Praise the Lord | Moxy

Some days call for more than optimism. They call for moxie, the kind of courage that keeps moving when the plan falls apart, the money feels tight, the diagnosis lands, or the future turns foggy. We’re chasing a simple but difficult practice: praising the Lord in every circumstance, not as a performance, but as a decision rooted in who God is. 

We share an honest story from our early days planting a church in France, when leadership changes and financial pressure forced a fork in the road. Do we stay because God called us, or leave because others left? That moment opens a bigger conversation about perspective, “first world problems,” and the very real weight many people carry, then brings it back to a steady refrain: the Lord be praised. 

From there we dig into Scripture with Moses and Joshua, focusing on identity in God, God’s presence, and the repeated promise “I will not leave you or forsake you.” We walk through Joshua’s call to be strong and courageous and the battle of Jericho, where worship and obedience become the strategy, not human strength. If you’re facing a wall that won’t move, you’ll hear practical faith for today: stop feeding fear, refuse complaint, follow God’s presence, and let worship do its work. 

If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review so more people can find the message. What’s one circumstance where you’re choosing praise right now?

Cornerstone
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/

Follow Jesus
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/follow-...

Life Groups 
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/life-gr...

Giving 
https://cornerstoneaz.churchcenter.co...

Church Center App - Download then add Cornerstone Christian Center in Avondale, AZ

iOS
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-ch...

Android 
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...

