Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: how will you follow Jesus in prayer and dependence on God this week?
Main Points
In this lesson shaped by Calvary Boise's teaching on JOSHUA: Waiting and Trusting in God's Grace, Christ invites us to receive truth with humility, practice repentance, and walk in faithful obedience.
Faith and Obedience
we're gonna be in Joshua chapter 8 is your turning there let me give you a little rundown of where we're at and where. we're going we're in Joshua chapter 8 but we're gonna we're gonna kind of pivot our time in the word in the coming month. to a real run up to Easter so this will actually be a last time in Joshua 8 we'll put the book of Joshua. on pause and we'll spend some time really thinking about and preparing our hearts through God's Word why Easter is the most incredible moment. of the history of the world why the death and resurrection of Christ is our hope and it is the hope that we have. for God's goodness to come and bring more and more glory into our lives so we're gonna spend next month really thinking about that. and we're gonna look at Joshua chapter 8 because we're not only pivoting towards Easter we're actually pivoting towards a new step of faith. that I'd like to lead our church in and you'll get a little bit of that in your bulletin you saw one of these. prayer cards and you don't have to read it right now I'm actually gonna reference what this prayer card is all about in the. latter part of this sermon so I'm gonna use our time now in Joshua and the kind of the last time that we'll. be in Joshua for a little while to do a couple things one Joshua chapter 8 is going to give us a real nice. way to look at some of the themes that have come up in the Book of Joshua it'll also as I study this. I can't help but to think about where we're at as a church and what God has been up to in our church the. last couple years so I'm gonna look at this section of Scripture with a lens towards where God may be calling us and I'm. pretty excited to - to get to that this morning and to ask you guys to join in and in what God is up. to in what the prayer card says is the mission of our church so that's where we're at I'm gonna start in verse 1. and right away we're gonna get to kind of some of the context as to why this is a really nice arc of the. story for us to be studying.
Faith and Obedience
this morning as we pivot towards Easter it starts Joshua chapter 8 verse 1 says this now the Lord said to Joshua do not. be afraid nor dismayed take all of the people of war with you and arise go up to AI see I have given you. into the hand the king of AI his people his City and his land okay so what we are studying this morning is this. in-between moment for the people of Israel and the story of Joshua so far has been mostly just the story of how God continually. blesses this generation of his people it's the story of how they went from the wilderness into God's promised land and as they go. God continually gives them instruction on how to get there as they listen he does miracles to bring victory he did a miracle to. get them across the river and then we saw in Joshua chapter 6 he does this miracle to bring them into their first military. victory which is against this city called Jericho and he does this amazing wondrous works to bring down the walls by his mighty work. not their own they march in amazing victory one of the most famous battles of the Bible and then Joshua chapter 7 comes and. we studied that last week because it was the first the deviation of this story of God's blessing of his people they trust and. he blesses them in Joshua chapter 7 we see what happens when God's people instead of asking God what to do and obeying his. Commandments they actually go and do their own plan and in that there's this small little city called AI which we just read about. and this small city which they thought you know it's so small we've just come from the victory of Jericho certainly we can take. out this city and we can kind of do it in our way our strategy and they get uh turley defeated they fall on. their face and they go from the excitement of Jericho to some hope lessness for the first time in the story and that's why. we read this morning God says don't be afraid the end of Joshua chapter 7 God gives them the remedy to make right if. there was sin in their camp there was disobedience not only to go into battle without the Lord but also to take things from. the Jericho battle that didn't belong to them so God says you.
Repentance and Renewal
got to get clean you got to confess your sin we got to deal with that and after all of that is done the. Lord says now don't be afraid we're back on back and I'm gonna march you towards another victory and I love this portion of. the story in the book of Joshua because I believe it most resembles the Christian arc of what you experience when you begin to. give your life put your faith in God's plans for your life God's plan for your life is for you to put faith in. his power to save apart from your own the minute you do that you experience victory you experience the walls of your own heart. coming down and you have newness of life it is a glorious moment and so often we expect that to be the standard Christian. experience as we march from the experience of God's saving us to the experience of heaven and what do we find it's nothing that's. not the case at all what we find is that surely God saves us by his power and surely we deviate from his plan. still and we have to wait until the next victory maybe the best way all of this is summed up let me share a. verse that Paul describes to a pattern of this in the book of 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 he says this but we all with. unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord were being transformed into the same image from glory to glory which. means there is the moment of this amazing unveiled experience that you have with the glory of God and then transformation happens from glory. to glory and there's these in between periods of your life where they are not always as glorious as salvation and they are far. from the weight of glory that awaits you in eternity they are the down spells they are the times you feel defeated there are. the times you feel like maybe not much is happening in your soul or in your spirit and you're wondering what God is up. to these are the glory to glory seasons and we all go through them you have probably experienced that if you are someone who. enjoyed what we did last week to worship and get in God's Word you probably already experienced that since last Sunday some of you. have already experienced that today I ran into somebody first service and.
