Well, this is a very special day in the life of this church and of course for Robert and Kimberley as we celebrate God's ordination of Robert the gospel ministry. I Ask Robert to pick the passage that I would preach from a slightly shorter sermon because of all that We have to do in this service And he chose Joshua chapter one is just an extraordinary passage in so many ways One reason is because it's in essence a ordination sermon from God to Joshua Joshua was to be the new leader of God's people and as you may remember God had used Moses the servant of the Lord to Lead God's people out of slavery and Egypt to be their leader as they wandered in the wilderness for some 40 years But then because of Israel's disobedience God would not allow that generation to enter in to the promised land And he wouldn't allow Moses either and so at the end of the Pentateuch at the end of Deuteronomy You have this moving scene where Moses has led up the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to gaze over across the Jordan River at the promised land that he would not enter And he died there and then it tells us at the end of Deuteronomy chapter 34 verse 9 and Joshua the son of none was full of the Spirit of wisdom Formosa said laid his hands on him In essence the laying of hands on one to a particular work is exactly what the idea of Ordination is about and in a moment we're going to invite elders in Christ church To lay hands on Robert as I pray that God set him apart for gospel ministry So Joshua is a wonderful picture for Robert and for all of us as we think about this important point in his life The plea in that ordination sermon that God delivered to Joshua Was four times over to be strong and courageous right there in the first chapter now once twice I even three times four times Joshua be strong and courageous Now I've it had never occurred to me the surprising element in that until now and the surprise is Joshua was already a courageous guy It's not like he was this weakling sort of timid prone to cow or under pressure You may remember he was the leader of God's army as they fought the fearsome allocates and then when God sent 12 men one representative from each of the 12 tribes as spies from cadash into the promised land in decaying and to spy it out Do you remember that they came back and reported to the people of God and to Moses? That pin of the 12 said time out, you know, yes This is a great land. It does flow of milk and honey. I mean look at these graves. They're incredible But we're like grasshoppers. They're like giants. We don't stand a chance and then it was Caleb and Joshua alone who said what are you talking about? We have the Lord God the Lord of the armies of Israel on our side They don't stand a chance And in that moment of crisis, what do you think the people of God did? They picked up stones to stone Joshua and Caleb now Robert Lord willing that will never happen to you They could be brutal, but you know not that bad So Joshua was already a courageous man that says the glory of God defended Joshua and Caleb. They weren't stone to death But they were under a lot of pressure and Joshua was already a man of curse So why is God commanding him four times over? Joshua be strong and courageous as you assume the mantle of responsibility to lead God's people From Moab across the Jordan to conquer the land of Cain and remember this wasn't just a vacant land They had to conquer some thirty-one tribal nations and overthrow their kings and then settle the land Why why was that need? I think it's because the Nessons God was saying Joshua. I know you're a courageous man I know you've been through a lot. She hasn't seen nothing yet and Robert you have already demonstrated remarkable courage you and Kimberly together to not once but twice uproot your family go off to Pagan St. Louis. I mean to St. Louis and And be in seminary there go through many trials and Now to serve the Lord you've been through a lot, but there's a real sense in which you ain't seen nothing yet and There's a real sense in which though every Christian Has the forces of spiritual evil against them as they journey on towards the promised land the promised land There's a very real sense in which I believe ministers of the gospel have a target on their head and from this day forward in a very real sense you ain't seen nothing yet So God commands you to be strong and courageous and to all of us as we journey through this life to the promised land There is spiritual warfare And therefore God called us to be strong and courageous as we journey forward. How do we build that kind of courage? Two things very briefly first of all we've got to have the right concept of self The right concept of self and then secondly Having that right concept of self we need to have confidence in God alone Let's look at that very briefly in Joshua chapter 1 Follow along in your order of worship where if you have your Bible you can do it there First of all you got to the right concept of self now. How is it that Joshua? Saw himself and how is he to see himself the First words we learn here either from the end of Deuteronomy or from the beginning of Joshua it's The Lord said to Joshua the son of none