June 17, 2025 • 41 mins
What does biblical manhood really look like in a world that's increasingly confused about gender and leadership? Through the life of Joshua, we discover five powerful principles that define godly leadership for fathers, husbands, and men of all ages.
The journey begins with a fundamental truth - you must follow before you can effectively lead. Joshua didn't simply take command; he remembered Moses' words from God and submitted himself first. Real leadership isn't about barking orders or demanding your own way; it's about modeling what it means to follow Jesus so others can see the path.
Through Rahab's surprising story, we learn that God uses imperfect people with messy pasts. Her faith - not her reputation - qualified her for God's redemptive work. This reminds us that leadership isn't about perfection but about believing God's promises and extending the same grace we've received.
When facing the impossible barrier of the flooded Jordan River, Joshua recalled God's past faithfulness at the Red Sea. Yet the waters didn't part until the priests' feet touched the water - teaching us that sometimes we must step into uncertainty before seeing God's provision.
Perhaps most powerfully, Joshua created memorial stones from the riverbed - physical reminders that would prompt future generations to ask, "What do these stones mean?" Godly men live in ways that create stories worth telling, testimonies that connect their families to God's faithfulness.
Finally, Joshua reinstated the Passover celebration that had been neglected for decades, understanding that spiritual disciplines must be both learned and taught. This warns us of the dangerous progression we often see: if grandfather says church is essential but father says it's optional, the son will view it as unnecessary, and the grandson may never know Jesus at all.
Biblical manhood isn't about machismo or dominance. It's about following the ultimate leader - Jesus Christ - and guiding others toward Him through humble, faithful, courageous leadership that points beyond ourselves to the One who makes all things new.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Put your hands together for all of our fathers,
all of our grandfathers,great-grandfathers here in the
room, all of our spiritualfather figures in here.
We wish you all a happyFather's Day.
Happy Father's Day to all thedads maybe who were not able to
be here or they are just nothere with us.
Happy Father's Day toabsolutely everyone.
(00:22):
I want to say a happy Father'sDay to my dad, who's in
Pensacola, florida, watchingthis morning.
My father-in-law, who is inCrossville, tennessee, my wife's
dad he is six foot six I'mpraying the cruise gets big like
him and then also mygrandfathers.
Both of my grandfathers are inheaven with Jesus.
One more time, for all of ourdads, happy Father's Day.
(00:44):
We are so thankful for you.
We're so thankful for you.
There's a common term out therethat says dad fail, dad fail,
right.
How many dads in the room havea dad fail?
Raise your hand, I have a dadfail.
I've got many dad fails.
Just to be honest with you, myfirst one was probably well,
within the first week of being adad right, I learned what dad
(01:05):
fails were all about.
I woke up Brooklyn this morningat about 6.45 and got to tell
her like hey, brooklyn, you werethe one who made me a daddy.
Right, she was our first, andso Brooklyn was adopted.
So we actually we learned aboutthat.
We were able to adopt her twoweeks before that she was born
(01:26):
and we learned the morning thatshe was being born that her
birth mom had gone into labor.
We thought it was going to beanother couple of weeks, so we
raced to the hospital and we gotto be in the delivery room
you've heard me say before whenshe was born, and they handed
Brooklyn directly over to us andthen we got about three days
later we got to take Brooklynhome and I just remember those
(01:46):
first few weeks were right.
I mean, they were justdifficult.
They were hard, I mean,especially on my wife.
She's doing most of absolutelyeverything.
And I remember one night shewas just exhausted and so
Brooklyn woke up crying.
I said, hey, babe, I got it, Igot it.
You know, I got this, noproblem.
So I go into the nursery For thefirst time it was probably
night one, two or threesomewhere in there and I
(02:06):
remember getting little babyBrooklyn and I laid her on the
changing pad, like how hard canthis be?
And so I laid her down and Istarted changing her diaper and
wiping her and all that kind ofstuff, and she just pees all
over the changing pad I meanjust everywhere, right.
And so I'm like, all right,that's okay.
And I'm coaching her like don'tdo that again, just wait till
your diaper's on Listen to daddy.
And I put another.
(02:28):
And as I'm changing her up andI'm wiping down the pee pad and
all that, starting to putanother diaper on her, pees
again, pees again.
I'm like she's already notlistening, obviously.
And so I'm feeding her herbottle.
I start smelling.
I'm like, all right, well, nowshe's got a poopy diaper.
(02:50):
And so I put her back on thechanging pad right after her
bottle and so I take her diaperoff and there's all those little
bitty newborn you know thatpoop in there.
And I'm thinking, okay, so howdo I do this?
And you know I've got thediaper in one hand.
I'd never changed a baby'sdiaper before.
Diaper in one hand, michelle'ssleeping.
I've got the wipes in the otherhand.
So I'm wiping her and I'mtrying to put the wipes in the
(03:11):
diaper and the diaper had closedon me, like the little tab got
stuck, and so I can't put it on.
I'm holding Brooklyn like withmy elbow and the diaper with the
other hand.
So I'm thinking, well, the tagis stuck on there, so maybe if I
just shake the diaper, maybe ifI just shake it, the tab was
barely on there, maybe it'lljust come off.
And I shake the diaper and ithappened.
(03:33):
A little piece of poop startedflying through the air,
literally like at my daughterright, and so it's flying at her
.
I'm thinking Michelle is goingto kill me.
And so it flies in the air slowmotion, and it lands right
beside Brooklyn, right besideher, and I'm thinking thank God
that did not just land on her,so I get her all cleaned up.
And so this was actually thetext that I sent her.
(03:54):
This is the actual text, youcan notice.
It says today, 4.55 am.
I don't even know what time itis.
I'm like, hey, it's 4.30 pm,it's in the afternoon, I don't
even know.
We're so tired.
She drank almost three quartersof her bottle Leftover bottles
in the fridge.
I changed her diaper Harderpoop this time.
That's what newborn parents do?
We talk about our kids' poop.
She peed all over her changingbed twice while I was changing,
(04:16):
her Pooped right after I changedin bed Hard poop again, babe.
And the poop fell out on thechanging table, but everything
is wiped down and sanitized,everything's okay.
I've got this.
I've got it all under control.
I've got it all under control.
So this morning we just want tocelebrate fatherhood together
and at the same time I want usas a church, as First Baptist
(04:38):
Church, powder Springs, I wantus to honor biblical manhood
together.
Because here's the deal.
Today the world is asking thequestion what is a man?
And the world is confused.
The world doesn't understandwhat a man is.
But the word of God gives usclarity on what biblical manhood
(04:58):
is.
Can I get an amen?
The world may not know whichbathroom a man should use, but
the word of God is clear how Godis calling men to live.
It seems today like the world isagainst men, especially men in
leadership.
I think one reason the world isagainst men today, the world
(05:19):
doesn't honor men, the worlddoesn't respect men, is this I
don't think the world gets tosee what godly, biblical manhood
is supposed to look like.
And that is our job asfollowers of Jesus that we get
to show them the love of God,the Father.
We get to show them the love ofJesus, the Son.
(05:40):
We get to show them thisselfless, sacrificial leadership
.
It's so interesting on allthese kids' cartoons and movies
it seems like the dad is alwaysan idiot and the kids are like
these brilliant little genius,inventors, and the hamster
always saves the day right, andit's like where is the dad?
(06:02):
But I want to say thank you tothe men in this church.
I am so thankful for the men inour church, the men of First
Baptist Powder Springs, because,men, you are men who are called
to be like Jesus.
I see you leading your families.
I see you loving your families.
I see you bringing them tochurch.
(06:24):
I see you in the way in whichthat you serve.
I see you in the way in whichthat you worship.
I see you in the way in whichthat you get involved in group
and in Sunday school.
I see you in the way that youserve.
I am so thankful that you arebeing the men that the word of
God calls us to be, and often onMother's Day, it seems like
we're building up all the momsand Father's Day we're beating
(06:46):
down all the dads, and that'snot what we want to do.
Dads today, men, today, I praythat you feel empowered.
I pray that you feel encouraged.
