Courage Over Fear Part 1

Good morning. Good morning. How's everybody doing this morning? Good, good. So glad to see everybody this morning.

So thankful that you are here with us, joining us here at Cornerstone, Those that are here or those are maybe watching online, we're just so glad you're here. Just so excited for the new series that we're going to begin this morning. Thankful for our Pastor Jarrett, who is leading and is being guided through, through God and his leadership and his direction. The series that we've done, stepping forward has been great. And then we moved on to finish last week.

The forging of families was another great series. And so we're really looking forward to this next series. It happens every time. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just me, but I get excited about the new series and then when we end it, it's like, oh, man, that was.

I hate to end it, but there's another one coming. And so just really excited for the opportunity to preach this morning and share God's word with us today. And so the new series that we're talking about today and that we're going to be in for the next seven weeks is called Courage Over Fear. Courage Over Fear. And the main character that we're going to be studying is the book of Joshua.

So it's Joshua himself. And so we think about Joshua, we think about Joshua and Jericho and the walls of Jericho. That's kind of the theme. As I grew up as a little kid, that was one of the main things we learned was Joshua and Jericho. Matter of fact, in 1992, there was a new game that came out from the Nintendo.

So I guess my parents said, if he's going to play it, let's give him a biblical game, right? And so the name was called Joshua, and it wasn't much to it. It wasn't like the games today. But the main thing with that game was at the beginning of each level, this guy came on and he said, be courageous, Joshua. Every single time, every single level, he said the exact same thing over and over.

And so that's our prayer for as this weeks today and the weeks as we go on in this series is that we see Joshua courageous and that our prayer as a church, that we too can be courageous just like Joshua was. And so we're going to jump right in this morning and look at that and see him be courageous and courage over fear. So we're in Joshua, chapter one. If you want to turn there or find your Bibles, we're going to be right there in just a Few verses. We'll have some other scriptures we're going to read this morning, but we're going to be in Joshua 1:1 through 6.

So let's read that together. In verse one, Joshua says, After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of nun, Moses, aide, Moses, my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan river into the land I'm about to give them to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set foot. As I promised Moses, your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the great river, the Euphrates, all the Hittite country to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Let's pray.

Father God, we thank you for your direction. We thank you for your direction for our church and the series that we've gone in. God, and I just pray today you would just take me off the stage. God, I pray that your word would just come alive today. God, I pray that your spirit would move in me and through me.

And the words come out of my mouth as not of mine. God, I pray for the people here and the people online, the people recapping it throughout the week or the weeks to come, that I pray that your spirit would move in them.

God, if it's to make us uncomfortable today, make us uncomfortable. God, I pray your word comes alive and speaks to us. Show us today, God, how we too can have courage over our fears. We can have courage and be courageous because it's not what we do, it's what you do through us.

God, I pray your blessings upon the reading of your word. Pray God, that you would just move in this place today and speak to us, mold us, and shape us in Jesus name. Amen.

So before we jump into Joshua and recap what we just read, those six verses, I want to share with you guys a little bit of backstory of Josh. And so what it looks like is Joshua was born into Egypt and he was born as a slave. And so there he learned very, very early to obey and to have honor, to have discipline and to follow and respect and do that with his masters. In a short period after that, the Bible tells us that he then was Moses aid he was his assistant. And he did that for over 40 years.

It's a long time of being an assistant to follow, to help, to serve. So then we hear stories in scripture that Joshua was very good in battles. Probably one of the reasons why Moses picked him. Joshua was very good in battles and he won in the first battle against the Amalekites. Also some other things that Joshua did with Moses was Joshua was with Moses when Moses received the Ten Commandments.

There was another little story in scripture that tells us that Moses would have these. He would call it tent of Meeting. Tent of meeting and where he would leave the Israelites and he would go into a place, he would go into a tent, and in that tent that God would come down and would speak to him and him only. And the Bible tells us that Joshua stood outside that tent. He didn't want to leave that area, so he stood right there.

That's who Joshua was when Moses was talking about the promised land. And God said, moses send some spies out. So he did. Moses sent 12 spies out to go check the land. And he says, I want you to go check it and see what's the land look like.

Tell me about the people and what do you think about it? And so the 12 spies went out and Joshua was one of the spies, and he was one of the two spies. He and Caleb came back saying, man, the land is beautiful. It is flowing milk and honey. It's going to be great.

We'll have prosperous land.

