Ten More Minutes on Joshua & Courage

“Be strong and courageous” can sound like a motivational poster until you realize God ties courage to something specific: his presence and his Word. Ryan and Marty McGinn look back at Joshua 1 and the moment Joshua steps into leadership after Moses, carrying an assignment that feels bigger than his own ability. We talk about the promise “just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you” and why that kind of assurance is meant to steady your next step, not inflate your ego. 

From there, we get honest about what often gets skipped when we read the passage: obedience. The story of Jericho is inspiring, but the setback at Ai shows how quickly we can move without God’s Spirit, assume we’re guaranteed success, and then wonder why we’re stuck. We connect that to everyday Christian living, spiritual disciplines, and leadership development in the church, including why accountability matters when you’re trying to “keep” God’s commands instead of treating them like handcuffs. 

We also dig into a surprisingly practical tool for Bible meditation: singing Scripture. Marty shares how putting God’s Word to music helps it stick, and we talk about how worship forms us all week long, not just on Sunday. The episode ends with a simple challenge that fits real life: take ten uninterrupted minutes with God, phone away, and let his presence reset your courage for whatever you’re facing. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. What’s one area where you need to stop rushing and start walking in step with God?

Transcript

Episode 10 And Joshua’s Call

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Well, welcome back to the podcast. It's me, Ryan. I'm here with Marty McGinn. We're gonna get into our content for today, but this is episode 10, which is significant. It's 10 more minutes. We made it through 10 episodes, and it feels fitting for this podcast. We've had 10 conversations, we've had 10 chances to slow down and to sit with our messages each week. And uh I just am grateful that you have joined us and and been part of it. I hope that you've maybe thought it useful and beneficial in your life. Maybe you've shared it with other people. And uh we're gonna do it again today. And it's a Sunday morning, it always moves fast, and maybe a little too fast, but the truths of the morning are not meant for us to just leave them there. It's something that we should carry with us to take with us to slow down a bit and sit with it a little longer. And so, Marty, this past Sunday, uh you stepped back in and you took us to Joshua chapter one, and we had this great call of strength and courage as Joshua steps into something bigger than himself right there. And so uh let's go back to it and let's take 10 more minutes. All right, here we go. Marty, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. You did a great job on Sunday filling in for Pastor David. He's still away. Still away on vacation. Um, and and this is what we do each week. We kind of take uh a few segments and ask questions about what we would do if we had 10 more minutes each week. And so you're in the hot seat this time around, and I appreciate you sharing the word with us this week from Joshua chapter one. And one of the things I always talk about is how when you're putting a sermon together, there's a lot of research, a lot of planning, a lot of prep time that goes into just the 40 minutes. You know, one of the things they always teach preachers is if you spend 40 minutes on a message, you should have 40 hours of time that you've spent with it through the week. And so that means there's always stuff on the cutting floor, there's always stuff that didn't quite make it, or things that we had to cut out just to make time for the things that God really laid on our hearts to share that morning. I'm curious, maybe what was something that you didn't bring on Sunday

The Missing Piece Of Obedience

SPEAKER_01 2:05

morning that you thought was still on your heart this week?

