commission.
He sends us out to do something. He says, Matthew 2819. He says, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. It's a beautiful promise, isn't it?
As we personally identify with this mission, and as we move forward courageously into the world, changing work that God has for us as a community of believers, we can fully embrace that promise that God is with us. And if God is for us, who could be against us? So parents, take heart. Our perfect Heavenly Father is with us.
Students. Take heart. The great rabbi, the teacher of teachers, is with you. Children. Take heart. The good Shepherd is with you to protect you and lead you. Laborers. Take heart. The Almighty One is within you to strengthen you. Warriors. Take heart. Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides, goes before and behind you. Newcomers, take heart. The welcoming king has prepared a place for you.
To the grieving. Take heart. The Man of sorrows walks beside and understands everything. He is near to the broken hearted, to the weary. Take heart. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. And he's carrying that burden right alongside you. Caregivers take heart. The God who never grows weary is working through your hands. Those battling sin. Take heart.
Your Redeemer is faithful and just to forgive and mighty to save. And church, we can take heart because what we are part of is something that God Himself is building. Ephesians 219 through 22 says, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone in him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
And in him you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. Take heart. God is with us. Let's pray.
Lord, I do hear you beckoning to us and calling to us to take courage in this time of transition as a church, family and in every transition and season that we're going through together. Thank you that your charge to take courage also imparts that very courage, the fact that you would speak that to us. So, Lord, would you open up our hearts this week to hear your voice?
Would you connect people with mentors who could speak life to others? Would you connect all of us to the beautiful community that we have here together, and let new friendships and old friendships just really thrive in this place, so that together as a community, we would grow, we'd sharpen one another, and we would walk closer and closer to you, and we would go to new, unfamiliar heights as we courageously step into what you have for us.
Thank you that you are with us in Jesus name. Amen.