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Amen so Joshua chapter 1 so of course before we went to the book of Galatians we were in Judges so maybe we'll just go through the Bible backwards until we get to the beginning but Joshua chapter 1 so the book of Joshua begins right at the end of the the the wandering in the wilderness for 40 years in Joshua chapter 1 we see that Moses has just died and they they're about to enter into the promised land they're about to cross over the Jordan River and just imagine you know they've been wandering in the wilderness as as a punishment for not having faith in God we'll get into that a little bit in the sermon here but basically they've been they've been anticipating this moment for nearly four decades and here they are and they're about ready to go into this land and they're going into this land to possess it as God has been promising them for years and years and years not only are they going into the land to possess it but they're gonna have to fight for it number one and number two they're going in with a brand new with a brand new leader Moses is not in charge anymore Moses has died and we have this man Joshua here in Joshua chapter 1 that is taking over for Moses so in Joshua chapter 1 we see three conversations really and that's what I want to talk about this evening we see three conversations we see first see God talking to Joshua then we see Joshua talking to the people and then we see the people responding back to Joshua so I want to focus on those three conversations this evening and first I want to talk about Joshua the man who is Joshua let's look at Joshua chapter 1 in verse number 1 and let's focus on first of all you know as we step through the first couple verses here who is this guy who is this man that is going to be taking them on this journey into the Promised Land look at verse number one the Bible says now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of none Moses's minister saying Moses my servant is dead now therefore arise go over this Jordan thou and all his people unto the land which I do give them even to the children of Israel so it's interesting I just want to read for you you don't have to turn there but in Jude Moses is dead but one interesting thing about Moses's death is is God took his body and in Jude chapter 9 or Jude verse number 9 the Bible says yet Michael the Archangel when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing accusation but said the Lord rebuke thee so God I mean Moses was so loved by God and such in a special place that God took his body and no one know you know no one knows where Moses was buried because the Bible says that God took his body anyway just an interesting note there but the Bible says here that that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of none and he says Moses my servant is dead now therefore arise go over this Jordan thou and all the people unto the land which I do give them even to the children of Israel now it's time to pass over the Lord says they've been wandering for 40 years turn to Exodus chapter 17 and let's just look at who Joshua was the first mention of Joshua in the Bible is Exodus chapter 17 Exodus chapter 17 now this is a very famous story if you've read the Bible if you know if you've read the Bible or you've listened to a lot of sermons on the Exodus this is a very famous sermon or story that a lot of pastors do sermons on you'll hear a lot of sermons on how you know Moses he as this battle was raging Moses when his hands were up I don't want to give away the story we'll read a few verses here but basically you'll hear a lot of sermons on how you know Aaron and her held up Moses his hands because as his hands were raised up they would win the battle and when his hands got tired you know and he put them down they would lose the battle so Aaron and her they helped Moses hold up his hands let's read verse number eight in Exodus chapter 17 the Bible says then came Amalek and fought with Israel and Raphidim and Moses said unto Joshua choose us out men and go out and fight with Amalek tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand so Joshua did as Moses had said to him and fought with Amalek and Moses and Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill so they weren't in the battle they went to the top of the hill to watch over the battle and it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed but Moses his hands were heavy and they took a stone and put put it under him and he sat there on and Aaron and her stayed up his hands that one on one on one side and the other on the other side and his hands were steady until the going down of the Sun in verse number 13 and Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the swords I mean I've heard a lot of sermons about this story and you know the application is generally a good one first of all the application is generally that you know what leadership sometimes needs help leadership sometimes needs support you know Moses his hands got tired he couldn't do it by himself so here he had this support staff that would help him hold up his state his hands but here's one thing that we need to notice here as these three men stood on the hill and Moses raised his hands and of course God gave them the victory but who was down in the in the in the battlefield in the valley fighting the battle it was this man Joshua it was this man Joshua he was a warrior already at this point the Bible says turn to Exodus chapter 32 and he was a servant he was not only a warrior who would go down and I mean he was literally doing the fighting here in this story in John in Exodus chapter 17 in Exodus chapter 32 