I pray that you feel equippedfrom the Word of God and what
God is calling you to do.
I want you to remember all themen in the room, that in Genesis
, chapter one, the Bible says onthe sixth day of creation, god
(07:10):
created man.
God created man in his image.
Why were we created in hisimage?
Because we are called to belike God, our Father, and I
wanted you to remind you thatGod also created woman in his
image, but not in the same waythat God created man.
God created us out of the dustof the ground.
(07:33):
God created woman.
God created Eve out of the ribof the man.
She came from Adam.
Why did God create her from hisrib?
Because our wife is not to bebehind us.
Our wife is not to be ahead ofus.
Our wife is to be right besideus so that we can protect her,
we can love her and we canprovide for her.
(07:54):
Can I get an amen?
I've heard it said before thatGod gave Adam three things.
He gave Adam a word to obey.
God spoke to Adam so that Adamcould speak to all of creation.
Adam was called to be a prophetlike Jesus.
God gave Adam a woman to love.
God was calling Adam to be apriest like Jesus, and God gave
(08:17):
Adam a work to enjoy that he wascalling Adam to be a king like
Jesus.
Calling Adam to be a king likeJesus.
So this morning I want to preacha message to you that I'm
calling how a Godly man Leads.
Everybody say lead how a godlyman leads.
As men, we are called to lead.
(08:38):
To lead does not mean to barkout commands.
To lead does not mean it's myway or the highway.
To lead means this to set thetone in your life and in your
home so that others can followyour example, so that you can
model the way for other peoplein how you are called to follow
(09:03):
Jesus.
We're here in this series thatis called Follow the Leader and
we're looking at the book ofJoshua and this morning, as last
week, we talked about fourverses.
This morning I want to walk youthrough quickly five chapters
because I want to give you fivequick pictures, five of what
leadership looks like forbiblical manhood and biblical
(09:25):
fatherhood in following theleader.
Let's pray, heavenly Father.
We pray, god, that you wouldspeak through your word, god.
We pray that your will would bedone, that you would accomplish
in our lives, that you wouldaccomplish in our church, that
you would accomplish in ourfamilies and that you would
accomplish in this communitywhat you purpose from your word.
(09:49):
Today, in Jesus' name, we prayand all God's people said amen.
Here we go.
Number one, number one how agodly man leads is follow and
lead.
Everybody say follow and lead.
Notice, it's not just follow.
Men who only follow, they'renot leaders.
Notice, it's not just lead.
If you just lead, then you'rejust taking a walk and no one's
willing to follow you becauseyou yourself are not following
(10:10):
someone.
If you turn in your Bible toJoshua, chapter 1, in Joshua,
chapter 1, we see that Joshuawas this leader that God called.
He was replacing Moses and thatGod is calling Joshua to now
lead his people, the Israelites,some two to three million
people.
They're on the other side ofthe Jordan River, looking over
(10:30):
the Jordan River, looking at thepromised land that God promised
them some 500 years prior, andthey had been on this wilderness
journey for 40 years.
And we get to see how Joshuatook over the leadership, how he
took the command.
Now, time out for a second, I'mgoing to read to you a little
bit longer passages of Scripturethan I typically do on a Sunday
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morning because I just want usto look at big pictures.
I'm going to move fast, but Idon't want you to lose the power
of the word of God Just becauseit's a longer passage.
I don't want you to tune out, Iwant you to dig in, I want you
to zone in, because I want youto see and hear the voice of God
(11:15):
through his word.
Here we go.
Joshua.
Chapter 1, verse 13 says Joshuasays to the Israelites remember
the word that Moses, the servantof the Lord, commanded you
saying the Lord, your God, isproviding you a place of rest
and will give you this land.
So remember the word God gaveJoshua, a word to obey and a
(11:35):
word to teach others, just likehe gives to us.
Verse 14, your wives, yourlittle ones, your livestock,
shall remain in the land.
Look at how Joshua is callingthe men to protect and provide
and to love.
Their wives and their childrenShall remain in the land that
Moses gave you, beyond theJordan.
But all the men of valor amongyou shall pass over arm before
(11:56):
your brothers and shall helpthem until the Lord gives rest
to your brothers, as he has toyou, and they also take
possession of the land.
That was the work to enjoy.
This was their calling.
This is what God was commandingthem to do.
Go and possess the land thatthe Lord, your God, is giving
them.
Then you shall return to theland of your possession and
(12:18):
shall possess it, the land thatMoses, the servant of the Lord,
gave you.
Beyond the Jordan, toward thesunrise.
Notice how Joshua was followingGod in order to lead others for
God.
So when we are leaders, thefirst thing we do is we don't
(12:39):
have all the answers, we don'thave all the commands, we don't
know all the direction.
We have to lead with a godly,biblical, humble humility in
order to say God, I don't gotthis, god, I need you, god, I'm
gonna follow you.
Leadership is always followfirst and lead second.
(13:00):
God loves to bless people withleadership who are following him
first, and leadership is neverabout ourselves.
Leadership is alwaysself-sacrificial, it's always
selfless Because we arefollowing the one that we are
(13:21):
leading others to.
Just yesterday we've got alittle exercise room in our
house and I was working out andmy boy, cruz, two years old.
He's just following me aroundin the workout room and all that
type stuff and he's just daddy,daddy, daddy and he wants to do
everything that I do.
He picked up the other day twoseven-pound dumbbells and just
(13:41):
threw them as far as he could.
I was like that's my boy, rightthere, let's go.
Let seven-pound dumbbells, andjust threw them as far as he
could.
I was like that's my boy, rightthere, let's go, let's go.
And my brother-in-law and mywife's sister is in town and
Joey, my brother-in-law, came inthe exercise room and he's
watching Cruz follow me aroundand Joey's got a 20-year-old, a
17-year-old and a 15-year-oldand he looked at me and he said
(14:01):
what do you mean?
He said they only follow youaround like this for a little
while and it got me thinking.
You know the reason that why do?
Why are little kids your bestfriends, basically until they're
10 or up until their middleschool years, or whatever it
might be is because they arefollowing us and they are
learning to follow Jesus throughus.
(14:23):
And so the point in being afamily, the point in being a dad
, the point in being a mom, isthat we follow Jesus and we lead
them to Jesus, because thepoint is that they follow Jesus
with their own lives.
In other words, godly menfollow Jesus and lead others to
him.
Godly men, follow Jesus andlead others to him.
(14:44):
My job is not to lead my kidsto him.
Godly men, follow Jesus andlead others to him.
My job is not to lead my kidsto me.
My job is not my house, myrules.
My job is not remember whoselast name you have.
My job is not you go out andyou remember that you're
representing me.
No, my job is I am constantlypointing them to Jesus to follow
him for the rest of their lives, because daddy won't always be
(15:09):
around.
We need to follow and lead.
Number two is faith andforgiveness.
Everyone just say forgiveness,faith and forgiveness.
This is one of the most uniquepassages of scripture.
I wish I had more time to talkabout this.
Turn to Joshua, chapter 2, oryou'll see it on the screen.
This is a time when Joshua senttwo spies over the Jordan River
(15:29):
into the promised land and theywere to go and spy out all of
the land.
And they end up at one houseand it is actually the house of
a prostitute.
Her name is Rahab.
I do not think that they wentto the prostitute's house
because they had any sinfulintentions.
I believe they went toRahitute's house because they
had any sinful intentions.
I believe they went to Rahab'shouse because they could be
incognito there.
In other words, when men wentinto the house, nobody asked any
(15:52):
questions.
So they actually went there tohide out.
And I just want to stop for asecond and just remember the
brokenness that Rahab must havefelt, the hopelessness, how she
must have felt so used and maybeso ashamed in her life.
But something happened.
(16:13):
Word got out that the Israeliteswere coming in and what God had
been doing through the lives ofIsrael over the past 40 years.
I want you to read.
Don't zone out, I want you tozone in.
I want you to read Rahab's verywords.
As a Canaanite prostitute, shesaid to the men, these spies, I
(16:38):
know that the Lord has given youthe land and that the fear of
you has fallen upon us and thatall the inhabitants of the land
melt away before you.
