"Some Things Change" (Joshua 1)

Life changes quickly. Seasons shift, leadership changes, and the future can feel uncertain. In Joshua 1, Israel faced a brand-new season after the death of Moses, but God reminded them that while many things change, the most important things never do. God’s Word remained, God’s power remained, and God’s presence remained. Join us this Sunday as we discover how to move forward with courage and confidence when life shifts beneath our feet. 

Transcript

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We'll meet them in the back. Amen. Let us pray. Father, thank you for a new morning. And just like that last song we sang, Father, we asked that you would be our vision. You would lead us, Father. Today we would listen to your Holy Spirit, Father, and we would go where He calls us to go. I pray for this message, Father. I pray that you would speak to us through the power of your Holy Spirit, Father. Draw us near to you and help us understand more fully what you want us to do. We thank you for this day. We thank you for your word. And all God's people said, Amen. Some things never change. Some things never change. This was something that was in Phil Visher's head when he was going to college, uh, Bible college. And he was going there and he was doing the classes he was supposed to do, but there was one problem with Phil. He got way too many skips in chapel, and he ends up dropping out of Bible college. This man was discouraged from that, and but he knew that God wanted him to leave an impact. And so he started to pursue what he thought that God was putting on his heart. He started to pursue a big idea. And he started going after this and later created Vegetails. How many of you guys know Veggie Tales this morning? All right, everyone does. And it turns out it was a very successful idea, and things were going well. And he was hiring his friends. They were coming from all over the place to gather together and uh work for Phil Visher. This man had it all. He thought life was done because he had to drop out of Bible college, but God was still using him, and he was a huge success. As time went on, business took its toll. He was overworking, he was getting into it very much. And after a while, they decided to write the script, Jonah. And after Jonah was written, something happened. Some business decisions were made, and it ended up making him make one of the hardest decisions of his life. Declaring bankruptcy. And what Phil saw was this passion that God had given him, this idea that God had given him, he started to see it get auctioned off to the highest bidder. It ruined Phil inside. And what he realized was that his whole life he had gone before God with a clenched fist. This is my idea, God. This is something that I want to do. And God didn't like that. He realized that God wanted him to go before him with open palms and surrender to what God's will was for his life. Some things change. Things that are in our control, things that are not in our control, things change. And have you ever noticed how quickly life can change? One phone call, everything in your life could change. One diagnosis, one opportunity, everything in your life could change. Sometimes change excites us. Other times it unsettles us because when the familiar disappears, the question quietly rises in our hearts. What can I still count on? What can I still count on in my life? That's exactly where Israel stands in our text today. The last time we saw the Israelites, they were not moving forward. Going with the title of this series. They were not moving forward at all. They were in this wilderness, just wandering for 40 years. Are you ready to move forward? Is what they were probably wondering in their minds. Moving forward means that some changes were on the horizon, and 40 years of the wilderness wandering are over. They're camped beside the Jordan River, and the promised land is finally in sight. But instead of celebration, there is this tension because the leader they followed their entire lives is gone. When they needed direction, Moses. When they needed prayer, it was Moses. When they needed wisdom, they continually went back to Moses. And now Moses climbs Mount Nebo and God shows him the land, and Moses dies. In Deuteronomy 34 and verse 7, Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyes were undimmed and his vigor unbated, and the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. You think about that. Weeping 30 days for this leader, Moses. Imagine their uncertainty. There's probably going to be a new leader. There's going to be a new land. We're done wandering in the desert. Everything to them feels different. And into that moment, God teaches Israel, and I believe he wants to teach us a truth that we desperately need. Seasons change, but foundations don't. Some things change, but the things that matter most never do. And so quickly I want to go through, if you're taking notes, three things that changed. Three things that changed for the Israelites. And the obvious one, the human leadership. It went from Moses to Joshua. Moses dies, Joshua rises. In Deuteronomy 34 and verse 9, and Joshua, the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom. For Moses had laid his hands on him, and so the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. I mean, this is a massive transition for these people. Moses was a deliverer from Egypt, and now the people must follow someone new. Sometimes God allows leadership changes in our life or relational changes, so we learn that our faith was never meant to rest on people. Never was. It was never meant to be on a person. And if your trust is in a person, change will shake you. If your trust is in God, change will strengthen you. We have that on the screen. If your trust is in a person, change will shake you. But if your trust is in God, change will strengthen you. And so we can see the human leadership change. Number two, the wandering changed. Rest was coming. In Joshua 1.13. Remember the word that Moses' servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land. Joshua reminds the people, the Lord your God is providing you a place of rest. For 40 years, their lives are defined by this uncertainty. Burial after burial. I mean, can you imagine the discouragement? The defeat they must have felt. And now God's promise of rest is about to come. Not because they earned it, but because he promised it. And some of you may be still living in the wilderness. You're living like as though you're still in the wilderness. And even though God is calling you into trust, you may still be anxious at times. Still defensive. But God may be inviting you into a place of rest, just like he was with the Israelites. You can leave the wilderness physically, but stay there spiritually if you never learn to trust. So the wandering changed. Rest was coming. The third thing that changed, the land was new. A new season began. And Joshua 1.13 touches on this and will give you this land. It will give you this land. New land means new battles, new obstacles they're going to have to go through, new obedience, and a new dependence that they've never had to wrestle with. To Israel, this felt brand new, but to God, it wasn't new at all. Don't fear the new seasons God brings. If he leads you forward, he already prepared the ground you're about to go to. And God never calls his people into a future he hasn't already secured. And so we can see there's things that change. The human leadership