----

Instagram 
  cornerstoneaz  

Facebook
  cornerstoneaz.org  

Twitter
  cornerstoneaz.org

Transcript

Moxie And A Life Of Praise

Jason Brown 0:00

Amen. Do you have the moxie to live for Christ? Our theme that we're continuing on today is called Moxie. Moxie is this term that means courage, nerve, determination, grit. It means to have a tenacity to do the difficult things and to keep going. How many people can connect to that idea? How many people need more moxie in your life? And I'll tell you this: if we pray that prayer of Moxie, then he will meet us with it. But that also means you usually need moxie for a reason. People are like, I'm putting my hand down from the earlier prayer. No, we want to be those that are full of moxie. And we want to be those that live a life that gives praise to the Lord, that we would praise the Lord in every circumstance. Somebody say with me, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Friends, that's what it's about. And I think as we come to the cross and the symbol of Jesus and what he's done for us, all we can do, all of our response, we have nothing else but to praise the Lord. In every circumstance, we can praise the Lord. You know, it's funny, we were talking just as some friends earlier today, uh, even just as getting things ready, and we're talking about, you know, kind of first world problems and the things that we come up against and how it's so difficult, you know, like the things that we live with these days. And it's always in comparison to other things because we really do go through things. We emotionally feel it. It's not like we're phoning it in. But, you know, when compared to other people and what they're dealing with, our problems are so ridiculous. You know, we were talking about how, you know, we were saying, oh, it's it's it's difficult, you know, whenever, you know, a teenager, maybe they they're they're like, oh, I don't know if I can do that now. I am forlorn, I will not make it. I'm like, is it difficult in the room that you have by yourself that's been designed to your exact specifications? Another friend was like, there was not enough butter upon my lobster this morning, father. You know, I'm like, yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, we're dealing with these things that aren't comparable to other situations. But then there are those of us who, right, even this circumstance, are like, that's so ridiculous. We're trying to make things meet eat meat so that we can have food on the table, so that we can actually make a way forward. I don't know what next week is gonna bring. And in both circumstances, in all things that we deal with, we're called to be those that praise the Lord. That we praise the Lord in the good times we praise the Lord despite the times not being so good. That we're gonna decide to praise the Lord, that we're gonna give him all the praise and all the worship. And I'll tell you, this is not a misspelling behind you because this is how it runs in my head. I automatically go into song mode whenever I praise the Lord. So, you know, we sang this song today, it's like, praise the Lord. You throw a bunch of A's in the ah. Right? You get you go totally, you know, some of you guys have been doing this in the shower. All of you think you're Ariana Grande, like, praise the shatter shatters the glass. We're like, wow, that was powerful. But man, I see the problem is I gotta like, I go into this and I'm like, praise the Lord. I'm like, wow, that's good. That's like a run like Barry would do, or like, you know, Melissa's somebody this morning. So good, you know. I was like, oh, I like that. But then I get off in my head because I grew up on 80s hair metal. And I'm like, hooray! And you're like, oh no, no, that's not where we're supposed to go. It's not supposed to go there. Or maybe it is, Brendan, maybe it is. What I love about it is that it what we're talking about isn't that we're going to praise the Lord even when we face the impossible. We're gonna we're gonna praise the Lord even when we face the unknown. We're gonna praise the Lord when everything is out of control. We're gonna be those that decide that guess what? Jesus is greater than everything around me. And so I choose to praise the Lord. I'm gonna be someone that praises the Lord in all circumstances. I can tell you, Celeste and I, we had kind of this moment of decision whenever we first landed in France. Everything we had pushed to was to get to that point, and we were so excited about the church. We're starting this church from scratch, and it just kind of the first meetings we were there and getting our footing on the ground, and then we find out that our leadership that had recruited all these team members to be there were leaving. And it wasn't something that they could really choose to stay. It was it just wasn't consequential for them. They had to go. And so we were stuck with this decision. Are we gonna be those that stick to it because God called us to it, or are we gonna leave because someone else left? And so we decided, you know what, we're called to what God called us to do here. We're doing this not because someone else is doing it, we're doing it because Jesus told me to do it. And so, if Jesus told us to do it, then we're gonna stay the path. We're gonna do the thing that's not easy, and in the midst of the circumstances, we're gonna praise the Lord. And I could tell you that first year was tough because the dollar, man, a dollar went weak against the euro. The euro spiked up to like a dollar sixty one versus a versus what we have, and we're funded on dollars, and then we had it was right during that crisis of 08 through 2010, and everybody was losing their job and their house and everything else, and people who had made a missions pledge, they no longer were fulfilling it, and all of our money was going down, and we had to decide. Am I gonna praise the Lord and keep going after what he called me to do, or are we gonna quit? And friends, we decided to praise the Lord. And so this statement that we say often that you'll hear me say, I say, the Lord be praised, is because I was taking it serious. It wasn't just something that's gonna be like a praise, like a hair metal praise. And sometimes you need that praise. You know, you're like, man, I didn't have to pay more taxes, praise! You know what I mean? Like that's great. And then sometimes you're in a difficult situation where you're just saying, the Lord be praised. In all things, the Lord be praised. In all things, I will praise the Lord. Whenever I get