For we have heard how the Lorddried up the water of the Red
Sea before you when you came outof Egypt, and what you did to
the two kings of the Amoriteswho were beyond the Jordan, to
Sihon and Og, whom you devotedto destruction.
(17:00):
And as soon as we heard it, ourhearts melted and there was no
spirit left in any man becauseof you, for the Lord, your God.
He is God in the heavens aboveand on the earth beneath.
This is fascinating to me.
Rahab, a prostitute, heard otherpeople discussing what God had
(17:21):
been doing in his people, in theIsraelites, that they were
coming that way.
And she is telling the spies.
Everyone's been hearing aboutit and they're melting with fear
.
But notice, she doesn't soundafraid.
She doesn't sound fearful.
She sounds faithful.
She doesn't sound fearful.
(17:41):
It sounds like she is believing.
Which is why?
Did you know?
The Old Testament says thatRahab, a Canaanite prostitute,
she was saved by faith.
You realize that God used heras one of the individuals in
Jesus's genealogy.
Did you know that the NewTestament mentions Rahab more
(18:02):
than it mentions Joshua?
So what's the point?
The point is this she was aCanaanite prostitute and she
believed in who God was and whatGod was doing.
And what did God do?
God redeemed her life to beable to hide two spies so that
they could go free and theycould do what God called them to
(18:23):
do.
And if God can redeem herbecause of her faith, god can
redeem you too.
I think there are so many peoplein the church that think I
could do nothing for God becauseof my past, because of my
reputation, because of myaddiction, because of my record.
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And you look at the word of Godand it is full of sinful people
who believe, who have faith,and they are forgiven and their
leadership is redeemed.
If you are forgiven, then youare redeemable by God for your
leadership and you can leadothers too.
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And I love what the word of Godsays.
It says that Rahab and all ofher house were saved.
Your faith as a leader not onlymakes a difference in your life
.
It makes a difference in thelives of others too.
God wants you to believe foryour salvation because he loves
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you, but he also wants to useyou and your leadership so that
he can save others too.
I saw this stat online that saidmoms, wives that give their
life to Jesus, there is astatistical chance of 18%.
18% chance that the householdwill all get saved.
A kid gets saved, for whateverreason, 22% of the house.
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22% chance that everyone getssaved in the home.
But if a dad or a husband getssaved, 94% chance.
Here's what that tells me.
There is something that we seein the word of God that is
special, that is unique aboutthe leadership of a man and I
want to call out right hereevery dad, every granddad, every
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great granddad never stopleading your family.
I want to tell you right now,if you're not a dad yet, maybe
you're a boy, maybe you're ateenager, maybe you're a young
adult and God has not allowedyou to become married or maybe
become a father yet I wannaencourage you you be continuing
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to grow in Jesus Christ and youkeep choosing the word of God
over the world, because God hasa call on your life, that God
wants you to lead the nextgeneration not to sin and not to
yourself, but to Jesus Christ,the Son of God.
He's got something better foryou than you could ever have for
(20:53):
your life.
Can I get an amen?
So we are called to follow andto lead.
We are called to have faith andto be forgiven.
Godly men believe the word ofGod.
We receive the forgiveness ofGod so that we can extend the
grace of God.
We don't believe the word ofGod and get forgiven of God so
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that we can be a hard, harsh dador so that we can be a distant
grandfather.
No, we're given the faith inGod and the forgiveness of God,
so that we can be that spiritualfather figure in our family and
we can show them what it lookslike to follow Jesus.
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And we extend the grace of Godwhen people make mistakes, just
like we have.
We extend the grace of God whenpeople sin, just like we do,
and we show them the forgivenessof God because we're able to
walk them through when God hasforgiven us.
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Number three past and future.
Past and future this isfascinating to me.
This is Joshua, chapter three.
So here they are still, on theother side of the Jordan River.
They're overlooking the JordanRiver.
They've been there since,they've been in this spot since
Deuteronomy, and this is thetime finally for them to pass
over the Jordan.
So they pack all their stuff upTwo to three million people and
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they finally walk to the banksof the Jordan River.
There's only one problem it'sflood season.
During flood season, the widthof the river it could be about
300 feet across.
At its farthest point it couldbe 12 feet deep, which doesn't
sound crazy.
The problem is, during floodseason it is a raging river and
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with this raging river it can besome 10 mile hour water
currents, which equals up to aclass three or four whitewater
rapid.
So here they are, standing atthe bank of the river with their
kids and their wives and theiranimals and all their
possessions, and it is a ragingriver and it is impossible to
(23:11):
cross.
It's impossible to cross, butdon't you know what God did in
the past?
He didn't just do it in thepast to be done in the past.
God did it in the past becausehe wants to do it again in the
future.
See, there's something aboutJoshua was there for the
crossing of the Red Sea.
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He was there for the crossingof the Red Sea so some 40 years
ago.
So Joshua's now thinking in hismind, 40 years later, which he
would never forget if God canpart the waters of the Red Sea,
and God has called us to crossthe Jordan, then God can part
the waters of the Jordan River.
Just like you get in situationsin your life and there seems
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like there's nowhere out, no wayout.
It seems insurmountable, itseems impossible, it seems
uncrossable.
But I want you to know that youcan look at what God has done
in your past, or in the past ofothers, or the biblical past, or
generations in the past, andwhat God did in those men, what
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God did in those dads, what Goddid in those grandfathers.
They weren't any different thanyou.
God doesn't bless special men.
God blesses men that keep theireyes on him.
Joshua, chapter 3, says the Lordsaid to Joshua Joshua, today
(24:35):
I'm going to begin to exalt youin the sight of all Israel, that
they may know that as I waswith Moses, so I will be with
you.
What's the point?
As God was with Joshua, so hewill be with you.
What's the point?
As God was with Joshua, so hewill be with you.
So when the people set out fromtheir tents to pass over the
Jordan, with the priest bearingthe Ark of the Covenant before
the people, and as soon as thosebearing the Ark had come as far
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as the Jordan and this isimportant the feet of the priest
bearing the Ark were dippedinto the brink of the water.
Now the Jordan overflows all ofits banks throughout the time
of the harvest, that's the floodseason, the waters coming down
from above upstream.
They could look upstream andthe water stopped.
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The water stood.
The waters rose up in a heapvery far away and the people
passed opposite over from theJericho.
Now the priest bearing the arkof the covenant of the Lord
stood firmly on dry ground inthe midst of the Jordan and all
Israel was passing over on dryground until the nation had
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finished passing over the Jordan.
Put your hands together rightnow just for the miracles of God
.
The miracles of God.
God loves to lead you intoimpossible places so that he can
show you his power in your life.
He doesn't want you to be ableto do it, because if you're just
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able to manufacture and toprovide for your own life, then
there's no dependence upon him.
God loves to bring you toJordan rivers.
He loves to bring you to RedSeas, where it is impossible and
only God can part the waters.
But notice how God parted thewater.
He did the same thing in theRed Sea.
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God didn't part the watersuntil they went and stepped in.
There are times that you havegot to move forward.
You've got to step forward inyour obedience, in your faith,
in your trust of God.
You've got to stand in thewaters, not knowing what's about
(26:46):
to happen, trusting God, whathe's told you to do, even when
it doesn't make sense, when itgoes against all logic, when it
goes against all science, whenit goes against all creation,
and this I don't know what'sabout to happen, but I know that
God called me to do this andI'm going to do it.
And you trust God and you putyour feet in the water and you
obey him, and God opens thewaters and he makes a way in
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your life.
I wanna encourage you, men in adifficult situation right now
keep your eyes on Jesus, keep inthe word of God, continue to
pray to Jesus, continue to seekhim, continue to pursue him,
continue to gather together ashe commands us, to do with the
(27:32):
body of Jesus Christ, continueto trust him in the way that you
give, in the way that you serve, in all that you do, and watch,
when you trust God, even whenit doesn't make sense, how God
is going to make a way for youtoo, because you can learn from
the past in order to live in thepresent, for God to provide
your future, godly men, learnwhat God did in the past to
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believe what God can do in thepresent, to bring about what God
can do in the future.