we see that he's a servant he's a servant to Moses when Moses was up on the mountain receiving the law from the Lord the Bible says in verse 15 it says in Moses turned and went down from the mount and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand the tables were written on both their sides on the one side and then the other they were written and the tables were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God graven upon the tables and when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted he said unto Moses there was there is a noise of war in the camp so look when Moses went up the mountain and the people rebelled and you know worshiped you know the whole golden calf and said look Joshua was with Moses he was with Moses going up the mountain at least part the way anyway at least he went up to help Moses and then Moses went up to meet with God but the point is he was Moses's right-hand man turn to Numbers chapter 13 Moses Joshua was also and and brother Trevor brought this up that was a good segue into this you know into this Bible study by the way brother Trevor thank you for Sunday night numbers chapter 13 we see that Joshua was one of the one of the twelve spies that went to spy out the land look at numbers 13 in verse number 6 the Bible says in Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jeff Jeff Oona were of them that searched the land and they rent their they rent their clothes so this is when they all came back the 12 spies and everyone said oh they're so big and they're all these people we could never win these battles except for Joshua and K and Caleb and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel saying the land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land if the Lord delighted us then he will bring us into this land and give it to us a land which floweth with milk and honey only rebel ye not against the Lord neither fear ye the people of the land for they are bred for us their defense is departed from them and the Lord is with us fear them not I mean Joshua and Caleb were the only ones that had any faith they're only ones that came back and said who cares how big they are who cares what's going on he's like their defense is departed from them it's like if you know it's like God's gonna be with us hello you know they had just complete faith in the Lord look at verse number 30 doubtless he shall not come into the land concerning which I swear to make you dwell therein save Caleb the son of Jeff Jeff Oona and Joshua the son of none so of course this is God saying you know that because of you know the fact that you have you know had no faith in me except these two men you're not you're gonna have to wander says but your little ones which he ye said should be a prey then will I bring in and you shall know the land which you despised but as for you your carcasses they shall fall in this wilderness and your children shall wander in the wilderness 40 years and bury your whoredoms until the carcasses be wasted in the wilderness so of course that's the reason for the wandering for 40 or nearly 40 years that they wandered after this point in the wilderness turn to Deuteronomy chapter 3 so not only was Joshua a chosen he was a warrior he was a chosen servant to Moses he was a servant to know to Moses but look he was actually chosen by God to lead the people after Moses died turn to Deuteronomy chapter 3 and look at verse number 25 in Deuteronomy chapter 3 in verse number 25 we see Moses asking God once again if he could be able to go into the Promised Land Moses of course was not allowed to go into the Promised Land you know because of a mistake he made early on but the Bible says here that Moses asks again to God and God says no and he tells him something here look at verse 25 he says I pray thee let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan Moses says that goodly mountain in Lebanon but the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes who would not hear me and the Lord said unto me let it suffice thee speak no more unto me of this matter the Lord said don't ask again like my decision is my decision he says get thee up into the top of Pisgah and lift up thine eyes westward and northward and southward and east eastward and behold it with thine eyes for thou shalt not go over this Jordan but charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him for he shall go over before this people and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see so God said to Moses Joshua will lead them in so Joshua all that to say this folks Joshua was no spring chicken at this point in Joshua chapter 1 Joshua he was a seasoned warrior he had served Moses the entire time that they were in the wilderness 40 years he knew how to lead the people and they respected him okay go back to Joshua chapter 1 so God is still speaking to Joshua here we're still in the first conversation of Joshua chapter 1 look at verse number 3 God is still speaking to Joshua the Bible says every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses from the wilderness and this Lebanon even under the great river the river Euphrates in the land of the Hittites and under the great sea toward the going down of the Sun shall be your coast there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life as I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee be strong and of good courage I want you to notice how many times God says this in this chapter first of all be strong and of good courage for unto this people shall thou divide for an inheritance to the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them so look I mean first of all in verse number five and I don't