this and it says this is the diagnosis, that's okay. I'm going to praise the Lord. Pastor Rich, he tells a story about his own situation in his early 20s. He was in a car wreck and he thought it was over, that it was dead. And in the midst of his situation, as they were cutting up his pant leg to go and try to figure out what's going on with him, his face was, his lips are hanging off his face from the car wreck. He decides in that moment that in every circumstance we're going to praise the Lord. And as he goes, he leans back, and as he's there coming up close to him to cut the clothes off of him, he says, Praise the Lord. And in the midst of the most horrible circumstance, he chose to praise the Lord. Friends, that we would have that same kind of moxie that we would say, no matter what today brings, I choose that the Lord be praised. I choose that I'm not gonna give up in my circumstance. I choose that it's not gonna be too tough because greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world, that I'm gonna keep going after the things of God because he's not gonna stop and I'm not gonna stop either. He's gonna keep guiding me, he's gonna keep being my provision, he's gonna be my protection, he's gonna be all that I need and more, so the Lord be praised. Friends, that's the moxie we need to have to live for Jesus today. And we're gonna hear more about that as we go into the Word of God today and talk about what it means to be those that live with Moxie after God. Amen. If we haven't met, my name is Jay. And it's a blessing to be with you here today at Cornerstone. We very much see ourselves as people on a journey following Jesus. And we talk often using this imagery of Christ walking with his disciples because that's how we see ourselves. That none of us have arrived anywhere, none of us is perfect. All of us are in need of a savior. And so that's why our ambition is to be more like Jesus. And that's what our heart is, is to be those that love God and make disciples and reach the world, as we talked about. We want to be those that live with Moxie, that we have the guts to live for Jesus. We talked last week about the idea of Moses and who he was as someone who had such great potential and then ruined all of it. But that God was not done with his story, and in the midst of his story, he redeemed Moses and gave him a new purpose for what he said about. And that according to what God would do through Moses' life, he had to be someone who would face the fear. We talked about in our own lives how we're people that are called to face the fear as well. That we are those that say, Lord, is for what you're doing in my life and through my family, Lord, we're going to face the fear and follow after you. My identity is not in my circumstances, my identity is in God. And so I belong to him, and therefore, as a child of God, that's my identity. My identity does not move because my circumstances change. My identity is in the one true God. And we talked about what that means to have, to be those that say, I belong to him. Whenever Moses didn't know what to do, he said, Who is it that I should say sent me? It says in Exodus 3, verse 14, and God said to Moses, I am who I am. Tell the people the I am has sent you. And friends, that's exactly what we're talking about is that you are one that is sent by the great I am, the one that is the creator God. There is no other gods before him. There is no other gods that compare to him, there are no other, only he is God. And so we live with that and going after the things of God, pursuing after what he would have for us to be those that face the fear, live with Moxie and go towards the next thing that God has for us. Today we're gonna be talking about Joshua, and we're looking to the scripture here. If you have your Bible, your tablet, your phone, we're gonna pick up in Joshua 6, verse 16. And it says here, and at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. Praise the Lord. Lord, today we just open up our hearts to you. Holy Spirit, have your way in and through us. We pray that you would breathe upon this word, Lord, and you would make it alive in us and through us in Rhema. Lord, that it would be something that convicts us and motivates us, Lord, to take action, to be those that give praise in every circumstance. We give you all the praise and glory, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So Moxie, Moxie, it takes Moxie to praise the Lord in every circumstance. So when we say praise the Lord, church, say praise the Lord. Amen. And so we saw that same idea with Moses that despite what was going on, he was gonna give glory to God. And so as Moses sat at the Red Sea, we picked up there, we left off there last week. We talked about the Red Sea. The Red Sea is not a puddle, the Red Sea is the sea. It's the way you think about it. Whenever you go up against it, you're like, Oh, I can't see the other side. Why? Because it's a sea. That's why. That's how you know. You know, like the Great Lakes, that's the wrong name. It should be the Great Seas. You know what I mean? They're huge things. You ever been to Chicago, looked across it, you don't see the other side. This is the same same. So this is a massive thing. If it's deep, and so the miracle of God to move the water so they could go out is amazing. And the fact that all these chariots that were known across the world as being the great power of the day, that's what everyone feared was the army of Egypt. These Egyptian chariots that you can see a depiction of this, I've actually been uh many times there in different uh relics from ancient Egypt and seen these depictions that are right there in the stone. And it's pretty wild to see it face to face. You know, you were like, man, this is right here. In some places, you know, if you uh if you know the right person that's giving you the tour and such and such, you can have some gates unlocked and walk in where there's still the color from the original painting in some of these places down these hallways full of sand. And it's pretty wild to see it. All these depictions of these ancient, uh, these ancient civilizations that had such grandeur and power in their day. But see, what they started to believe is that they were the power of the day. They forgot that there is a creator God who's greater than their power. And so, though the slaves left Egypt and they tried to chase them down, God had a different thing to say about it. And so God opens up the water, he swallows up the armies of Egypt, and it becomes this thing where they are free to