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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . If you're still there in Numbers, chapter 27, for one, we're going to look at Moses' request. Moses' request in Numbers, chapter 27, Moses had to give you the contest. Moses is soon, because of his disobedience, he was supposed to speak to the rock. He went and struck the rock twice, and before that disobedience, the Lord told him he could not enter into the promised land. So at this point in Numbers, chapter 27, the Lord has told him that he needs to get up into the Mount Abram, and there he would be able to see that new land, that promised land. And also not only that, but he was to set the congregation in order. As he's about to leave, the Lord wanted him to ordain the next person. So for one, let's look at his concern. Let's look at the request of Moses. Look at verse 16. The Bible says in verse 16, actually verse 15, it says, and Moses spake unto the Lord, verse 16 says, let the man, excuse me, and Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, let the Lord speak unto the Lord. Excuse me. And Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation. Excuse me. So we see there that Moses has a request. And the thing is that his request actually shows his concern. Because Moses, although the Lord told him, hey, you're going to die, he doesn't just look at this work like, hey, you know, well, my time is up. I'm punching out. You know, you guys go off and handle this by yourself. But his concern is about the flock. His concern is about the congregation. And notice what he says concerning the congregation, set a man over the congregation. He don't want them to be as sheep not having a shepherd. He very well could have been salvaged and said, well, hey, you guys, you know, Moses wanted to die at some point in time during his ministry anyway. Right? Because the people had just been so hard to deal with and so hard-hearted that he just wanted to die eventually. But he could have said, you know, who cares? You know, you guys can go off and do what you want. And I'm going to be with the Lord and the glory land. And you guys can have all this down here. But he didn't say that. We see a concern where he actually is concerned about the congregation to a point where he says, set a man over the congregation. So for one, with his request, for one, we see three things with his request, three quick things. For one is that we see from his request that it is biblical for the congregation to have an ordained leader. It is biblical for the congregation to have a ordained leader. Notice what he says in verse 16. Set a man over the congregation. Well, we see here in obsolete the Lord grants that because it is God's will that a man be set over the congregation. There be a leader over the church, over the congregation. We see that here. So not only that, but you just kind of look at, you know, a lot of people scoff at that idea there. Or what we just seen there in the scripture where someone is over the congregation, someone is ruling. They are reigning over the congregation. You a lot of people. I'm not going to church. Oh, well, I don't think one man should be running the show. I think we're all good enough to be pastors. I don't see why we can't just all get together. And hey, you know, this brother has a word today. We're just step aside and let him or this sister has the word for today. And she's going to teach us today. Why do we need a pastor? Why do we? Why can't everybody just get up and teach? Everybody's qualified, right? So we see that that's not the case, although people will love to have it that way. And that's why they scoff at church and frown upon the churches of today because they figure, oh, well, you following some man, some man who's going to sit up and he's going to rule and reign? Well, according to the Bible, that is biblical. Moses says, set a man over the congregation. And God grants that request. Not only that, number two, we see that it is biblical that the leadership should be a man. Notice what he says. Set a man over the congregation. This is not talking about man as in mankind. Oh, yeah, that means just mankind, means just anybody said no. He's saying set a man, that gender of a male. He's saying set him over the congregation. And this is something else that is scarred. Well, why can't the woman be the leader? Why can't the woman be the pastor? Why can't she be the one to lead and to go in and out and do all the preaching and lead the congregation? Why is that so? Well, that's not God's design. We see here, even before we get into Titus and Timothy and we see official qualifications of a bishop, as I mentioned, that's not the scope of the sermon. But we do see here that even before all of that, we have the ordination of Joshua. And Moses understood, set a man over the congregation. Not only that, this is the third thing that we see concerning Moses' request. Not only that the congregation should have a leader, not only should there be a leader, but the leader should be a male. It should be a man. Not that men are better than women or anything like that, or a man is here and a woman is here. No, that's not the case. That is the order of God. That is God's design that way. But then thirdly, number three, it is biblical that the leader should be the leader. If he the leader, he should rule over that local congregation, over that local congregation. Notice what the Bible says again in verse 16. Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation. Notice he's not saying plural congregations. There's this local congregation pastor preached a great message probably about two weeks ago. And he was going into depth about comparing the Old Testament congregation and how it is interchanged in Hebrews with the word church. So we see in here, whenever we're reading here, when he's saying set a man over the congregation, where he's saying set a man over the church. And if you go to Acts chapter 7, this congregation is known as the church in the wilderness. So he's saying here, set a man over the congregation. But not only that, as we're talking about here, is that the leader should be the leader of that local congregation, of this congregation. Because he said set a man over the congregation. It's not plural. It's not as if this is some denomination where there are many churches kind of scattered abroad. And at the top of the pyramid is this one guy. And he's ruling and reigning over all these. Sort of like the Watchtower Society. I know they may have many up there who are ruling and reigning. But the thing is, that's how denominations work. There's one guy at the top and a bunch of other churches. No, we see where Joshua will be the head. He will be the leader of this local congregation. This one church that is in the wilderness, Joshua will be it. All right, so as I mentioned, let me get into these points here. Concerned in Joshua with the scope of this, since he is to be chosen as the leader, God honors Moses' request. And he sets up a man over the congregation. As I mentioned, I wanted to look into Joshua as to why would he be considered for this job? Why would he be considered that immediately notice the Lord didn't say, well, give me some time, Moses. Let me try to find someone, Moses. Let me look throughout the congregation, the millions of people who are and thousands of people who are here in the congregation. Let me see who I can just seek out and see if they could possibly be the one to lead. No, it's immediately right after the request is granted, yeah, lay your hands upon Joshua. Someone was there already to fulfill this mission and to fill the shoes that Moses would no longer be able to fill. And as I mentioned, let's look into Joshua. Why do you think that? Why is that? And these are just some points that I came up with. As I mentioned, you can probably study this out and find other reasons why you would say, hey, he could have been considered for this as well. But this is just something that I see. We can talk about it after service as well. But for one, I would say to consider Joshua, the reason he most likely was considered is because, number one, his ability to follow. His ability to follow. Turn to Joshua chapter 1. Joshua had an ability to follow. Notice Joshua chapter 1. 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 Nun. Notice these words, Moses ministered, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all these people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. So notice what the end of verse 1 calls Joshua. Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses ministered. And as you study, this really didn't hit me until I really started studying this out, that Joshua, you can turn to Exodus chapter 24. Joshua has this title that's tagged to his name. Very often in scripture, after Exodus chapter 24, I'm going to just kind of give two other scriptures. You don't have to turn there. But he has this title that's tagged to his name, Joshua, the servant of Moses. Or it say Joshua, the minister of Moses. It really just says Joshua, or Joshua, the son of Nun. It says that, but often there is this tag, this title that's tagged to his name, Joshua, the son of Nun. But then it says the servant of Moses, the minister of Moses. Notice chapter, Exodus chapter 24, verse 13 says, let's look at verse 12 to get a little bit of context here. Moses here says, and really to get this whole context, I will recommend kind of backing up to chapter 19. This is when Moses is going into the mount for 40 days and 40 nights. And, of course, he's getting the law. He's getting the ordinances of how God wants the tabernacle to be built. So this spans over a great deal of chapters. So for context's sake, I will say go back and kind of, you know, get brought up to speed on that. I know we're just jumping in verse 12 here. But the Bible says, and the Lord said unto Moses, come up to me into the mount and be there, and I will give thee tables of stone and a law and commandments which I have written that thou mayest teach them. Notice verse 13, notice the title that is tagged to Joshua's name. And Moses rose up and his minister, Joshua. And Moses went up into the mount of God. He has this title that is tagged to him that whenever the Bible just say Joshua is even tagging on, he's a minister or he's the servant of Moses. Exodus chapter 33, you don't have to turn there. But Exodus 33, 11 says, and the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp. But his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, notice this, a young man departed not out of the tabernacle, but notice it said, but his servant Joshua. There's that title again, his servant Joshua. Numbers 11, verse 28 says, and Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses. There it is again, Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses. One of his young men answered and said, my Lord Moses forbid them. And that's obviously talking about the other people that was prophesying. Moses would have that all would prophesy and everything. But the Bible calls him there, Joshua, the servant of Moses. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 23, Matthew chapter 10, excuse me. Matthew chapter 10, the Lord Jesus Christ is sending out his disciples in this chapter here. And I want to come here because we began to see some words that are being interchanged. We see some words as the Lord is giving the disciples his commandment concerning them going out. He's giving them power to cast out devils, to cleanse the lepers, to cleanse the lepers, to preach the gospel, to cast out devils and everything. But then he's getting to a point where he's telling them about the persecution that's going to come upon them as well. Look at verse 23. He says, but when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another. For verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel to the son of man become. Notice these words as being interchanged. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be asked his master and the servant as his Lord. So I'm going to pause there, and I'm going to finish the rest of the scripture there. But notice how the Lord is interchanging disciple with the word servant, right? Because a servant is a disciple. The Bible calls Joshua the servant of Moses. And what the Lord is getting at here, the Lord Jesus, when he's telling them that the disciple is not above his master, he's practically telling them that, listen, and in this context of persecution, what he's giving it to them is that persecution, if it comes upon you, obviously it's because it came upon him. You cannot look at Jesus and say, oh, he was persecuted for all the righteousness that he done. And if I do the same thing, I won't be persecuted. No, it won't work that way. If you desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, he says you're going to suffer that persecution. So because that is the case, you're not above the master. You're not going to be, oh, Jesus was persecuted, but I'm not. And I wasn't going to touch this. Let me just touch on this, because with the prosperity preachers and everything, you look at that, and it's kind of contrary to the life of Jesus Christ and contrary to the life of the prophets. And it's contrary because these prophets preach the word of God. They preach what the Lord tells them, and they get persecuted. They get stoned. They get killed. But the prosperity, they so-called preach the same exact words but get rich. That's a problem. If I preach the same words that Christ preached, then I ought to be getting persecuted, because he says here the disciple is not above his master. So if the master, who is Jesus Christ, was persecuted, and I'm getting rich off the words that Jesus Christ was persecuted for, there is a problem. There is a problem there. So let me get back into what I want to touch on, because he's saying here that the disciple is not going to be above his master. But yet, at that, he's saying, and what we're looking at is that the disciple, that word is being interchanged with the word servant. He says in verse 25, it is enough of the disciple that he be as his master. And the servant, there it is, interchanged with disciple. And the servant asks his Lord, if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of the household, of his household? So we see here the words disciple and servant being interchanged. The Bible calls Joshua the servant of Moses. It is very well good to say, if we go off the Bible, that yes, Joshua is a disciple of Moses. And what is a disciple doing? You're just learning of the master. You're learning of the boss. You're following him around. You're learning the dos and you're learning the don'ts. You're learning the good. You're learning the bad. You're constantly there and you're with him. If you look at Joshua and his work unto Moses, the Bible calls him the minister of Moses, the servant of Moses, which means that it is safe to say, yes, he was a disciple of Moses. He was there following Moses. Same thing with Elijah. Elijah and Elisha. Elijah is known as the minister of Elijah. He poured water upon the hands of Elijah. And we see that even before Elijah actually began to fill the shoes of, excuse me, even before Elijah filled the shoes of Elijah, he spent some time following. And what we see here is that, I'm drawing out that in this point, he had the ability. We see with Joshua, Joshua had the ability to follow. Here's how deep it goes with Joshua when it comes to him following. It goes so deep to a point that Joshua was a follower of Moses and a disciple and he was there to be a servant unto Moses for 40 plus years. Let that sink in. Before Joshua actually steps in to be the leader, he's a follower for at least 40 years. You say, how can that be so? Well, remember, Joshua is there when they come out of Egypt. When their first battle is taken and there is Amalek that they come across, the army of the Amalekites, the thing is that Joshua leads that battle before, excuse me, and he's there when there is risen up in the congregation, the people who, when they got to the border of that new land, that promised land, the people rebelled against God. They decided, no, they were afraid. The men rose up an evil report. And what was the result of that? Well, they would spend 40 years in the desert until they died off and their children would go into the promised land. But wait a minute. Joshua lived all the way through those 40 years. Moses lived all the way through those 40 years. Joshua was there. He was the minister. He was the servant of Moses for those 40 years. You're talking about somebody who had the ability to follow. You know, that's a good example because I'm sure Joshua didn't have in mind when is Moses going to die off so I can step up. I mean, 40 years of service. And you just think about that. Could you really do that? Could you really follow somebody and be a servant and learn how to follow for 40 years without your ego stepping in and saying, well, I think I know as much as him. I think I ought to be there. Why she need to be doing this? I need to be here. The pastor don't know much. I need to be the one. Can you really follow someone for 40 years and keep your ego in check? We see that with Joshua, that when you do the math, he lives throughout the reign of those people dying off in the wilderness, which they spent 40 years. And now he's getting to a