Well, the month of July at Christ the King is a time of transition. It marks the end of our ministry year, which runs from August through July. And so this time of year we have some people who have been in leadership, who are dead tired, exhausted, and youth. Thanks be to God, our transitioning out of leadership, and I know all of us send a huge thank you to all of you who have been in service and are rolling out of leadership right now. But to all of you who have been in service and hopefully all of you who are members of Christ the King have been serving in some capacity, thank you for your service this year. Well done, good and faithful servant. This sermon is really directed towards next year as we look toward the future and thinking in terms of people like Matt who are rolling onto leadership and going to be embarking upon a new journey of leadership. There's also those of you who have been in leadership and were never letting you go. You know, you're just continuing on in your, for whatever reason your area doesn't terminate in terms of leadership this year, you're continuing to serve and we thank you. Hopefully this will be an encouragement to you. But this sermon while it's certainly directed in a lot of ways to leaders in the church because of the constitution of the church, biblically, this is for all of us because we think of leaders as coaches, but really player coaches because all of us are on the same page. That is, the spirit has gifted every single one of us the unique ability to serve God in particular ways in his church. This is the body of Christ, just let the ramifications of that spill over in your conscience. Because we're the body of Christ, the church, we are effectively the presence, the ongoing presence of Jesus in the world. People say, well, yeah, Jesus is up in heaven, well, yeah, he is sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven, but we are the presence of Jesus, mysteriously so in this his world and so that ought to sober us to the high and holy calling, everything a one of us have. And the question really is, given what we have been called to, to be the presence of God in this world, to be his kingdom extending force, whether you're a leader, or whether you're a brand new member of this church, or even whether you are someone who has not yet joined, the great calling is one that should strike fear in us as to God. What therefore should I be doing? What should my focus be? What should I give my attention to? And so for a few minutes, and this will be an abbreviated sermon, everyone's doing. Yes, an abbreviated sermon this morning. So that we can ordain and install some officers, what do we give our attention to? Was the same thing that God called one of his brand new leaders to give his attention to at a time of monumental transition in the history of God's program. It comes at a time where the renowned leader, Moses, I mean, is there a person alive that is not at least for the name Moses? I mean, one of the great world leaders, whether you're a Christian or not, he's fading off the scene. Imagine filling those shoes. And so now, the book opens on a very sober note after the death of Moses. I mean, it's like a downer, right? Now this transition takes place. It's to Joshua. And the same instruction that God gave to Joshua is the instruction, I think, tailored in New Testament lingo that he gives to us today. What is that? That's what we want to get at. That, and how do we do it, all right, very quickly and briefly. Let's look at that together this morning. What is it that God called Joshua to? What is it that he calls new leaders, ongoing leaders, and rank and file members of Christ the King Church to give their attention to this year? It's very simple, and at the same time extraordinarily difficult, courage. He calls us to be courageous. Now, a little background thumbnail sketch on Joshua. Joshua, it says, as he introduces him, Joshua, the son of none. Now, stop right there. If you're the son of a none, you need a lot of courage right up front. I mean, talk about a complex that could engender in somebody, but no, that's not what it's talking about. That's a little sidebar joke. A none, okay, is the father, not the mother, and he was one of the leaders of Israel at this point. In fact, this wasn't something God did on a whim for years he'd been training Joshua as Moses's aide. For instance, when Moses went out Mount Sinai, we're talking 40 years ago now, to receive the 10 commandments who went up halfway with him, Joshua, he didn't dare go up more than that, no, telling what would have happened. He was also one of the 12 spies, remember right as, again, 40 years ago, the people of God are hunkered down just outside the Promised Land in Kadesh. They're about to move in and they send in 12 spies to spy things out, and they come back and what a 10 of the 12 spies say, well, it is a land that flows of milk and honey. I mean, it's sweet, but you got to be kidding. There's no way God must, we must have missed an email there in this communication from God because these people are giants, and I mean, they devour people that come into that land. You're great, you are nuts, Moses, if you think we're going to follow you into that place. And Joshua is over in the corner, he and his friend Caleb, and they're like, excuse me, but there is another perspective to this here before God, and in fact, actually, what the people of God said is to Moses, let's go choose another leader. He hadn't had enough of this, and it hadn't been that long yet, okay? Let's go choose another leader because we don't like this program. But then Joshua speaks up, and he says, the land which we pass through to spy out isn't exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, He'll bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. In other words, it's sweet, it's prosperous, and only do not rebel against the Lord, do not fear with the people of the land, and for they are bred for us. The protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us, do not fear. And you're like, great, they must have