be on the other side. See, this message that of us having moxie was given to Moses. It says here in Deuteronomy 31, 6 that God, as he met with Moses, he tells Moses, Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Someone needed to hear that today. That he says, Do not fear or be in dread of them, for is the Lord your God who goes with you, and he will not leave you or forsake you. Friends, that's a message for someone today that they needed to hear it twice. That it can get down deep inside of you, that you are called to have moxie, have guts and tenacity to hold on to God, because he will not leave you or forsake you in your circumstances. It says that the Lord would guide them, he would go and he would become a cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night, and he would come and ascend to the meeting place, to the place where Moses would go and meet with the Lord. And it said in Deuteronomy 31:5, and the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent. This was the presence of the Almighty God. This is how we met with Moses. This is how he would share with him, and he would tell him what he asked for him to do. And the thing that was amazing is that all the while, while Moses was there, he had this protege that was beside him named Joshua, who was there as well. He was just there at the center of meeting, so he knew the presence of God as the presence of God would descend. And the Lord would tell to Moses, listen, I'm guiding you to do these things. I'm guiding and directing you to make yourself be known, that you would obey me and I will be with you all these days. And remember the great things I have done on your behalf. Friends, sometimes our testimony, the things that God has brought us through, is to build up your courage for the bigger thing he has you to overcome next. And that sounds frightening, it sounds scary, but guess what? That's the dynamic life we have in Christ, that greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. So I'm gonna be someone as I'm walking with God that has a greater story than someone who is not, because why? I have a divine reason for being. And I'm living a purpose that's divinely inspired. And each one of us has that opportunity, but as we respond to God, we're gonna say, Lord, your will, not my will. Lord, your will in me. Lord, give me courage, give me strength to be the one that holds on to you despite what's going on. And so the Lord would remind them, Deuteronomy 11 says, and you shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. And consider your today, since I am not speaking to your children who have not seen it, consider the discipline of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm. Friends, that you are not outside of the reach of God, that his arm is there for you, that his arm reaches out to you, it's his protection for you, is provision for you, is the one who guides and directs, is the one who gives purpose and a plan, that his arm is available there for you. And I think sometimes we need to know that that God's arm is around us, that is, that God's arm has us in the middle of our circumstances. And so what happens is because there's a punishment against the people of God, he brings them out of slavery and he gives them passage through the Red Sea, amazing things, and they still gripe. They still gripe, they still gripe. So God stuck them in a desert. Seems a little brutal to us in Phoenix, doesn't it? Like we chose to be here. Wait, what does that say about us? But as you see the desert here, this is what it looked like in Jordan as they got close and came up through that part of Saudi into Jordan to cross the Jordan River. And you could see what it would be like. It may, it's there's nothing. And when you're talking about hundreds of thousands of people, I mean, how do you feed these people? It's not possible. And they didn't have water, and so God provides manna from heaven to feed them, and he he has water come from the rocks so that they would not die. And so the provision of God is with them, and all the while they still have to fight battles, they still have to fight the people who are there across Saudi Arabia and into what would be modern-day Jordan and other areas, and so they have to go and trust the Lord. And all the while there's this character that's on the side there beside Moses, and his name is Joshua. And to Joshua, he's on his own journey, he's on his own situation. And so he's called, he has to be someone who faces fear. He has to face the fear himself. Why? Because he knows that he has to walk alongside Moses, and he has to be the hand that goes and does what God tells them to do. So very much Joshua has to grapple with these things and say, I'm gonna trust the Lord just like Moses trusts the Lord. See, sometimes it's easy to see the Moses with the good beard and the radiating face from God's presence, and you're like, that guy, that guy, he knows God. If I could be like that, that's how I feel about Pastor Celeste. Oh man, if I could just be like Pastor Celeste, then I too would radiate with the glory of God. But sometimes we have to be on our own journey and be like those, hey, we have to face the fear ourselves, grappling with my own situation, grappling with my own identity and who God has called me to be. You know, as someone who grew up in this house and seeing my father stand on this stage, I never wanted to be a pastor. Ever. You could ask friends in the room, they tell you the truth. I was gonna be a lawyer, I was gonna litigate you till you were blind. You know what I mean? Like this was my plan. God had a different plan. But what I loved about it is that my parents, man, they would just forgive people. And they would get, you know, there would be, man, all sorts of accusations and craziness. And man, their identity was not in that, their identity was in him. And so they would forgive people and they would do all this stuff. And as I was called into ministry, I had this major identity crisis because, you know, I was gonna go my own path in my own lane. My dad's not a lawyer, therefore I could be a lawyer, be my own man, it doesn't matter. But as soon as I become a pastor, well, now my direct comparison in my head is to my father. And it's I'll never be as tough as him. He grew up in South Phoenix and had to fight every single day. He grew up, you know, in Cashing and all these other things, and is a wild, crazy dude that God called to plant a church in the desert of West Phoenix. And when he wanted to go back to Arkansas where it's green and there's