point where he's about to step in and be the leader. So we see that Joshua has the ability to follow. And let's make a quick application for us. We have to understand that it is God's will that we learn how to be good followers. Turn to Philippians chapter 4. He has a lot of people, oh, you're following a man. You're following that pastor. Well, yeah, that's what the Lord has said. That is God's design. That you follow the pastor, because the pastor, I'm going to touch on this in a second, is to be an example to the believers. Philippians chapter 4, the Bible says in verse 8, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, notice what Paul writes. Those things which he have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. Now let's understand when Paul is writing the letters to the church, these are not just letters where he's just writing freehand and he just, well, you know, I'm going to just write what I'm feeling. No, the Bible in 2 Peter chapter 3, I didn't even put this in there. I believe it's 2 Peter chapter 3, forgive me if this is wrong, but where he calls Paul's letters scripture, right? So Paul is not just writing on his own behalf. No, the Holy Ghost is moving on the hearts of men, including Paul, and he is painting down what the Holy Ghost is giving him. So when he's saying here, those things which he have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, he's saying do those things that you have seen me do, those things that you have learned and received. Most likely it was spiritual things. So they weren't just receiving them from the mouth of Paul as if Paul is the originator of them. No, the Holy Ghost is moving upon Paul, and he's saying which he have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do. He's saying follow me, do those things, use me as an example. And it is God's will that we look at fellow believers and we use them as an example. And as I mentioned, a lot of people have a problem with this. Oh, you're following some man? Oh, well, especially in this follow me generation, right? How many followers you got on Twitter or whatever, Instagram, whatsoever? Everybody is so concerned with following. Let me pause and insert. I wasn't thinking of this. But isn't it amazing that people don't have a problem just following people online? They don't have a problem at all following someone on Instagram, following somebody on Twitter, doing something so outrageous so you can get a lot of followers, so you can basically get money from those platforms. You do all type of craziness so you can develop followers. Nobody have a problem with that. Nobody. Hey, yeah, here's my car. Follow me on Instagram on this. Follow me on Snapchat with this. Everybody want to be followed. But when the Bible says, hey, yeah, those things which he have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, people, well, I don't think we should be doing that. You know, you will follow what you want to follow. If you like foolishness, you know what you're going to follow? Foolishness with no problem. But you want to follow godly people, yeah, you can do that. So it is God's will for us as Christians to look at the example, to be good followers. 1 Timothy chapter 4, he says in verse 11, these things command and teach. These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. So Paul is writing to Timothy under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, hey, be an example of the believers. Let them see you live a godly life. Let them see you being serious and sincere and showing some gravity about the ministry. There's enough foolishness in the world. Don't have time to keep following people who are not doing anything serious. Hey, follow somebody who's following God. And you know, I love the nine chapters a day when we do this New Testament in the month of January, because we just saw about this out so many on Monday, that every time you read it, you just come across something new. And even verses that you read over and over and over, it seemed like the light bulb just go off. But this was something because this message was in my heart, something that was just constantly sticking out. And I'm sure you've seen this as well, where Jesus is, before he even ordained people to be his 12 disciples, then, of course, he ordains in the Gospel of Luke and sends out 72 others. You know what they did before they were actually ordained? They followed. Jesus, seeing Matthew, told him, follow me. Seeing some other people, told them, follow me. And he just didn't automatically, hey, you're ordained now. No, I don't know how many days it was before Jesus ordained them. But what it was is that there was a following. They had to follow him. So we ought to grow and be focused on being good followers, because there is nothing wrong with following a man as long as he is following the Lord. When he gets off the Lord's bandwagon, that's when you get off as well. So it is God's will that we follow and have the ability and learn and grow in following. So number one, we look at Joshua. We see that he has the ability to follow. Not only that, but number two, we see that he has the ability to be found faithful. He has the ability to be found faithful. Turn to Exodus chapter 32. Exodus chapter 32, famous chapter, golden calf is built. The pressure is put upon Aaron to build them a calf. And they end up worshiping it, spreading the word that these are the gods. This is the God that brought us out of Israel. Behold thy gods. All this false doctrine being thrown around there in the wilderness. But notice who was not a part of it. Notice chapter 32, verse 17. The Bible says, and when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, there is a noise of war in the camp. Now, the thing is, as I mentioned earlier, with this Exodus, you have to kind of back