want to just launch off on this you know for the rest of the sermon but in verse number five God is basically saying to him I mean it's pretty direct I will not fail thee or forsake thee God is saying to Joshua directly I will not fail you and then he also says you know be strong and of good courage so I mean God's kind of given some some you know double dose there because I mean really if God tells you look I will be behind you no matter what yeah I mean you really don't necessarily even need that much courage in my opinion if God the most powerful being in the entire universe that created us all says that to you you know you should pretty much just take it as faith face value but he says be strong and of good courage for unto this people shall thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them verse number seven only beast be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee turn not from the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper wherever wherever thou goest now this is interesting because well let me just reverse number eight and then we'll stop this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth but shall meditate there you shall meditate there in day and night that thou mayest observe to do according all that is written therein for then thou shall make thy way prosperous and then thou shall have good success so it's interesting that in verse number six he says be strong and of good courage he says in verse number five he says I will I will never he's like I will never fail you and then he says be strong and of good courage but then in verse number seven he says be strong and of good courage verse number eight he says you know he's saying be strong and of good courage in verse number seven but he's talking about following the law not fighting he's talking about that it's gonna take strength and courage what God is saying here is he's saying he's like cuz look this is how it works with nations folks this is how it works with nations he's saying don't go into this dangerous situation and then forget the law and then forget God and he's like oh by the way in order to to obey God and to follow the law and to speak the law he's like not only you to just obey the law you're supposed to speak the law meaning you're supposed to go and tell people the law you're supposed to teach people let me just break this down for you you're supposed to learn the Bible and you're supposed to teach people to the Bible is what is what he's saying here you teach people the Word of God learn it and teach it you say in that and he's like that's gonna take courage just that learning following and teaching the law will take courage is what God is telling Joshua here and then he says for then here's that if if then statement again for then I will make thy way prosperous look this is how it works for nations it's very simple why can't anyone in the history of the world get this correctly nation whatever you are forsake the Lord suffer obey the Lord prosper I mean that's not complicated remember nations are judged on this earth I mean that that's what we see in the entire Old Testament you know and they're they're commanded to not only obey the law but to speak the law in verse number eight so don't miss that is you know God is essentially warning them here he's saying don't go into this dangerous situation and forget about me is that's what he's telling him look at verse number nine he says have I not commanded thee be strong and of good courage be not afraid neither be not be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest now is the second conversation God just tells him he's like here's what you need to do he's like just beast he's like I'm with you wherever you go he's like be strong be courageous he says it you know three times here he's like don't forget about me though don't forget you know to obey God don't go into this situation where all your enemies are on every side and forget about the Lord don't you do that either in your life but now Joshua responds look at verse number 10 and he speaks he speaks right away to the people in verse number 10 Joshua says Joshua the Bible says then Joshua commanded the officers of the people saying these are the leaders of the people pass through the host and command the people saying prepare you victuals that means get your things together get ready for within three days he shall pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it and of the Reubenites and the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh spake Joshua saying turn to Numbers chapter 32 so now now he says this to the officers of the people now he speaks speaks specifically to these three tribes you say why is that say why is that but turn to Numbers chapter 32 let's just do a refresher on the history of why he's speaking specifically to the Reubenites the Gadites and the half-tribe tribe of Manasseh look at Numbers 32 in verse number 2 now this is before like I said this is before they have passed over the Jordan okay so they're on the they're on the east side of the Jordan and three tribes three tribes decided that hey you know what this land is pretty good right here you know this land is pretty good in Numbers chapter 32 look at verse number 2 the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake to Moses we're going back in the past now and to Eliezer Eliezer the priest and to the princes of the congregation saying Adoroth and Dickson and Jezer and Nimrah and Heshbon and Eliele and Shebom and Nebo and beyond even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel is a land for cattle and thy servants have cattle wherefore said they if we have found grace