(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All the other stuff is kind of a ways out, but you can see all the rest of the stuff that's coming up. Ties and offerings at the end of the page. Make sure you're utilizing the mother-baby rooms for the things they're used for. And then silence your cell phones. All the other rules are on the page there. Again, happy anniversary to brother Joe, Richie, and Miss Audrey. And happy birthday to brother Ramon, the old man. So I'm catching up with you. It'll be January. I'll be 50. I'll be officially over the hill. So I'm right there with you almost. And then also Miss Alejandra. She'll be 27 on the 27th. So anyway, that's all I got for announcements. Let's sing another song. We'll receive the offering. Please turn in your green or red hymnals to song number 27. Song number 27, the old rugged cross. Song number 27. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the dearest and best, for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, tell my trophies that last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, and change it someday for a crown. Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me. For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above, to bear it to dark cavalry. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, tell my trophies that last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it someday for a crown. In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, a wondrous of beauty I see. For it was on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, to pardon and sanctify me. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, tell my trophies that last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it someday for a crown. To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear. Then He'll call me someday to my home far away, where His glory forever I'll share. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, tell my trophies that last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it someday for a crown. At this time the estuaries can come forward. Brother Mikey, would you pray for the offering? Thank you Lord for bringing us all here to this evening's service to hear your word preached yet again. And please bless the offering we are about to receive, and please bless the servant which is to come. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. You You You All right go ahead and open to the book of Joshua Joshua chapter 1 Joshua chapter number one if you don't have a Bible there should be a Bible under the seat in front of you Joshua chapter 1 Joshua 1 the Bible reads now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord It came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the Son of Nun Moses his minister saying Moses my servant is dead now therefore arise Go over this Jordan thou and all this people and the land which I do give to them With even to the children of Israel every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon That I have given unto you as I said unto Moses From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river the river Euphrates All the land of the Hittites and under the great sea toward the going down to 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 a good courage for unto this people shall thou divide for an inheritance The land which I swear unto their fathers to give them only 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 it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest this book of the law Shall not depart out of thy mouth But thou shall meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein For then thou shall make thy way prosperous and then thou shall have good success Have I not commanded thee be strong and of a good courage be not afraid neither beat thou dismayed For the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people saying pass through the host and command the people saying prepare You'll prepare you victuals for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it and To the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to half the tribe of Manasseh spake Joshua saying remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you saying the Lord your God have given you rest And have given you this land your wives your little ones and your cattle Shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of Jordan But you shall pass before your brethren armed all the mighty men of valor and help them until the Lord have given your brethren Brethren rest as he hath given you and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them Then ye shall return unto the land your of your possession and enjoy it which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side of Jordan toward the Sun rising and They answered Joshua saying all that thou command assessed we will do and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go According as we hearken unto Moses and all things so will we hearken unto thee? Only the Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment and will not hearken unto thy words and all that thou command is him He shall be put to death only be strong and of a good courage brother Alex. We pray for us Amen, all right, we're starting the book of Joshua and this kind of want to do a little introduction just about the book of Joshua, of course Moses has died now and Joshua his servant has been ordained by Moses and he was approved by God and taking over Joshua starts out as Moses's Minister he's attending to Moses's needs and we see him through the books of Exodus and the first books of Moses where he's attending to Moses and Really? Joshua is is kind of like even his general that he sends to go forth and and defeat all go patient and the Amalekites and some of these other people these other eights but Joshua pictures Jesus Christ because of course Moses is The law and then of course you got the prophets and then of course then Jesus came but Joshua his name literally means Is this is the literal name that Jesus's name is? Except for it's the Hebrew name and then of course in the New Testament his name is Jesus and I'll explain that here in just a second, but Joshua continues immediately after the death of Moses and then they're supposed to take the children of Israel who have been wandering in the wilderness because they did not go forth like they were supposed to they were afraid to go and Fight the 12 spies went out into Canaan Two were good the rest were bad ten were bad two were good Joshua was one of the good spies that came back and encouraged everybody to go in And fight and then Caleb was the other one the rest of them Brought back a bad report and then that's what caused them to have to wander in the wilderness They were originally supposed to go right in and take the Promised Land, but because of their unbelief and their fear God did not allow them to do that and once that generation died out except for Joshua and Caleb then Moses died he wasn't gonna see the Promised Land because he struck the rock twice instead of speaking to it and Then so Moses got to see the Promised Land and then God you know allowed him to die at that point and So here we are in the book of Joshua And they go all over Canaan in this book here and they're conquering the nations of the Canaanites like God has commanded them to do and So Joshua is gonna be we're gonna see him hanging you know, he's gonna be conquering all these kings and hanging them from trees and you know, so like it's like You know, Jesus is hung from a tree right that's the the curse is that anyone that hangs on a tree is cursed but John you see Joshua doing this to the ones that he conquers and So the the the pictures the spiritual conquest given to the spiritual Israel in in the New Testament our Future the future reign of the Lord Jesus Christ when he will reign will reign with him for a thousand years So like the picture that we see from Joshua is that he's gonna go in and destroy The Canaanites and everything physically because you know, we're talking about a physical