But they also said, Joshua also said that, hey, there's some big dudes over there. They're big, they're mighty, they're strong. But Joshua's response was, but we can take them because God is on our side and he was faithful to God. See, before we jump into Joshua this morning, we see that Joshua had a huge, special, successful life. He was disciplined by God and he was discipled by Moses.

He was hand picked by God to do many, accomplish many things in his life. So if we were to reread Joshua 1 and 2 and break it down really quickly, we'll see in Joshua, in these first two verses, we see a transition. We see a transition taking place. If we look back at specific words the Lord God said to Joshua. So he didn't send a messenger, he didn't send an angel.

You know, he didn't send a text message, email, anything like that, Right? He came to Joshua himself and he said, moses, my servant is dead. Now you and all these people get ready. That's the transition that we're seeing taking place. See, transitions in our lives can be a Pretty big deal.

And for some of us, not me, take them really, really well. God had this all planned out for I don't know how many months for me to be on stage, because I don't do transitions and change really well. So it's not me up here on stage today. God had a purpose. But these transitions come in our lives.

And we see these when they come, especially when they're not expected. We take them well, or sometimes we don't take them well. So there's, like, good transitions in our lives. These good transitions in our lives would be like a job promotion within the company or maybe a new job, or maybe it's that we've been praying and trying our best for years to have a baby, and now we're blessed with a newborn baby. And then there's also, on the other side, there's bad transitions, negative transitions that we may go through.

Maybe we lost a job, maybe the money has run out. Maybe we get a phone call from a loved one who says, someone's not here with us anymore. See, during these transitions, all transitions involve change. There's change that takes place in these transitions, and we're going to see that in just a minute. Let me explain the transition that's going on here that Moses has died.

In Deuteronomy, it says that God told Moses to go on the mountain and look out at the promised land. I'm going to show you what you could have had. I'm going to show you the land. And then Moses died and the transition. We see here that Joshua is next.

He is up. See, it was originally designed for Moses to lead him to the promised land. But he messed up and he disobeyed God. And God said, you are no longer going to lead my people, but Joshua will lead them. And so God told Moses, he said, anoint Joshua in front of the priests and the high people.

He said, so lay your hands upon them and show them that he is going to be your new leader. Moses did it. Joshua's just, you know, can you imagine what he's thinking? He's been with Moses for 40 years. Like, what?

What's going on? Really? We doing this now? So. So he anoints him.

And then Moses tells the Israelites, hey, here's your new leader. He is going to lead you to the promised land. God speaks it in verse 2 and 1. He says, you get ready, you will lead. We have four main topic points I want to share with you this morning as we go through the scripture.

There's four of them that we want to see and we want to share. And we also want to apply them to our lives. So not just what we see in Joshua, we want to apply it to our lives today. So the first thing we see in the first two verses in this transition, we see that we need courage in times of transition. That we need courage in times of transition.

See, this was big for the Israelites. They were shocked. They were uncertain. They've been through a lot, and their ancestors have been through a lot. And Scripture tells us at this point that they're actually camped right outside the Jordan River.

Like, they see the river. We can see the river. We can see the land over there. Like, it's right here. And what has happened.

One cool thing that God showed me this week is in verse 1 and 2, God doesn't look back. He moves forward. He goes forward in everything he does. He moves forward in transitions. Transitions in our life.

We can run to them or we can run from them, but God is going to move forward if we keep reading. Let's go to verse 3, 4, and 5 and break that down really quick. As we look through 3, 4, and 5, we now see some change or changes. And in here, in 3, 4, and 5, we actually see God is making some changes.

And we look and we see. In verse three, God says, I will give you every place where you set your foot. Imagine Joshua, like, everywhere I've been to the land, everywhere. We talking about everywhere here. He says, your territory.

Verse 5. He says, no one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life, man. No one. All the days of my life. You're like.

You realize that means, like, the rest of my life, right? Like forever of my life, Right? Like, we realize that, man. He tells them these things, these changes that are taking place because of the transition. And then we end in verse five with promises.

God encourages Joshua with promises. What does he say? He says, as I was with Moses, because he knew, Joshua knew man. Moses and God were extremely tight. So when God tells him, I will be with you just like I was with Moses, he's like, okay, you're for real.

I got you. And he says, I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I'm always on your side.

They were constantly. The Israelites were constantly faced with change. They've been through a lot already. Moses is dead. Now what Joshua?

See, God appoints Joshua. God doesn't just go out on a limb, and God doesn't just put a name in the hat. And God just doesn't look around and go, hmm, you'll work. No, see what God has done. And Joshua didn't know this up until this point, but God was preparing him, as Esther in the scripture says, for such a time as this.