in thy sight let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession and bring us not over the Jordan so they're saying they're saying to Moses they're saying you know what Moses they're like we have cattle this is like good grazing land you know this is good for us it's like we you know what can can we just stay here can we just stay here and not go over the Jordan they say to Moses what's the first thing that Moses said says to them and Moses said unto the children of Gad and the children of Reuben shall your brethren go to war and shall ye sit here so right away Moses now there's a there's a great lesson here there is a great lesson I mean how evil it was you know Moses saw right away he said he said huh you know that it would be a wicked thing if they were doing this to get out of having to fight for the land that the Lord had given them and Moses said you want to just your brothers you want your brothers to go to war and you guys just sit here and just take this land right here he's like you know that's that that's messed up is what Moses is is you know he's asking what their motives are but look this and it's interesting because this is a lesson that this is a lesson that we all should should learn in our lives look and it's something like you need to teach your children this too because I'm telling you it's not something that comes natural I'm gonna I didn't ask brother Francisco for a permission to tell this story but I'm gonna tell it anyway brother I'm sorry I went fishing with brother Francisco on Saturday let me give you an example of this and we went fishing we caught all kinds of fish because I'm a great fisherman I don't know what to tell you no I'm just kidding but we caught a ton of fish okay and you know what's really fun is catching fish you know what's not fun it's like cleaning up and cleaning the fish and staying up all night cutting up fish and cleaning up the mess and and putting everything away and all this kind of you know that's not that much fun and brother Francisco he didn't even drive with us so I drove back to my house and he's sitting in front of my house must have been waiting there for half an hour 40 minutes or whatever since we're a lot slower than then he was and look I'm just telling you this is something I always notice and I even asked him I even asked him you know here's the thing whenever you have people working whenever you have people doing things and working you should not be comfortable not working you should never be comfortable just sitting there while other people are working this is what Moses is talking about here on a much bigger scale but brother Francisco I mean we were sitting there we were cleaning fish it was dark he's tired I'm tired we're cleaning and he's just like he's just going he's putting stuff away he's doing you know I'm just like you know what I just finally I just asked him I said you know what I was like who taught you this I was like why are you doing this and and and you know he's just like no well you know it's just you know I'm gonna help I was like no but no and what I meant was I knew somebody taught him that because it doesn't come natural it doesn't come natural we have to teach our kids this how do I know that somebody taught taught brother Francisco that because I got to teach my kids that because when I'm out working on something with my kids and I'm like hey hand me this or they're holding doing that that one job the first job your kid should ever have is holding the flashlight for their dad you hold the flashlight and then they give you the part or whatever and then naturally here's what naturally kids do you're working on something they've given you the part and you're working on something you don't need them for seven or eight minutes and you turn around and give me that other wrench and they're gone and they're gone where they go well they're you know they're digging a hole or they're in the house and I go in the house and I'm upset and this is where my wife will be like oh you're too hard on the kids but look this needs to be taught and I'm not even joking a little bit so I go in the house and I grab them the kids or the I grab you know what you know the boys or whatever I don't want to call them out by name and I'm like hey did I say we were done working no was your dad still working yes so you stay there until the job's done look that that kind of thing is taught and if you don't teach it it won't happen if you don't teach it you will end up with an adult who will be completely comfortable with ten people working and just sitting there chatting or doing whatever because it's not taught and I finally pressed brother Francisco I said who who is it who taught you who taught you this and he said my grandpa he said my grandpa taught me this he said my grandpa taught me that you work until the work is done and if somebody else is working you you find something to do or you ask what else needs to be done or you know I mean look it it's taught it's it's a good lesson here you got to teach your kids this because it's not gonna come natural so Moses this is what he thought they were doing it's like you want to sit here you want to sit here while everybody else goes and fights you want to sit here while everybody else works it's like I don't think so I don't think so but look what actually happened turn back look it down at verse number 16 look down at verse number 16 look I'm telling you it should literally make you uncomfortable it should literally make you uncomfortable to be around a bunch of people that are working if you're not working you should just be immediately getting up going ah what should I do you should be doing