nation here So he allows them to go into the land the Promised Land But that's just a local area in the New Testament our area that we that we belong to is the whole world The uttermost parts of the earth. So Joshua does picture the Lord Jesus Christ. His name is the same But it's it's it's smaller in scope in comparison to the New Testament so and You know there let's turn to Psalm chapter 2 now so the picture though of Joshua is the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ that because he sent his disciples out to you know, go all over Israel preach the gospel and Then they're supposed to conquer the land for God, but the spiritual conquering, you know We as New Testament Christians, we don't go and destroy Nations, we don't destroy the heathen kings we go and destroy their gods as in we preach the Bible And then they get rid of their gods and take on the Lord Jesus Christ So our battle is a completely different battle But the picture is is to help us to see you know in the New Testament it's going to be totally different So we're talking physical nation versus spiritual nation. We are the nation of Israel We are the spiritual nation of Israel now But we met it's made up of believer believers in every nation of the world So the Bible says in Psalm chapter 2 verse 1 it says why do they heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me thou art my son this day have I begotten thee So, of course this Psalm here is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and he has set him on The holy hill of Zion he is the king of kings and Lord of Lords and there's coming a day when he is going to destroy the kings of the earth That day is not now now. It's a time of peace where we we conquer through peace We conquer through the Word of God But there's coming a day when he comes back and all those wicked kings and all those kings are against him saying that they're gonna cast their cords from him and They're taking counsel against him to You know They're raging against him and look we're kind of coming back into these days where the kings of the earth now are raging against him and conspiring against him and starting to conspire against Christianity and You know God's just laughing Because in reality Jesus Christ is going to show the world what it's like for a godly king Who is God to reign over all the earth and guess what we get the rule and reign with him so Joshua is conquering with the children of Israel in a physical sense and And we are supposed to conquer in a spiritual sense, but there will be a true form of this happening when the real Joshua the real Lord Jesus Christ is gonna come and literally Conquer all these kings and literally rule and reign over these heathens because what happens in this book Is that you're gonna all these heathen come and try to rage against Joshua and they try to have all these confederacies against Joshua and the children of Israel They try to band together and rally their forces against them, but nobody can stand against them because God is on their side So it says in verse 7 I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me thou art my son this day have I Begotten thee ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the outermost parts of the earth for thy possession Thou shalt break them with an rod of iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel Be wise now therefore o ye kings be instructed he judges of the earth serve the Lord with fear and we rejoice With trembling kiss the Sun lest he be angry and he perished from the way when his wrath is kindled But a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him so he is talking about these end time kings and You know if people try to rise up against the Lord Jesus Christ and the millennial reign They're gonna get what's gonna happen to him. They're gonna get dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel He's not you know He's gonna rule with an iron fist when it comes to people trying to rise up against them Nobody's gonna be able to rise up against the Lord Jesus Christ So like I said though the name Joshua is the same as Jesus and you're like well, they don't sound the same Well, I've explained this before but I'm gonna explain it again really quickly in case people weren't here to hear that sermon But the name of Jesus in the Greek has no shh sound Greek does not have a sound so When Joshua is translated into Greek it translates as like I E S U S Yes, yes, oohs That's how it translates. That's what it says in the Greek right and translates into English as Jesus so the the J right so we say Jesus in English But it's it's translated from the Greek So we don't translate his name from the Hebrew because Jesus's name is given in the New Testament and it's given in Greek And so when it was translated into English They put that J there because there was an I there and then that's just kind of like how the English language You know was was brought into being right so There's no there there's you know, so we just Jesus is like the same, you know, and if you're Spanish, it's Jesus, right? So that's how Spanish people pronounce or people that speak not Spanish people, but the Spanish language Pronounces his name Jesus but we pronounce it Jesus in English and so when the name Joshua is brought into the New Testament when it's talking specifically about the Joshua of the Old Testament and It translates it as Jesus the same as Jesus the Savior So I'll prove that to you turn to Acts chapter 7 verse 45 Acts chapter 7 verse 45 There's actually two times in the New Testament that is specifically speaking about Joshua who was the Minister of Moses and then became So, I mean Moses was like, you know, he's called the servant of God in this chapter But then Joshua takes over as a servant of God, but what are they also? They're also judges Because Moses was the judge right because the system of the judge is what God put into place. So Moses Remember he was judging everything and then his father-in-law came and said hey You're gonna need some people to help you out with this because you're just standing here all day Hearing everybody gripe and complain and bringing their problems before you But Moses was the ultimate authority then it went to Joshua as a leader and then you know All the judge in the book of Judges, you know, you read about all these different judges that judge and ruled over Israel but they weren't kings then you had King Saul because they demanded to have a king and so then God gave them what they asked for and So you had all these different kings that ruled over them and that's where kings came from The the Gentiles originally had kings that ruled over them And so the people were like we want kings like the Gentiles had so but Acts chapter 7 verse 45 says Which also our fathers they came after brought in with Jesus into? The possession of the Gentiles whom God drove out before the faces of our fathers Unto the days of David so that Jesus there is not talking about Jesus Christ that is talking about Joshua, so So hopefully that's not confusing to you. But again, the Greeks don't have that sound so when they translated it it translate as Jesus because there is so that because when they just when they took it out from You know, that's how they translated it into the Greek It just doesn't sound the same because they don't have that sound so when they put Jesus's name in there or they put Joshua's name in there, it's It is what it is. So We know him as Jesus, but does that mean that his name has changed? No, it's just different It's just said differently in our language. Okay, but it's still the same name. So Now look at Hebrews chapter 4 verse 8 Hebrews chapter 4 verse 8 now What is the point of them going into the Promised Land They're supposed to conquer the Promised Land and they're replacing those wicked people That are basically a bunch of perverts a bunch of child sacrifices. There are a bunch of homos. There are a bunch of murderers They're worshipping false gods. They're bowing down and serving idols. They're lying with beasts They're doing