water, you understand? And God's like, no, you go to the desert, man. And so he went to the desert, and similarly, I get called into ministry, and so now I have to deal with the identity of, okay, are you gonna be your father? Are you gonna be who I called you to be? Now my father's a great man. I love my father, I'd love to be like my father someday. But I'm not called to be my father. I'm called to be who God called me to be. And so we gotta live in the identity that God gives us. We have to walk in the identity that God gives us that we go according to what his plan is for you. So you pick up in this story with Joshua, we can't go into it. I encourage you, dig into your Bible this week, hear this story about Joshua. It's amazing. You won't be disappointed. It's better than what you're gonna watch on Netflix. And so what you see is that you pick up here, and they, man, there's a short order. They come out, they they come out right there close where they can go right into the promised land of what God gave them. Initially, they send over these spies to go check it out. And it says that they sent these 12 spies, and Joshua is one of the spies. Now they go into the land, they see that this that the land is crazy. They know that it's full of these gigantic people. It says giants are in the land, that the sons of the Nephilim are still there, and there are these mighty, powerful people that are there, but the land is good. The land is nurturing, it's exactly what God said. It's flowing with milk and honey, they say. Well, guess what's not in the desert? Not a lot of bees in the desert to give you honey. You know what I'm talking about? Why? Because there's no plants in the desert, because you need rain for that. So that's why they don't have any of this stuff. There's no there's no like livestock in mass numbers to be able to take care of it. That way there's no milk. So they're going to a place of what they want and they desire, but they have to trust God to get there. Does that sound familiar to you? It sounds familiar to me about my own journey. And so they have to trust, knowing that there will be obstacles all the way there. Now here's the thing: Joshua, he went out as a spy. He was one of the ones with the moxie, the guts, the tenacity to go and to look and see. They brought back stuff, and him and Caleb, they say, you know what? It's true what the others are saying, the other ten, they say that it's not possible. It's true that it's difficult, but God is greater than those things and we can have the land. God will fight on our behalf and we can have the land. We trust the Lord. And so the Lord elevates Joshua and he gives him this cause to be the one that actually picks up after Moses. He doesn't know it, but all the way God is preparing him to do something amazing. We see it picks up here. He starts to become a warrior, he starts to be the one that goes out and leads in the battle. He hears from Moses and he starts to lead in the battle. He starts to come up and be recognized. Pretty soon he becomes the general of the armies, and he is the one that's leading the way. And he starts to fight, and he starts to be the one that leads the battle from the front, is out on the ground battling it out with everyone else. Little does he know that God will use him, not Moses, to be the leader that brings the people into the promised land. And so, friends, you never know what God has. Called you to do, to bring people to the next place, to be the person that plants the seed or waters the seed or gets to be the person that tells the story and see a person say yes to Jesus. Each and every one of us does our part because each of us is called to a unique purpose and a plan for our lives. The promised land. Being obedient to what God has called us to do. Now He knows exactly what's going to happen. He knows that in the Promised Land, when they get there and they're finally there after 40 years of circling and circling in Saudi Arabia, they are finally able to go to the promised land. And as they go to cross the Jordan, as they fight those battles and clear out those cities, they conquer all these places and they're just about ready to go. But now Joshua is charged by Moses that he will be the one that leads the people into the promised land. Joshua knows what's there. He knows there are giants in the promised land. He knows the battle is there. He also knows that God is faithful and has continued to be faithful. Why? Because every morning they go out, there's manna on the ground and they don't go hungry for another day. Every day, whenever we get up and we pray, the Lord, that you give me today my daily bread. We know that he gives it to us every day. That we don't have to rely on his presence from yesterday. We can have his presence today. We know that the place he's leading us is not a place of devastation. It's a place of provision, it's a place of prosperity because it's a place of milk and honey that he has prepared for us. And I don't mean in a prosperity way of like he's gonna give you a Lambo and a private jet. Sorry if that was your plan. The Lord bless you. You need to sell that trash and give it to missions. But the idea is this that's for somebody else out there that has a private jet and a Lambo. The idea is this each of us have obstacles that we're gonna face in our life. We know this. We have to be those that lead against the obstacles with praising the Lord. Whenever he picks up here, I've often taught about this in Joshua. As he picks up and is challenged to become the leader, he says yes to the Lord, and he's like, Okay, God, this is what you have for me in Joshua 1.5. I want you to highlight this in your Bible. 