He was preparing Joshua. He prepares us. He's preparing us today, or he's walking through something today. It was planned. God didn't skip a beat.

God knew what he was doing. God goes to work saying, let's go. Joshua had already seen the big transition, and now he needs an action. It's time for Joshua to act.

So we need courage in times of transition. The second thing we see today is we need courage through our change. We need courage through our change. Listen to this. We need courage in the change, during the change, and we need courage to change.

You know what God's saying here is he's saying, when a man of God dies, nothing of God dies. He moves forward. He said, I move forward. Going on. God's telling him, joshua, you're going to change.

The Israelites are going to change. But I don't change if we keep going. Let's look at verse six. In verse six now, we start to see what God tells us is a little changed. Now in Joshua, previously in verse 3, 4, and 5, that was the change that God was telling them that everybody's going to do.

That he was going to do through him. Now we see in verse 6 the change that Joshua will have.

We read it. It says, be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land. I swore to them. And if we were to read. Go on.

If you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and do that right now in verse seven, it's not on the screen, but in verse seven, God repeats himself right afterward and he says, be strong and very courageous is what he says. We all know that, right? If God repeats himself, we ought to probably listen and pay attention. Back to back verse six and verse seven, he says, be strong and courageous. He actually said it in Deuteronomy and he actually said it.

And Moses actually said it to Joshua when Joshua said, hey, you're the next man up. You're going to take. You're going to lead. Don't mess this up like I did.

Be strong and courageous is what they said. God says it in 6 and 7. Be strong and courageous. Be strong and very courageous. Why?

Because you will lead.

He tells them he's going to lead. We need courage in times of transition. We need courage through our changes. The third thing we also need, we need courage to be Prepared for when it's time to lead.

We need courage to be prepared for when it's time to lead. Joshua wasn't just picked out of thin air. He wasn't some new person on God's scene. He was prepared and he was planned for this moment. Joshua was given a glimpse of leadership through his whole entire life up until this moment.

God had been preparing him for this time.

Some of the things we can learn from Joshua is that he didn't become a leader overnight. It took years of serving and obeying, honor, working with others, laboring, being humble. And that's something here today that we too have to work on sometimes.

Just like Joshua. If we were to keep reading and it's not on the screen, but if we were to keep reading and finish chapter one and we go on and finish the book of Joshua, I hope I'm not spoiling it for the weeks to come, but we need to see in action, he's leading. What do we see? If we were to keep reading and I'll tell you the rest of the story here, then here's what the rest story is. We see obedience.

Joshua obeys. And I'll tell you a little bit about it really quickly, is that it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy for Joshua. The scholars tell us that it was 2 to 2.5 million people camped out. There was no good communication back then.

You just got up and went. They were right there across the Jordan. All they had to do was cross the river and there they went. And that's what they did. They first went to Jericho.

So there was a lot of towns to win over and there was a lot of battles to win. And that's exactly what they did. Jericho, one town after the next, after the next, after the next. This actually took. The Bible tells us it actually took seven years for this process to go through before the promised land was theirs.

So it wasn't easy. He wasn't given much direction. He just took action. See, Joshua was obedient. The last thing, our last topic point we see today is that we need courage and transition.

We need courage and change. We need courage to lead and we need courage. Fourth thing is, we need courage to be obedient to God's plan, to his direction, and then to take action.

He calls us to be obedient. Joshua was obedient in his transition. Joshua's obedient, the change. And as he led, he was obedient.

Throughout Joshua's lifetime, we see a long term of obedience. He was faithful in the small acts of obedience that reveals his most impactful actions in his life.

How did he respond?

So coach football and coach helped coach basketball this season here at the middle school. And we both sports. We had a really good, successful two seasons through those two sports. We had one loss in football, we had four losses in basketball. So really proud of our guys and going through that.

But what we encountered is after the losses, you know, kids change. And so we went through those losses. And so whether it's from a sports loss after a game, or maybe it's been in the school system where I talk to kids and pull them out one out of one on one and just talk about their academics or talk about their behavior. But I always will give them a little speech and give them a little spell and talk to them, pull them aside. But then I'll end with one question.

And I'm going to challenge you today on this question too, as we go through transitions and change in life. But Joshua, how do you respond?

I asked the students, how do you respond? We see Joshua's response. Joshua's response was, he obeyed. How do we respond in this room?

This was a huge pivotal moment in the Israelites.

They probably panicked and they probably didn't know what was going on. Got to understand in the end of Deuteronomy, it tells us that they actually mourned Moses death for 30 days. 30 days they mourned Moses death. They panicked. They looked at people and they said, we don't know what to do.

Moses has died. And you know why? They probably panicked because of all the things Moses did. So they probably recalled. Moses was our guy.

He was our leader. He led us. He was our guy. I don't know what's going to happen now with some new guy. But Moses, he was at the moment where he had the burning bush.

And it was this very cool moment where the bush was burning, but it wasn't burning. It was a weird thing, but all I know, it was God. He was talking to God. Moses was our leader. Who went to the baddest dude in Egypt, Pharaoh, and confronted him and said, God said, let my people go.

That's who Moses was. He wasn't afraid, terrible at speaking. Moses called the plagues down and God helped him with that to convince Pharaoh to let the people go. So Pharaoh lets the people of Israelites goes. That's why they're panicking.

All this good stuff has happened. They got to the Red Sea and they thought they were doomed again. Oh, here we're doomed again. We've got the sea in front of us. We look behind us and here comes Pharaoh coming after us.

He's changed his mind again. It's another way that God says, we don't go sideways, we don't go backwards. We move forward. Moses parted the sea. Moses was on the top of the mountain when he received the ten Commandments.

This was the guy. This was our leader. Another leader that he had the tent of the meeting where he met God face to face in a tent that was our leader.

There was a moment where Moses was on top of the mountain. And Moses actually said, God let me see your face. And. And God said, no, you cannot see my face. No one can see my face.

He said, but I'll let you see my backside. And Moses was like, hey, good for me. So this is the guy. This is the leader, Moses. He saw God's backside.

He came down off the mountain and we saw it. The Israelites said, we saw it. We saw him. He actually glowed for days because he saw God's face. He led us out of the wilderness.

What are we going to do? We're done. As the young kids say, we're cooked. We're done. He looks at him and they say, but he is dead.

God says, my workers die, but my work goes on. Moses is dead. Joshua, next man up.

What about us in this room?

What about us? Don't ever think that the work of Christ is going to go belly up and fall and fail because of one person. Billy Graham has died. Who's going to take his place? Maybe it's my mentor.

Maybe it's my Sunday school teacher. Maybe it's my mom or my grandparent. Maybe it was a pastor who fell into sin, who has fallen out of the ministry. Or somebody's left the ministry. Oh, what are we going to do?

We're going to panic.

God's in control. God's got a plan. God's going to lead. God moves forward.

He's telling us today, God, this is a huge moment. I'm fulfilling my promise. It's time to go. Maybe it's time to go and do this. Maybe that's what he's telling us today.

Maybe there's something we need to go and do or not do. Maybe there's something that we need to go and say or not say. Maybe there's something we need to go and be or not be.

But God today is saying, quit, Justin. Quit overthinking this. Quit beating this up. Quit trying to plan it out for yourself. Don't worry about it.

Don't stress about it. Don't Overthink it. You don't need the blueprints of it, because I already have that.

As Wade and Christy would say, we may not see what the end of the road looks like, but God today is calling us to make the next right step.

And people in this room, he's telling us today, in our transition, in our change, as we lead, we obey.

So who's next? Who's next in the room? Someone is. Listen to this transition and change will happen. But how do we lead and obey?

Through them?

See, do you ever find yourself. Do you ever find yourself knowing that God wants you to do something? Does he want you to change or adjust something? Is he speaking to you? He does it all the time.

I think for us, we just mess it all up. For me, for a lot of us, we delay, right? We delay the process. I thought one day he's gonna get it, and if he doesn't, I got another guy.

So that was my story in 2017, 2017. I was a store manager at Walgreens here in Perry, Florida. And that was my job. And Brittany and I, we had just bought a house the end of May, and then things were just different. I didn't know, like, really what was going on, but the job was.

It was a struggle, and it was kind of a wreck and a mess. And then I also had. My heart was, you know, in the church and to doing things in the church. I feel like I couldn't do a whole lot because of my work. And really what God was doing was he was just working me.

He was preparing me for such a time as this.

So 2017 kept going on with guidance and direction and prayer and Scripture and those. And I sat down. I sat down with the superintendent one day and just said, hey, tell me a little bit about teaching. I don't know where this is going. I don't know.

I think God's called me to do something different, and I don't know what that is. Can we just talk? So the fall came on, and things were just still weird in my retail, my business, and all this kind of stuff. And then the holidays were terrible. So we worked the holidays, and that was the first Christmas in a long time that me and my wife and the two boys came up to Walgreens to spend Christmas morning with me.