followed them, it says the very next verse, they picked up stones to kill them, well, it didn't happen. In fact, what God did is said, okay, we're going to enact a transition plan right now, we're going to stay in the wilderness for 40 years while all of you people transition out, lit literally, so that Joshua and Caleb remain to lead a whole new generation of faithfully directed people, people emboldened by courage to enter into the Promised Land, that the Lord your God is giving you, all right? So in essence, his job description, Joshua, was 40 years after this to prepare the Promised Land for God's people, and then to settle them in the land, to go wipe out all these city states that existed in the land of Palestine or ancient Canaan. Now what I just told you tells you one thing about Joshua, this guy was a courageous man, if there's one thing he was, he was courageous, then it should come as a surprise to us when we read chapter 1 of Joshua. If you want to get at what someone is saying, what do you listen for? You listen for repetition, you listen for the same chorus over and over and over again, and that's what you have in Joshua 1, verse 6, be strong and courageous, verse 7, only, in other words, put aside everything else, and just focus here, only be strong and very courageous, verse 9, have I not commanded you one more time? Listen up Joshua, be strong and courageous, and then towards the end of the chapter, when the people of God are responding, they're like, yeah Joshua, we agree with God, in the very last verse of chapter 1, only be, we're going to follow you, only be strong and courageous. Now here's the question, why the most courageous man in all of Israel? Because the repeated chorus of an imperative is be courageous, why? Because what lie before him was the most difficult of expeditions conceivable. Overtaking a populated land, full of not one nation, I mean, you can see how difficult it's been for the United States to bring about a full transition of government in just one nation. Imagine that times, I think, 33 is what you have going here, humanly impossible, all right? And so the potential to power, to be fearful and to give way to fear was exceedingly high. And so what God is saying is, Joshua, understand you have an incredible resume on courage, but we can't rest in our laurels here. Today's faith is today's famine. We need today to be people of faith that we might be emboldened by courage. And so the little application here before me, Vaughan, is, where are you fearful? You consider yourself to be a person of courage or you more like the lion in the Wizard of Oz. Remember, you talked big, but you scared of his own pale. Where are you, what do you lack courage? Maybe as a parent. I mean, you're dealing with something as a parent and boy, you are cowering in fear, all right? Maybe you're at a point in your career where things are really uncertain and you don't know what's going to happen and you're just, you know, your knees are shaking. I don't know where it is in your life. Relationally, personally, vocationally, wherever it is, identify those areas of fear and recognize the way we triumph over fear, the way we are strengthened by courage is identifying what's underneath the fear because fear is like a rock and you want to pull that rock back. And what do you see underneath the rock that's out in the desert? I grew up in the desert. All sorts of little creatures, worms and all these things. All right, kind of see those things, we've got to identify them because it gets at the issue, secondly, and this is how we are emboldened to be courageous people, is to ask the question, what am I serving? Who is my master? Because what God calls Joshua to be, certainly, is the leader, the most important leader on the face of the earth. But how does he identify the most important leader on the face of the earth as a servant? Is the key to being a courageous person, to having the eyes of faith, to seeing God's possibilities over against human obstacles, is to be a person who is crystal clear in their heart on who they serve. And how does God breed this notion in him by showing him his mentor over and over and over again in the opening pages of Joshua? Who's his mentor? Well, as we already said, it's Moses. And five times alone in chapter one, how does God speak of the greatest leader probably the world is ever seen? Moses, not the CEO, Moses, not the top tier leader, Moses, the servant of the Lord, over and over and over again. It's an important thing for any of us to learn. Did you know the word minister actually means servant? It's got to be that the church is led by people who have this kind of mentality very much at the forefront of their thinking and approach to leadership. And it's fine a lot of times to be a leader. But you know, reality is it's extremely tough as well. Many things, many obstacles you don't expect to anticipate come your way. And if you are serving the approval of people, if you're serving success in terms of worldly things like numbers or financial prosperity, you're dead in the water. But if you're serving on the other hand, the God of the armies of Israel, the Lord of hosts, then fear vanishes in the wake of that kind of faith. And so over and over, this is engendered. And the good news is towards the end of the book of Joshua. Joshua says in chapter 24 to the people after they're all settled in the land, all right? If conquered all these 33 city states, and he says, look, you've got to choose now. You've incorporated all these pagan gods into your own lives. And you've got to choose this day whom you're going to serve. But as for me and my household, what we will serve the Lord. And when he dies, it says after these things, Joshua, the son of none, the servant of the Lord died. Now, how does that kind of a servant's mentality, how is it built in us? That's the question. How do we intentionally switch from focus on what other people think about us, from building our own resume and reputation to a servant's attitude? Well, one of the things you see focused on here is giving ourselves