the most vile thing everything that's that God tells them not to do through Moses They're doing like all that stuff so they've completely corrupted themselves are completely corrupt society They're so wicked that God says the land is vomiting them out God wants them gone. He wants them all dead. He wants them to be replaced So the children of Israel are basically getting you know, all these castles and homes and stuff for free They just have to kill all the inhabitants and replace them and that might sound mean but these people are beyond evil This is why God's saying for them to do it but the point is is that after they get all those places they're supposed to come in and Rest they get to take the land and enjoy it, right? It says in Hebrews 4 8 says for if Jesus had given them rest But this is Joshua is talking about for if Jesus had given them rest then would he not have Afterwards spoken of another day there remaineth therefore arrest to the people of God This Jesus here is talking is actually Joshua. So because even in this chapter He talks about you know, those three tribes that inherited on the other side of Jordan and he says, you know After you help your brethren fight and get their land from the Canaanites Then you can go back to your spot that God's already given you rest in And then you get to enjoy your spot So the point is is for them to go into the land and be able to rest but in Hebrews it's saying there You know if if Jesus had actually or Joshua had actually given them the rest that the Bible's really talking about Then he wouldn't have talked about another day of rest You know another time and he's talking about in the future when we actually rest in our real inheritance the inheritance that we have in heaven, so So Joshua did not give them the true rest and that's why It says there's still a rest to come for God's people and that's what it's talking about So and then another great picture of Christ in Joshua is that the children of Israel? Follow Joshua and they listen to everything he commanded right but Moses they didn't obey They were always given Moses problems. They were always bucking against his leadership They were actually talking about stoning and killing him multiple times in the Bible and Aaron they're always Fighting against their leadership and Moses was a great leader Moses was a great man of God, wasn't he? But yet they still didn't want to obey and it just pictures the fact that nobody can keep the law and nobody will and we need Jesus to straighten us out and we can obey the gospel Because the only thing we need to do to be right with God Necessary, I mean to be you know overall right with God is to be saved. You just have to believe in Christ and We can't keep the law but grace is easy and light Jesus said take my yoke upon you it my burden is easy. My burden is light He's talking about, you know, the yoke of like an animal right or two oxen or strapped together It's not talking about the egg yolk. It's talking about a yoke where you're pulling together. He's like my yoke's easy You don't it's not hard. You don't have to work so anyway, um, so let's look at Joshua number chapter number one verse number one and we're gonna see God's Commission to Joshua here. So just like Jesus gave us a commission God is giving Joshua a commission here in this first chapter It says verse number one 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 is minister saying Moses my servant is dead Now therefore arise go over this Jordan thou and all this people into the land which I do give to them even the children of Israel and if you remember most Joshua, he's not of the tribe of Judah he's of the tribe of Ephraim which of course is one of the children of Joseph and So Joseph, of course was the best son out of the twelve and God said he would make him a fruitful bow and So Ephraim and Manasseh are blessed with a lot more children But I think that it just makes sense that that he you know, is this, you know, Joshua pictures that you know, he's from that blessed father, which is Joseph, I mean, I just think that makes sense But ultimately Judah is the one that prevailed as who the Lord Jesus Christ would come through So anyway verse 3 it says every place that the sole of your foot shall tread that have I given unto you as I said on to Moses from the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river the river Euphrates All the land of the Hittites and unto the great sea toward the going down of the Sun shall be your coast So again, he gives them a limited space, you know, there's certain places They're not gonna be able to go and certain places, you know they don't get to have Egypt but they get they do get a pretty wide space that God is allowing them to take and they Never did attain that whole goal when we go through the book you're gonna see that they start having problems where they're not able to take the whole land and they start getting lazy and stop Fighting and they stop taking the land and Joshua kind of has to get on to him about it eventually But they don't ever really take the full scope of the promised land that they're supposed to they don't drive everybody out They don't kill everybody that they're supposed to kill and it becomes a problem through the rest of their existence because they just keep allowing these people to Survive and hang on and be a vexation to them. Their gods are a vexation to them This is their pricks in their eyes and they're a stumbling block to them and their gods In fact, you know, they give their sons and daughters to wife to those people and the gods said not to allow them to do that but It's you know It's it's this this charge that God is giving Joshua every place of the soul your feet shall tread upon is Kind of likened to what God says when he sends out his evangelists in the New Testament in Luke chapter 10 19 Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and Nothing shall by any means hurt you So God, but Jesus Christ gave us that power to go into the whole world and do this So and obviously there's places where we don't really necessarily want to go We should probably want to hit the most receptive places the most free places to preach the gospel You know once we've run out of all that real estate Which I don't think is ever gonna happen in our lifetime Then maybe try to sneak into North Korea or something But I don't think it's a good idea to go to these islands where the natives just want to kill you when you try to You know There's that that missionary kid that tried to go to this island to communicate with these people He couldn't even speak their language and then they killed him or whatever I mean, it's just why go to those places when we have all these places that are Receptive they speak your language and you know, they just they haven't been reached either So we should reach the people first that are the poor and You know, Jesus said to go to the poor first. So why do we go to the poor? because they're the most receptive and You know, they're the most likely to get saved, you know, we want to get the most bang for our buck when we go on a Missions, you know trip. We're not trying to go to Soviet Bloc Russia Necessarily because most of those people are Orthodox and in reality if we go to Soviet Bloc Russia It's probably gonna be the least one of the least receptive places or we don't go to Israel and try to knock all the doors of all the Jews there because they're gonna be spitting on us and you know Trying to chase us out of there and the government probably won't even let us in Because you'd have to lie to get in there and say if you if you try to say hey, yeah We're you know, we're all going on this mission trip. Our whole church goes to Israel We're all fired up, you know We got the Dixie cups on our head or whatever and we're just ready to go and Then they ask us what we're coming into the country for And if you tell them you're there to preach the gospel to the Jews and get them saved You know what? They're gonna say you're not gonna come in So you would have to lie and tell them