That's why he gave us his word.
That's why we have churchhistory, so we can learn from
the past and we can obey in thepresent, so God can provide in
the future.
Number four live and tell, liveand tell.
Everybody say tell, tell,listen, live and tell.
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Do you realize?
The way you live your lifetoday determines the stories you
get to tell in the future.
Today determines the storiesyou get to tell in the future.
The way you live your lifetoday determines the stories
that you get to tell in thefuture.
They had just crossed over theJordan.
God had just parted the waters.
There they are, on the otherside, and what was the very
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first thing that Joshua toldthem to do?
This was an incredibleleadership lesson.
The very first thing thatJoshua told them to do long
passage, incredible leadershiplesson.
The very first thing thatJoshua told them to do long
passage, zone in.
This is the word of God.
Let God speak to you.
Then Joshua called the 12 menfrom the people of Israel whom
he had appointed.
He called a man from each tribe, one of 12.
And Joshua said to them pass onbefore the ark of the Lord,
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your God, into the midst of theJordan and take up, each of you,
a stone from the Jordan Riverupon his shoulder, according to
the number of the tribes of thepeople of Israel.
And Joshua set up 12 stones inthe midst of the Jordan, in the
place where the feet of thepriest bearing the ark of the
covenant had stood, and thosestones are there to this day.
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And so what did Joshua do?
Leadership lesson.
Joshua said to the people ofIsrael when your children ask
their fathers in the times tocome, dad, what do these stones
mean?
Then you shall let yourchildren know.
Israel passed over this Jordanon dry ground, for the Lord,
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your God dried up the waters ofthe Jordan for you until you
passed over, as the Lord, yourGod, also did to the Red Sea,
which he dried up for us untilwe passed over.
Why?
So that all the peoples of theearth may know that the hand of
the Lord is mighty and that youmay fear the Lord, your God,
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forever.
I love this leadership lesson.
Joshua is saying the way inwhich you live determines the
stories you get to tell.
And so what Joshua is doing isnow that they've trusted God and
they went and stood on thebanks of the Jordan River and
the rivers open, and then, whilethey're in the river, they get
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the rocks out of the river andthey stack them up 12 huge
boulders high to where, wheneverthey go back down to the rivers
of family, whether they'regoing down to wash their clothes
or take a bath or water theiranimals or go swimming or on a
family hike or whatever it mightbe.
And you see these 12 stones outof nowhere stacked up in a
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river, which is impossible tohappen in a river.
Dad, what are those stones?
And the fathers of theIsraelite kids would get to say
oh, let me tell you this story.
There was a day that God wasbringing us out of the
wilderness into this land thatGod promised us, and it was
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impossible, it was impassable,but we trusted God.
He called us to stand on thebanks and he opened up the
waters and we got to walk acrosson dry ground as the waters
were.
He opened up the waters and wegot to walk across on dry ground
as the waters were heaped upupstream.
And that is the God that weserve, a God that parts a sea,
the God that parts a river, theGod that delivers people from
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slavery, a God that saves people, a God that gives people land.
He is a good God and your daddyloves him and you can serve him
too.
I think it's so important that,as dads, that we all have
stories to tell of what God hasdone in our lives.
Dads, you have a salvationstory.
Tell your kids, granddads, tellyour grandkids, tell your
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family, tell them often, atleast once a year.
What is your salvation story?
How did you give your life toJesus?
Your baptism story when was itthat you were baptized?
Why were you baptized?
How were you baptized?
Your sin story what sins haveyou had in your life that maybe
they were impossible to overcome, but God parted the waters and
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God gave you the power toovercome that sin?
Your serve story you can tellyour kids, your grandkids, your
family, the next generation, thegifts that God has given you
and how you use those gifts, notjust to make money for yourself
or your family, but also howyou use those gifts to build the
church of Jesus Christ, as theword of God says.
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Your give story how God saysthat we're called to give 10% of
our income as our tithes andofferings, that we give it
gladly to God because he gave usa hundred percent of what we
have.
These are the truths that we'repassing on to the next
generation, that we need to betalking about with our kids and
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our grandkids and others, as wesee the kids of the community
coming in and we get to tellthese stories.
But the way that you live yourlife determines the stories that
you get to tell.
Godly men, live for God boldlyand tell how he's worked
powerfully in their life.
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Lastly, and I'm done, learn andteach, learn and teach, learn
and teach.
Everybody say teach Veryquickly, verse 10,.
This is it.
While the people of Israel wereencamped at Gilgal, they kept
the Passover on the 14th day ofthe month in the evening of the
plains of Jericho.
This sounds incrediblyanticlimactic, but we don't
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understand how huge this is.
When God saved Israel,delivered them out of the
slavery of Egypt, he gave them ameal to eat together once a
year to celebrate what he did intheir lives, called the
Passover meal.
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It would be like Good Fridayand Easter and the Lord's Supper
all wrapped up into one.
Do you realize that God gavethem this meal 40 years prior?
They were supposed to eat itone time a year and they had
only done it twice.
They did it the first two yearsand they did not do it the next
38 because of their sin.
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Joshua is the leader that sayswe are going to obey God, we're
going to celebrate God.
We're going to honor God, we'regoing to remember all that God
has done in our lives and we'regoing to do what God called us
to do.
And so we are going to havethis Passover meal together and
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in the same way as godly men,godly fathers, dads, godly
mothers, godly women.
What are we ultimately calledto do, godly women?
What are we ultimately calledto do?
My goal in life is not to be agreat dad.
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My goal in life is not to belike my dad.
My dad's goal in life is notfor me to be like him.
My goal for my kids are not forthem to be like me.
My goal is to be like Jesus.
My dad's goal is for them to belike me.
My goal is to be like Jesus.
My dad's goal is for me to belike Jesus.
My goal for my kids is for themto be like Jesus.
And so, in everything that we'redoing, as we are following the
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leader, as we're continuing tofollow Jesus together, we're
continuing to learn from theword of God and all the things
that God is calling us to do sothat we can teach them, so that
we can show them.
I wanna encourage you neverstop learning.
Never stop learning deepertruths about the gospel so that
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you can keep teaching otherstruths about the gospel.
And I wanna show you one lastpoint, and I'm done because we
see this happening in ourculture all the gospel.
And I want to show you one lastpoint, and I'm done Because we
see this happening in ourculture all the time, every day.
Grandpa might say church isessential, but if dad says
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church is optional, then thenext generation, the son, says
church is unnecessary.
And if the son says church isunnecessary, then the grandson
will say Jesus, who Justencourage us and remind us that
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our job, our role, our call overeverything else, there are so
many things that God calls us todo, but the most important
thing is to pass on the gospelof Jesus Christ to the next
generation, because followinghim is what matters most.
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Can I ask us all to bow ourheads and close our eyes?
Every head bowed, every eyeclosed.
I just want you to focus, justright here, right now, on what
is it that God spoke to youabout today?
Just talk to him.
That's what it's all about.
Just talk to him.
That's what it's all about.
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Just talk to the Lord and maybe, right here, right now.
Maybe God is just reaffirming inyou, he's just re-empowering
you again that all of life isultimately all about Jesus and
we need to orient our lives allaround him, center our lives on
him, and maybe one of theseareas that we talked about this
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morning you just need to ask Godto strengthen you in and right
here, right now.
I just wanna encourage you thatmaybe you're here today and
maybe you're thinking well,pastor Chip, I can't do that.
I can't do that because Ihaven't given my life to Jesus
yet.
Well, I want you to know thathe loves you so much and he is
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listening to you right now, andhe has already come and he's
already died and he's alreadyrisen from the dead, and so I
just want you to know that ifyou call on him, the Bible says
that he will save you.
All he's asking you to do isbelieve in him, give your life
to him, call on him to be theLord of your life.
I can help you with that.
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Right now.
You can say something like thisto him from your own heart and
your own words.
You can say dear Jesus.
You can say I believe thatJesus died on the cross for my
sin.
Jesus, I believe that you diedon the cross for my sin.