Now right off the bat you might be thinking boy the concept of self talk about a complex of self to be told that you're the son of a none I mean that doesn't happen very often just and the summer you're saying Leo. That's nonsense Or you might be saying that's none of your business. Are you awake out there? You know just a little biblical pun. They're there. You got to use them if they're there in front of you all right Son of none is neither here nor there What we need to see is the tide of Moses Moses the greatest human leader of the day I mean he led God's people out of Egypt two million of them He knew the Lord's face to face. There's none like him The scripture says and yet how does the Bible refer to him repeated leave verse one and two Moses the servant of the Lord the servant of the Lord and and as Moses the successor That's exactly how Joshua was to see himself Joshua the servant of the Lord. Oh, yes, the great leader of God's people the spotlight is on Joseph and yet on Joshua and yet he is to see himself as the servant of the Lord a few specific examples of this Right at the outset as they're going about conquering Cain and they come face to face with the commander of the Lord's army in Chapter five. I think this is a example of a pre incarnate visitation of Christ and Joshua bows to the grain. He says are you for us or against us? And he says neither I'm the commander of the Lord's army. Oh And he bows down to him and what does Joshua say he says what Does my Lord say to his servant? He doesn't say now let's just get one thing straight here commander I'm the one really in charge. Moses himself laid hand and remember laid hands on me. I'm in no I'm the servant of the Lord And this is the mentality that he had with him so that when we get towards the end of the book in his farewell speech to Israel Remember Joshua says look you've now come into the land we've conquered these 31 tribal nations But there is still a great temptation and that temptation is to give our hearts to the idols the gods of those people And I want to get one thing straight as for me and my household Joshua says we will serve the Lord Serve the Lord rather than the idols the the desires of the flesh and the world The things that grab and tug at us the desire for approval control ambition lust greed The materialistic influences of the culture The temptation for you and these just the same there are these idols out there that grab and tug at us and they are real The people of God did they in Matt in word responded favorably to Joshua but their practice was all together different and Robert you have the awesome responsibility of being the servant of the Lord to take God's people through as it were the wilderness wanderings into the promised land and That is warfare because they're enticing gods all around and they don't want to listen to you as you and I Don't want to listen to the word of God so often But you and I bear the responsibility of saying Let's stop and see reality as it is How fitting that the word minister itself means Servant That we don't stand as this spotlighted figure star of the show Now we bow the knee and serve John the Baptist who Jesus said was the greatest of any man ever born Said this I am not worthy to stoop down and Basically tie the shoes of the one who would come Jesus That's got to be our leadership posture as it should be the posture of every single one of us We come as Servants as servants of the Lord God Himself So what kind of concept did Joshua have and what kind of concept should all of us in a particular Robert have Concept of self It's that we simply think of ourselves less It's not that you don't it's not that you should emphasize thinking less of yourself because the most insecure person in the world The person who thinks about themselves all the time, but they just think horrible thoughts about themselves Oh, of all I've done. I'm just a horrible person. There's no way anyone would ever like me or God love and accept me The Christianity comes along and says look you want to be really liberated think of yourself less Place your confidence not in yourself But the strong healthy self-concept is when you think less of yourself so that you think more and therefore Place your confidence Squarely where it should be in the person of God Himself and that's the second thing that you build this type of courage that God Commands you to have by placing your confidence in God alone now How do we develop that three things quickly first of all by being a man of God's word look at verse seven He's there's only be strong and very courageous being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant Commandage you do not turn from it to the right or to the left that is Robert you need to conform your life personally and your ministry according to God's word You have the privilege of entering in to people's lives sort of in that Star Trek line going where no man has gone before people will Trust you and let you in and this man. I'm here to tell you is extremely gifted at counseling I have someone just this last week shared that you know they've wasted all this money on a secular counselor and Just a couple of visitations with Robert and all