Part 1: Courage to Face Life and Accept a Dangerous Calling // In Rest

Embark on a journey with me, Noah James Wiebe, as we explore the essence of true bravery. In today's episode, we hear a talk from the book of Joshua-- the moment before leading the Israelites to the Promised Land, a story that serves as our guide for confronting fear and making decisions grounded in faith. This isn't just a history lesson; it's a personal invitation to each listener to draw parallels with their own life struggles and to choose courage over comfort, leaning into the transformative strength that comes from unwavering faith.

Share your thoughts and prayer requests on Instagram, and stay tuned for our ongoing conversation about living fully in Christ's rest.

Transcript

NOAH: 0:00

Don't let fear, make your decisions for you. That's what courageous means. Courageous means do it afraid. Courageous means regardless of what you may face, face it. Hello and welcome to the In Rest podcast with Noah James Wiebe. I'm your host, Noah, and today we are going to be talking about courage. What I'm going to be presenting to you today is the recording of a recent sermon that I preached at the church where I serve as a youth, children and family pastor.

NOAH: 0:46

Now, this topic is so important, it's so crucial that we experience courage, that we live out courage in our day-to-day life, that we do not let fear make our decisions for us, because, as men of God, it's important that we choose to do what is right, what is good, what is pleasing to God, and all of that in the context of offering our bodies as living sacrifices and coming to Him and living from that place of rest really does take courage. The Bible tells us in Hebrews make every effort to enter that rest, and what the author of Hebrews is talking about is actually it's sort of in the context of Joshua stepping into the deliverance of Israel from their time in the wilderness, into the promised land, and that deliverance was going to take conquest. It was going to take fighting. It was going to take military battles, one after another. It was going to be a full-scale invasion, which they were at a disadvantage from one perspective and from really, the clear, circumstantial perspective was that they were at a disadvantage. The odds were against them. They were a small nation coming up against a very big group of people. And now here's the thing you and I, we're up against a big battle. We're up against a large opponent that we're not exactly the ones with an advantage here. The odds are stacked against us. We're facing a world at war. We're facing a battle not just around us but for us, of a battle for our hearts, and if we don't take courage, we will fall.

NOAH: 2:25

So I hope that you enjoy this sermon recording from New Hope Community Church in Moncton, new Brunswick. This is a great message about Joshua, the message meaning like courage, have courage, live out courage. So I hope you enjoy and if there's any response or any way that you want to, you know, ask a question, feel free to do that by engaging either on the Spotify platform or through YouTube, or through following us on inrest. insta on instagram. In any case, I hope that you do subscribe, leave a review. That would help a lot with getting the message of courage out to men just like you and women just like you who want to know Jesus better, want to follow in his way and want to live out a life of courage. So today, as you're going through this episode, I hope that you take some highlights from this and maybe you know, identify some challenges that you're experiencing so that you can bring those before the Lord and really begin to live courageously in those areas. So this is part one of the courage sermon and I hope you enjoy. Father, we thank you for today. You are so good. We worship you, father. We pray that you would bless us as we come into your presence and into your word. We pray that you bless the hearing of your word and that it would make its way into the exact reaches of our hearts, where it should be, and they would permeate us body, soul, spirit, heart, mind and will so use this time for your glory, for what you want to do. Amen.

NOAH: 4:08

I was born in Ontario, three hours north of Toronto, so you know somewhere irrelevant, but three hours north of Toronto North Bay. Anyone know what North Bay is and where it is? Wow, whoa, that's the biggest response I've ever had in my life. So, as born in North Bay, I lived in a small town called Trout Creek, just a few, you know, just a little drive away, went to a church, with my family was raised, going to church, going to Sunday school, being around my amazing family who followed Jesus, who had devotions as a family Any of you guys ever do family devotions with your kids? I that nightmare that that is ometimes. Well, they endured that. They were resilient. Okay, I remember falling asleep one time in a family devotion day, but it was the most peaceful sleep I'd ever had. So it had an effect on me. I can still remember it to this day, but it was probably one of my earliest memories. But that is enough to say.