Jesus, I believe that you diedon the cross for my sin, and,
jesus, I ask that you wouldforgive me of all my sin and you
can say Jesus, I believe thatyou rose from the dead, you're
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alive and you're real.
And so, jesus, I give my lifeto you.
And the Bible says that if youconfess with your mouth Jesus is
your Lord and believe with yourheart that God raised him, with
your mouth, jesus is your Lordand believe with your heart that
God raised him from the dead,jesus, you're my Lord.
I believe you rose from thedead.
Here's what the Bible says youwill be saved.
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You'll be saved.
You say that you believe thatyou mean that, and he saves you
right here, right now, forever,for all of eternity.
Jesus, we love you, we thankyou and we pray that you would
continue to work in every heartand every life that we would
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follow the leader in Jesus.
You're the leader.
You're our Lord.
In Jesus' name, we pray.
Put your hands together for all of our fathers,
all of our grandfathers,great-grandfathers here in the
room, all of our spiritualfather figures in here.
We wish you all a happyFather's Day.
Happy Father's Day to all thedads maybe who were not able to
be here or they are just nothere with us.
Happy Father's Day toabsolutely everyone.
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I want to say a happy Father'sDay to my dad, who's in
Pensacola, florida, watchingthis morning.
My father-in-law, who is inCrossville, tennessee, my wife's
dad he is six foot six I'mpraying the cruise gets big like
him and then also mygrandfathers.
Both of my grandfathers are inheaven with Jesus.
One more time, for all of ourdads, happy Father's Day.
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We are so thankful for you.
We're so thankful for you.
There's a common term out therethat says dad fail, dad fail,
right.
How many dads in the room havea dad fail?
Raise your hand, I have a dadfail.
I've got many dad fails.
Just to be honest with you, myfirst one was probably well,
within the first week of being adad right, I learned what dad
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fails were all about.
I woke up Brooklyn this morningat about 6.45 and got to tell
her like hey, brooklyn, you werethe one who made me a daddy.
Right, she was our first, andso Brooklyn was adopted.
So we actually we learned aboutthat.
We were able to adopt her twoweeks before that she was born
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and we learned the morning thatshe was being born that her
birth mom had gone into labor.
We thought it was going to beanother couple of weeks, so we
raced to the hospital and we gotto be in the delivery room
you've heard me say before whenshe was born, and they handed
Brooklyn directly over to us andthen we got about three days
later we got to take Brooklynhome and I just remember those
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first few weeks were right.
I mean, they were justdifficult.
They were hard, I mean,especially on my wife.
She's doing most of absolutelyeverything.
And I remember one night shewas just exhausted and so
Brooklyn woke up crying.
I said, hey, babe, I got it, Igot it.
You know, I got this, noproblem.
So I go into the nursery For thefirst time it was probably
night one, two or threesomewhere in there and I
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remember getting little babyBrooklyn and I laid her on the
changing pad, like how hard canthis be?
And so I laid her down and Istarted changing her diaper and
wiping her and all that kind ofstuff, and she just pees all
over the changing pad I meanjust everywhere, right.
And so I'm like, all right,that's okay.
And I'm coaching her like don'tdo that again, just wait till
your diaper's on Listen to daddy.
And I put another.
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And as I'm changing her up andI'm wiping down the pee pad and
all that, starting to putanother diaper on her, pees
again, pees again.
I'm like she's already notlistening, obviously.
And so I'm feeding her herbottle.
I start smelling.
I'm like, all right, well, nowshe's got a poopy diaper.
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And so I put her back on thechanging pad right after her
bottle and so I take her diaperoff and there's all those little
bitty newborn you know thatpoop in there.
And I'm thinking, okay, so howdo I do this?
And you know I've got thediaper in one hand.
I'd never changed a baby'sdiaper before.
Diaper in one hand, michelle'ssleeping.
I've got the wipes in the otherhand.
So I'm wiping her and I'mtrying to put the wipes in the
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diaper and the diaper had closedon me, like the little tab got
stuck, and so I can't put it on.
I'm holding Brooklyn like withmy elbow and the diaper with the
other hand.
So I'm thinking, well, the tagis stuck on there, so maybe if I
just shake the diaper, maybe ifI just shake it, the tab was
barely on there, maybe it'lljust come off.
And I shake the diaper and ithappened.
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A little piece of poop startedflying through the air,
literally like at my daughterright, and so it's flying at her
.
I'm thinking Michelle is goingto kill me.
And so it flies in the air slowmotion, and it lands right
beside Brooklyn, right besideher, and I'm thinking thank God
that did not just land on her,so I get her all cleaned up.
And so this was actually thetext that I sent her.
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This is the actual text, youcan notice.
It says today, 4.55 am.
I don't even know what time itis.
I'm like, hey, it's 4.30 pm,it's in the afternoon, I don't
even know.
We're so tired.
She drank almost three quartersof her bottle Leftover bottles
in the fridge.
I changed her diaper Harderpoop this time.
That's what newborn parents do?
We talk about our kids' poop.
She peed all over her changingbed twice while I was changing,
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her Pooped right after I changedin bed Hard poop again, babe.
And the poop fell out on thechanging table, but everything
is wiped down and sanitized,everything's okay.
I've got this.
I've got it all under control.
I've got it all under control.
So this morning we just want tocelebrate fatherhood together
and at the same time I want usas a church, as First Baptist
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Church, powder Springs, I wantus to honor biblical manhood
together.
Because here's the deal.
Today the world is asking thequestion what is a man?
And the world is confused.
The world doesn't understandwhat a man is.
But the word of God gives usclarity on what biblical manhood
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is.
Can I get an amen?
The world may not know whichbathroom a man should use, but
the word of God is clear how Godis calling men to live.
It seems today like the world isagainst men, especially men in
leadership.
I think one reason the world isagainst men today, the world
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doesn't honor men, the worlddoesn't respect men, is this I
don't think the world gets tosee what godly, biblical manhood
is supposed to look like.
And that is our job asfollowers of Jesus that we get
to show them the love of God,the Father.
We get to show them the love ofJesus, the Son.
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We get to show them thisselfless, sacrificial leadership
.
It's so interesting on allthese kids' cartoons and movies
it seems like the dad is alwaysan idiot and the kids are like
these brilliant little genius,inventors, and the hamster
always saves the day right, andit's like where is the dad?
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But I want to say thank you tothe men in this church.
I am so thankful for the men inour church, the men of First
Baptist Powder Springs, because,men, you are men who are called
to be like Jesus.
I see you leading your families.
I see you loving your families.
I see you bringing them tochurch.
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I see you in the way in whichthat you serve.
I see you in the way in whichthat you worship.
I see you in the way in whichthat you get involved in group
and in Sunday school.
I see you in the way that youserve.
I am so thankful that you arebeing the men that the word of
God calls us to be, and often onMother's Day, it seems like
we're building up all the momsand Father's Day we're beating
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down all the dads, and that'snot what we want to do.
Dads today, men, today, I praythat you feel empowered.
I pray that you feel encouraged.
I pray that you feel equippedfrom the Word of God and what
God is calling you to do.
I want you to remember all themen in the room, that in Genesis
, chapter one, the Bible says onthe sixth day of creation, god
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created man.
God created man in his image.
Why were we created in hisimage?
Because we are called to belike God, our Father, and I
wanted you to remind you thatGod also created woman in his
image, but not in the same waythat God created man.
God created us out of the dustof the ground.
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God created woman.
God created Eve out of the ribof the man.
She came from Adam.
Why did God create her from hisrib?
Because our wife is not to bebehind us.
Our wife is not to be ahead ofus.
Our wife is to be right besideus so that we can protect her,
we can love her and we canprovide for her.
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Can I get an amen?
I've heard it said before thatGod gave Adam three things.
He gave Adam a word to obey.
God spoke to Adam so that Adamcould speak to all of creation.
Adam was called to be a prophetlike Jesus.
God gave Adam a woman to love.
God was calling Adam to be apriest like Jesus, and God gave
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Adam a work to enjoy that he wascalling Adam to be a king like
Jesus.
Calling Adam to be a king likeJesus.