these doorways of growth into their heart was opened up Well, that's going to be the case time and again and your tendency will be to sort of patch yourself on the back and and think what really Got all these abilities as opposed to see that you are nothing without the Lord and that you are his minister his servant given the privilege of taking people by the hand Into the depths of their heart through the promise land. I mean think of it this way whereas Joshua was responsible for preparing the promise land For God's people as a sense in which Robert and others of us who are ministers of the gospel are charged with preparing God's people for the promised land and so Robert you'll have the opportunity to Enter into people's lives. It's like when people come to you. They find themselves closed in to a dark dungeon mindless labyrinth of their soul and they don't know how to get out and You have the way out because you have the treasure map you have the map out of this maze of a dungeon But you not only have the way out of the maze you have the treasure In the map that leads them to the light and life of the Lord Jesus Christ Know his word be a man of his word secondly Trust in the presence of God as your strength. This is all over the place here verse 5 Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you I will never leave you or forsake you in verse 9 be strong and courageous Don't be scared why because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go and that's true for all of us Just as David the little boy was strong against the mighty Goliath not because David was a stud That's how we tend to think of it. He was this is great courageous guy No, if you read the passage over and over the emphasis is David had shed himself a fear because he had shed himself of Self-focus and knew that he could conquer over Goliath because The Lord God went before him and so it is with you and me as it was With Moses when God called Moses to go to Pharaoh Moses said who am I to go to Pharaoh and God said I Will go with you. There's a sense in which God said Moses I'm asking you to go to Pharaoh, but I'm really not asking you to go to Pharaoh I'm just asking you to go and I'm going to go through you to Pharaoh and It's exactly the point you and I are instruments and Division for bringing Robert on staff is that he would simply be a facilitator that the entire body of Christ here at Christ the King Would see each other that way that we are each other's instruments through which God goes before us and is the strength To bring courage and transformation to our lives But it's not just the presence of God. It's the promise of God that Garners that strength and courage for we recognize that the Bible is Moving us forward dramatically to where Isaiah in his prophecy chapter 7 verse 14 Tell us about one who would come a little child from the Virgin who shall be named in Manuel. Do you remember what that means? God With us that perhaps the most precious promise in the Bible is his presence with us, but not in some vague generic way God is present with his people through the Emmanuel through the person of Jesus through Joshua That's right. Joshua Did you know that the name Joshua is the contraction of two Hebrew words the Lord Yahweh and Salvation the Lord is salvation But furthermore the beauty of that is that's the Old Testament expression for the name Jesus Joshua a great man Was there to point us to a greater Joshua the Lord Christ the Emmanuel with us who by placing our faith in him our confidence in him and not in ourselves He comes to not only be with us, but live in us and Empower us to journey forward through this life and ultimately into the promised land Robert You have the great privilege of Ministering the gospel that is Jesus himself the Emmanuel the greater Joshua as people open up their hearts You take them to him. I love the quote from Eugene Peterson at the outset of your order of worship Listen to this pastoral ministry Increases its ineffectiveness as it discerns and discriminates among the forms of sin and In love's praise witnesses Converses and preaches the details of grace appropriate each human face that takes shape in the pew That's the idea. I have that privilege with you in the public worship context the preaching of the Word of God through a sermon Robert while he will do that sometimes his ordinary experience will be to in essence preach the gospel to you in Individual and small group settings to facilitate that thinking that culture throughout the church that a culture of grace of the goodness and Mercy of our God through the greater Joshua might pervade us and Stimulate us to be honest about our sin our need for God in a whole host of ways as our various idolatry's manifest themselves And to yet find at that very point of weakness our greatest strength and even courage Because when God calls us to courage He can do so because he's called us to his son Let's pray Father Thank you for calling this day each one of us, but in particular Robert to courageous and steadfast obedience in This journey called life We thank you that we can do that because you not only go with us, but you go in us through the greater Joshua Our savior Jesus