something that's not true to get in and You know, there's plenty of places that want to hear the gospel. So that's not one of the places that want to hear it They really treat Christians rough there If you've ever watched any videos where they're just antagonizing people that are saved or they're trying to give people the gospel They're they're really nasty to them. So But in the Old Testament again, it was regional physical Carnal, you know, but in the pictures in the of the Great Commission the news to New Testament They're not regional world. They're worldwide. It's you know, again, we're a Spiritual nation not a physical and it's made up of all believer believers and we're kings and priests Unto God, we're all servants of the Lord It's not just one servant and everybody else is you know, we're all serving God and so look at verse 5 It says 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 of course He's given these charges to Joshua But again these apply to us You know all the all the Bible is inspired for us and is profitable for doctrine so We can apply these things to us in the New Testament because look if God is with us He feels the same way about us going out. He's not gonna forsake us either The Bible says he will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Is that the same thing? He said to Joshua and Moses Yes, it says be strong and of a good courage So does he want us to be weak limp-wristed soy boys? No, he wants us to be strong Does he want us to have to be scared all the time? No, he wants us to have a good courage For unto this people Shout thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them So he's you know, these things that he promised Abraham Isaac and Jacob. He's giving to the these the children of Israel and it says only be thou strong and very courageous so now he's puts a very in there and That thou mayest observe to do according to all the law Which Moses my servant commanded thee turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest and this is good advice because This also here pictures Jesus Christ and the fact that he also had to be strong and very courageous to live the life that he did for us You know again, this is being directed specifically to Joshua And he God's just trying to encourage him and say hey you got to be strong and very courageous and And then keep to do to observe to do all the law Didn't Jesus have to observe and do all the law to save us. Yes, he did And so that's why I think that that's specifically given to us to picture the Lord Jesus Christ, of course Joshua was not perfect and didn't keep all the law Necessarily, but it is picturing that for us And it says that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest But Jesus actually did keep the whole law and he did prosper wherever he went. Nothing failed him Nobody was able to stand before him and try to shout him down or you know trip up his words He won every word battle that ever happened to him Nobody was ever able to twist him up and make him look stupid in front of everybody that can happen to us But it never happened to Jesus They were always trying to stop him and they were always trying to ask him these hard questions that he was always able to answer Every single time no matter how hard it was He was just like and then they were like and they durst not ask him any more questions They're like, okay, I'm done. I've reached out to all my lifelines. It's over, you know, so so again this pictures Christ and you know think about this also He's going against literal giants He's going against they're going to look this isn't like some trained army these are slaves from Egypt and They got whatever weapons they got they got with them when they went or things that they made in the wilderness. They're probably not all Having armor and all kinds of swords and shields and everything. They probably had a makeshift auxiliary of some sort or whatever they stole from You know the first King aug of Beishon they probably stripped their weapons and took what they could of their shields or whatever They probably didn't have a huge Arsenal of things they obviously didn't have more chariots and some because you know a lot of times the battles we're gonna see in here they're like they have all these iron chariots and So they're they're they're they're outmanned they're outgunned so to speak and You'd have to be pretty strong and courageous to go against castle walls when you don't have Giant siege weapons. I mean in the next chapter, you know, they fight the maybe it's not the next chapter But when they go and fight against Jericho they go and circle around the walls of Jericho several times and the walls come tumbling down They didn't have siege weapons their siege weapon was walking around in circles Like God told him to do with the ark of God and the Levites These priests are just walking around with an ark and all sudden the walls just come tumbling down And then they go in and kill everybody that they're supposed to kill, right? So, you know, they had to be courageous and they had to have faith to think that these things are gonna work Because if you're facing down a big army of giant people because remember they were scared The spies came back and they're like there, you know, we were grasshoppers in their sight I mean you have all these little clutches of giants in these different places og Baychan, you know had a bed that was like 13 feet long Didn't say how tall he was but I mean he had 13 foot bed. He was probably, you know, 10 11 feet tall So, I mean, I would say this is good advice be strong and very courageous Joshua because the things you're gonna see When you come into this land, you know, they're gonna have more chariots. They're gonna have more horses. They're gonna have more firepower They're gonna be greater and mighty In fact, the Bible actually says that they destroyed seven Canaanite nations that were mightier and greater than they were But the thing is is that God is the one that gave them that power And and and you know, this is what we face as Christians, too We face greater and mightier powers than we are but the thing is is that we have God on our side also So we might go into this rich neighborhood or all these people, you know, they have gates They have the no soliciting signs. We've found Jesus and all I mean they have ways to try to keep us out, too They have dogs attack dogs That you know try to get out the doors and eat us in some situations, right? They have their bad attitudes their giant nasty attitudes, you know, it's not the same But it's still they still want to strike fear in your heart people still try to you know Get all puffy and talk crap to you or whatever when you're out knocking doors We just have a different type of fear that people try to instill in us and sometimes it is violence But we have to also as Christians We have to also be strong and very courageous because I don't know about you But every once in a while, I still get a fear when I come to some doors, and I don't know why that is It's just oppression, you know, but I think that every Christian feels that way from time to time And maybe it's just the oppression of that neighborhood I don't know what it is But it's the flesh and usually that's the person that wants that's gonna get saved When you just feel kind of all sheepish at a door or something, but sometimes it's like No soliciting or you know Fido's barking in the background or whatever And usually those doors are pretty, you know, they're not gonna get rid of their dog They're not gonna go put them in the back room, but you never know. Maybe they will but we still have to overcome some obstacles when we're Fighting our battle to you know, we have our little station that we fight out of our little tabernacle So to speak and we congregate here the Lord congregates with us and we're sent out You know and and we we got to go out and battle in our areas And to the uttermost parts of the earth also number two Tonight is the importance Given to Bible reading and meditation of it. Look at Joshua 1 8 very