So this morning I want to preacha message to you that I'm
calling how a Godly man Leads.
Everybody say lead how a godlyman leads.
As men, we are called to lead.
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To lead does not mean to barkout commands.
To lead does not mean it's myway or the highway.
To lead means this to set thetone in your life and in your
home so that others can followyour example, so that you can
model the way for other peoplein how you are called to follow
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Jesus.
We're here in this series thatis called Follow the Leader and
we're looking at the book ofJoshua and this morning, as last
week, we talked about fourverses.
This morning I want to walk youthrough quickly five chapters
because I want to give you fivequick pictures, five of what
leadership looks like forbiblical manhood and biblical
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fatherhood in following theleader.
Let's pray, heavenly Father.
We pray, god, that you wouldspeak through your word, god.
We pray that your will would bedone, that you would accomplish
in our lives, that you wouldaccomplish in our church, that
you would accomplish in ourfamilies and that you would
accomplish in this communitywhat you purpose from your word.
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Today, in Jesus' name, we prayand all God's people said amen.
Here we go.
Number one, number one how agodly man leads is follow and
lead.
Everybody say follow and lead.
Notice, it's not just follow.
Men who only follow, they'renot leaders.
Notice, it's not just lead.
If you just lead, then you'rejust taking a walk and no one's
willing to follow you becauseyou yourself are not following
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someone.
If you turn in your Bible toJoshua, chapter 1, in Joshua,
chapter 1, we see that Joshuawas this leader that God called.
He was replacing Moses and thatGod is calling Joshua to now
lead his people, the Israelites,some two to three million
people.
They're on the other side ofthe Jordan River, looking over
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the Jordan River, looking at thepromised land that God promised
them some 500 years prior, andthey had been on this wilderness
journey for 40 years.
And we get to see how Joshuatook over the leadership, how he
took the command.
Now, time out for a second, I'mgoing to read to you a little
bit longer passages of Scripturethan I typically do on a Sunday
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morning because I just want usto look at big pictures.
I'm going to move fast, but Idon't want you to lose the power
of the word of God Just becauseit's a longer passage.
I don't want you to tune out, Iwant you to dig in, I want you
to zone in, because I want youto see and hear the voice of God
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through his word.
Here we go.
Joshua.
Chapter 1, verse 13 says Joshuasays to the Israelites remember
the word that Moses, the servantof the Lord, commanded you
saying the Lord, your God, isproviding you a place of rest
and will give you this land.
So remember the word God gaveJoshua, a word to obey and a
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word to teach others, just likehe gives to us.
Verse 14, your wives, yourlittle ones, your livestock,
shall remain in the land.
Look at how Joshua is callingthe men to protect and provide
and to love.
Their wives and their childrenShall remain in the land that
Moses gave you, beyond theJordan.
But all the men of valor amongyou shall pass over arm before
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your brothers and shall helpthem until the Lord gives rest
to your brothers, as he has toyou, and they also take
possession of the land.
That was the work to enjoy.
This was their calling.
This is what God was commandingthem to do.
Go and possess the land thatthe Lord, your God, is giving
them.
Then you shall return to theland of your possession and
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shall possess it, the land thatMoses, the servant of the Lord,
gave you.
Beyond the Jordan, toward thesunrise.
Notice how Joshua was followingGod in order to lead others for
God.
So when we are leaders, thefirst thing we do is we don't
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have all the answers, we don'thave all the commands, we don't
know all the direction.
We have to lead with a godly,biblical, humble humility in
order to say God, I don't gotthis, god, I need you, god, I'm
gonna follow you.
Leadership is always followfirst and lead second.
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God loves to bless people withleadership who are following him
first, and leadership is neverabout ourselves.
Leadership is alwaysself-sacrificial, it's always
selfless Because we arefollowing the one that we are
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leading others to.
Just yesterday we've got alittle exercise room in our
house and I was working out andmy boy, cruz, two years old.
He's just following me aroundin the workout room and all that
type stuff and he's just daddy,daddy, daddy and he wants to do
everything that I do.
He picked up the other day twoseven-pound dumbbells and just
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threw them as far as he could.
I was like that's my boy, rightthere, let's go.
Let seven-pound dumbbells, andjust threw them as far as he
could.
I was like that's my boy, rightthere, let's go, let's go.
And my brother-in-law and mywife's sister is in town and
Joey, my brother-in-law, came inthe exercise room and he's
watching Cruz follow me aroundand Joey's got a 20-year-old, a
17-year-old and a 15-year-oldand he looked at me and he said
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what do you mean?
He said they only follow youaround like this for a little
while and it got me thinking.
You know the reason that why do?
Why are little kids your bestfriends, basically until they're
10 or up until their middleschool years, or whatever it
might be is because they arefollowing us and they are
learning to follow Jesus throughus.
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And so the point in being afamily, the point in being a dad
, the point in being a mom, isthat we follow Jesus and we lead
them to Jesus, because thepoint is that they follow Jesus
with their own lives.
In other words, godly menfollow Jesus and lead others to
him.
Godly men, follow Jesus andlead others to him.
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My job is not to lead my kidsto him.
Godly men, follow Jesus andlead others to him.
My job is not to lead my kidsto me.
My job is not my house, myrules.
My job is not remember whoselast name you have.
My job is not you go out andyou remember that you're
representing me.
No, my job is I am constantlypointing them to Jesus to follow
him for the rest of their lives, because daddy won't always be
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around.
We need to follow and lead.
Number two is faith andforgiveness.
Everyone just say forgiveness,faith and forgiveness.
This is one of the most uniquepassages of scripture.
I wish I had more time to talkabout this.
Turn to Joshua, chapter 2, oryou'll see it on the screen.
This is a time when Joshua senttwo spies over the Jordan River
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into the promised land and theywere to go and spy out all of
the land.
And they end up at one houseand it is actually the house of
a prostitute.
Her name is Rahab.
I do not think that they wentto the prostitute's house
because they had any sinfulintentions.
I believe they went toRahitute's house because they
had any sinful intentions.
I believe they went to Rahab'shouse because they could be
incognito there.
In other words, when men wentinto the house, nobody asked any
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questions.
So they actually went there tohide out.
And I just want to stop for asecond and just remember the
brokenness that Rahab must havefelt, the hopelessness, how she
must have felt so used and maybeso ashamed in her life.
But something happened.
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Word got out that the Israeliteswere coming in and what God had
been doing through the lives ofIsrael over the past 40 years.
I want you to read.
Don't zone out, I want you tozone in.
I want you to read Rahab's verywords.
As a Canaanite prostitute, shesaid to the men, these spies, I
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know that the Lord has given youthe land and that the fear of
you has fallen upon us and thatall the inhabitants of the land
melt away before you.
For we have heard how the Lorddried up the water of the Red
Sea before you when you came outof Egypt, and what you did to
the two kings of the Amoriteswho were beyond the Jordan, to
Sihon and Og, whom you devotedto destruction.
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And as soon as we heard it, ourhearts melted and there was no
spirit left in any man becauseof you, for the Lord, your God.
He is God in the heavens aboveand on the earth beneath.
This is fascinating to me.
Rahab, a prostitute, heard otherpeople discussing what God had
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been doing in his people, in theIsraelites, that they were
coming that way.
And she is telling the spies.
Everyone's been hearing aboutit and they're melting with fear
.
But notice, she doesn't soundafraid.
She doesn't sound fearful.
She sounds faithful.
She doesn't sound fearful.
(17:41):
It sounds like she is believing.
Which is why?
Did you know?
The Old Testament says thatRahab, a Canaanite prostitute,
she was saved by faith.
You realize that God used heras one of the individuals in
Jesus's genealogy.
Did you know that the NewTestament mentions Rahab more
(18:02):
than it mentions Joshua?
So what's the point?
The point is this she was aCanaanite prostitute and she
believed in who God was and whatGod was doing.
And what did God do?
God redeemed her life to beable to hide two spies so that
they could go free and theycould do what God called them to
(18:23):
do.
And if God can redeem herbecause of her faith, god can
redeem you too.