something but you see that you see it all the time you see it all the time because it's taught it's taught it doesn't come natural but look at the Gads and the the Reubenites and the half-tribe of Manasseh look what they said in verse number 16 he said they came near to him and said we will build sheepfolds here for our cattle and cities for our little ones and oh we'll build we'll build barns and we'll build places for our families but we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel and so we have brought them into their place and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land we will not return unto our houses until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance they said we will go and we will fight for a land that isn't even ours that's not our motive so they had they had good motives they just wanted that particular land because they were they were husband men they had cattle their motives were pure in this case go back to Joshua chapter 1 but it's interesting that Moses right away he just jumped up he's like oh you're not these type of people are you but they said no we're not no we're not so remember we had that has to be taught though that has to be taught look at Joshua chapter 1 in verse number 13 look at the Bible says remember now this is Joshua speaking to the people remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord now he's speaking the same story that I just told you commanded you saying the Lord your God if given you rest he's reminding them and if giving you this land your wives your little ones and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan but ye shall pass before your brethren armed all the mighty men of valor and help them until the Lord had given your brethren rest as he had given you and they've also possessed the land which the Lord your God had given them then he shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side of the Jordan toward the Sun rising so Moses gained permission to do this and I preached a whole sermon on this but you know typically like when God has a plan you probably just shouldn't veer from it I mean they had pure motives on this but it wasn't notice how it was Moses's land that he gave him it wasn't God giving him the land God gave him a land on the other side all right and we saw and I preached a whole sermon on you know the negative effects that happened to these tribes because of the fact that they stayed on the east side of the Jordan it's not the point here but just to mention that okay now here's the third conversation verse number 16 now keep in mind now the people respond okay so we have Moses or Moses we have Joshua talking to the people we have I'm sorry we have Joshua God talking to Joshua Joshua talking to the people now the people respond to Joshua now keep in mind folks they're not going to Disneyland here okay don't go to Disneyland all right they're not going to an amusement park here okay they're going to war they're going to war they're going to do a dangerous situation where they're gonna go and they're gonna take land from people that don't want to give it to them okay look at verse 16 and they answered Joshua the people said this and they said man I don't know I don't know if where's Moses man is Moses on board with this Moses was here no that's not what they said look what they said and they answered Joshua saying all that thou commanded us we will do and whithersoever thou send us we will go according as we hearken unto Moses and all things so we will hearken unto thee only the God of thy God be with thee as he was with Moses whosoever he be that do it doth rebel against thy commandment and not hearken unto the words and all that thou command is him he shall be put to death only be strong and of good courage so they just give their full-fledged support to Joshua here they said we'll follow you just like we followed Moses so what's the applications here first of all this is a side note Joshua you know is a bit of a picture of Christ here you know he's leading the people into the promised land as Christ you know leads us by our eternal salvation into heaven right but what's the application here turn to Psalm chapter 75 let me just give you a couple application points to Joshua chapter 1 so we see Joshua the man we see the response of the people to him what that is an incredible response from those people look at Psalm chapter 75 the first point I want to make here is this look God God was going to give them this land God said I will not fail you I'm giving you this land but he did ordain a human leader here he did ordain a man to lead them and the first point I want to make is that God does ordain human leadership for us in this world look at Psalm 75 and verse 5 Psalm 75 and verse number 5 look what the Bible says it says lift up not your horn on high speak not with a stiff neck for promotion come neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south but God is the judge he put it down one and set it up another look God sets up and puts down leaders Joshua was this leader in the making for decades that God was setting up for this purpose I mean I'll read for you again John Deuteronomy 3 28 but charge Joshua and encourage him God said and strengthen him for he shall go over before this people and he shall cause them to inherit the land which got with thou shall see Ephesians chapter 4 verse number 11 go ahead and turn there look God God sets up what God is here we have the Word of God you have the Bible in your hand right now all right you have the Bible you have the Word of God the Bible leaves and even says the Word of God even says you don't need a mediator you don't need a