1.5. It says, No man shall be able to stand before you. This is the Lord speaking to Joshua all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Friends, he heard God say that to Moses. Now Joshua hears God say it to him, I will not leave you or forsake you. But what does God say to him? Be strong and courageous. You shall cause this people to inherit the land, and I swore to their fathers I would give to them. Only be strong and courageous, being careful not to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn to the right or to the left. You may have to go good success wherever you go. Friends, he's telling him, You have to have moxie. You have to be strong. You have to be a person that goes and pushes in after the difficult things. You have to pursue the things that I give you with strength, and you have to have courage to step out and do it. You have to be courageous. You have to be someone who does these things because I command you to do them, and you have to have the moxie to step out and say yes. See, sometimes our problem is not that maybe we don't have the strength, maybe we don't have the courage. Because, see, the strength he's given you, why? Because the obstacles that he's brought you through, he's built up strength in you all the way. Why? Because you overcame it. Why you have strength against that? You overcame it, you have strength against this, you have strength now. There's strength built up inside you, but maybe we lack the courage to say yes to what he's asked you to do. Why? Because we know from our past experience that if we're vulnerable and if we say yes to God, then we might get hurt like we did in the past. Friends, he's calling us to have courage, to be those that say yes to what he calls us to do. And what I love about this is that all the way through this thing, what they did is they led with worshiping the Lord. So Joshua, understanding that the presence of God is where he needs to be, that where the presence of God is is obedience. Where the presence of God is, there is victory. Where the presence of God is, there is provision, there is prosperity. There's all these things where the presence of God is. And so he needs to go where the presence of God is at. And so he gives praise to the Lord. Praise the Lord. Someone say it with me. Praise the Lord. As they go to the Jordan River and the Lord makes a way for them to cross the Jordan. The people in the area start to hear about what starts to happen. And what did he do? He leads with the Ark of the Covenant. It says that they go with the Ark of the Covenant because that's the presence of God's representation in their day. So they go and lead with the presence of God. What are they doing? They're following the Lord. What do we say? We want to be more like Jesus. We want to follow Jesus where he's leading us to go. They're following the Ark of the Covenant, they're following the presence of God. And it picks up here, and you see in Joshua 3, 3, it says, And the Lord and commanded the people, Joshua says, As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. And so as they come up to the Jordan, as we talked about in the past, the Lord makes a way for them to cross, and they step foot into the promised land, worshiping the Lord, that they praise the Lord as they go into his promise, friends. That they praise the Lord. Say it with me. Praise the Lord. Now here's the thing. First thing they they met is in this area is Jericho. And Jericho is a fortified city. It's something substantial. In fact, they send these spies ahead to go and scout it out. There's this whole narrative with Rahab the prostitute and being led out down to the wall and all these other things that happened. It's pretty amazing. If you were to look at modern day Jericho, it doesn't have a wall. It's kind of in the side built out of what would be the remnants of that day. But all those things have been torn down and destroyed. But in that day, they had chariot races around the walls. They were so thick. It was a substantial fortified place. And you think about what that would be. If you're racing someone else, we're not talking about single track. We're talking about this is the F1 of racing. Come on, race fans, let's go. Welcome to Jericho 500. You know what I'm talking about? Like, it's going. Got pins oil for some reason. You're like, there's not even oil yet, anyway. Got one race fan that's with me. They walk up to this place, they send spies to find out what's going on. It's thick walls. They know they're they don't have battering rams and you know, like a trebuchet. They don't have all this stuff that we would have later. They don't have this stuff to battern down the wall. The people are ready. They're like, yeah, we'll just stay inside and hang out. Good luck out there where there's nothing. Good luck. But what they decide to do is they obey the Lord. What they're gonna do is they're gonna praise the Lord as they go to be obedient to Him. Joshua goes up to look at it. We talked about this before. He meets with the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord is someone who he doesn't recognize at first. It says there was a man there with his sworn, with his sword drawn in his hand, and he comes up to him and is like, Whew, uh-oh. You know, this depiction of an angel, this guy's never eaten a carb in his life. Look at this guy. This is crazy. Craziness. I don't know that he had wings sticking out of his back, but he walked up to this guy and he's like, okay, what's going on with this? Now you remember, this is Joshua, the leader. He's killed all sorts of people. He's the one in the middle of the thing, he's ready to battle. He still understands what's going on here. What's up with this guy? And so he realizes something is not normal. And he picks up what is talking to them, the Lord. Joshua 5 says, And Joshua was by Jericho. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries? And we've talked about this before. He said, No, I am the commander of the army of the Lord, now I have come. He's saying, I'm not for you, I'm not for them, I'm for the Lord. And I'm here. And so Joshua, very wisely, by the way, says, and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped. He says, What does my Lord say to my servant? And so we see the Lord starts to command Joshua and tells him what to do. And Joshua did so. Friends, we're reminded that his presence is precious. His presence is precious. So as we have that daily time with God every morning, every time every evening, in the middle of our work break, whatever it is, his presence is with you. That's holy ground. And we love this the same symbolism that we saw whenever Moses met the Lord at the burning bush, is the same thing here. As he goes up against this massive obstacle that's in their way of going and taking the land, as they go up against this thing, he realizes that wherever the Lord is is holy. And that his presence is with him. He said, This is a meeting place with the Lord. Take off your shoes. This is holy ground. And so he does, and he says, with all what he's doing, and there's obedience to him, he is giving worship to God. He's saying, Lord, I praise you. I give you worship and everything that he would praise the Lord. Friends, say it with me. Praise the Lord. It picks back up in scripture here, and it says, Joshua 6, and the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and its mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going out around the city once, and you shall do this for six days. Seven priests shall bear the trumpets of rams' horns before the ark, and on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And I love this. And they will make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people will shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up before him, everyone straight before him. Friends, praise the Lord. What we see is God is giving a plan for the victory to happen. And so what do they do? He does exactly what God commanded him to do. They stand out and they say they have the Ark of the Covenant, they have a guard in front and behind, and they're walking with the presence of God where He's directed them to go. And I love it. They have to be those that lead with worship. That as they go around, that's what they're hearing. And you got to think from Jericho's perspective, I don't know if you've ever seen Veggie Tales, but I think they did a good job. They have the little French bees that sit up on top of their wall, and they're like, no. And I can imagine that's after living years in France, I can relate to those guys, by the way. But you know, the other side of it is I I could imagine from Jericho's perspective, you're like, what are these guys doing? What are you doing? Where are you going? They're just walking around. They did this yesterday. They're going around. It seems insane. But see, what they're doing is they understand that the battle is not by their strength, it's by the Lord. And so their battle is actually worshiping the Lord. Friends, that's your battle too. Whenever you want a battle, you actually don't go try to fight something face to face. He says our battle is not against flesh and blood. No, we worship the Lord. Whenever you're facing challenges in your day-to-day life, you have to understand that your worship is a weapon against the darkness. And so you choose to worship the Lord in your circumstance, that is battling against the circumstance. So you say, I understand what they say about the situation. I'm going to pray and God's going to make a way. Not just that, but he's going to give me the wisdom to say the things I need to say. He's going to give me the wisdom to shut up. And that's going to be obedient to God. And as I'm obedient to God, then I can walk in alignment where his presence is. I can walk right in step with his presence because I can trust the God who is made away from me out of slavery, for the God who brought me through the miracle, through the Red Sea, who killed the people who were coming after me, who gave me provision every day in the middle of the desert, who gave me water to drink. I am still here. I will trust the Lord. And so we are those that are going to do it. I love it because as it goes around, it reminds me of Pastor Mark Batterson. He talks about praying circles around things and how he would walk and do a prayer circle around a circumstance, around his family, around the church, around his neighborhood. I've seen BJ walk this property of the church, praying in the spirit over this property that, as we say, where I set my feet, will belong to the Lord. And as for me and my house, we will worship the Lord. And so I'm going to walk a circle around this thing, believing God is going to have his impact in the middle of my circumstances. Friends, that is what we're talking about. And so as they go to do this, they have upon their lips that they will praise the Lord. That they will praise the Lord. I love this first part. It says, Joshua commanded the people, you shall not shout or make of your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout, then you shall shout. What Joshua is telling the people is, Don't gripe, don't complain, shut your mouth. That's anointed. Sometimes we just need to shut our mouth. How about you? And for those of you who don't know, man, if you're loquacious like me, you just like talking because that's a good way to get through things. He's sometimes just telling you, you need to shut your mouth and stand here, for I am God. And in some what, you know, you're complaining about your circumstance. I can't change your circumstance if you're complaining about where you're at. I know where you are. Let your request be made known unto God and then shut your mouth. Why? Because as we do as we walk about these things, I'm not talking about stoic strength and things. I think there's something about character like that that's great. But I'm talking about greater than that. I'm saying, let cast your cares on him, for he cares for you. And as we cast our cares on him, we shut our mouth, complaining about it in our circumstance. Why? Because that's a testimony of what God's going to do on our behalf. And so we're going to shut our mouth and do what he called us to do. Shut our mouth and not complain about doing what he called us to do. Some of us go and do what he called us to do, but then complain the whole time. Jay Brown, what are you doing, man? I was telling Gage this week, man. He was sharing with the young adults. He's like, man, I had a challenge that day before he was about to speak. I was like, but that's me every week. Every week. When I'm giving a message, it's not to you, it's to me. You just happen to be in front of me. There's times where now I'm doing what I was at what God told me to do, but I want to complain about it the whole way to make myself feel better. He's like, shut up, man. Just shut up. Shut your mouth and see that I am God. See that I am working on your behalf. And so they do just that. And it says that they obey the Lord and they start to walk around. It says on the seventh day, they rose early at the dawn of the day and marched around the city the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. And so, friends, they let out a loud roar unto the Lord. They said, Praise the Lord. Say with me, Praise the Lord. And as they cry out to the Lord, it says that the Lord answered their prayer. And in that moment, Joshua 6 20, it says, As so the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. And as soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell flat. So that the people went into the city, and every man straight before him captured the city. Praise the Lord. Friends, the very circumstance, the very thing that is insurmountable, that is immovable, that is something you cannot overcome is nothing for God. It's nothing for God. And so we can be those that walk and understand that in every circumstance we can praise the Lord. That we can