I think there are so many peoplein the church that think I
could do nothing for God becauseof my past, because of my
reputation, because of myaddiction, because of my record.
(18:45):
And you look at the word of Godand it is full of sinful people
who believe, who have faith,and they are forgiven and their
leadership is redeemed.
If you are forgiven, then youare redeemable by God for your
leadership and you can leadothers too.
(19:05):
And I love what the word of Godsays.
It says that Rahab and all ofher house were saved.
Your faith as a leader not onlymakes a difference in your life
.
It makes a difference in thelives of others too.
God wants you to believe foryour salvation because he loves
(19:25):
you, but he also wants to useyou and your leadership so that
he can save others too.
I saw this stat online that saidmoms, wives that give their
life to Jesus, there is astatistical chance of 18%.
18% chance that the householdwill all get saved.
A kid gets saved, for whateverreason, 22% of the house.
(19:50):
22% chance that everyone getssaved in the home.
But if a dad or a husband getssaved, 94% chance.
Here's what that tells me.
There is something that we seein the word of God that is
special, that is unique aboutthe leadership of a man and I
want to call out right hereevery dad, every granddad, every
(20:11):
great granddad never stopleading your family.
I want to tell you right now,if you're not a dad yet, maybe
you're a boy, maybe you're ateenager, maybe you're a young
adult and God has not allowedyou to become married or maybe
become a father yet I wannaencourage you you be continuing
(20:33):
to grow in Jesus Christ and youkeep choosing the word of God
over the world, because God hasa call on your life, that God
wants you to lead the nextgeneration not to sin and not to
yourself, but to Jesus Christ,the Son of God.
He's got something better foryou than you could ever have for
(20:53):
your life.
Can I get an amen?
So we are called to follow andto lead.
We are called to have faith andto be forgiven.
Godly men believe the word ofGod.
We receive the forgiveness ofGod so that we can extend the
grace of God.
We don't believe the word ofGod and get forgiven of God so
(21:17):
that we can be a hard, harsh dador so that we can be a distant
grandfather.
No, we're given the faith inGod and the forgiveness of God,
so that we can be that spiritualfather figure in our family and
we can show them what it lookslike to follow Jesus.
(21:41):
And we extend the grace of Godwhen people make mistakes, just
like we have.
We extend the grace of God whenpeople sin, just like we do,
and we show them the forgivenessof God because we're able to
walk them through when God hasforgiven us.
(22:02):
Number three past and future.
Past and future this isfascinating to me.
This is Joshua, chapter three.
So here they are still, on theother side of the Jordan River.
They're overlooking the JordanRiver.
They've been there since,they've been in this spot since
Deuteronomy, and this is thetime finally for them to pass
over the Jordan.
So they pack all their stuff upTwo to three million people and
(22:25):
they finally walk to the banksof the Jordan River.
There's only one problem it'sflood season.
During flood season, the widthof the river it could be about
300 feet across.
At its farthest point it couldbe 12 feet deep, which doesn't
sound crazy.
The problem is, during floodseason it is a raging river and
(22:46):
with this raging river it can besome 10 mile hour water
currents, which equals up to aclass three or four whitewater
rapid.
So here they are, standing atthe bank of the river with their
kids and their wives and theiranimals and all their
possessions, and it is a ragingriver and it is impossible to
(23:11):
cross.
It's impossible to cross, butdon't you know what God did in
the past?
He didn't just do it in thepast to be done in the past.
God did it in the past becausehe wants to do it again in the
future.
See, there's something aboutJoshua was there for the
crossing of the Red Sea.
(23:32):
He was there for the crossingof the Red Sea so some 40 years
ago.
So Joshua's now thinking in hismind, 40 years later, which he
would never forget if God canpart the waters of the Red Sea,
and God has called us to crossthe Jordan, then God can part
the waters of the Jordan River.
Just like you get in situationsin your life and there seems
(23:54):
like there's nowhere out, no wayout.
It seems insurmountable, itseems impossible, it seems
uncrossable.
But I want you to know that youcan look at what God has done
in your past, or in the past ofothers, or the biblical past, or
generations in the past, andwhat God did in those men, what
(24:14):
God did in those dads, what Goddid in those grandfathers.
They weren't any different thanyou.
God doesn't bless special men.
God blesses men that keep theireyes on him.
Joshua, chapter 3, says the Lordsaid to Joshua Joshua, today
(24:35):
I'm going to begin to exalt youin the sight of all Israel, that
they may know that as I waswith Moses, so I will be with
you.
What's the point?
As God was with Joshua, so hewill be with you.
What's the point?
As God was with Joshua, so hewill be with you.
So when the people set out fromtheir tents to pass over the
Jordan, with the priest bearingthe Ark of the Covenant before
the people, and as soon as thosebearing the Ark had come as far
(24:56):
as the Jordan and this isimportant the feet of the priest
bearing the Ark were dippedinto the brink of the water.
Now the Jordan overflows all ofits banks throughout the time
of the harvest, that's the floodseason, the waters coming down
from above upstream.
They could look upstream andthe water stopped.
(25:16):
The water stood.
The waters rose up in a heapvery far away and the people
passed opposite over from theJericho.
Now the priest bearing the arkof the covenant of the Lord
stood firmly on dry ground inthe midst of the Jordan and all
Israel was passing over on dryground until the nation had
(25:39):
finished passing over the Jordan.
Put your hands together rightnow just for the miracles of God
.
The miracles of God.
God loves to lead you intoimpossible places so that he can
show you his power in your life.
He doesn't want you to be ableto do it, because if you're just
(26:03):
able to manufacture and toprovide for your own life, then
there's no dependence upon him.
God loves to bring you toJordan rivers.
He loves to bring you to RedSeas, where it is impossible and
only God can part the waters.
But notice how God parted thewater.
He did the same thing in theRed Sea.
(26:25):
God didn't part the watersuntil they went and stepped in.
There are times that you havegot to move forward.
You've got to step forward inyour obedience, in your faith,
in your trust of God.
You've got to stand in thewaters, not knowing what's about
(26:46):
to happen, trusting God, whathe's told you to do, even when
it doesn't make sense, when itgoes against all logic, when it
goes against all science, whenit goes against all creation,
and this I don't know what'sabout to happen, but I know that
God called me to do this andI'm going to do it.
And you trust God and you putyour feet in the water and you
obey him, and God opens thewaters and he makes a way in
(27:10):
your life.
I wanna encourage you, men in adifficult situation right now
keep your eyes on Jesus, keep inthe word of God, continue to
pray to Jesus, continue to seekhim, continue to pursue him,
continue to gather together ashe commands us, to do with the
(27:32):
body of Jesus Christ, continueto trust him in the way that you
give, in the way that you serve, in all that you do, and watch,
when you trust God, even whenit doesn't make sense, how God
is going to make a way for youtoo, because you can learn from
the past in order to live in thepresent, for God to provide
your future, godly men, learnwhat God did in the past to
(27:56):
believe what God can do in thepresent, to bring about what God
can do in the future.
That's why he gave us his word.
That's why we have churchhistory, so we can learn from
the past and we can obey in thepresent, so God can provide in
the future.
Number four live and tell, liveand tell.
Everybody say tell, tell,listen, live and tell.
(28:16):
Do you realize?
The way you live your lifetoday determines the stories you
get to tell in the future.
Today determines the storiesyou get to tell in the future.
The way you live your lifetoday determines the stories
that you get to tell in thefuture.
They had just crossed over theJordan.
God had just parted the waters.
There they are, on the otherside, and what was the very
(28:39):
first thing that Joshua toldthem to do?
This was an incredibleleadership lesson.
The very first thing thatJoshua told them to do long
passage, incredible leadershiplesson.
The very first thing thatJoshua told them to do long
passage, zone in.
This is the word of God.
Let God speak to you.
Then Joshua called the 12 menfrom the people of Israel whom
he had appointed.
He called a man from each tribe, one of 12.
And Joshua said to them pass onbefore the ark of the Lord,
(29:02):
your God, into the midst of theJordan and take up, each of you,
a stone from the Jordan Riverupon his shoulder, according to
the number of the tribes of thepeople of Israel.