famous scripture one of the most famous Verses in the whole Bible. It says this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth But thou shalt meditate therein day and night That thou mayest observe To do according to all that is written therein For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success There's a lot to unpack in this verse But now first of all, he doesn't want the law or the Word of God to depart out of Joshua's mouth It should be something that's talked about on a regular basis And you know as Christians the Bible should be something that we talk about on a regular basis when we're here at church You know some of our conversations at least should be about Bible topics You know when something interesting comes up, you know, and I know that these things happen at our church Then we talk about things in the Bible all the time But look what it says also it says thou shalt meditate therein day and night Now is this talking about you know? You know closing our fingers like this and sitting cross-legged and going No, it's that's not what it's talking about. You know people think about meditation. They think that we're talking about some kind of Hindu thing That's not what we do. That's not what meditate even means When it comes to talking about the Bible, so what does it mean? Well meditate means to Think deeply or carefully about something. So when you read the Bible, what is God saying to Joshua? He's saying hey when you when you read the Bible Day and night so not just one time a day, but day and night. I want you to think deep deeply and Carefully about the things that you're reading you don't just do it to check off your list for that day You read what it says and think about deeply the things that you're reading So Not just read it, but think deeply about what you're reading and Ponder the things you're taking in Do you do that turn to Psalm chapter 1 verse 1 Psalm chapter 1 verse 1? And this is the first psalm It's a great psalm, and it really kind of nails down the importance of the Bible in the first psalm I think it's you know, it's the first psalm for a reason It gives us some great instruction and it kind of parrots what this verse is saying to us Psalm 1 1 says blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly Nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful We shouldn't be going and getting our advice our counsel Hanging out with or sitting and and that should be our main people that were hanging out with no Not those types of people it says but his delight is in the law of the Lord the Bible this is what our delight should be and In his law doth he meditate day and night. So here's that command again This is the thing that you know, it's not just for Joshua, but God is instructing Joshua to do that He's the leader of the people, of course, he should be doing that but that just isn't to Joshua That's to everybody in Psalm chapter 1 is to everybody and he's saying meditate day and night And he shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water. Well, what's a tree like that's planted by the rivers of water? Well, it's strong and gets deep roots. You know, what's a tree like in the middle of a desert with no water? It's probably weak and feeble and easy to knock down but a tree that's by the rivers of water is gonna be a big tree It's gonna have strong roots and then it says that bringeth forth his fruit in his season So what does that mean? Well, you know the Bible talks about the the tree of life, you know and and talks about How you know, we should be soul winners, you know And and so when it's talking about bringing forth fruit the Bible is usually talking about the fact that we should bring forth fruit and replicate what we are and When that so when we bring forth fruit the Bible is talking about that we should win souls he that winneth souls is wise And it's and so when I say when it says that bringeth forth his fruit in his season I believe this is talking about that that person is going to be a soul winner his leaf also shall not wither So what is that? Well strength and health probably You know You're not gonna get tired and worn out and and God's gonna give you and bless you with those things and it says and whatsoever He doeth shall prosper When you make the Bible your priority when you make reading and meditating Day and night your priority and you soak those things in and not just reading but meditating Thinking about those things applying those things to your life and actually doing them Because you're gonna be blessed not just by reading the Bible but actually applying those things to your life Are you actually applying those things to your life and it says and whatsoever he doest shall prosper You know people wonder why am I not being blessed? Well, maybe you should apply some of the Bible to your life Maybe you should use some of the Bible that you're so you're you know reading Maybe you should actually meditate on the Word of God and not just read it for a checkmark But what what is what is whatsoever he doest shall prosper mean you're gonna be blessed by God That's what it means. Am I saying you're gonna be rich and have some kind of Lamborghini and some house on the West Hills and some mansion. I'm not saying that I'm just saying that you're it's just saying You're gonna be blessed by God that could be children. That could be a spouse that could be many different types of things, but it is talking about being blessed by God and Day and night day and night so morning and evening You know, most people get up in the morning, right? Unless you work nights, then it's night and day, right but Most people get up in the day. Are you finding a time to read your Bible in the morning? Well, if not schedule a time to get up a little bit earlier and read read some Bible Are you reading at night or are you just skipping it? Are you reading day and night? It's a good question to ask, right? and Here's a good question. If you were on trial for Bible reading. Could you be convicted in a court of law? If someone charged you hey this person reads the Bible the Bible is illegal tomorrow Are they gonna be able to go back in your history and find your Bible reading time? Or would you be acquitted for lack of evidence I mean, it's a fair question, right? I mean Daniel, they made a law that he couldn't pray and they caught him right away convicted him right away He's like, I'm just gonna do the same thing. I always have been doing it's not like Daniel Just was like I'll show them, you know, I've never been praying this whole time, but I'm gonna show them, you know, it's it's easy to To be like that, you know people, you know, I'm not gonna take the job, you know That they'll make these big bold stands when they they don't even go to church But they're gonna make stands about things that they don't and they don't even go to church like dude Just start start with the thing the the baseline stuff and start taking stands on the baseline stuff first But we should be reading day and night. Look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 Actually turn to 2nd Timothy 3 15. I'll read 2nd Timothy 2 15 2nd Timothy 2 15 says study to show thyself approved unto God It doesn't say study to show thyself approved unto your friends or study to shoot Study to show thyself approved unto your spouse or to your children. It says study to show thyself approved unto God That's who we're accountable to when it comes to these things a workman that needeth not to be ashamed Rightly dividing the word of truth Look if you're gonna study and show it show yourself approved It's to God that you should be studying and showing yourself those approvals to 2nd Timothy 3 15 says and that from a child Thus known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus Look every child that's in this church. They are accountable because they've known the Word of God from children You have no excuse in this church as a child to not get saved You've heard the word you go sowing with your parents You know what the Bible says and if you haven't made the decision to trust Christ as your Savior, then you're what are you waiting for? You need to do it You need to trust Christ as your Savior and quit putting it off if you are putting it off You need to stop putting it off because you know, I mean you hear it so many times and you just reject it Then you know, you know what happens the Bible says you could be turned over to a reprobate mind You don't want that to happen Says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine That means teaching right for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness Reproof is like to be blamed or for disapproval You know and sometimes we need to be blamed for stuff Sometimes God disapproves of the things that we do and so scripture can help us with those things concur It says for correction. That means to make something right that you're doing wrong to fix something you're doing wrong instruction how to do things right and good direction order Detail on how to how something should be done. Is that what an instruction manual is for? You know Are you one of those people that you get some? Thing you have to put together and you just like I know how to do this You just start put it all together and it's like oh crap I I miss this part and now I got a that I you know Now you have to start over and unbolt everything. I've done that. I've been like that before But I've learned don't skip these steps to look at the manual Otherwise, you're gonna put some bolt in the wrong nut and it just messes everything up, right? Sometimes you get some really bad instruction manuals though I will say that but this instruction manual is gonna straighten you out This instruction manual is good. It's never gonna steer you wrong It's gonna tell you the right things that you need to do with your life Second Timothy 3 17 says that the man of God may be perfect That word perfect means just complete not that you're gonna be walking a moon walking on water or something later It means perfect as in complete. You'll be the complete package Christian you can be through leaf furnished onto all good works Now that term through leaf furnished that means you have everything you need to accomplish the good works in your life that you need To do God's gonna lay it all out Everything that you can do in this life to accomplish good works It's just like if you if you rented an apartment and everything's just furnished for you already Which would be nice because I hate moving I'd rather just throw everything in the dumpster and have a fully furnished apartment or house to move into anybody in their right mind would It's like I really don't feel like picking up that heavy couch ever again or that heavy bed ever again. It's so heavy, you know So it's nice to have something through leaf furnished and the Bible is saying that it is through leaf furnished unto all good works We don't need anything extra if we just had the Bible. It was the only book we had it would be good enough in my opinion and You know, obviously other books can be helpful to us But the Bible is the the greatest book you can ever pick up and read if you don't have time to read anything else Read this book all the other books pale in comparison to it. It's alive it Tells us how to live our life. It corrects us when we're wrong It tells us when we're wrong, but it also inspires us to do great things So fall in love with this book You know the kjv 1611 or you know, the the the one with the right spelling and grammar the 17, whatever Alright, not other books this book this book right here The Bible says turn to Psalm 19. The Bible says in Psalm 19 119 97 oh how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day That's what can't you know, whoever wrote the Psalm 119? King David or whoever it was. He says oh how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day I think about the Bible all day long Psalm 19 verse 7 says the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure Making wise the simple they can make you smarter They can you know, if you're not very bright once you read the Bible, it'll make you more smart It's gonna make you know, perfect as far as complete verse 8 says the statutes of the Lord are right You know when you read the Bible everything in here is right. You don't have to check. Oh, is this right? Yes It is everything in here is everything that God Proclaims in here is right Rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes It's pure it's and it says the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether More to be desired are they than gold? Yea, then much fine gold the Bible is more important than all the gold and all the world You're like well, I'd take all the gold and all the world over the Bible well then you're a fool Because if you didn't have the Bible then you don't have much The Bible is worth more What does it say more to be desired or they then gold? Yea, then much fine gold, you know if you had all the gold in the world, you know, you'd be a Person that doesn't have the Bible, you know, if that was the situation You'd have nothing to steer you nothing to give you morality Nothing to correct you and you know, you just be some loser that has lots of money That's gonna ruin your life with excess and The Bible says, you know that you're not supposed to seek riches You know if riches happen because you're a hard worker then cool But that's not shouldn't not be the focus of our life and the goal of our life to be rich It says sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb The Bible is sweet to us and it should be sweet If you're a Christian the Bible you should love the Bible and if you don't love it yet You should learn to love it start reading it and you'll develop a love for it turn to Genesis chapter 24 Genesis chapter 24 I'll just give you an example and and the first time meditate is actually in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 24 and Abraham sends out his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac and Isaac is is Upset because his mother has passed away. He's mourning his mother and You know, he's seeking after you know a wife for his son. He's not sure whether it's gonna work out and He's calling her from this faraway country And look what happens here in verse number Let's see 60 Genesis 24 60. It says and they blessed Rebecca and said to her thou Thou art our sister be thou the mother of thousands of millions and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them and Rebecca arose and her damsels and they rode upon the camels and followed the band and the servant took Rebecca and went his way and Isaac came from the way of the well lay hit lay high Roy For he dwelt in the south country and Isaac went out To what's it say there to meditate? Is he in like some Hindu trance? No, he's thinking about the things of God. It says he went out to meditate in the field in the eventide so meditate day and what time night right and he went out in the field and eventide and he lift up his eyes and saw and behold the camels were coming and Rebecca lift up her eyes and when she saw Isaac she lighted off the camel For she had said unto the servant What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us and the servant had said it is my master Therefore she took a veil and covered herself and the servant told Isaac all the the all things that he had done and Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent and took Rebecca and she became his wife and he loved her and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. I just want to ask you this question Do you think that the Bible accidentally put that verse in there that Isaac went out in the eventide to meditate? Do you think that that's accident? Look God says that he you know, if you meditate they day and night that he's gonna give you, you know He's gonna make your ways to prosper and all these things and you know Abraham sent his servant to go get that wife, you know, look if you're looking for a wife if you're looking for a spouse you know, maybe you should just start reading the Bible and pleasing God and