mediator to just speak directly with Christ you can go home right now and you can pray directly to Jesus Christ you do not need me you can pray directly to God to Jesus himself and just say God you know Jesus forgive me for what I did today you do not need to come to me to you know to reach God there is one mediator in the man and it is the man Christ Jesus and that is the meteor look but God does give you human leadership on this earth look at Ephesians 4 and verse number 11 and the Bible says and look it tells us why he gives us those things and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists I mean think of Brother Stuckey in the Philippines look God gave those people an evangelist God gave those those people in those two churches I mean thank God I mean I bet you they're saying thank God that we have an evangelist here that's here to to lead us and some evangelists and some pastors and some teachers you say but can't those people in the Philippines read the Bible themselves yes they can they can read the Bible themselves they can pray themselves but look at verse number 12 it's for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ it's to sharpen them up it's to lead them what God sets up human leaders to perfect us to make us a a strong unit to to go out and to do the work of Christ to be the ambassadors of Christ look I mean brother Yohanna said to me today I'm you know he said he's like I can't even imagine going through last year without having a church and I said yeah because you know what you do you'd sit there and I told him I say I'm working it right into the sermon right now brother I was like this is a great conversation this should be a sermon here it goes right here I told him I was like because you can you imagine we walk by this yard can you imagine you walk by this green grass and everybody is telling you that the grass is red everybody's saying that grass is red and you don't have a single other you're looking at that grass and that grass is green and you're like what in the world but every single person that you know is saying that that grass is red and they say it every day and they say it every week and they say it every month for a year this is what happened to people not us though not us why why not us because we have a church because we have a church and we're grounded in the Bible that's why because we're not sitting there watching a stupid TV eight hours a day we're saying the grass is red the grass is red the grass is red the grass is red we're sitting here and we're reading the Bible and not only do we have that but we have like you know 50 other people standing around us going can you believe everybody thinks that that grass is red it's clearly green but if you're the only one if you're the only one you would start to be like you know what maybe something's wrong with me you start to think you know I see that it's green but it must be red that's what happened to people that's what happened to people but we're here to edify each other to strengthen each other to sharpen each other we know the grass is green the Bible tells us what the Bible tells us and we sit here and we encourage and we strengthen each other I mean that's how it works yeah so I can't imagine it either brother if we wouldn't had a church but that's that's the strength of it so God ordains human leadership for us to have for the work of the ministry and the ministry is important it's important for people out there it's important for us so we can gather together and strengthen each other the second point I want to make about Joshua is this in order to lead you first listen to this in order to lead you first need to learn how to serve this is a huge miss for many leaders today maybe maybe most of them today over of turned back to Exodus chapter 33 over a 40-year period serving Moses let me just give you one more example of this as if I didn't give you enough examples Moses would go to the tabernacle in the wilderness to speak to God Moses would go to the tabernacle to speak to God but look at Exodus chapter 33 in verse number 11 and the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend and he turned again into the camp so Moses would go to the tabernacle and he would speak to God and then he would go back to his house his house or his tent or whatever he would not stay at the tabernacle but his servant Joshua the son of none a young man departed not out of the tabernacle Joshua stayed Joshua stayed to watch over the tabernacle look it'd be like someone watching over this place living here be like a sir you know we almost need it by the way we almost need it brother what I'm gonna start calling brother Frank Joshua we're running two-hour shifts here to keep these vagrants off the off the church property and brother Frank's been helping me out thank you brother Frank for that but look the point is Joshua was was serving no matter what it took no matter what it took to be a good leader you must first be a good follower because look leadership is service that's what it is it'll not only keep you humble as a leader but here's the thing here's the thing and I really want to point this out now and end the sermon on this note it'll give you credibility there's a reason there's a reason that the people there's a reason that I focus on three conversations here the conversation from God to Joshua the conversation from Joshua to the people and then the response of the people to Joshua is super important that you recognize that imagine if Joshua's life was you know of serving Moses imagine if the 40 years of serving Moses was living this plush life I'm in charge I'm number two around here better do what I say living