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Well, I think the biggest thing, Ryan, is that you know, we talked about you know having the assignment and having the assurance and then also being anchored in God's word, but we didn't really get into the obedience part of it because you, you know, you sort of run out of it because if you go and you continue to look, and the, you know, we sort of stopped at verse 10. But in verse 10, he said, you know, it says that Joshua went and commanded the officers, and the officers were obedient to what Joshua because, like I said, you have to read the whole book to really get the gist of it. But I mean, the officers obeyed not Joshua's commandment, but really what God's plan was to take the land of Canaan. I mean, it's pretty, it's pretty exciting when you think about it in that aspect. So really not being able to talk about the obedience portion quite as much, uh, you know, more focused on the assurances and the those those things, I guess, is probably the hardest thing.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Well, I think even from your position, you know, if you don't know Marty, Marty's one of our kind of real big behind-the-scenes guys that makes everything at our church work the way that it does. And from leadership development to ushers, deacons, relationships, small groups, Marty's a guy that really is helping us in a lot of different aspects of those things. And so when you think about that, the way that God, for Joshua, even structured and ordained leadership development and patterns of that, where it doesn't fall all on his shoulders, right? Right. And in our leadership structures, you know, at times we need to make sure that uh we're investing in younger generations, investing in new leaders and not just taking the strategies that God's called us to and saying, okay, now I'm the only one. God's given me this calling, that means I'm the only one that can accomplish it. I don't think Joshua had that attitude. I think he had the attitude of saying, God's given me a great, you know, bunch of leaders here that I get to work with and you know, gets to spread that calling out among each of them. You know, uh one of the things that I feel like I read in Joshua 1, you talked about a little bit, is just this idea that there's this great um uh calling that Joshua has. Okay, and in Joshua 1 it says, No man shall be able to stand before you. Every place it says that your foot treads, God will give you. You shall cause the people to inherit the land that I swore to your forefathers. You can tell the victory's already been claimed before anything has taken place, right? And Joshua kind of goes into it from the beginning, knowing God has already given me all of these things. And then

When Ai Exposes Rushed Faith

SPEAKER_01 4:28

what I love is a few chapters later, after this great battle of Jericho that you kind of referenced on Sunday too, um, there's this there's this sort of bump in the road when it comes to AI. Yeah. And all of a sudden you start to pause for a second and go, wait, he told me no man will be able to stand before me. And he said, every place that my foot treads, he will give me. So what happened here? We go on this second battle, and all of a sudden we face difficulty and and we lose.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Well, that's part of the obedience too, Brian. I mean, you know, we're called to live in this world. I mean, how many bumps in the road do we hit? How many battles do we face? How many walls do we run into? You know, I mean, the the fastest way from point A to point B is straight. Yeah. But in life, we know that there's sometimes there's a a mountain in the way that you have to navigate around or you have to go over, and you know, and so I think that's the thing is that nowhere in scripture does it say, you know, living for God, taking that assignment, as I talked about from God is going to be easy. There's gonna be struggles, but the trust is that his presence is always near.

unknown 5:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Well, and you mentioned two things from the passage on Sunday that we saw in in this great calling, God calls and says, Okay, you can be strong and courageous because number one, I will be with you. Correct. Right. And then he says, You can be strong and courageous because I have given you commands to follow, and you can just walk step by step, follow these commands, and trust, you know, kind of the process to take a Nick Saban phrase.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah. Well, and exactly, and if you look in verse 16 of chapter one, it he says, All you have commanded us, we will do, and where you take us, we will go. Yeah, and I mean that's the officer saying that. That's not that's not Joshua, and you talked about that leadership falling downward, is that they have seen what God has done. They have, you know, they they were there with Moses, you know, when as Moses passed away at the end of Deuteronomy. They saw that Joshua's ordained. Yeah. I mean, let you know, let's go back to Numbers chapter 14, you know, as he and Caleb were the only two that really wanted to go and take the land. Yeah. And it and that's the problem. I'm I shouldn't say the problem, that's the challenge with scripture, is that we take a passage like this, and there's so much more that goes into it rather than just taking those five verses that we focused on Sunday. And you you talked about things I wish, I mean, it's a whole I mean Joshua could be a year-long series, honestly, just the life of Joshua and the things that went on.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Yeah. But I want to go back to that that AI battle for a minute, you know, the two things, the the the presence and then and then walking in the commands. And then when you get to this second battle that takes place, it almost feels like uh Joshua and his leaders decide to go without the presence of the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

They sort of just go in advance. God didn't send me there. I just decided, hey, if he's giving it to me, I'm gonna go get it, right? And so they almost go in advance of the presence of the Lord. You see where that leads them.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