NOAH: 5:01

I grew up in a family and in a household in which the word of God was spoken, was communicated, in which discipleship was a priority, not just at church, and in fact church was actually more of a supplement, or as someone or as an entity, to come alongside the process of discipleship which was happening in our home. So I was blessed in that way. But I was also rebellious from a young age and there were many things that went awry as I continued to age through life. My parents moved to New Brunswick, back and forth, from Ontario to New Brunswick and back to Ontario and nd back to New Brunswick, in order to serve the interests and the needs of my mother's family who are struggling in Woodstock, Carlton County. And so we were on a farmhouse one day and then we were back home another. Okay, so when we were living at this farmhouse one particular summer, I remember looking up into the sky and seeing the stars and realizing that God had made everything, and I thought, wow, you're huge. And I saw this bright orange star in the sky and something in me was like all right, now's the time, Jesus, please come into my heart. And then everything just went downhill from there. Anyone can relate.

NOAH: 6:22

I had some early traumas. I was exposed very early to content which was not appropriate to children, and it continued. It began this process of perverting my mental life, but part of that process was also this outpouring of shame and fear on my life. I began to struggle with nightmares, struggling to sleep any night. I had misunderstandings happen between me and my parents, particularly my father, who, up until this point, I looked up to and adored and delighted in and there was misunderstandings in our relationship, which made me question whether he loved me at all, really, truly. The enemy was just coming in between me and my dad, and courage within me failed. I lost heart, or began to lose heart.

NOAH: 7:10

I was eight years old and we finally decided, after my grandparents or my grandmother, rather, on my mother's side moved to St John, to move to the St John area. We were a 45-minute drive outside of St John in Tynemouth Creek, new Brunswick, near St Martins. So yeah, I grew up with no friends that's the bottom line. I had maybe two or three people to connect with. So loneliness, shame, fear, anxiety began to plague my existence every day, and from the time I was eight years old, I struggled with crippling depression. The following year, at age nine, I remember getting a bow and arrow for my birthday, which was pretty sick. I can't deny that. However, I also started a struggle with thoughts of taking my own life, and that struggle started there and has continued ever since. So by the time I was 11, 12, I was an angry, cruel, sad, witty, smart, sarcastic, annoying person, and I began to read the word of God at age 14, and it changed my life from the inside out.

NOAH: 8:20

My dad walked into my room and I was 14 years old. I lived in like a closet-sized room, you know what I'm saying, like a decent walk-in closet, you know. But that was my room. Okay, I could fit a tube TV in my bed and myself in that room, and that was that. My dad came in. He's like son. My dad didn't have a southern accent but it helps for the story. You know, my dad walks into my room was like son, you're a man, now it's time for you to read the Bible. Here you go. So he gave me a new testament with Psalms and Proverbs and he said start in Proverbs and make your way through the New Testament. And I said no, and he's like yes. So I began to read the Bible, starting with Proverbs, and then stepped into Matthew, mark, luke, john, etc. Giving up at 1st Timothy when my dad stopped checking in. But the thing was it did make a difference. When I got to the part where it said love your neighbor as yourself, something within me shifted and I realized that God was changing me, that I was not so good a person as I thought I was and in fact I needed to change. And I was 14. And that started a process of repentance which led to me later, two years later, following Jesus fully and completely At the age of 16.

NOAH: 9:38

Now, why am I sharing all this with you? Why is it relevant? Well, the fact is, every man's heart is under an assault From the day he is born until the day he dies, and that assault is part of an ongoing battle Wage in the spiritual realm for their hearts. There's a statistic that says if a man Joins a church with his family, there's a very high likelihood In fact somewhere between 78 and 86 percent chance that the rest of the entire family, no matter how large and that immediate you know that that intimate family group will also begin not only attending church but begin to contribute in service and follow Jesus wholeheartedly. Whereas the numbers for those who are women, who are moms, who are trying to in fact change in their Families lives by bringing them to church, investing in discipleship, it's somewhere between 14 and 17 percent chance of the rest of the family following Jesus. Think about that number for a moment.

NOAH: 10:34

Think about another statistic or another phrase that came out of different Research that's been done on a sociological scale, not only in Canada but also in the United States, in the UK, that says that the influence of the man, of a father, of a husband, on a family, on a household, is Tremendous, such to the point that the mental health and well-being of their children and generations to follow Hang in the balance of a man following Jesus with their whole heart or not, giving up or not, leaving home or not losing heart or not have encouraged or not. If you have a family, begin to contribute to society. If you win the family, you win society. That is how things tend to go, no matter what culture it is. As Goes the family, so goes the society. But what research is telling us, and what the scriptures have been telling us for years, thousands of years, is it if you get the man, you get the family, and if you get the man's heart, you get the root of the health and well-being of a society. How crazy is that?