up really further back than where I'm jumping in at, because Moses has been receiving all the commandments and the tabernacle hours to be built and everything. He received that some chapters ago. So it spans over a great deal of chapters. But now we see the end of that, where Moses is coming down from the mount. And when you go back and look at the beginning of this, you'll see maybe, I believe that's chapter 24, where actually Joshua goes up into the mount with him. And he's there in the mount with him, but the Lord, the glory of the Lord descends in the cloud upon the mount. And the Lord calls Moses up, and Moses is up with the Lord for those 40 days and 40 nights. Joshua is in the mount, but he's not having that fellowship with the Lord the way Moses is. So Joshua is pretty much just camped out inside the mountains, while Moses is in the presence of the Lord. And notice, when Moses comes down here, let's actually, I started too late on this. I wanted to pick up in verse 14. Because Exodus 32, 14, basically the Lord is telling Moses, you need to get back down there, because the people corrupted themselves. They built an idol. They built this calf. And then verse 14 says, and the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. What that's all about, Moses began to intercede. The Lord was going to basically kill off all these people, and he was going to begin a new nation with Moses. Moses starts to intercede for them. It's said in verse 14 that the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. And 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 on the other side, excuse me, and on the other were they written. He says, and the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God graven upon the tables. Verse 17 says, and when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, there is a noise of war, notice the location, in the camp. So if he's saying there's a noise of war in the camp, and Moses is coming down the mount, you see one person that is not amongst the camp as they're going to horny is Joshua. Joshua is in the mount, and he's there to meet Moses as he's coming down, and he's saying there is something going on in the camp. There is a noise of war in the camp, and he said, is it not the voice of them that shout for mastery? It is not the voice, excuse me, it is not the voice of them that shout for mastery. Neither is the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing do I hear. So we see that he is not amongst those who are going to horny. Those who are worshipping the devil, because that's actually what that calf is, it is the devil, the congregation goes off and worships the devil a great deal of them. But then one person who is not amongst them, one person who is remaining faithful to the promises of God and knows the true God that brought them out of Egypt, he's not saying, hey, yeah, I believe that golden calf is. No, no, Joshua is remaining faithful, although the congregation is going ahorn. Not only that, Joshua, when I say he has the ability to be found faithful, when there is pretty much a rising up against Moses and Aaron, when it's core with Dathan and Abiram, and a small portion of the congregation, they were able to deceive and get them to come over to their side. Well, one person you didn't see that was deceived was Joshua. Joshua did not go for the deception. They couldn't come to, really, probably thinking, they probably wouldn't come to Joshua with their foolishness. Knowing how close he is with Moses, that's the last person you would probably want to pull that on. Especially with Joshua being a warrior, he probably would kill you on the spot, too. It's just what I'm thinking. But it doesn't shock me that he was not able to be deceived and he's on Korah and those guys' side. But what we see is that he's remaining faithful. And I believe, as we study Joshua, that a great reason why he probably was considered for this task, why God didn't have to seek out a man and say, well, who is there? Who can step up? He immediately just says Joshua is because he has the ability to be found faithful. He was able to just stick with God through the ups and the downs. He knew that, listen, that golden calf is not God. There's a sound of shouting going on in the camp, but I'm not amongst that camp. I'm not worshipping that devil. He has the ability to remain faithful. And here's the application, is that we can learn from Joshua. Yes, we need to learn how to be people who can develop and just be people who can be faithful. Develop that faithfulness. And what I mean about this word faithful, depending on the context, it can give off a different meaning. But when we're talking about being faithful, we're talking about being loyal, being steadfast. We're talking about loyal to the ministry, loyal and devoted to the work of God. That's what we need nowadays because you know what? It seems that as the world is going on, you will think that more people will get in the fight and say, you know what, I really want to get on the Lord's bandwagon. I think the writing says on the wall. I think the times are not getting better. I think I need to be found faithful. I think I need to get on the Lord's bandwagon and start doing something for the Lord. Right. Because you hear it in 2020. Oh, 2020 was the worst. Right. I can't wait to 2021. 