But once again, if you go, I mean, and and you're a hundred percent right, and we do the same thing. You know, we do the same thing. And that's the reason I think verse eight is so important that you procla, you know, that you proclaim the word. And the key, and I and I think I hit on this a lot, Sunday, is meditating on it. Yeah, you need to meditate on it because so many times we do it before we meditate on it. We just sort of take off and we we want to do it, you know. Well, if he's giving me this much, I'm gonna take the next, you know. It's it's no different than, you know, mom tells you you can have a piece of cake, and you get that piece of cake or a cupcake, and then they you say, I want another piece, and they say no, and then mom and dad get distracted, so you get another piece anyway. I mean, it's sort of that selfish desire that we have, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

That's right. Yeah. Well, and the other thing you see there is um God calls back and says, What really the the thing that happened here in in verse 11 of chapter seven, he says, Israel has sinned. He says they've taken some of the devoted things, right? And so there's this great investigation through the tribes and the camps of Israel to find out where has this sin happened. We've got sin in the camp, right? Is kind of how the whole thing happened. So you almost see in in both encouragements from chapter one, I will be with you, which includes patiently wait for me, you know, walks walk in step with my spirit as I'm moving with you. And then follow my commands. And here, just a few chapters in, we see they moved without his spirit, they moved without his command, and and then they they they they disobeyed, yeah. You know, that you see sin has infected. And uh all of a sudden that changes, even the victory that was sort of prescribed and promised from the beginning. You almost feel like, okay, God's given me this calling, I'm invincible. Yeah. Well, invincibility only works as long as we stay cloaked in the spirit of God because it's not us that is invincible, if you will. It's God who is untouchable. And we need to stay in his presence, we need to stay beneath his commands in order to follow in this pattern of victory that's been prescribed already for us, right? And we can see the same thing in our lives. Jesus has won the victory for us. We see the end has already been finished before we even get there. However, our lives still need to stay in step with his spirit and walk in the light of his commands in order to find that victory. We can't be out on our own assuming we're just going to be victorious.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Well, the problem with us is that we use that word justification. We sort of try to justify ourselves instead of being obedient and waiting on God. Sometimes we'll jump ahead. And I think that's, you know, well, God, you've showed me this. So this is what I want, you know, this is what, once again, I want to do. Don't, you know, we don't wait on God. And I think that's the the same thing you see in chapter seven there. Is that, you know, that that they're they were they became selfish. That's, you know, they became um a little bit aggressive and selfish, and I want more. I mean, you know, and I use that term as a cake because when I'm I'm sure when the kids get more dessert than what they're supposed to, Carly finds out, all right, whose idea was it? You know, the boys, you know. Oh my goodness. You know, they're finger pointing and everything else going on.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

No, and our youngest right now, Bo, is like a he's like a ninja. Like, I don't even know. Sometimes he just comes around the corner. You didn't see him coming. It's midnight, but he found a way to open the door without us hearing. And always he figures out a way to go to where the kitchen is, where the desserts are, and he's grabbing stuff, and then he just looks at me like what?

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Yeah. Sort of like the way we look at God, like what? I I wanted it.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

I got it. What's the problem? You know, it's like I proclaimed it in your name.

Delight In God And Stay Accountable

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Well, hey, let's go back to Sunday. Uh let's go back to your message. And the other thing we kind of ask sometimes is um, you know, sometimes we feel like we have to rush through certain sections or we have to uh, you know, um, you know, the clock moves and we've got to figure out how to close it, we've got to figure out how to land the plane a little bit sometimes, but there's always a portion of it you wish, and I I kind of wanted to go back and spend more time in that particular area. So for you on Sunday, what do you think was one area you wanted to go back and just maybe expand a little bit more?