be those that face the fear of what we're encountering, and we can believe that the God who has done it for us before will do it for us again. And that the power of the cross is one that's eternal. So if even if this thing takes our life from this life, guess what? That just starts another life, but this time in the presence of the Almighty God. So we can be those that trust the Lord. We can walk, as we've talked about, in his protection. We can walk that way according to those things, seeing his arm around us, his provision made for us, his purpose given to us, that we would be those that praise the Lord. Say it with me. Praise the Lord. Friends, today, as we come to this altar, we have a choice. And that's that question of have you embraced Jesus? Each and every one of us is responsible to make a decision to embrace Jesus for ourselves. No one can make it for you. Moses couldn't make it for Joshua. Joshua had to make the same decision himself. And so you today, in your circumstance, you have to grapple with that question about being someone who says yes to Jesus. For us as Christ followers, that's what makes us someone who's a Christian. As we say, Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are. That you came and you made a way for us, that you became the holy sacrifice of God for us for all time. That because we are broken people, because we couldn't earn our way to a holy God as those who have sin, that we couldn't approach him. So as we would go to our death, and there would be nothing that would wipe away that sin. That's why before they were making sacrifice. And so Jesus, he comes and becomes the sacrifice for all people. So he takes on the sin of the world and he wipes the slate clean. That he becomes our propitiation, that he is the one that substitutes himself in for us. That whenever we look upon the cross, we see the symbol of freedom and forgiveness. That's what he's done on our behalf. That he has made a way for us. That Jesus, he says, No, I loved you so much that I abandoned heaven, I abandoned everything, so that you can have a relationship with me forever. So, friends, today, as we come to the close of this service, each one of us has to answer that question of have you embraced Jesus. And friends, today, if you haven't made the decision, let me challenge you that you would say yes to Christ, invite him into your heart and life, make him the Lord of your life today. Don't avoid it because the purpose and plan he has for you is greater. That we are those that walk and we worship the Lord, trusting him and walking in a in an active relationship with the living God. The Apostle Paul, he writes to the church at Rome, he says this, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For the heart one believes and is justified, with the mouth one confesses and is saved. I'm asking if you're here in the room, if you just stand to your feet wherever you are. If you're online, take a moment for what God wants to do in your life. You heard today this amazing story of faith about the Lord making provision for the people of God, for doing that first through Moses and through his story. Today, through Joshua and his obedience to say yes to God, to trust him. Today, friends, is your opportunity to make that same decision, to trust God, to ask him into your heart and life, to ask him to forgive you of your sin, to start that new relationship with him. As heads are bowed here in the room and Christians are praying, if that's you, friend, and you would say, That's me, I want to be included in that prayer today, Pastor. You would just raise your hand right where you're at. Maybe it's for the very first time. Maybe it's making a recommittal to God to make a decision after Christ. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, as people are making decisions for him today. We see the hand that's there. Others, thank you, Lord. Other hands that are raised as well. Thank you, Lord. We see those hands. Praise God. Friends online, wherever you are, if that's you as well, agreeing with you today. I'm gonna ask everyone if they would pray this prayer out loud after me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. Amen. Friends, we rejoice with you. Those who made a decision to follow Jesus today, praise the Lord. For those that raise their hand here in the room, others online, let me encourage you to take a moment, take a snapshot of this QR code. Let it be a blessing to you. Put some resources into your hands. We do not want you to do this life alone. Amen, church. Hey, we are those as we come to this altar, we make an altar with God. And let me encourage you to do so today. That you would be someone that says, Lord, despite my circumstances, I choose to praise the Lord. Despite what I'm going through, despite how I feel this morning, I choose to praise the Lord. Because why? He is my provision. My purpose. He is the one who does everything and more for me. So as you come and make an altar with God, that you would just pour out your heart to him and just praise the Lord with all you have. Lord, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word this morning. Lord, we thank you for Joshua and his courage, his moxie to say yes, Lord, to trust you, Lord, to take up the mantle from Moses, Lord, to enter into the promised land, but all the while being someone, Lord, who did that by pursuing after your presence, Lord, by praising the Lord. Lord, as we come to this altar today, we do so with hearts that worship, Lord, that are seeking you, Lord, giving you praise and drawing near to you in every circumstance. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 44:40

Oh, this afternoon we have a life group leader orientation at 530 online. If you are interested in any way or you're curious about what it is to lead a life group, join us. You can go through the app and sign up. They'll send you a link. It's done through Zoom. But we would love to have you participate, and we're always looking for new groups. So if God has put something on your heart, go ahead and register. And it's just an informational meeting, and we'd love to have you.

Stop Complaining And Obey

Jason Brown 45:05

This week, if you'd remember to pray for our mission scene, we'd appreciate it as we're expecting great things in what God is doing. Amen? Before we go, I want to pray this blessing over us. Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you would empower us by your Spirit to live your love out to those around us. Pray all this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.