Maybe that spouse will come to you. But if you're not if your ways are not pleasing the Lord, you know Maybe he's just making you wait for a while. Maybe he wants you to be obedient to him. Maybe he's like, well, hey You know you want some wife to come and be obedient to you well why don't you be obedient to me and start reading your Bible when you're supposed to or coming to church when you're supposed to or Start praying when you're supposed to or start, you know Just going soul winning when you're supposed to watch you start obeying God and maybe he'll give you the desires of your heart Maybe he'll make your trees your leaves not to wilt Maybe he'll make you like a strong tree next to the to the waters Maybe he'll bless everything that you do and and bless your life and give you that wife You know, maybe you're gonna walk out the door and you know, you're gonna meet the woman of your dreams or something. Who knows? But you know what if you're not doing those things then maybe you shouldn't expect great things to happen in your life But I don't think that that's in there for an accident It's the first time it's ever used in the Bible the term meditate and God And you think it's just an accident that all throughout the Bible is saying meditate there in day and night God's gonna bless you But look if you think he's just gonna bless Your life beyond you know And just give you the heart's desire of what you want and you're not even obeying him in the smallest things. You're wrong number three be strong and courageous Verse number nine. Here's Also another famous verse although not as famous but still famous Says have not I commanded thee be strong and of a good courage being unafraid Neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever Thou goest So here's another case where you kind of see that that great Commission kind of talk It's it's kind of you know, this this is kind of an Old Testament version of basically the same thing So God is saying hey, don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed I'm with you wherever you're gonna go now turn to Matthew chapter 28 real quick I've kind of made this point before so I'm gonna make this quick but Matthew chapter 28 So you're have again what's going on here the Commission of Joshua to go into the Promised Land? Of course picturing, you know Christ sending out his disciples Into you know what, you know, we're going to do our Works here on on this earth. He sent us to do out works on this earth and to battle in this earth Look, we're in an army. We're in the Lord's Army. We're battling. He's called us to be soldiers And so this is kind, you know, I mean, this is our spiritual war that we're in Jesus is our captain. He sent us forth to war and so we're here to war And like it might not seem like it. We don't have nobody has like real armor on in here. Nobody has swords I mean, we got some ar-15 people in this church, but they're not honest right now No, our our fight is not is this it's a spiritual warfare Okay You know, maybe some people do have ar-15s on there under your jackets or something. I don't know But anyway, Matthew Matthew chapter 28 verse 18 says and Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth So who's got the power Jesus got the power Go ye therefore and teach all nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you and lo I'm with you always even unto the end of the world Amen, that's our Great Commission. That's what he's told us to do. That's not something we have to pray about It's not something we have to wonder about he's already told us what to do. He has all the power He says I'm gonna be with you always so we don't have to wonder if we're right to go teach all nations We don't have to wonder if we're right to go knock on people's doors We don't have to wonder if it's right for us to baptize in the name of the Father Son the Holy Ghost He's already told us to do these things We don't have to wonder whether it's right to teach people to observe whatever Christ has commanded us It's there in red letters if you have a red letter edition or just in the Bible itself And it says and lo I am with you sometimes Sometimes I leave you no it says I'm with you always even unto Maybe right before the world ends. No it says to the end of the world and Then at the end of the world guess who's coming back, so he's not gonna even leave us then he's gonna be with us So our Commission is from our captain to go to the whole world. That's what we do till he comes back. He said occupy Until I come that's what he said right, so that's what we're supposed to do But he's you know so you can see the parallels between Joshua, and what Christ has told us to do number four last point is That Joshua commands the people he's given given the Commission now He's gonna command the people and tell them what to do verse 10 then Joshua commanded the officers of the people saying pass through the host and command the people saying prepare you victuals, which is like prepare your food for You know for the through for three days or whatever it says for within three days You shall pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land Which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it and the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh spake Joshua saying Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you saying the Lord your God have given you rest Hath given you rest excuse me and hath given you this land So you see how it says hath given you rest Your wives your little ones and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan But you shall pass before your brethren armed all the mighty men of valor and help them So we don't just sit on our laurels and let everybody else fight the battles for us We are you know we have our own section our sections what Vancouver, Washington and any satellite church that we have you know we're We're all helping our brethren to win this spiritual war when you apply it to us, right But they were to help their brethren that just because they had their lot given to them And they had already conquered that spot. It's like no you still help the other people win the battle And it says until the Lord hath given you your brethren rest as he hath given you and they also Have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them Then he shall return into the land of your possession and what to say there enjoy it One day we're gonna get the land of our possession and get to enjoy that too, but see to the victors Go the spoils right and and we're gonna. We're already gonna get the victory We're already gonna win we already know that but how much spoil are you gonna get well it depends on how much you're willing to Battle you know it depends on how much you know are you gonna? Go to the thick of the battle are you gonna? How much are you gonna actually battle are you gonna battle? Monday through you know Sunday through Monday, or I mean are you gonna? Just battle one day a week are you gonna be you know constantly battling it just depends You know some some people that join the military they kept going back for other tours You know they just couldn't get enough action or whatever, but you know our action is a spiritual action So if you're just like you know you just can't get enough of the spiritual warfare, then you know some people just do more But it says which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side of Jordan Toward the Sun rising and they answered Joshua saying all that thou commandest us We will do and withersoever thou send us. We will go So that's a good attitude right according as we harken unto Moses in all things so will we harken unto thee Only the Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses whosoever he Be that doth rebel against thy commandment and will not harken unto thy words and all that thou commandest him He shall be put to death only be strong and of a good courage, so What happens to the people that are deserters? Off with their head or whatever happens to them I mean it says they'll be put to death You're like well