SPEAKER_00 11:11

You know, um I and I brought up numbers earlier, and I I think that's part of it is sort of what happened, you know, how we got where we're at. I mean, you know, how we got to the point of you're going to take the promised land as Joshua and you know, as Moses was, and there's like I said, there's so much to talk about, but with Numbers 13 and going back, you know, if you if you look at verse eight of number third, uh, I'm sorry, number numbers 14, 8, it says, if the Lord delights us, he will give it to us is what that's what the passage has said there. And it's Caleb and Joshua both talking. And they're telling the people, you know, if the Lord delights in us, which took me to Psalm 37, which I didn't even get to, you know, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. And that and that passage there, and I mean, you know, and I think, you know, going back to the same thing about obedience, being able to focus on that and using that, you know, from Psalm 37, you know, delight in ourselves. I mean, that that passage is so not just that one verse of verse seven, but that whole passage is that, you know, being obedient, you know, trusting in God, taking those steps, delighting ourselves in God, you know, I think that's the part I really would wish I had more time to talk about. Because I mean, you can, as I mentioned, we can talk about being uh the assignment, the assurance, and being anchored in God's word, but you know, being the obedient and how, you know, how do you how do you stay in obedience? Truthfully, how do you stay in obedience? You know, and it's accountability. It, you know, and it talking about, you know, as you just talked about there, um, you know, after the battle, you know, and they sort of took the land they weren't supposed to take, they took it, you know, started fighting when outside of God's plan, you know, same thing is there's count, there's accountability at the end of that. You know, who's where is this happening in our camp at? You know, and I mean it's the same way in our Christian walk. You and I both, you know, uh have accountability, you know, to one another as brothers in Christ, but also to Pastor David, you know, as I was preaching on Sunday, you know, you want to make sure that we're um accountable that to him in a sense of you know, not not preaching heresy or anything like that. I mean, I think, you know, I mean we have and and not just to man, but of course to God. I'm I'm not saying that, but as we look at this passage, is that we're accountable to each other as iron sharpens irons, let one man sharpen another. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Well,

Singing Scripture To Remember It

SPEAKER_01 13:23

I know exactly where I want to go back to, okay, because I'm gonna quote you from Sunday morning. Okay. And I was so happy that you went here, even just for a second. Sometimes you have this way of like throwing little one-liners out there, even if it's not really the direction you wanted to go, but you just you know, you just say it and move on. But you said, I sing God's word. Um that's quote, that's Marty Music.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

I did not sing it Sunday though, because you threatened me.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

I didn't threaten you. You could do whatever you want, but you said, you said, quote unquote, I sing God's word. Your point was on this idea of meditation. Yeah. And you said, listen, sometimes it's hard for me to memorize it, and it's hard for, but I love to sing and I I can get it through song. And you said, I sing it in order to memorize it. And of course, that's an awesome phenomenal memory tool. We use that with children at a young age.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

I'm a child.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

I don't mean it that way. What I'm saying is we use it with kids to learn their ABCs and all these different formative things at a young age in order for them to memorize certain things and for them to grow up knowing certain truths. And then somewhere along the way, we sort of lose track of that as a tool in our lives, right? But you said it on Sunday, and that is like just to pause on that for a minute, one of our like foundational core principles in worship ministry is the idea that we want to choose songs that are spiritually forming and are straight from scripture so that you will be able as a church to sing them throughout the week and memorize God's word and it'll be in you. And maybe you didn't even know at times that it was straight from scripture. Maybe you didn't realize that it was a truth that's found in the Bible somewhere. But as you sing it, you're equipped with it now throughout your week to deal with whatever comes your way with a piece of God's word inside of you. That's a huge part of what we try to do as a worship ministry. And I was so glad you said that. Well, even if that wasn't your main point.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Well, well, but it was sort of my point in a sense, because if you think about it, I used the holy and anointed song by, you know, from Vineyard Worship, 1980, showing my age a little bit. You know, you and I talked about that. But I mean, you know, and showing and really trying to show that that song came from scripture, you know, because that song is on my it was really it's amazing how God, I was traveling last week, and all week I kept singing that song. Your word is like honey on my lips, your spirit's like water to my soul. And to go back and say, you know, these are the verses, this is what this song's based off of, you know, you know, based off a song, based off of Jesus saying, you know, I, you know, I am, you know, I quench your thirst, basically. You know, and uh, and I don't know. I mean, that's just that's just the way I can do things, you know. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Well, and we were talking a little bit about some of the old songs, you know, like songs that I grew up on as a kid, songs that formed me a little bit at a very songs with motions, waves of mercy, um, and all of that type of stuff. And we we sort of planned as a worship team in the summer to do a worship night that is uh we're calling it throwbacks, you know.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

So you're asking me to do a solo?