2021 came. Oh, I can't wait to 2022. This year has been newsflash. It's not going to get better. It's not getting better. And what we need to be is people who can be faithful. The Lord needs people who can remain devoted, who can remain steadfast, who can remain unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. That's what we need today. Most importantly, that's what we need here is strong hold. Right. Because we talk about the local congregation now. Right. This local congregation needs people who will be faithful, people who will be loyal to the ministry, loyal to the work of God. And that's what we ought to be praying for, that the Lord will send more people who will be. I mean, we've been having a great growth spurt. But I say, hey, send more. Send more laborers. That is God's will that, hey, that more laborers will go out into the field. And that's a prayer that I pray weekly that God would just add to this local body so that we can go out and do more work. So we see Joshua. He has the ability, number one, the ability to follow. Number two, the ability to be found faithful. But number three, this is the last point. Joshua here has the ability to be fearless, the ability to be fearless. Turn with me to Numbers chapter 11. I'm sorry, Numbers 14. Numbers chapter 14. This is when the Lord gets them to the borders of that promised land. And some spies are sent out to survey the land and bring back a report. And the report is obviously that they bring up an evil report. And because of that, they're turned back from the sea, from their borders, and now they have to spend the rest of their days in the wilderness. As the congregation is afraid because of the evil report, notice one person. Actually, I'll take that back. Notice two people. And one of the two people is Joshua, who was not afraid. Notice what the Bible says in verse 4. This is the people's response to the report of giants being in the land and everything. The Bible says in verse 4, and they said one to another, let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And notice this. Who is this? And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. 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 delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it us a land which florith with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land. So notice Joshua is saying, don't fear these people. The congregation is afraid. They start bickering and hollering against Moses and Aaron. Well, how did you bring us here and everything? We were better off dying in Egypt. And this man here, the servant of Moses, him and Caleb step up and say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The people who went over and seen the promised land, Joshua and Caleb, are able to get a word out and tell them, listen, if the Lord delight in us, if the Lord delight in us, there's a condition. If the Lord delight in us, he's saying he'll bring us into this land. But I like what he said in verse nine, only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land. Joshua has the ability to be fearless. He's saying, don't fear these people. The Lord, if he delights in us, the Lord is going to win the battle for us. It's the Lord's battle. All we have to do is be obedient. All we have to do is have faith. That is what he's trying to instill in the people. And I love this part here in verse nine. He says, for they are bred for us. Their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not. So notice what he said. Neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bred for us. Basically, what we would say today is, we're going to eat their lunch. Their lunch for us. I mean, bread is something that's just easily torn. It's easily rent. Even if it's bread that's hard, if you put it in your mouth and you chew it long enough, it softens up. It starts to tear easily. It goes from being tough to just being soft and soggy, and you can just rip right through it. You can rent it. He said, they're going to be bred for us. That's who they are. And why is that? Because he's saying, if the Lord be with us, he's saying, we're going to eat these guys for lunch. That's what's going to happen. Talk about somebody that's fearless. Talk about somebody who has the ability, when you can be the minority, when all the congregation is saying, we can do it. We can do it. And you one of two step up and say, yeah, we can. Yeah, we can. We can do it. They're going to be bred for us. We're going to eat them alive. That's somebody who has the ability to be fearless. And turn to Joshua chapter 1. We all have a tendency to be fearful. No matter how you think you are of a super saint or how much you read the Bible, there is a time where you may be fearful. And it's common. It's natural. God has not given us the spirit of fear. But because we're in the flesh, there are times where we just get afraid. When we just don't know the outcome and we don't know how something is going to turn out for us, well, you may just get afraid. And that's natural. And I think, you know, although Joshua is set up as that ruler or that leader who will bring them in, the Lord has to reinsteal in him that, listen, don't fear. Be of good courage. We see that here because, yes, he's fearless. But it is natural for fear to, you know, strike in every now and then. And the Lord is telling him not to fear. Look at verse 6 in the Bible. The Lord is telling him, be strong and of good courage. For unto this people shalt 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 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. Have not I commanded thee? Notices be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid. Neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. And, you know, as I mentioned, yeah, Joshua, he has the ability to be fearless. I believe that's why he's chosen. But every now and then, hey, you need to be reminded because we're human. We're human. Hey, don't be afraid. And, you know, this is something that we can take from Joshua and the Lord's word. Yes, Joshua has the ability. And this reason why I believe another reason why he's chosen because the ability to just be fearless. Right. And that's what God wants as well. People who would just operate in just faith and not in fear. You know, a lot of people, you know, and I was, you know, at first one, I'm sure everybody was. You start now. You know, I'm just using this as an example, just giving the gospel. One of the things you fear is being able to just stand there with somebody you don't know and give them the gospel. I know for me, I was really hopeful that the person probably for a few weeks didn't open up a door. Although part of me was like, I want to see this. I want to be a part of this and see how this work. But the other half of me, that was my spiritual man who wanted to see somebody say. But my flesh is like, oh, please don't open up the door, especially, you know, if there's a dog barking a pit bull. You know, I don't want that person to open up the door. So I'm just hoping and why? Because I'm afraid, because I'm fearing, you know, man and what man is going to think about me. And because I'm operating in fear, you know, I can't do anything for God. And you think about Joshua. He would not have been able to do anything for God if he operated in fear. If he was just fearful and just afraid of the armies that would come toward him and that was awaiting him, God couldn't use him. Right. But God had to resell him that, listen, I'm going to be with you. And we can just have that, you know, that comfort right there as well. That, listen, God is with us in our trials. That we don't have to be afraid. We don't have to fear. But we can place our faith on the Lord. There's a lot of fear mongering going on. Right. I mean, just fear everywhere. Virus after virus. New names form. As I said, they sound like Transformer names, you know, where I'm a crime. And, you know, it's so many names that's being thrown out. And so much fear. People worried about their stocks and worried about, you know, losing this. It just seemed like as the years go on, as I mentioned, people, oh, I can't wait till 2020 is over with. Oh, 2021 was bad. And then people are optimistic about 2022. Oh, I got a feeling it's going to get, no, it's going to get worse. It's going to get bad. And you know what? As time is going on, as we see these signs unfold, as we continue to live, we don't need to be fearful. We don't need to be fearful. Going back to, you know, the Gospels, as you're reading through the Gospel, I had to start underlining these words. Jesus would ask, for an example, Peter walked on water. Right. And he saw the wind boisterous. Right. And then he began to sing. And the Lord lifts him up and he speaks about his doubt. Right. There comes a time where Jesus is asleep in the ship and he seizes the storm. And what does he say? Why are you fearful? Why are you afraid? I'm in the boat with you. I'm in the boat. You have me. I told you we're going to go over to the other side. Why are you afraid? And we as a people of God, we shouldn't be afraid. God has not given us that spirit. We have nothing to fear. Yes, the world is going to fear. They're going to come up with all type of ways to, you know, to try to, you know, accommodate their fear. They're going to try to get, you know, this survival package and, you know, all type of things. But we don't have to live like that. We can serve God. We can, you know, show up to the local church. Be faithful in the local church. You know, be great followers of good men and good women of the Lord. That is what we should do. So as I mentioned, you know, just wanted to look at Joshua because we see some things. Just some that I've seen concerning him. How the Lord just lays his charge upon him and he sets him up. He ordains him. And just looking at Joshua and his characteristics and who he was as a person, how he had that ability to follow. He had that ability, you know, to be faithful to the Lord. But also had that ability to be fearless. And those are good characteristics we should have and add to our Christian walk. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord God, we thank you for your word. I pray, Lord, that we would be children, Lord God, who would be faithful unto you, Lord God. And when others may be throwing in the towel, Lord, and maybe getting burnt out in Christianity, Father Lord, help us, Lord, to find our refreshing in you, Lord God. We pray, Lord, that you would strengthen us. Bless our church, Lord. We ask that you would continue to add to this local church here, Lord, and help us so we can do a great work for you and win many souls, Lord. And operate in faith, Lord, and not in fear that we might do great things for you. We thank you and ask that you bless us as we leave here this evening, Lord God. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. All right, church. I'm going to close out this service with one last hymn. You can open up your hymnals. It's song number 331. Song number 331, wherever he leads, I'll go. Song 331. On the verse. Take up thy cross and follow me. I heard my master say. I gave my life to ransom thee. Surrender your all today. Wherever he leads, I'll go. Wherever he leads, I'll go. I'll follow my Christ who loves me so. Wherever he leads, I'll go. He drew me closer to his side. I sought his will to know. And in that will, I now abide. Wherever he leads, I'll go. Wherever he leads, I'll go. Wherever he leads, I'll go. I'll follow my Christ who loves me so. Wherever he leads, I'll go. It may be through the shadows dim. Or o'er the stormy sea. I'll take my cross and follow him. Wherever he leadeth me. Wherever he leads, I'll go. Wherever he leads, I'll go. I'll follow my Christ who loves me so. Wherever he leads, I'll go. On the last church. My heart, my life, my all I bring. To Christ who loves me so. He is my Master, Lord, and King. Wherever he leads, I'll go. Wherever he leads, I'll go. Wherever he leads, I'll go. I'll follow my Christ who loves me so. Wherever he leads, I'll go. Amen. Thank you so much for coming. You guys are dismissed. Thank you.