that sounds harsh if they're just scared or if they they rebel against the commandment like hey You guys go fight over there. It's like no. We're not gonna do it death But you know The fact is is that most militaries are like that now. I don't know about today. How tough they are on deserters But our own country has laws against deserters. I kind of look this up, and we'll just kind of end on this but The consequences for military desertion during wartime can be severe Including the death penalty life in prison or other court-martial mandated penalties. It's the United States Here are some consequences for desertion Desertion to the enemy desertion to the enemy is punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty Deserters who leave the country can be punished with up to 15 years in prison Voluntary Returning deserters who voluntary Voluntarily returned to the military may face two years in confinement dishonorable discharge forfeiture of pay and allowances and reduced to the lowest enlisted grade So if you you know change your mind and come back voluntarily you still get hit pretty hard But you know I mean in what is it when you are? Discharged dishonorably, it's hard to even get a job at the outside world when they see that there's like you're scum It's hard to get a job And it says the Uniform Code of Military Justice covers desertion absence without leave is called a wall and missing movement Desertion is defined as being absent without leave for more than 30 days so The application to us for today would be we don't want to be a wall as Christians We don't want to be absent without leave as Christians You know we have this great commission from our Lord Jesus Christ, and he called us to be soldiers he called us to endure hardness as good soldiers and we are at war and this war is not going to end any time in our lifetime unless the Lord Jesus Christ comes back in our lifetime and Then he's gonna end the war and and we'll know when that war is ended because we're gonna be on our white horses standing behind him right So Moses in this chapter is called a servant of God multiple times in case you didn't notice that Joshua is called the servant of God also. He was Moses's minister, but Jesus Christ He took upon himself the form of a servant when he came to this world right. He's the king of kings He's the Lord of Lords he was what he's been from the beginning, but took on humble means and Came in the form of a servant He served as a leader And this is what he expects us to be like also So we're supposed to follow our commander and be like he is I am gonna have you just turn to one last verse and then we'll be done and This will be the end of the sermon Colossians chapter 3 verse 22 Colossians chapter 3 verse 22 this has Become one of my favorite passages Because you know I really love verse 24 here But verse 22 says servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh Let's talk about people you know when you work a job. You should obey the things that your bosses say Not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearing God So when you work a job, you should just obey what your boss says and sometimes It's hard because there's some jerk bosses out there There's some really hardcore bosses that are really mean and cruel and they'll treat other people better than you They're everything that the company policy says not to do they do it anyway. I've worked for some tyrants trust me I understand and I haven't always been the best employee I'll admit that but you know obviously as you learn the Word of God and understand what it says You know you should be better at this kind of stuff and knowing you know there's been times When I have talked back to my boss I got I've gotten fired for talking back to a my immediate boss before and I deserved it I shouldn't I shouldn't open my mouth. You're like well. What are you preaching about this well? I mean I learned my lesson You know you can learn your lesson right am I allowed to learn my lesson, but anyway It says and whatsoever you do do it heartily as on as to the Lord and not unto men So when you're working a job, you should just take it like hey, I'm not working for them I'm working for God, and if you have that attitude then nothing should ever bother you But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done Oh, I'm sorry look at knowing that you serve though I'm sorry look at verse 24 knowing that of the Lord he shall research receive the reward of the inheritance We're gonna receive that inheritance For you serve the Lord Christ That's who we serve in reality that's who we actually serve like Moses like Joshua Like all the great men and women of the Bible. That's who we actually serve Jesus served the Father and he served us while he was here on the earth and he died for us He rose again for us, and he did that he took on the form of the servant so he could save us and We it says ye serve the Lord Christ, and so we shouldn't be going AWOL We shouldn't be going as they say off the reservation We shouldn't be going out and just doing whatever we want. We should be serving the Lord Christ We should be serving in the military that he called us into you know. He called us to fight You know and and this is a big deal where when they first said hey, we're gonna stay here You know at the end of Joshua. They kind of make this big idol or enough idol, but a big Altar and The children of Israel come they're about to fight these three nations that it's talking about here or these three tribes of Israel And they think that they're gonna make some new place to worship, and they're like no. This is a witness that we're gonna serve the Lord and They thought it was rebellion But it didn't end up being that way, but anyway The Bible said you know we can't go AWOL It's our duty to fight in the war and not to go off and do whatever we want and what happens when we go AWOL we get punished and If we do right We get persecuted, but which one do you actually want to happen we get rewards for getting persecuted? But you know what we don't get rewards for going AWOL We don't get rewards for that. We just get beaten by God I'd rather get beaten by men and get rewards for that or cussed out by somebody at the door and get rewards for that and You know get have some people say bad things about me on the internet and get rewards for that then to get punished by God because I decided to quit and Not show up for stuff and not read my Bible and not go soul-winning and Whatever else God wants me to do in this war And you know what in the end we get the rewards So I Would rather just enjoy the inheritance and get as many rewards on this earth as I can Because when you serve you get to enjoy the rewards isn't that what Joshua said hey? When you fight all this stuff in the end you get to rest and go back to your land and enjoy those rewards All right, all right. That's Joshua chapter 1. Let's pray Lord We thank you so much for this great chapter in the Bible for this great book job about Joshua leading the children of Israel into the promised land I pray Lord we learn many great spiritual things from this book and I pray that you just bless us all as we go our separate ways and We pray these things in Jesus name and then we're gonna have that baptism Don't forget Turn your head most one excuse me to 467 the bib le 467 the bib le a B I B le Yes, that's the book for me. I stand alone on the word of God the bib le Bible All right that was pretty short, so we're gonna go ahead and go to amazing grace 244 244 amazing grace a amazing grace How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now Was blind but now I see Twas grace that Taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace Appear the hour I first believed Through Many dangers toils and snares I have already Come His grace hath brought me safe thus far and Grace will lead me home When we've been there 10,000 years Bright shining as the Sun We've no less days to see God's grace And when we first begun First begun Let me find another one real fast oh Here he comes all right You