SPEAKER_01 16:20

I'd love it. Come on, we're committing it now. Um and and you know, the idea was like just throwing back to those times where you really remembered God's call in your life. And this is a time for Joshua in chapter one. If he had written a song about God's words here, he would have been able to go back and sing this song over and over again before each battle, before each trial, before each understanding of what the next step was to know, hey, God called me. And he said that he would be with me. You know, one of the most significant things in this first chapter, and you brought it out on Sunday, is is the phrase, just as I was with Moses, so I will be. What a significant uh promise that must have been to Joshua. Just as you're talking about Moses did some incredible things.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

And Joshua got to experience and see God's presence in those things, you know. Yes. I mean, to me, what better way to build faith than you know, being able to see, you know, being a part of something.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Yes. You're saying, you're saying just just as you are with him, you're gonna be with me now, now all of a sudden, this incredible experience is that I was just witnessing and even just amazed to be witness to. Now, now this is gonna happen through me. What an incredible promise that must have been for Joshua to to hear from the mouth of God that you you you're gonna have the same relationship with me that you had with Moses.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

And and even, and you've brought this up earlier, Ryan. Not only did Joshua, but it was the trickle-down effect of him even pouring upon the officers, those people who are, you know, those who crossed the Jordan with him. I mean, it was wherever wherever there is godly leadership, people will follow it. And I think I think that they saw the anointing, they knew he was anointed by God from Deuteronomy 31. You know, they knew these things had happened. And I think that, you know, when you see the anointing of God taking place in someone's life, it is natural to follow that leadership and to to trust, you know, trust and obey. See, I got another song there for you. But I mean, but um, but you know, it is just a natural process. It's the godly process of it. That I mean, you know, maybe I'm reaching there, but that's just the way I feel about it.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

No, and

Worship As Presence Not Performance

SPEAKER_01 18:28

and here we are again with another character study from the old testament where God's promise is rooted in his presence. Amen. Right? Um, you know, we go back to Abram and the call to leave his home country and go to this land that God has promised to him and to see all of these different covenantial things that will take place. And it's rooted in the idea that I'm gonna go with you, right? We see Moses and the burning bush. And how am I to do this? Who am I, Lord? And it's, you know, listen, I am not you, I am, right? And so here we go again. Joshua is being called to something phenomenal, and and it's a call to strength and courageousness, but not in your own ability, but in the presence of God that goes before you. We talk about this in worship ministry a lot, and I think it's worth noting here. Um, you know, worship ministry sometimes for people that are volunteers, people that have a healthy amount of skill and ability, they love to worship, um, but maybe they just still feel really nervous.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

I saw what you did their skill and ability. I heard I picked up on that.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

You're saying not you? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Uh I didn't mean that. I didn't mean that. Um, well, and just as a side note, like this is one of my soapboxes that I stand on a lot, but I have some people that go, I can't sing. You know, there's been people in our church that'll go, oh, I'm not a singer, I can't sing. I just believe that everybody is a singer. I just believe that God created us all. We're we're all called to worship. I mean, you know, and we're you know, and I there's just some people that use it and then some people that lose have lost it, you know, have lose lose it.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Well, you know, and I not not interrupt, but you know, worship, and you and I have had this discussion, you know, and you in weeks, months gone by, but worship's not just singing. Yeah, worship is worship is the prayer time, it's the baptism time. What a great Sunday, you know, two baptism, one at each service. I mean, that's a worship experience. We should be praising God, you know, that another one has been snatched out of the hands of of you know of of Hades, basically, you know, and and you know, our prayer time is worship time, the sermon time is worship time.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