And Joshua set up 12 stones inthe midst of the Jordan, in the
place where the feet of thepriest bearing the ark of the
covenant had stood, and thosestones are there to this day.
(29:25):
And so what did Joshua do?
Leadership lesson.
Joshua said to the people ofIsrael when your children ask
their fathers in the times tocome, dad, what do these stones
mean?
Then you shall let yourchildren know.
Israel passed over this Jordanon dry ground, for the Lord,
(29:46):
your God dried up the waters ofthe Jordan for you until you
passed over, as the Lord, yourGod, also did to the Red Sea,
which he dried up for us untilwe passed over.
Why?
So that all the peoples of theearth may know that the hand of
the Lord is mighty and that youmay fear the Lord, your God,
(30:07):
forever.
I love this leadership lesson.
Joshua is saying the way inwhich you live determines the
stories you get to tell.
And so what Joshua is doing isnow that they've trusted God and
they went and stood on thebanks of the Jordan River and
the rivers open, and then, whilethey're in the river, they get
(30:28):
the rocks out of the river andthey stack them up 12 huge
boulders high to where, wheneverthey go back down to the rivers
of family, whether they'regoing down to wash their clothes
or take a bath or water theiranimals or go swimming or on a
family hike or whatever it mightbe.
And you see these 12 stones outof nowhere stacked up in a
(30:49):
river, which is impossible tohappen in a river.
Dad, what are those stones?
And the fathers of theIsraelite kids would get to say
oh, let me tell you this story.
There was a day that God wasbringing us out of the
wilderness into this land thatGod promised us, and it was
(31:14):
impossible, it was impassable,but we trusted God.
He called us to stand on thebanks and he opened up the
waters and we got to walk acrosson dry ground as the waters
were.
He opened up the waters and wegot to walk across on dry ground
as the waters were heaped upupstream.
And that is the God that weserve, a God that parts a sea,
the God that parts a river, theGod that delivers people from
(31:36):
slavery, a God that saves people, a God that gives people land.
He is a good God and your daddyloves him and you can serve him
too.
I think it's so important that,as dads, that we all have
stories to tell of what God hasdone in our lives.
Dads, you have a salvationstory.
Tell your kids, granddads, tellyour grandkids, tell your
(32:00):
family, tell them often, atleast once a year.
What is your salvation story?
How did you give your life toJesus?
Your baptism story when was itthat you were baptized?
Why were you baptized?
How were you baptized?
Your sin story what sins haveyou had in your life that maybe
they were impossible to overcome, but God parted the waters and
(32:20):
God gave you the power toovercome that sin?
Your serve story you can tellyour kids, your grandkids, your
family, the next generation, thegifts that God has given you
and how you use those gifts, notjust to make money for yourself
or your family, but also howyou use those gifts to build the
church of Jesus Christ, as theword of God says.
(32:40):
Your give story how God saysthat we're called to give 10% of
our income as our tithes andofferings, that we give it
gladly to God because he gave usa hundred percent of what we
have.
These are the truths that we'repassing on to the next
generation, that we need to betalking about with our kids and
(33:01):
our grandkids and others, as wesee the kids of the community
coming in and we get to tellthese stories.
But the way that you live yourlife determines the stories that
you get to tell.
Godly men, live for God boldlyand tell how he's worked
powerfully in their life.
(33:22):
Lastly, and I'm done, learn andteach, learn and teach, learn
and teach.
Everybody say teach Veryquickly, verse 10,.
This is it.
While the people of Israel wereencamped at Gilgal, they kept
the Passover on the 14th day ofthe month in the evening of the
plains of Jericho.
This sounds incrediblyanticlimactic, but we don't
(33:50):
understand how huge this is.
When God saved Israel,delivered them out of the
slavery of Egypt, he gave them ameal to eat together once a
year to celebrate what he did intheir lives, called the
Passover meal.
(34:10):
It would be like Good Fridayand Easter and the Lord's Supper
all wrapped up into one.
Do you realize that God gavethem this meal 40 years prior?
They were supposed to eat itone time a year and they had
only done it twice.
They did it the first two yearsand they did not do it the next
38 because of their sin.
(34:32):
Joshua is the leader that sayswe are going to obey God, we're
going to celebrate God.
We're going to honor God, we'regoing to remember all that God
has done in our lives and we'regoing to do what God called us
to do.
And so we are going to havethis Passover meal together and
(34:57):
in the same way as godly men,godly fathers, dads, godly
mothers, godly women.
What are we ultimately calledto do, godly women?
What are we ultimately calledto do?
My goal in life is not to be agreat dad.
(35:19):
My goal in life is not to belike my dad.
My dad's goal in life is notfor me to be like him.
My goal for my kids are not forthem to be like me.
My goal is to be like Jesus.
My dad's goal is for them to belike me.
My goal is to be like Jesus.
My dad's goal is for me to belike Jesus.
My goal for my kids is for themto be like Jesus.
And so, in everything that we'redoing, as we are following the
(35:40):
leader, as we're continuing tofollow Jesus together, we're
continuing to learn from theword of God and all the things
that God is calling us to do sothat we can teach them, so that
we can show them.
I wanna encourage you neverstop learning.
Never stop learning deepertruths about the gospel so that
(36:03):
you can keep teaching otherstruths about the gospel.
And I wanna show you one lastpoint, and I'm done because we
see this happening in ourculture all the gospel.
And I want to show you one lastpoint, and I'm done Because we
see this happening in ourculture all the time, every day.
Grandpa might say church isessential, but if dad says
(36:24):
church is optional, then thenext generation, the son, says
church is unnecessary.
And if the son says church isunnecessary, then the grandson
will say Jesus, who Justencourage us and remind us that
(36:49):
our job, our role, our call overeverything else, there are so
many things that God calls us todo, but the most important
thing is to pass on the gospelof Jesus Christ to the next
generation, because followinghim is what matters most.
(37:10):
Can I ask us all to bow ourheads and close our eyes?
Every head bowed, every eyeclosed.
I just want you to focus, justright here, right now, on what
is it that God spoke to youabout today?
Just talk to him.
That's what it's all about.
Just talk to him.
That's what it's all about.
(37:32):
Just talk to the Lord and maybe, right here, right now.
Maybe God is just reaffirming inyou, he's just re-empowering
you again that all of life isultimately all about Jesus and
we need to orient our lives allaround him, center our lives on
him, and maybe one of theseareas that we talked about this
(37:53):
morning you just need to ask Godto strengthen you in and right
here, right now.
I just wanna encourage you thatmaybe you're here today and
maybe you're thinking well,pastor Chip, I can't do that.
I can't do that because Ihaven't given my life to Jesus
yet.
Well, I want you to know thathe loves you so much and he is
(38:15):
listening to you right now, andhe has already come and he's
already died and he's alreadyrisen from the dead, and so I
just want you to know that ifyou call on him, the Bible says
that he will save you.
All he's asking you to do isbelieve in him, give your life
to him, call on him to be theLord of your life.
I can help you with that.
(38:36):
Right now.
You can say something like thisto him from your own heart and
your own words.
You can say dear Jesus.
You can say I believe thatJesus died on the cross for my
sin.
Jesus, I believe that you diedon the cross for my sin.
Jesus, I believe that you diedon the cross for my sin, and,
jesus, I ask that you wouldforgive me of all my sin and you
can say Jesus, I believe thatyou rose from the dead, you're
(38:58):
alive and you're real.
And so, jesus, I give my lifeto you.
And the Bible says that if youconfess with your mouth Jesus is
your Lord and believe with yourheart that God raised him, with
your mouth, jesus is your Lordand believe with your heart that
God raised him from the dead,jesus, you're my Lord.
I believe you rose from thedead.
Here's what the Bible says youwill be saved.
(39:20):
You'll be saved.
You say that you believe thatyou mean that, and he saves you
right here, right now, forever,for all of eternity.
Jesus, we love you, we thankyou and we pray that you would
continue to work in every heartand every life that we would
(39:41):
follow the leader in Jesus.
You're the leader.
You're our Lord.
In Jesus' name, we pray.
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