Faith and Obedience
I asked them how their day was going he said I got off to a great start everybody up and Adam in the car. and then a fight on the way to church how many times does that happen you're so excited to get into the sanctuary and. it's Sunday which is the day that is completely off-limits for the attack of the enemy and you're going to go and worship God. and there's going to be nothing but green lights and smooth roads except for that's not how life works and you can have a. fight on the way to church just as soon as you can have a fight on a Monday morning when you don't want to. go to work because you are living in glory to glory and the experience that we're having right now the glorious moment of worship. that we all just had and I had a moment where I was here worshiping the Lord but there is some excitement to realize. that I'm here with all of you and it's glorious to be here I see as I looked out I saw hands up singing. praise that it is well with our soul what are we singing that's glorious for those of you who came with burdens and difficulty. and challenges of your life you had a glorious moment the minute you said by faith it's well with my soul and I look. out and I am so moved and yet the glory of this Sunday morning will be challenged in the in between from glory to. glory and I say that because as I think about where we're at as a church I realized that the church experience like the. Christian experience often exists between the goal posts of glory we have a church where if you've been here long enough you know that. there has been seasons of the spirits moving that have been glorious I want to talk about some of those today and I believe. that we have reason to put our faith in future glory that God is not done with any generation that continues to follow him. and yet if you've been around the last three years you know that we've lived between the goal posts at times it's been times. two it's hard at times to think about future glory because we're in the middle season we're in that season we're in you're in. the fight in church not just on the way to church your.
Grace and Justification
difficult because as you follow God you realize there's things that he's doing to still transform you that you didn't even know about yet. and so what I want to do is look at Joshua chapter eight because this is where God comes in and says listen there. was glory that you experienced and there's going to be future glory and here's the remedy here's the strategy how to get there I. want to look at that for your Christian life because some of you have come with the burdens of those in-between moments of your. life I want to look at that for our church and that's why I've asked you to take this with you because I believe. we are pivoting towards some future glory that God has for us as we move towards why we're still a church and it's certainly. more than just to gather together on Sundays and be inspired by worship in the word there's something that God does in every generation. to keep the mission moving so look what it says in Joshua chapter 8 verse 1 he says now the Lord said to Joshua. do not be afraid nor dismayed don't be discouraged don't live in that in-between zone don't live in the defeat don't live thinking that. the glory is over why because I'm sending you to AI see I've given it into your hand the king of AI his people. his City and his land here's what God is saying look at AI see it he's asking them to look at something that just. defeated them a small little city that made them run down the hill and retreat back to the place where they defeated in hopelessness. felt defeated and he says now look at it look at it with my eyes I've already given it to you this is one. of those patterns that we're going to draw out as we think about putting a pause on the book of Joshua one of the. patterns is this Joshua and the people of Israel are blessed by God's grace in God's timing throughout this story it is the story. of how God will do what God does apart from their working all they have to do is trust that it is His grace. that gives them what God has for them it is His grace as it says in Joshua chapter one that gives them the promised. land it says in verse two of Joshua chapter one go arise.
Grace and Justification
go over this Jordan you and all the people to the land which I am giving them the children of Israel every place that. the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you it's as good as done and then he says in Joshua chapter. 6 they've obeyed the command to rise and go over the Jordan the Jordan land is already done he's already given it to them. by His grace apart from their work and then what is he saying Joshua chapter six now Jericho it was securely shut up the. children of Israel nobody could get in nobody could get out and then the Lord said to Joshua see I have given Jericho to. you got to see what God sees here because what they see is a wall where no one gets in and no one gets. out and God said it's as good as done and this is the grace of God the grace of God says apart from anything. that you can do or see or understand in your own understanding God has his way in his time to give it to you. as if it's already done and for those of you who can relate to the in between glory phase of life this is one. of the first steps that we have to realize to get through you have to wait on the grace of God the grace of. God is what sustains us from glory to glory it is the grace of God that transforms us into the image of his son. it is the grace of God that we experience any of the glory of God it has nothing to do with our own work. it has nothing to do with our own strategy and it has nothing to do with our own plans in our own time the. lesson of this book is to say in God's perfect timing he gives his people his promises in his way and it's not something. they could have ever done the story's full of miracles just to remind them you crossed the Jordan on dry land because it wasn't. you who crossed it was God in the power of God bringing you through you took Jericho because the walls fell not because you. were strong and mighty and military the strength of your of your military it was because God's wonderful work did it and you will. take AI now and you will learn from the lesson of.
Grace and Justification
when you tried to do it on your own and fell in defeat and hopelessness you will take AI because I have given it. to you and this is the story of what I have learned about what it means to be part of church leadership pastoring a. church hoping that a church could survive the in between it is by the grace of God that I am here I assure you. it is not by my own strength and that was the first lesson I had to learn it's the basic lesson of believing and. putting faith in God that it is God's working not your own and yet it took me a solid year to learn it as. a pastor as a pastor who wants to preach it in the gospel as a pastor who wants to encourage you to live it. was right over my head for that first year because when I walked in to take over and to lead it was like okay. I think I think that we've got some pretty good wheels in motion there's people that go here there's advantages that this church has. that a church plant could only dream of and then things go rocky and it gets challenging and it gets difficult and in my. hyper spirituality I think I still got this I can do this and then things got harder and things stretched me and finally and. only when this happened is when I experienced what it meant to wait in the grace of God when I finally and don't tell. anyone this but just between you and me i full-on wanted to quit okay so now you know i'm not like a spiritual person. that's just like well just follow me as I follow Christ I wanted to give up on this church too I didn't necessarily love. being the pastor of a church that was in the middle of a messy and hard and difficult transition but you know what the. Lord said wait don't give up keep waiting wait for my timing before you ever leave wait for my timing before you ever step. out to do a new thing and it was in that moment that I said okay lord I will wait for three years I. will give this place three years and here we are here we are at the end of three years and I have an important. announcement to make we made it we're still here.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.