I mean, it's you know, well, and I don't mean to conflate the two, but I think singing just in general, when people offer their gifts up, even preaching, let's say you know, people are offering their gifts up, it's nervous. You you're it's it's you're standing up in front of people and you're you're you're uh putting yourself on display. And part of the way that I try to deal with the the anxiety, the nervousness in the performance aspect of what you know worship ministry is about or singing musicians of what all that is about is to kind of go, listen, uh, we're meant to stand in front of people and lead them, but no one is meant to see us. Because really what's on display is the heart of Christ in us. We should be magnifying, we should be transparent, magnifying God. And if you can somehow get that through your mind a little bit, it takes the nervousness aspect somewhat away because it goes, listen, I am free now to just be whoever it is that God has called me to be and to do whatever it is that God has called me to do. I can trust Him with the results of it and know that at the end of the day, whether it fails or whether it's awesome, it's not because of me and who I am. It's because God can use it no matter what it is, you know? And so we try to just say, listen, it's about standing in front of people and them not seeing you anyway. Amen. You know, and so we can sort of take that out. The other thing on the God's presence piece, and here's my sports analogy for you, um, but we put a sign up in our stairwell. We have a stairwell that goes like half down, and then you take a turn and it goes down the other direction the other way, right? So it's not just one long stairwell, it just goes like, you know, half and half. Well, in the landing at the at the middle section, uh, we took Joshua 1 9 and it's on a sign. You know, um, the Lord will be with you, you know, be strong and courageous. And uh, I when we put it up, I sort of jokingly told my boys, this is your play like a champion today, sign. This is like when you leave, you're like, you're gonna touch it, you know, you're gonna go out into the world, and man, you're gonna face all sorts of struggles. People might make fun of you. Um, there might be challenges you face in your academic life and your, you know, whatever extracurricular activities you guys go through. You're gonna have relationships that you're gonna need to invest in, and those people might hurt you at times. But whatever it is that God's called you to do, if you can stand on him, be strong and courageous today, he will be with you, you know, and so touch it and take that promise with you as you leave the house today. And so that was kind of our little thing. They do that most mornings and just have fun with it. And I have to go back and fix it because it's not level anymore. And I'm just that drives me nuts. But that's our little, our little sports analogy. That's good. Um, hey, let's let's leave here.

Anchor In The Word And Act

SPEAKER_01 22:57

You know, part of preaching is leaving everybody with some way that they can live it out, right? Some way that they can take it with them. And so as you go back to where the application was, uh, what do you think is the biggest thing you want people to take away from Sunday's message?

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Really anchoring yourself in God's word. Um, you know, you can't go on assignment, you can't have the assurance unless you're anchoring yourself in God's word, you know. And that verse eight talks about, you know, and I'll say it again, proclaiming it, meditating on it, and then doing it. And, you know, I use the I use the term about you can't drive or you can't steer a parked car. And I think that's part of that obedience so many times. We think we're being obedient. Okay, God, I've gotten the car now, you know, and we just sit there, you know, we're sort of frozen or it's sort of like the new roundabouts. You get down there and just keep going in a circle, you know.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Like, I'm moving, I'm moving. I saw one going in a circle the wrong direction in the roundabout the other day. I'm like, how is that even possible? I don't under like we need to have a everybody has a training session at the new roundabouts over there. Gosh.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Yeah, but I mean, we do. I think sometimes we get so distracted by the world. We do get in a roundabout and we just keep going in circles and we're like, God, we don't know what's next. And I think the key to it is is one, humbling yourself, praying, and getting in his word, meditating on it. God will give you the answers. You know, it pro you know, I said this Sunday, I don't, you know, when you do two services, you get sort of confused. And as you know, I forgot the cue in the second service. So I mean, um you know, if we're going back to what you left out, you left out the cue for the man to get up on the black. I did, I but I blamed it on stage. It's like, yeah, I said it, I think. But you know, I talked about it, it provides direction, wisdom, and insight. You know, God's word does that. And I think if that if we we meditate on it and we do it, you know, and we proclaim it, I mean, what else? We we will get out of the roundabout. We can put the car and drive and we can go forward.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

No, I love your last point. You know, you were kind of going through some things that are direct applications to us. And the last one was do it. Yeah, just do it. You know, and sometimes we have all these excuses built up in our hearts and minds, you know, and you made the point at the end, um, you know, that Joshua could have easily just said, Well, I think somebody else might get to it, right? Um, but it was just do it. You know, and I'd love to hear right now, because you had the whole debate, you know, you said apparently Michael Jordan is better than LeBron.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

You know, I do you have an NBA top five for me right now?