NOAH: 11:54

Yet in our culture today, there is more hate, there is more fear, there is more shame, there is more violence, there is more aggression, there is more struggle happening in the hearts of men today than there has ever been in history. There is more loneliness, there is more depression. The rates of suicide among men have climbed such to the point that it's 3.5 times more likely for a man to commit suicide than it is for a woman. 75% of those in the UK who committed suicide in the last few years and that's a statistic from 2021, 75% of those who committed suicide in the UK were men. There is only a fraction of men who actually are honest about their mental health, such to the point where a lot of the information that we have about how men are doing is actually quite skewed. Even researchers actually have a bent that they end up convincing.

NOAH: 12:48

Bernay Brown herself is doing a study on what we're talking about this morning. Courage had to confess to her audience of however many million people that in all of the studies and the years of research that she did, she completely ignored the information about men. So why is it important that we're talking about courage this morning? Why is it important that we have a service dedicated to the hearts of men? Well, because men have a lot of influence on how things go. There are so much that hangs on whether or not a man loses heart, and so today we're going to talk about one man named Joshua, who God commanded to be strong and courageous in order that he may lead the people God had given him to the life that he had planned for them. So we're going to be in Joshua, chapter one today. Joshua chapter one. So if you have your Bibles with us, feel free to turn there. Would love for you to join us in that. I'm going to read this passage and then we're going to kind of pick it apart a little bit more.

NOAH: 13:56

After the death of Moses, the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua. Son of none, moses is assistant. He said Moses, my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. I promise you what I promised Moses Wherever you set your foot, you will be on land I have given you, from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the lands of the Hittites. No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live, for I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Be strong and very courageous. Study this book of instruction continually, meditate on it day and night, so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go.

NOAH: 15:39

How many of you have ever been encouraged by that verse, even once in your life? Anyone? Yeah, let's go. Come on. I used to have a necklace that was a dog tag, similar to this one, that had the entire passage, which is from 8 to 9, on it, so that I could remember that, and when I was coming into a sketchy situation or I needed to have courage, I just grasped it and be like okay, help me. But Joshua 1, 1 to 9 is an extremely popular passage.

NOAH: 16:04

The background here is that Joshua, son of none, was Moses's assistant, who had traveled alongside Moses and had worked alongside Moses somewhat like an associate pastor kind of thing, except more like an assistant. You know Somebody who you know made sure to take notes or made sure that Moses had oh, where's my sandals? Joshua give me that, like he took care of them. That's the idea. But Joshua also had an intimate relationship with God. When Moses would leave the tent of meeting, the glory would fall and Joshua would remain in the tent after Moses would go out and do whatever he was going to do. You know, probably you know, smack a few Israelites up the side of the head. Probably think you know verbally you know what I'm saying. But the thing is, joshua had this thing where he saw all of it from the behind the scenes. Look, he was being prepared from the time he was a child until now, from the time he was a young, young man until this moment. Now he's being launched. Now is your time to lead this people.

NOAH: 16:59

I love how frank God is in this passage where he's like Moses is dead. It's your turn now. That's how I like to roll. I love that about the Lord, you know. I love that about him. It's tough though. You know, it takes some courage to face the realities of life. Amen. The reality is about. Reality is that it has meaning for our lives. You know, there's a quote that says the first responsibility of leadership is to define reality. What is going on here? What did Jesus say over and over and over again about the state of our lives, about the situation that we're in? What does every evangelist and every preacher and teacher that was ever worth assault communicate to us about the state of our lives? Is that we're in trouble, but good news, we have Jesus, amen. So is Joshua's turn to lead the people of Israel and, of course, as you might imagine, he is probably a little nervous. Probably we don't know for sure, but probably is.

NOAH: 18:06

In verse three and four, god is essentially and Paul, keep in mind too that this book of Joshua was written as one thing, like it wasn't, like somebody was taking notes throughout the thing and like, okay, so we took over I and we did this and we did that. No, it's somebody afterward who had taken the story and made sure that it was written within clear boundaries, and then everything, that the most important details were communicated. And so there's this historical account of what took place, but it's mainly a theological account of who God is and how he reaches out and delivers on his promises and delivers on his faithfulness to his people. And so Joshua one is kind of setting up the stage for the rest of the book and in fact kind of alludes to the moment where Joshua would stand before the people of Israel and say that one statement that many of us would be familiar with choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So even this initial thing and the rest of the chapter, of chapter one and Joshua is kind of setting up the entire account of everything that takes place afterward, and so it's foreshadowing in one sense. But it's also a true proclamation from God to Joshua in this moment that no one in verse five, no one will be able to stand against you as long as you live, for I will be with Moses, I will be with you, rather, as I was with Moses, I will not fail you or abandon you. So he says that okay, and this is to set the stage for what he's now about to command. God never commands you anything except on the basis of his promises in scripture. If God commands you to love one another, what does he do? He takes a towel, wraps it around his waist, removes his outer clothing and washes his disciples feet and says do as I have done for you. This is my command right. And so here we are. Joshua is called by the command of God. On upon the promises of God, be strong and courageous in verse six, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.

NOAH: 19:57

The word Joshua is connected to the word for salvation or deliverance. It's derived from Yahoshua right. It's this idea that God, the Lord, is the one who is a deliverer or one who would bring salvation. It's really interesting because Jesus' name in Hebrew is similar milar milar. Yahshua right Is the same name. But the reason why that it's interesting that Joshua is the one to take this is because the name Joshua suggests a deliverance. You know, if you were to order an Amazon package, it's gonna be delivered to your door and there's a promise based on that. And God is saying I have made my promise to deliver my people to where I promised them to go, and Joshua's the guy to do it. I mean, it's right there in the name. Check out the name tag Deliverer. I'm the deliverer, let's go.

NOAH: 20:44

And so this idea of God basing everything on his promises is really important for our approach to courage, our ability to obey the command to be strong and courageous. But keep in mind what strong and courageous actually means. Courageous and strong is not what we sometimes think of. When I think about the word strong, usually I think Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know what I'm saying. We pick things up and we put them down. Okay, you know picking this thing, throwing it. You know what I'm saying? Jesus in the temple, chucking tables here and there. You know what I'm saying. That's what comes to mind for strength. It's like a boxer or a UFC fighter or something, something intense. But that's not what this word means. This is actually more of a strength of intention that's lived out in an inability for the opponent to resist. It's like someone breaking through a wall. It's like a fireman taking an axe, hitting into a door, beating it down and going in to save somebody. That's the word strong.

NOAH: 21:39

Be so steadfast that there is nothing that could move you. That's the application of it. But it's interesting because it's actually derived from this immovability. So it's a mix. It's like a strength of conviction that is unshakable. Be unshakable, joshua. Do not turn either this way or that way. Keep focused, stay alert, keep your eyes on the prize, do what you're going to do and do not let anything come in between you and your mission, and be courageous.

NOAH: 22:07

And the courageous is actually pretty straightforward Don't let fear make your decisions for you. That's what courageous means. Courageous means do it afraid. Courageous means, regardless of what you may face, face it, for you are the one. How many of you guys have ever thought I cannot do this? No, thank you. And God is saying to all of us and communicating to all of us you are the one, you are. You're the mom who's going to be doing this. You're the dad who's going to take these kids on. There's moments in our lives where we could easily turn back, and God says no, be courageous, for you are the one. You are the one to do this.

NOAH: 22:55

Wow, well, I hope that you enjoyed that part one of this sermon highlight for Rest the the Rest Rest Rest podcast. If you would like to listen to part two, be sure to stay tuned, because it's going to be posted next week. We're going to take a little bit of time maybe to sort of expand on some of the things that were said, especially in that second part of the sermon in next week's episode, but for this week, go back and listen to those parts that maybe had stuck out to you. But in any case, thank you so much for joining us for the In Rest podcast. Be sure to like and subscribe, to leave a comment on a video or even an DM. Send a DM to inRest Rest InRest Insta If you have a prayer request or anything. In any case, thank you for being In Rest listener of the InRest podcast. Looking forward to connecting with you soon. Continue to live your best in rest in Christ.