this plush life just you know telling people what to do because he was Moses his right hand don't you know who I am you better do what I say imagine if this was his life and then Moses dies and he took over it'd be a disaster it'd be a complete disaster instead instead you know what people saw people saw a loyal servant to Moses they saw somebody who they saw somebody who when there needed to be fighting done they did the fighting they picked up the sword and they fought they saw somebody who did the heavy lifting who did that you know they did that he did the hardest things I mean fighting leading battles down in the battle that's the hardest thing so turn to Proverbs chapter 22 look you must have credibility to lead or it will not work Joshua had a reputation by the time we get to Joshua chapter 1 people knew his character and they knew his strength you get to the point I mean he got to the point where you could just command people I mean he could just command people to just go into the worst situation where they might die and they would say and all that thou commanded us to do and withersoever thou send us we will go I mean that's impressive that I mean you that came from his credibility and his reputation that's where that came from and look you can't just every leader wants that but you can't just you know you can't just command it just like that it took Joshua 40 years to get that to get to that place look at Proverbs chapter 22 and look at verse number 1 the Bible says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver or gold so many people miss this so many people miss this look look folks your salvation is free look you were saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ if you are saved you are sealed by the Holy Spirit nothing can change that God can never lie he will never take it away from you it had nothing to do with you it had nothing to do with you to get it it has nothing to do with you to keep it otherwise I mean what's the difference if I have to work to get it it's the same as having to work to keep it there's no difference but the point is this the point is that your salvation is free but respect is earned respect is earned and it look most people most people will never get it and they will never understand why they don't have it and the reason is is because it takes a lifetime of living consistently it takes I mean of fighting battles of showing of showing courage of showing loyalty of serving it takes a lifetime of service you're like that sounds hard it is hard it is hard you should ask yourself you know do I have do I have credibility do I have credibility am I building credibility with people what does my life look like over the last few years you know are you do am I am I doing the things that I say you know one thing about the satellite ministry I will say this another thing we were talking about today you know brother honest like the the last the last two years have gone really fast that's true that's true they have gone very fast but you know what it did not come easy these last two years are almost two years have gone like that but it did not come easy and you know what I'm glad I'm glad that it didn't come easy because it was just so easy thing that just everybody could do look these 40 years of Joshua serving they didn't come easy but it was necessary it was necessary for him to have that credibility with these people in this time because they're going in a very difficult time right now and who knows where we're going but we're gonna be doing the things that we're supposed to do and you know things might get difficult I mean some people would you may say last year was difficult but we're gonna go so we have to have you know I have to have this credibility look here's the thing people don't realize this but you have a reputation whether you like it or not whether you like it or not you have a reputation you're like I don't want a reputation you have one sorry you have a reputation look at Proverbs chapter 20 in verse 11 everyone has one everyone has one Proverbs chapter 20 verse 11 the Bible says this it says even a child is known by his doings whether his work be pure or whether it be right this doesn't say a child is known by his doings it says it says it means everybody is known by what they do even a child you are known by what you do that is what your reputation is you know I mean you're like man my wife and children they just have to obey me that's true that's what the Bible says but it's much better to lead in situations where people look at you and they say you know what we'll follow you wherever you go because you have that credibility and you have that respect and you have that reputation but look it's just it just doesn't come easy it doesn't come fast it's hard Joshua built it over you know for decades it's crazy to even think about that that he served for so long in every single capacity that you know that Moses needed him to serve whether it be camping out and guarding the tabernacle or actually fighting a war he was there to serve and he was consistent and what that's what it takes folks that's what it takes to gain credibility you're like you know what I don't have credibility it maybe it's because your your life is showing inconsistency instead of consistency you know it you have to think about this it takes time because look that's what it takes to get people to say we will follow you wherever you go Joshua is a great example of what a leader needs to be and how a credible leader is developed okay Joshua chapter one let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Joshua chapter one let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer