January 19, 2024 • 23 mins
Embark on a journey with me, Noah James Wiebe, as we explore the essence of true bravery. In today's episode, we hear a talk from the book of Joshua-- the moment before leading the Israelites to the Promised Land, a story that serves as our guide for confronting fear and making decisions grounded in faith. This isn't just a history lesson; it's a personal invitation to each listener to draw parallels with their own life struggles and to choose courage over comfort, leaning into the transformative strength that comes from unwavering faith.
Share your thoughts and prayer requests on Instagram, and stay tuned for our ongoing conversation about living fully in Christ's rest.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
NOAH (00:00):
Don't let fear, make your decisions for you.
That's what courageous means.
Courageous means do it afraid.
Courageous means regardless ofwhat you may face, face it.
Hello and welcome to the InRest podcast with Noah James
(00:27):
Wiebe.
I'm your host, Noah, and todaywe are going to be talking about
courage.
What I'm going to be presentingto you today is the recording
of a recent sermon that Ipreached at the church where I
serve as a youth, children andfamily pastor.
Now, this topic is so important,it's so crucial that we
(00:50):
experience courage, that we liveout courage in our day-to-day
life, that we do not let fearmake our decisions for us,
because, as men of God, it'simportant that we choose to do
what is right, what is good,what is pleasing to God, and all
of that in the context ofoffering our bodies as living
(01:10):
sacrifices and coming to Him andliving from that place of rest
really does take courage.
The Bible tells us in Hebrewsmake every effort to enter that
rest, and what the author ofHebrews is talking about is
actually it's sort of in thecontext of Joshua stepping into
the deliverance of Israel fromtheir time in the wilderness,
(01:35):
into the promised land, and thatdeliverance was going to take
conquest.
It was going to take fighting.
It was going to take militarybattles, one after another.
It was going to be a full-scaleinvasion, which they were at a
disadvantage from oneperspective and from really, the
clear, circumstantialperspective was that they were
at a disadvantage.
(01:56):
The odds were against them.
They were a small nation comingup against a very big group of
people.
And now here's the thing youand I, we're up against a big
battle.
We're up against a largeopponent that we're not exactly
the ones with an advantage here.
The odds are stacked against us.
We're facing a world at war.
(02:16):
We're facing a battle not justaround us but for us, of a
battle for our hearts, and if wedon't take courage, we will
fall.
So I hope that you enjoy thissermon recording from New Hope
Community Church in Moncton, newBrunswick.
This is a great message aboutJoshua, the message meaning like
(02:37):
courage, have courage, live outcourage.
So I hope you enjoy and ifthere's any response or any way
that you want to, you know, aska question, feel free to do that
by engaging either on theSpotify platform or through
YouTube, or through following uson inrest.
insta on instagram.
(02:58):
In any case, I hope that you dosubscribe, leave a review.
That would help a lot withgetting the message of courage
out to men just like you andwomen just like you who want to
know Jesus better, want tofollow in his way and want to
live out a life of courage.
So today, as you're goingthrough this episode, I hope
that you take some highlightsfrom this and maybe you know,
(03:20):
identify some challenges thatyou're experiencing so that you
can bring those before the Lordand really begin to live
courageously in those areas.
So this is part one of thecourage sermon and I hope you
enjoy.
Father, we thank you for today.
You are so good.
We worship you, father.
(03:41):
We pray that you would bless usas we come into your presence
and into your word.
We pray that you bless thehearing of your word and that it
would make its way into theexact reaches of our hearts,
where it should be, and theywould permeate us body, soul,
spirit, heart, mind and will souse this time for your glory,
(04:04):
for what you want to do.
Amen.
I was born in Ontario, threehours north of Toronto, so you
know somewhere irrelevant, butthree hours north of Toronto
North Bay.
Anyone know what North Bay isand where it is?
Wow, whoa, that's the biggestresponse I've ever had in my
life.
So, as born in North Bay, Ilived in a small town called
(04:25):
Trout Creek, just a few, youknow, just a little drive away,
went to a church, with my familywas raised, going to church,
going to Sunday school, beingaround my amazing family who
followed Jesus, who haddevotions as a family Any of you
guys ever do family devotionswith your kids?
I that nightmare that that isometimes.
(04:46):
Well, they endured that.
They were resilient.
Okay, I remember falling asleepone time in a family devotion
day, but it was the mostpeaceful sleep I'd ever had.
So it had an effect on me.
I can still remember it to thisday, but it was probably one of
my earliest memories.
But that is enough to say.
I grew up in a family and in ahousehold in which the word of
God was spoken, was communicated, in which discipleship was a
(05:09):
priority, not just at church,and in fact church was actually
more of a supplement, or assomeone or as an entity, to come
alongside the process ofdiscipleship which was happening
in our home.
So I was blessed in that way.
But I was also rebellious froma young age and there were many
(05:29):
things that went awry as Icontinued to age through life.
My parents moved to NewBrunswick, back and forth, from
Ontario to New Brunswick andback to Ontario and nd back to
New Brunswick, in order to servethe interests and the needs of
my mother's family who arestruggling in Woodstock, Carlton
County.
And so we were on a farmhouseone day and then we were back
(05:51):
home another.
Okay, so when we were living atthis farmhouse one particular
summer, I remember looking upinto the sky and seeing the
stars and realizing that God hadmade everything, and I thought,
wow, you're huge.
And I saw this bright orangestar in the sky and something in
me was like all right, now'sthe time, Jesus, please come
(06:14):
into my heart.
And then everything just wentdownhill from there.
Anyone can relate.
I had some early traumas.
I was exposed very early tocontent which was not
appropriate to children, and itcontinued.
It began this process ofperverting my mental life, but
(06:35):
part of that process was alsothis outpouring of shame and
fear on my life.
I began to struggle withnightmares, struggling to sleep
any night.
I had misunderstandings happenbetween me and my parents,
particularly my father, who, upuntil this point, I looked up to
and adored and delighted in andthere was misunderstandings in
(06:55):
our relationship, which made mequestion whether he loved me at
all, really, truly.
The enemy was just coming inbetween me and my dad, and
courage within me failed.
I lost heart, or began to loseheart.
I was eight years old and wefinally decided, after my
grandparents or my grandmother,rather, on my mother's side
moved to St John, to move to theSt John area.
(07:18):
We were a 45-minute driveoutside of St John in Tynemouth
Creek, new Brunswick, near StMartins.
So yeah, I grew up with nofriends that's the bottom line.
I had maybe two or three peopleto connect with.
So loneliness, shame, fear,anxiety began to plague my
(07:39):
existence every day, and fromthe time I was eight years old,
I struggled with cripplingdepression.
The following year, at age nine, I remember getting a bow and
arrow for my birthday, which waspretty sick.
I can't deny that.
However, I also started astruggle with thoughts of taking
my own life, and that strugglestarted there and has continued
(08:00):
ever since.
So by the time I was 11, 12, Iwas an angry, cruel, sad, witty,
smart, sarcastic, annoyingperson, and I began to read the
word of God at age 14, and itchanged my life from the inside
out.
(08:20):
My dad walked into my room and Iwas 14 years old.
I lived in like a closet-sizedroom, you know what I'm saying,
like a decent walk-in closet,you know.
But that was my room.
Okay, I could fit a tube TV inmy bed and myself in that room,
and that was that.
My dad came in.
He's like son.
My dad didn't have a southernaccent but it helps for the
story.
You know, my dad walks into myroom was like son, you're a man,
(08:44):
now it's time for you to readthe Bible.
Here you go.
So he gave me a new testamentwith Psalms and Proverbs and he
said start in Proverbs and makeyour way through the New
Testament.
And I said no, and he's likeyes.
So I began to read the Bible,starting with Proverbs, and then
(09:05):
stepped into Matthew, mark,luke, john, etc.
Giving up at 1st Timothy whenmy dad stopped checking in.
But the thing was it did make adifference.
When I got to the part where itsaid love your neighbor as
yourself, something within meshifted and I realized that God
was changing me, that I was notso good a person as I thought I
was and in fact I needed tochange.
(09:28):
And I was 14.
And that started a process ofrepentance which led to me later
, two years later, followingJesus fully and completely At
the age of 16.
Now, why am I sharing all thiswith you?
Why is it relevant?
Well, the fact is, every man'sheart is under an assault From
the day he is born until the dayhe dies, and that assault is
(09:50):
part of an ongoing battle Wagein the spiritual realm for their
hearts.
There's a statistic that saysif a man Joins a church with his
family, there's a very highlikelihood In fact somewhere
between 78 and 86 percent chancethat the rest of the entire
family, no matter how large andthat immediate you know that
(10:10):
that intimate family group willalso begin not only attending
church but begin to contributein service and follow Jesus
wholeheartedly.
Whereas the numbers for thosewho are women, who are moms, who
are trying to in fact change intheir Families lives by
bringing them to church,investing in discipleship, it's
somewhere between 14 and 17percent chance of the rest of
the family following Jesus.
(10:31):
Think about that number for amoment.
Think about another statistic oranother phrase that came out of
different Research that's beendone on a sociological scale,
not only in Canada but also inthe United States, in the UK,
that says that the influence ofthe man, of a father, of a
husband, on a family, on ahousehold, is Tremendous, such
(10:52):
to the point that the mentalhealth and well-being of their
children and generations tofollow Hang in the balance of a
man following Jesus with theirwhole heart or not, giving up or
not, leaving home or not losingheart or not have encouraged or
(11:14):
not.
If you have a family, begin tocontribute to society.
If you win the family, you winsociety.
That is how things tend to go,no matter what culture it is.
As Goes the family, so goes thesociety.
But what research is telling us, and what the scriptures have
(11:37):
been telling us for years,thousands of years, is it if you
get the man, you get the family, and if you get the man's heart
, you get the root of the healthand well-being of a society.
How crazy is that?
Yet in our culture today, thereis more hate, there is more fear
(11:58):
, there is more shame, there ismore violence, there is more
aggression, there is morestruggle happening in the hearts
of men today than there hasever been in history.
There is more loneliness, thereis more depression.
The rates of suicide among menhave climbed such to the point
that it's 3.5 times more likelyfor a man to commit suicide than
(12:20):
it is for a woman.
75% of those in the UK whocommitted suicide in the last
few years and that's a statisticfrom 2021, 75% of those who
committed suicide in the UK weremen.
There is only a fraction of menwho actually are honest about
their mental health, such to thepoint where a lot of the
(12:40):
information that we have abouthow men are doing is actually
quite skewed.
Even researchers actually havea bent that they end up
convincing.
Bernay Brown herself is doing astudy on what we're talking
about this morning.
Courage had to confess to heraudience of however many million
people that in all of thestudies and the years of
research that she did, shecompletely ignored the
(13:05):
information about men.
So why is it important thatwe're talking about courage this
morning?
Why is it important that wehave a service dedicated to the
hearts of men?
Well, because men have a lot ofinfluence on how things go.
There are so much that hangs onwhether or not a man loses
heart, and so today we're goingto talk about one man named
(13:27):
Joshua, who God commanded to bestrong and courageous in order
that he may lead the people Godhad given him to the life that
he had planned for them.
So we're going to be in Joshua,chapter one today.
Joshua chapter one.
So if you have your Bibles withus, feel free to turn there.
(13:47):
Would love for you to join usin that.
I'm going to read this passageand then we're going to kind of
pick it apart a little bit more.
After the death of Moses, theLord's servant, the Lord spoke
to Joshua.
Son of none, moses is assistant.
He said Moses, my servant isdead.
Therefore, the time has comefor you to lead these people,
(14:12):
the Israelites, across theJordan River into the land I am
giving them.
I promise you what I promisedMoses Wherever you set your foot
, you will be on land I havegiven you, from the Negev
wilderness in the south to theLebanon mountains in the north,
from the Euphrates River in theeast to the Mediterranean Sea in
(14:32):
the west, including all thelands of the Hittites.
No one will be able to standagainst you as long as you live,
for I will be with you as I waswith Moses.
I will not fail you or abandonyou.
Be strong and courageous, foryou are the one who will lead
these people to possess all theland I swore to their ancestors
(14:54):
I would give them Be strong andvery courageous.
Be careful to obey all theinstructions Moses gave you.
Do not deviate from them,turning either to the right or
to the left.
Then you will be successful ineverything you do.
Be strong and very courageous.
Study this book of instructioncontinually, meditate on it day
(15:17):
and night, so you will be sureto obey everything written in it
.
Only then will you prosper andsucceed in all you do.
This is my command.
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord, your God, is
with you wherever you go.
(15:39):
How many of you have ever beenencouraged by that verse, even
once in your life?
Anyone?
Yeah, let's go.
Come on.
I used to have a necklace thatwas a dog tag, similar to this
one, that had the entire passage, which is from 8 to 9, on it,
so that I could remember that,and when I was coming into a
sketchy situation or I needed tohave courage, I just grasped it
and be like okay, help me.
But Joshua 1, 1 to 9 is anextremely popular passage.
(16:04):
The background here is thatJoshua, son of none, was Moses's
assistant, who had traveledalongside Moses and had worked
alongside Moses somewhat like anassociate pastor kind of thing,
except more like an assistant.
You know Somebody who you knowmade sure to take notes or made
sure that Moses had oh, where'smy sandals?
Joshua give me that, like hetook care of them.
That's the idea.
(16:24):
But Joshua also had an intimaterelationship with God.
When Moses would leave the tentof meeting, the glory would
fall and Joshua would remain inthe tent after Moses would go
out and do whatever he was goingto do.
You know, probably you know,smack a few Israelites up the
side of the head.
Probably think you knowverbally you know what I'm
saying.
But the thing is, joshua hadthis thing where he saw all of
(16:47):
it from the behind the scenes.
Look, he was being preparedfrom the time he was a child
until now, from the time he wasa young, young man until this
moment.
Now he's being launched.
Now is your time to lead thispeople.
I love how frank God is in thispassage where he's like Moses is
dead.
It's your turn now.
(17:07):
That's how I like to roll.
I love that about the Lord, youknow.
I love that about him.
It's tough though.
You know, it takes some courageto face the realities of life.
Amen.
The reality is about.
Reality is that it has meaningfor our lives.
You know, there's a quote thatsays the first responsibility of
(17:28):
leadership is to define reality.
What is going on here?
What did Jesus say over andover and over again about the
state of our lives, about thesituation that we're in?
What does every evangelist andevery preacher and teacher that
was ever worth assaultcommunicate to us about the
state of our lives?
Is that we're in trouble, butgood news, we have Jesus, amen.
(17:49):
So is Joshua's turn to lead thepeople of Israel and, of course
, as you might imagine, he isprobably a little nervous.
Probably we don't know for sure, but probably is.
In verse three and four, god isessentially and Paul, keep in
(18:09):
mind too that this book ofJoshua was written as one thing,
like it wasn't, like somebodywas taking notes throughout the
thing and like, okay, so we tookover I and we did this and we
did that.
No, it's somebody afterward whohad taken the story and made
sure that it was written withinclear boundaries, and then
everything, that the mostimportant details were
communicated.
And so there's this historicalaccount of what took place, but
it's mainly a theologicalaccount of who God is and how he
(18:33):
reaches out and delivers on hispromises and delivers on his
faithfulness to his people.
And so Joshua one is kind ofsetting up the stage for the
rest of the book and in factkind of alludes to the moment
where Joshua would stand beforethe people of Israel and say
that one statement that many ofus would be familiar with choose
this day whom you will serve.
(18:53):
As for me and my house, we willserve the Lord.
So even this initial thing andthe rest of the chapter, of
chapter one and Joshua is kindof setting up the entire account
of everything that takes placeafterward, and so it's
foreshadowing in one sense.
But it's also a trueproclamation from God to Joshua
in this moment that no one inverse five, no one will be able
(19:14):
to stand against you as long asyou live, for I will be with
Moses, I will be with you,rather, as I was with Moses, I
will not fail you or abandon you.
So he says that okay, and thisis to set the stage for what
he's now about to command.
God never commands you anythingexcept on the basis of his
promises in scripture.
If God commands you to love oneanother, what does he do?
He takes a towel, wraps itaround his waist, removes his
(19:37):
outer clothing and washes hisdisciples feet and says do as I
have done for you.
This is my command right.
And so here we are.
Joshua is called by the commandof God.
On upon the promises of God, bestrong and courageous in verse
six, for you are the one whowill lead these people to
possess the land I swore totheir ancestors I would give
(19:57):
them.
The word Joshua is connected tothe word for salvation or
deliverance.
It's derived from Yahoshuaright.
It's this idea that God, theLord, is the one who is a
deliverer or one who would bringsalvation.
It's really interesting becauseJesus' name in Hebrew is
similar milar milar.
Yahshua right Is the same name.
(20:17):
But the reason why that it'sinteresting that Joshua is the
one to take this is because thename Joshua suggests a
deliverance.
You know, if you were to orderan Amazon package, it's gonna be
delivered to your door andthere's a promise based on that.
And God is saying I have mademy promise to deliver my people
to where I promised them to go,and Joshua's the guy to do it.
(20:39):
I mean, it's right there in thename.
Check out the name tagDeliverer.
I'm the deliverer, let's go.
And so this idea of God basingeverything on his promises is
really important for ourapproach to courage, our ability
to obey the command to bestrong and courageous.
But keep in mind what strongand courageous actually means.
Courageous and strong is notwhat we sometimes think of.
(21:01):
When I think about the wordstrong, usually I think Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
You know what I'm saying.
We pick things up and we putthem down.
Okay, you know picking thisthing, throwing it.
You know what I'm saying?
Jesus in the temple, chuckingtables here and there.
You know what I'm saying.
That's what comes to mind forstrength.
It's like a boxer or a UFCfighter or something, something
intense.
But that's not what this wordmeans.
(21:22):
This is actually more of astrength of intention that's
lived out in an inability forthe opponent to resist.
It's like someone breakingthrough a wall.
It's like a fireman taking anaxe, hitting into a door,
beating it down and going in tosave somebody.
That's the word strong.
Be so steadfast that there isnothing that could move you.
(21:44):
That's the application of it.
But it's interesting becauseit's actually derived from this
immovability.
So it's a mix.
It's like a strength ofconviction that is unshakable.
Be unshakable, joshua.
Do not turn either this way orthat way.
Keep focused, stay alert, keepyour eyes on the prize, do what
you're going to do and do notlet anything come in between you
(22:05):
and your mission, and becourageous.
And the courageous is actuallypretty straightforward Don't let
fear make your decisions foryou.
That's what courageous means.
Courageous means do it afraid.
Courageous means, regardless ofwhat you may face, face it, for
(22:27):
you are the one.
How many of you guys have everthought I cannot do this?
No, thank you.
And God is saying to all of usand communicating to all of us
you are the one, you are.
You're the mom who's going tobe doing this.
You're the dad who's going totake these kids on.
There's moments in our liveswhere we could easily turn back,
and God says no, be courageous,for you are the one.
(22:51):
You are the one to do this.
Wow, well, I hope that youenjoyed that part one of this
sermon highlight for Rest thethe Rest Rest Rest podcast.
If you would like to listen topart two, be sure to stay tuned,
because it's going to be postednext week.
We're going to take a littlebit of time maybe to sort of
(23:13):
expand on some of the thingsthat were said, especially in
that second part of the sermonin next week's episode, but for
this week, go back and listen tothose parts that maybe had
stuck out to you.
But in any case, thank you somuch for joining us for the In
Rest podcast.
Be sure to like and subscribe,to leave a comment on a video or
even an DM.
Send a DM to inRest Rest InRestInsta If you have a prayer
(23:37):
request or anything.
In any case, thank you forbeing In Rest listener of the
InRest podcast.
Looking forward to connectingwith you soon.
Continue to live your best inrest in Christ.
Don't let fear, make your decisions for you.
That's what courageous means.
Courageous means do it afraid.
Courageous means regardless ofwhat you may face, face it.
Hello and welcome to the InRest podcast with Noah James
(00:27):
Wiebe.
I'm your host, Noah, and todaywe are going to be talking about
courage.
What I'm going to be presentingto you today is the recording
of a recent sermon that Ipreached at the church where I
serve as a youth, children andfamily pastor.
Now, this topic is so important,it's so crucial that we
(00:50):
experience courage, that we liveout courage in our day-to-day
life, that we do not let fearmake our decisions for us,
because, as men of God, it'simportant that we choose to do
what is right, what is good,what is pleasing to God, and all
of that in the context ofoffering our bodies as living
(01:10):
sacrifices and coming to Him andliving from that place of rest
really does take courage.
The Bible tells us in Hebrewsmake every effort to enter that
rest, and what the author ofHebrews is talking about is
actually it's sort of in thecontext of Joshua stepping into
the deliverance of Israel fromtheir time in the wilderness,
(01:35):
into the promised land, and thatdeliverance was going to take
conquest.
It was going to take fighting.
It was going to take militarybattles, one after another.
It was going to be a full-scaleinvasion, which they were at a
disadvantage from oneperspective and from really, the
clear, circumstantialperspective was that they were
at a disadvantage.
(01:56):
The odds were against them.
They were a small nation comingup against a very big group of
people.
And now here's the thing youand I, we're up against a big
battle.
We're up against a largeopponent that we're not exactly
the ones with an advantage here.
The odds are stacked against us.
We're facing a world at war.
(02:16):
We're facing a battle not justaround us but for us, of a
battle for our hearts, and if wedon't take courage, we will
fall.
So I hope that you enjoy thissermon recording from New Hope
Community Church in Moncton, newBrunswick.
This is a great message aboutJoshua, the message meaning like
(02:37):
courage, have courage, live outcourage.
So I hope you enjoy and ifthere's any response or any way
that you want to, you know, aska question, feel free to do that
by engaging either on theSpotify platform or through
YouTube, or through following uson inrest.
insta on instagram.
(02:58):
In any case, I hope that you dosubscribe, leave a review.
That would help a lot withgetting the message of courage
out to men just like you andwomen just like you who want to
know Jesus better, want tofollow in his way and want to
live out a life of courage.
So today, as you're goingthrough this episode, I hope
that you take some highlightsfrom this and maybe you know,
(03:20):
identify some challenges thatyou're experiencing so that you
can bring those before the Lordand really begin to live
courageously in those areas.
So this is part one of thecourage sermon and I hope you
enjoy.
Father, we thank you for today.
You are so good.
We worship you, father.
(03:41):
We pray that you would bless usas we come into your presence
and into your word.
We pray that you bless thehearing of your word and that it
would make its way into theexact reaches of our hearts,
where it should be, and theywould permeate us body, soul,
spirit, heart, mind and will souse this time for your glory,
(04:04):
for what you want to do.
Amen.
I was born in Ontario, threehours north of Toronto, so you
know somewhere irrelevant, butthree hours north of Toronto
North Bay.
Anyone know what North Bay isand where it is?
Wow, whoa, that's the biggestresponse I've ever had in my
life.
So, as born in North Bay, Ilived in a small town called
(04:25):
Trout Creek, just a few, youknow, just a little drive away,
went to a church, with my familywas raised, going to church,
going to Sunday school, beingaround my amazing family who
followed Jesus, who haddevotions as a family Any of you
guys ever do family devotionswith your kids?
I that nightmare that that isometimes.
(04:46):
Well, they endured that.
They were resilient.
Okay, I remember falling asleepone time in a family devotion
day, but it was the mostpeaceful sleep I'd ever had.
So it had an effect on me.
I can still remember it to thisday, but it was probably one of
my earliest memories.
But that is enough to say.
I grew up in a family and in ahousehold in which the word of
God was spoken, was communicated, in which discipleship was a
(05:09):
priority, not just at church,and in fact church was actually
more of a supplement, or assomeone or as an entity, to come
alongside the process ofdiscipleship which was happening
in our home.
So I was blessed in that way.
But I was also rebellious froma young age and there were many
(05:29):
things that went awry as Icontinued to age through life.
My parents moved to NewBrunswick, back and forth, from
Ontario to New Brunswick andback to Ontario and nd back to
New Brunswick, in order to servethe interests and the needs of
my mother's family who arestruggling in Woodstock, Carlton
County.
And so we were on a farmhouseone day and then we were back
(05:51):
home another.
Okay, so when we were living atthis farmhouse one particular
summer, I remember looking upinto the sky and seeing the
stars and realizing that God hadmade everything, and I thought,
wow, you're huge.
And I saw this bright orangestar in the sky and something in
me was like all right, now'sthe time, Jesus, please come
(06:14):
into my heart.
And then everything just wentdownhill from there.
Anyone can relate.
I had some early traumas.
I was exposed very early tocontent which was not
appropriate to children, and itcontinued.
It began this process ofperverting my mental life, but
(06:35):
part of that process was alsothis outpouring of shame and
fear on my life.
I began to struggle withnightmares, struggling to sleep
any night.
I had misunderstandings happenbetween me and my parents,
particularly my father, who, upuntil this point, I looked up to
and adored and delighted in andthere was misunderstandings in
(06:55):
our relationship, which made mequestion whether he loved me at
all, really, truly.
The enemy was just coming inbetween me and my dad, and
courage within me failed.
I lost heart, or began to loseheart.
I was eight years old and wefinally decided, after my
grandparents or my grandmother,rather, on my mother's side
moved to St John, to move to theSt John area.
(07:18):
We were a 45-minute driveoutside of St John in Tynemouth
Creek, new Brunswick, near StMartins.
So yeah, I grew up with nofriends that's the bottom line.
I had maybe two or three peopleto connect with.
So loneliness, shame, fear,anxiety began to plague my
(07:39):
existence every day, and fromthe time I was eight years old,
I struggled with cripplingdepression.
The following year, at age nine, I remember getting a bow and
arrow for my birthday, which waspretty sick.
I can't deny that.
However, I also started astruggle with thoughts of taking
my own life, and that strugglestarted there and has continued
(08:00):
ever since.
So by the time I was 11, 12, Iwas an angry, cruel, sad, witty,
smart, sarcastic, annoyingperson, and I began to read the
word of God at age 14, and itchanged my life from the inside
out.
(08:20):
My dad walked into my room and Iwas 14 years old.
I lived in like a closet-sizedroom, you know what I'm saying,
like a decent walk-in closet,you know.
But that was my room.
Okay, I could fit a tube TV inmy bed and myself in that room,
and that was that.
My dad came in.
He's like son.
My dad didn't have a southernaccent but it helps for the
story.
You know, my dad walks into myroom was like son, you're a man,
(08:44):
now it's time for you to readthe Bible.
Here you go.
So he gave me a new testamentwith Psalms and Proverbs and he
said start in Proverbs and makeyour way through the New
Testament.
And I said no, and he's likeyes.
So I began to read the Bible,starting with Proverbs, and then
(09:05):
stepped into Matthew, mark,luke, john, etc.
Giving up at 1st Timothy whenmy dad stopped checking in.
But the thing was it did make adifference.
When I got to the part where itsaid love your neighbor as
yourself, something within meshifted and I realized that God
was changing me, that I was notso good a person as I thought I
was and in fact I needed tochange.
(09:28):
And I was 14.
And that started a process ofrepentance which led to me later
, two years later, followingJesus fully and completely At
the age of 16.
Now, why am I sharing all thiswith you?
Why is it relevant?
Well, the fact is, every man'sheart is under an assault From
the day he is born until the dayhe dies, and that assault is
(09:50):
part of an ongoing battle Wagein the spiritual realm for their
hearts.
There's a statistic that saysif a man Joins a church with his
family, there's a very highlikelihood In fact somewhere
between 78 and 86 percent chancethat the rest of the entire
family, no matter how large andthat immediate you know that
(10:10):
that intimate family group willalso begin not only attending
church but begin to contributein service and follow Jesus
wholeheartedly.
Whereas the numbers for thosewho are women, who are moms, who
are trying to in fact change intheir Families lives by
bringing them to church,investing in discipleship, it's
somewhere between 14 and 17percent chance of the rest of
the family following Jesus.
(10:31):
Think about that number for amoment.
Think about another statistic oranother phrase that came out of
different Research that's beendone on a sociological scale,
not only in Canada but also inthe United States, in the UK,
that says that the influence ofthe man, of a father, of a
husband, on a family, on ahousehold, is Tremendous, such
(10:52):
to the point that the mentalhealth and well-being of their
children and generations tofollow Hang in the balance of a
man following Jesus with theirwhole heart or not, giving up or
not, leaving home or not losingheart or not have encouraged or
(11:14):
not.
If you have a family, begin tocontribute to society.
If you win the family, you winsociety.
That is how things tend to go,no matter what culture it is.
As Goes the family, so goes thesociety.
But what research is telling us, and what the scriptures have
(11:37):
been telling us for years,thousands of years, is it if you
get the man, you get the family, and if you get the man's heart
, you get the root of the healthand well-being of a society.
How crazy is that?
Yet in our culture today, thereis more hate, there is more fear
(11:58):
, there is more shame, there ismore violence, there is more
aggression, there is morestruggle happening in the hearts
of men today than there hasever been in history.
There is more loneliness, thereis more depression.
The rates of suicide among menhave climbed such to the point
that it's 3.5 times more likelyfor a man to commit suicide than
(12:20):
it is for a woman.
75% of those in the UK whocommitted suicide in the last
few years and that's a statisticfrom 2021, 75% of those who
committed suicide in the UK weremen.
There is only a fraction of menwho actually are honest about
their mental health, such to thepoint where a lot of the
(12:40):
information that we have abouthow men are doing is actually
quite skewed.
Even researchers actually havea bent that they end up
convincing.
Bernay Brown herself is doing astudy on what we're talking
about this morning.
Courage had to confess to heraudience of however many million
people that in all of thestudies and the years of
research that she did, shecompletely ignored the
(13:05):
information about men.
So why is it important thatwe're talking about courage this
morning?
Why is it important that wehave a service dedicated to the
hearts of men?
Well, because men have a lot ofinfluence on how things go.
There are so much that hangs onwhether or not a man loses
heart, and so today we're goingto talk about one man named
(13:27):
Joshua, who God commanded to bestrong and courageous in order
that he may lead the people Godhad given him to the life that
he had planned for them.
So we're going to be in Joshua,chapter one today.
Joshua chapter one.
So if you have your Bibles withus, feel free to turn there.
(13:47):
Would love for you to join usin that.
I'm going to read this passageand then we're going to kind of
pick it apart a little bit more.
After the death of Moses, theLord's servant, the Lord spoke
to Joshua.
Son of none, moses is assistant.
He said Moses, my servant isdead.
Therefore, the time has comefor you to lead these people,
(14:12):
the Israelites, across theJordan River into the land I am
giving them.
I promise you what I promisedMoses Wherever you set your foot
, you will be on land I havegiven you, from the Negev
wilderness in the south to theLebanon mountains in the north,
from the Euphrates River in theeast to the Mediterranean Sea in
(14:32):
the west, including all thelands of the Hittites.
No one will be able to standagainst you as long as you live,
for I will be with you as I waswith Moses.
I will not fail you or abandonyou.
Be strong and courageous, foryou are the one who will lead
these people to possess all theland I swore to their ancestors
(14:54):
I would give them Be strong andvery courageous.
Be careful to obey all theinstructions Moses gave you.
Do not deviate from them,turning either to the right or
to the left.
Then you will be successful ineverything you do.
Be strong and very courageous.
Study this book of instructioncontinually, meditate on it day
(15:17):
and night, so you will be sureto obey everything written in it
.
Only then will you prosper andsucceed in all you do.
This is my command.
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord, your God, is
with you wherever you go.
(15:39):
How many of you have ever beenencouraged by that verse, even
once in your life?
Anyone?
Yeah, let's go.
Come on.
I used to have a necklace thatwas a dog tag, similar to this
one, that had the entire passage, which is from 8 to 9, on it,
so that I could remember that,and when I was coming into a
sketchy situation or I needed tohave courage, I just grasped it
and be like okay, help me.
But Joshua 1, 1 to 9 is anextremely popular passage.
(16:04):
The background here is thatJoshua, son of none, was Moses's
assistant, who had traveledalongside Moses and had worked
alongside Moses somewhat like anassociate pastor kind of thing,
except more like an assistant.
You know Somebody who you knowmade sure to take notes or made
sure that Moses had oh, where'smy sandals?
Joshua give me that, like hetook care of them.
That's the idea.
(16:24):
But Joshua also had an intimaterelationship with God.
When Moses would leave the tentof meeting, the glory would
fall and Joshua would remain inthe tent after Moses would go
out and do whatever he was goingto do.
You know, probably you know,smack a few Israelites up the
side of the head.
Probably think you knowverbally you know what I'm
saying.
But the thing is, joshua hadthis thing where he saw all of
(16:47):
it from the behind the scenes.
Look, he was being preparedfrom the time he was a child
until now, from the time he wasa young, young man until this
moment.
Now he's being launched.
Now is your time to lead thispeople.
I love how frank God is in thispassage where he's like Moses is
dead.
It's your turn now.
(17:07):
That's how I like to roll.
I love that about the Lord, youknow.
I love that about him.
It's tough though.
You know, it takes some courageto face the realities of life.
Amen.
The reality is about.
Reality is that it has meaningfor our lives.
You know, there's a quote thatsays the first responsibility of
(17:28):
leadership is to define reality.
What is going on here?
What did Jesus say over andover and over again about the
state of our lives, about thesituation that we're in?
What does every evangelist andevery preacher and teacher that
was ever worth assaultcommunicate to us about the
state of our lives?
Is that we're in trouble, butgood news, we have Jesus, amen.
(17:49):
So is Joshua's turn to lead thepeople of Israel and, of course
, as you might imagine, he isprobably a little nervous.
Probably we don't know for sure, but probably is.
In verse three and four, god isessentially and Paul, keep in
(18:09):
mind too that this book ofJoshua was written as one thing,
like it wasn't, like somebodywas taking notes throughout the
thing and like, okay, so we tookover I and we did this and we
did that.
No, it's somebody afterward whohad taken the story and made
sure that it was written withinclear boundaries, and then
everything, that the mostimportant details were
communicated.
And so there's this historicalaccount of what took place, but
it's mainly a theologicalaccount of who God is and how he
(18:33):
reaches out and delivers on hispromises and delivers on his
faithfulness to his people.
And so Joshua one is kind ofsetting up the stage for the
rest of the book and in factkind of alludes to the moment
where Joshua would stand beforethe people of Israel and say
that one statement that many ofus would be familiar with choose
this day whom you will serve.
(18:53):
As for me and my house, we willserve the Lord.
So even this initial thing andthe rest of the chapter, of
chapter one and Joshua is kindof setting up the entire account
of everything that takes placeafterward, and so it's
foreshadowing in one sense.
But it's also a trueproclamation from God to Joshua
in this moment that no one inverse five, no one will be able
(19:14):
to stand against you as long asyou live, for I will be with
Moses, I will be with you,rather, as I was with Moses, I
will not fail you or abandon you.
So he says that okay, and thisis to set the stage for what
he's now about to command.
God never commands you anythingexcept on the basis of his
promises in scripture.
If God commands you to love oneanother, what does he do?
He takes a towel, wraps itaround his waist, removes his
(19:37):
outer clothing and washes hisdisciples feet and says do as I
have done for you.
This is my command right.
And so here we are.
Joshua is called by the commandof God.
On upon the promises of God, bestrong and courageous in verse
six, for you are the one whowill lead these people to
possess the land I swore totheir ancestors I would give
(19:57):
them.
The word Joshua is connected tothe word for salvation or
deliverance.
It's derived from Yahoshuaright.
It's this idea that God, theLord, is the one who is a
deliverer or one who would bringsalvation.
It's really interesting becauseJesus' name in Hebrew is
similar milar milar.
Yahshua right Is the same name.
(20:17):
But the reason why that it'sinteresting that Joshua is the
one to take this is because thename Joshua suggests a
deliverance.
You know, if you were to orderan Amazon package, it's gonna be
delivered to your door andthere's a promise based on that.
And God is saying I have mademy promise to deliver my people
to where I promised them to go,and Joshua's the guy to do it.
(20:39):
I mean, it's right there in thename.
Check out the name tagDeliverer.
I'm the deliverer, let's go.
And so this idea of God basingeverything on his promises is
really important for ourapproach to courage, our ability
to obey the command to bestrong and courageous.
But keep in mind what strongand courageous actually means.
Courageous and strong is notwhat we sometimes think of.
(21:01):
When I think about the wordstrong, usually I think Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
You know what I'm saying.
We pick things up and we putthem down.
Okay, you know picking thisthing, throwing it.
You know what I'm saying?
Jesus in the temple, chuckingtables here and there.
You know what I'm saying.
That's what comes to mind forstrength.
It's like a boxer or a UFCfighter or something, something
intense.
But that's not what this wordmeans.
(21:22):
This is actually more of astrength of intention that's
lived out in an inability forthe opponent to resist.
It's like someone breakingthrough a wall.
It's like a fireman taking anaxe, hitting into a door,
beating it down and going in tosave somebody.
That's the word strong.
Be so steadfast that there isnothing that could move you.
(21:44):
That's the application of it.
But it's interesting becauseit's actually derived from this
immovability.
So it's a mix.
It's like a strength ofconviction that is unshakable.
Be unshakable, joshua.
Do not turn either this way orthat way.
Keep focused, stay alert, keepyour eyes on the prize, do what
you're going to do and do notlet anything come in between you
(22:05):
and your mission, and becourageous.
And the courageous is actuallypretty straightforward Don't let
fear make your decisions foryou.
That's what courageous means.
Courageous means do it afraid.
Courageous means, regardless ofwhat you may face, face it, for
(22:27):
you are the one.
How many of you guys have everthought I cannot do this?
No, thank you.
And God is saying to all of usand communicating to all of us
you are the one, you are.
You're the mom who's going tobe doing this.
You're the dad who's going totake these kids on.
There's moments in our liveswhere we could easily turn back,
and God says no, be courageous,for you are the one.
(22:51):
You are the one to do this.
Wow, well, I hope that youenjoyed that part one of this
sermon highlight for Rest thethe Rest Rest Rest podcast.
If you would like to listen topart two, be sure to stay tuned,
because it's going to be postednext week.
We're going to take a littlebit of time maybe to sort of
(23:13):
expand on some of the thingsthat were said, especially in
that second part of the sermonin next week's episode, but for
this week, go back and listen tothose parts that maybe had
stuck out to you.
But in any case, thank you somuch for joining us for the In
Rest podcast.
Be sure to like and subscribe,to leave a comment on a video or
even an DM.
Send a DM to inRest Rest InRestInsta If you have a prayer
(23:37):
request or anything.
In any case, thank you forbeing In Rest listener of the
InRest podcast.
Looking forward to connectingwith you soon.
Continue to live your best inrest in Christ.
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