to God's word. Look at verse 7. Only be strong and courageous, being careful to do what, according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. Don't turn to the right of the left, then you'll have success. And how are we to do that? He says verse 8, to meditate on it day and night. See, it's not just reading God's word, it's letting God's word read you. It's letting it not just sit up here, but drip down into your heart and challenge you and speak to you. It is the living and active word of God that pierces the author of Hebrew says as a surgeon scalpel into our heart. It's feeding upon it, realizing I really have no strength, I have no sustenance apart from the word of God. It's our playbook, it's our leader's manual, it's pilots vernacular, it's flying by the instruments because you see all of these clouds before you that are problematic. And you recognize, that's no problem at all because you can see even more clearly by seeing into meditating upon the word. And then pulling this together, what should our focus be in meditating upon God's word? I mean, now this is one of those things, this is sort of heading at the core value area of who we are as a church. When you pick up the Bible, what should you be looking for? What is it that you're after? Is it a formula, a five-step methodology to make sure you're really going to be seeing successful? Listen, formulas, formulas never work. If they did, you'd find them in the Bible, but you don't find formulas in the Bible. What you find are a couple of dynamics over and over and over again, first of all. And this is what we should be focusing on as we meditate so that we will be emboldened as people who serve the Lord and therefore have courage rather than fear. The first thing is strength that comes from his presence. Did you notice twice in here, he talks about the presence of the Lord. Verse 5, no man shall be able to stand before you in the days of your life, just as I was with Moses, you see the continuity here, the passing of the baton, so I will be with you, I will not leave you or forsake you. And in the same in verse 9, have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? How? Oh my goodness, how can I be courageous in the face of all this? Don't be frightened, don't be dismayed, why, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua could be strong because God who was with him and pledged himself to never abandon him was strong. Joshua knew he wasn't strong in himself, just like a little day that knew he wasn't strong in himself to kill Goliath. The strength is in the presence of God Almighty. It's like the child who is repeatedly beaten up by the neighborhood bully, all of a sudden the neighborhood bully cowers why, not because the child learns some new boxing techniques, but because his giant big brother has just shown up to settle accounts. See, it makes all the difference. And the great truth of the gospel is that it's not that you and I have been to all these leadership courses and we've followed the five steps and done all these great things. That our big brother has shown up and that makes all the difference. God's presence means strength and that's why we need worship. That's why we need communion. It's not just a relic that we remember something in the past. There is a mysterious communion with the Lord and he strengthens us by his presence. Finally, and I've got a close here, our focus in meditation as we read through the Bible shouldn't just be on the presence of God. But on the one being present who is strong to save by looking to and following what I might call the ultimate Joshua. Joshua's, I mean, we try to do this because we think we're called to do this at every turn in the Bible, always looking back to Jesus, but I mean, this is one that, you know, is just sort of set up right for us to kick through the field go here because the name Joshua in Hebrew is Yeshua. It is the Old Testament equivalent of the New Testament, Jesus, and you know what it means? The Lord is salvation. He's the one who's strong to save. The reason you can triumph over these overwhelming obstacles and you don't need to cower in fear is because God's presence is with you and the one who is present is strong to save. The other dynamic that I think is so important is, I mean, just remember, how did God try to build this mentality into Joshua's over and over and over Moses, the servant of the Lord? Moses, the servant of the Lord. And so the end of the day, Joshua's saying, yes, I am the one with my family who's serving the Lord. Well, that again is teeing it up for us because one of the most beautiful pictures, one of the most, just put, you know, caused the hairs in the back of your neck to stand up, pictures about Jesus in the Bible, is that he is not only the King of glory, but he is the servant of the Lord. Remember the prophet Isaiah, behold my servant, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgression and crushed for our inequities. And then the Apostle Paul, the New Testament, Philippians chapter 2, Jesus, and he said, have this mind in you, meditate in this way that along the lines of Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count a quality with God, a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing taking the form of a servant. Joshua would successfully lead a generation of people into the Promised Land, incredible moment in God's history of things. The ultimate Joshua leads generation upon generation upon generation into the Promised Land, into the everlasting kingdom of Almighty God, and he does that through being a servant, through Jesus laying down his life, leaders, coaches, team members, let's enter into this new year, boldly, courageously, there are giants in the land, but there are nothing, there are little mosquitoes, there are lots of those in Houston, we know that. Be bold and courageous, why? Because having meditated upon God's word, we find strength in his presence, and strength in the one who is present, the servant of the Lord, who is strong to save, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.