I was thinking, man, why do we ask our employees to do this on Christmas morning?

So when January came about the middle of the end of January, with a lot of prayer and concern and talking with people, I finally gave it up to God. And I said, God, lead me, direct me to show me the next right step. That's all I ask.

And that moment I was willing to say, I'm willing to be obedient.

And then I also said, but God, you know, scripture tells us that there was a God spoke through a donkey, right in Scripture. And so I was like, God, I don't have a donkey. But I really need clarification in this. I really need clarification because you know me, that I'm going to mess it up. So please.

And a couple weeks later, I'll never forget end of January and the February of 2018. For 18 days straight, God showed himself in some way, shape or form through Walgreens or through the school or through church or through friends, through prayer. He showed up. Gives me chills thinking about it. He said, you asked.

So this spring break will be seven years that I've been in the school system teaching.

Pretty cool to see that God was preparing me, making me uncomfortable for such a time as this. And I'll tell you, that transition looked terrible. The money was not there. God said, it's not about the money. He said, but I got you.

You don't see it now, you'll see it later. Man, if we look, as we look back, all the providing and the change that he did through that, he just wanted me to be obedient. He just wanted me to take a step. And now I have an opportunity to be in the school system, to be around students, to help with fca. That's gonna blow up in this school.

It's gonna do some amazing things. We've got 18 students who are dying to lead the rest of the school body.

Have prayer requests set up in a school system. A prayer request box is set up outside in the hallway. God was preparing us for a time such as this.

It's not about us. It's about God and his work. And it goes on. He doesn't waste a moment. Here's another scripture verse I want to share with you this morning.

Ephesians 2, 8, 10 says, for it is by grace you've been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It's the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do another version. I just want to share you with another version. What it says, it says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them we are his workmanship.

God prepared us in advance. See, we don't know what tomorrow looks like. We don't know what next week, next month, next year, 10 years down the road. We don't have to worry and fear over that. God says, I'm calling you to have courage over your fears today.

I'm calling you to have courage in your next right step and obey.

Can I tell you today, Church, that you have a calling. No matter the age in the room, you have a calling, you have a purpose.

We don't see the end of the road. He just wants us to take the next right step. That next step shows our obedience. We end on this verse today. An encouraging verse.

As we go through transition, change, leadership, or maybe we need to follow and as we obey. Second Timothy 1:7 says, for the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self discipline.

So church, when we go through life's fears and difficult seasons, fear creeps in and wants to take over.

The question shouldn't be why God? Or where are you, God? The question should be is what are you doing? What are you doing in my life?

See, at the end, God honors obedience and faith. So have no fear. Be courageous. I challenge us today to be strong and courageous.

Have courage over fear.

Make the next right step.

I'm encouraging us to respond today. It doesn't have to be down front, doesn't have to be in your seat, doesn't have to be here in the building. But I just challenge you to respond today. There's a good chance that God's working in all of us right now at some point in thing. He's either preparing you now for something to come or he's dealing with you now in the dealings that you're dealing with.

He's working in you now. I pray that you would respond, you would have courage in times where we need courage.

So have no fear. Let's pray.

Father. God, we thank youk for today, God. Our hearts and our minds and our prayer goes that, God, you would just allow us to be more like Joshua.

God. I. I pray for us today, God, that we would move and we would respond to you, God, that you would just have an overwhelming strength of love and compassion and grace and guidance in our lives, God, as we go through transitions and changes in our life, God, that you would show us and guide us and direct us, God, that you're preparing us now for such a time as this.

Thank you God, that you continue to move forward in our lives and that sometimes when we make mistakes or we delay your plans, or we don't obey God, that you're not changed and you don't go backwards, that you move forward.

God, I pray for our body today, all of these people, our whole church, those that aren't here today. God, I pray to have courage, to take a step that we would be obedient, that one day you'll tell us, well done, my good and faithful servant.

I pray today we have courage and it comes from you. I pray today for the next right step. I pray today, God, that we would respond.

I pray today that you would work in our lives. We would be bold to say, God, show us next, God. And if we're not bold enough, I pray for our hearts that you would stir in us, make us uncomfortable. We would draw closer to you and obey your will and your plan. You would guide us.

God, I pray for our church today that if we're dealing with those that are in this room, they may be not going through transition or change. God, that I pray that you prepare them for that time. Give them the courage to face it. God, and those that maybe are going through a transition or change, God, that we would lead and we would lead with obedience. We would follow and chase after you.

Thank you for your story in Joshua.

God, I pray that we would respond today. In Jesus name, amen.