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Yeah, I that's easy.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Go for it.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Uh MJ, Michael Jordan, you know, he's the greatest of all times.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Uh I'm going Kobe Bryant two. Wow. I'll go LeBron three.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Some respect. Yeah. I mean, I do have respect for him, but I just, you know. Um He's a compiler, though, right? Um yes. But uh I have to go back and I'm gonna reach back a little bit, you know. I didn't get to see Wilt Chamberlain play, but I mean, uh to me, Wilt Chamberlain, and then the last two are sort of a tie. I mean, a lot of people think I'll say Magic, but no, I think it's more Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Larry Bird. Those two are sort of right there together.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

I think Kareem has to be in there for sure. That's fun.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

So I don't, I mean, like I said, I don't watch a lot of basketball these days, but as a kid, I mean, you know, watching Magic Kareem and then Larry Bird, all those battles those years was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Yeah. Yeah. I just thought that was funny you mentioned that on Sunday. Uh, but you know, this idea of following through, of doing what it is, right? Not

Keep God’s Commands As A Gift

SPEAKER_01 26:09

having the excuse. Um, I wanted to go back to just real quickly a little bit on the obedience thing, because I think it fits in here. Um, but there's a word that's the most often word used for obedience. Do you know what it is? 400 times in scripture it's connected to obedience. It's the word keep, right? It's the word keep, keep his commands. And in the garden, we see this, you know, keep and and and maintain what it is that that I've given to you. And sometimes we think of the law as like a list of things to do and don't do, yeah. Rather than something that God has gifted us that is beautiful, and our job is to keep it, to protect it, to maintain it, to upkeep it, to make sure that the world still sees it as beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

You you say that and we use it as handcuffs. I mean, I think I think sometimes that we take this, and you said it just then, is that sometimes we, you know, we use it as handcuffed. It feels like we're handcuffed to it rather than enjoying it. You don't like being nobody wants to be handcuffed. Yeah. Um, but you you you feel like you're handcuffed to it and it becomes a burden or that like old ball and chain you're having to drag around with you, and it shouldn't be that way. Yeah, it should be about delighting yourself, delighting yourself and keeping those commandments because you're delighting yourself with the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

There's another word to key in on here, and the word for transgress in the Hebrew is actually the word for pass through or pass over. Yes, right. And a lot of times what that entails is that when God gives us a command, we've just passed by it. It's just in one ear and out the other. And that's where transgression is built in, is just this thought that you know we're really not staying with God's word. We're really not keeping it, we're not protecting it, we're just passing through it. I yeah, I agree with that, but I'll just pass by and do whatever it is I want to do on the other side of this, right? And that's often our mentality. Rather than doing it because it's beautiful, because it's wonderful, and we want to protect it and keep it, we go, I'm just gonna pass by to something else that I think is actually maybe a little more beautiful over here. And we end up in places of transgression that end up leading us down a path away from God, right? And so that's why it's so important to stay with it.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

So,

Ten Uninterrupted Minutes With God

SPEAKER_01 28:17

hey, we've reached episode 10. And I want to say once again just how grateful I am that you are joining us, that you're with us each week. I do hope that you would share this with those around you because we want you to keep God's word in your heart and in your life. But here's my challenge to you on episode 10 this week. Would you find 10 minutes to get away with God uninterrupted? Put the phone away and just pray with him, hear from him, read his word, and be focused for 10 minutes on the presence of God this week. He wants to be with you. He wants you to keep his commands and to stay with him and walk in step with him so that just like Joshua, we can see the victory that's in store for us that God has already called us to. Marty, thanks for joining us again on this episode. Did a great job on Sunday. Good job today. Appreciate your time. Thanks for having me. And uh, y'all, thank you for joining us for this episode. We look forward to 10 more and uh seeing what God has in store for just this uh this time that we have together. Uh, we'll see you next time on 10 more minutes.