change, the wandering change, the land was new. And if Israel focused on only what changed, imagine the panic. Everything in their life was changing. They could have panicked. And if we focused on the things that changed in our lives, we could get to that same spot in life where we panic. Everything around us is changing. But we need to stop looking at the change and start looking at what remains. Change comes, but the foundation is still the same. And I want us to really camp out on what remained. Three things that remain. And the first one, and I take extreme comfort, is the word of God remain. The word of God remain. In Joshua 1.8, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. But you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. This is the book of the law, shall not depart from your mouth. Right away, God points Joshua to Scripture. This is something that's going to remain. It was with Moses, and it is now with you. God had already established this in his word in Exodus 17 and verse 14. Then the Lord said to Moses, Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. We see it later in Numbers 33 and verse 2. Moses recorded their journey in Deuteronomy chapter 31, read the law publicly for all generations. And the truth of the matter for today, when leadership changes, truth doesn't. When leadership changes, truth doesn't. Israel lost Moses, but they did not lose direction. And you want to know why? Because the direction never came from Moses, it came from God's word. And churches get in trouble when they follow charisma over scripture. When they follow personality over truth, momentum over obedience. Leaders change, pastors change, but scripture remains the fixed point. The word stood central. And I think it's pretty awesome as a church we can celebrate 143 years. 143 years of faithful service to the word of God. I mean, that's something to applaud for this morning, isn't it? Leaders in that time had changed. Things in our church had changed. We were across the street at the Historical Society now. And now we're in a whole new building. Things had changed, but one thing remained the same, and that was the Word of God. And the church stays grounded, family stayed anchored, believers stay steady, leaders change. But the word of God remains. And when emotions rise, I want to encourage you this morning that Scripture studies. When emotion rises and changes coming all around you, the one thing that you can rely on is that scripture studies. I mean, let's be honest, when life is uncertain, we instinctively run to opinions of others. Feelings, anxiety-driven decisions. But God says, run to the word first. Because Scripture corrects distorted thinking, it calms fears, it exposes sins in our life and restores perspective and reveals God's promise. Your feelings are real, but they are not reliable navigators. The only thing that is, is the word of God. And I love this passage in Isaiah 40 in verse 8. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of God will stand forever. If anyone should understand that, it should be Michiganders. Amen. We have seen seasons. We have been through so many trials this winter, the roughest winter ever, right? But no matter what comes, no matter what seasons we go through, God's word will stand forever. And I want to tell you this morning: a closed Bible leads to a drifting life. A closed Bible can lead us to a drifting life. You don't drift towards holiness, you drift towards confusion. No one wakes up accidentally, strong in the faith, wise in decisions, grounded in truth. It happens when the Bible stays open at the table, active in your mind, shaping the way that you're thinking and your decisions and correcting your direction. If your Bible closes, your direction fades. But Scripture must move from Sunday to daily living. Scripture must move from Sunday to our daily living. And Joshua wasn't told, hey, read your book, read your Bible one time, one time. Read it once before battle, and you'll be good to go. He's never once told that. Consulted in emergencies. He was told day and night, meditate, meditate on this book. Meaning it's private time, public conversations, not occasional inspiration, but constant formation. And I want to tell you this morning that the word, this word gives courage for uncertain seasons in your life. The word gives courage for uncertain seasons in your life. I mean, notice the context of Joshua 1. Joshua is stepping into this brand new season of leadership, facing a massive task, walking into unknown territory, and God does not say, Joshua, Joshua, believe in yourself and it'll be okay. He says, anchor yourself in my word, because my word remains. Because courage doesn't come from self-confidence, it comes from a God confidence rooted in Scripture. If your Bible closes, your direction fades. And the morning after Moses dies, we heard they mourned this man for 30 days. Imagine the uncertainty that came. But the sun still rose, the promise still stood, the covenant still held, and the word still spoke. God never, God will always bury his servants, but he never buries his word. Because the word of God remains. And I don't know what you're going through. Some of you I do. But I can tell you this that when things are shaky all around you, the fact that this book still remains should encourage us. The fact when there's wars breaking out and different things going on, we're like, God, what is going on? This book still remains. This book has all the answers that we need. The word remained. Number two, if you're taking notes, the power of God remained. The power of God remained. Exodus 15 and verse 1. Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my psalm. And he has become my salvation. This is my God. And I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war, and the Lord is his name. And then the psalm that they start singing ends with Miriam singing at the very end in Exodus 15 and verse 21 Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider. He is thrown into the sea. God's power is not just this historical event. It was present. And Israel didn't just sing about something God used to do. They sing about what God had done and what that meant about who he is still. The Red Sea was not just a miracle, it was a revelation. And if God can defeat Egypt, he can handle Canaan. And if God can open the sea, he can open the future. And Joshua didn't step forward hoping that God might be powerful. He was stepping forward, knowing the God who delivered before is still able to right now. And the truth has not changed. God has not weakened, God has not retired. The same power that split the sea, that crushed Pharaoh, led Israel, raised Christ, built the church, and is still active today and can be active in all of our lives. So the question remains why do we live like God's power stopped at the Bible? Why do we live as though God's power stopped at the Bible? We say we believe in God's power, but we panic when money gets tired or leadership shifts or health may falter. The future feels unclear. Ministry can feel overwhelming. We trust God for eternity, but we struggle to trust Him for the present. For a Tuesday, for Wednesday. And the list goes on and on. I mean, Israel could have said, sure, God saved us back then, but what about now? If God, is God the God of the Bible or just powerful today as it was back then? I mean, do you believe that God can still act today in his power? And many believers live exactly like that. They believe in past miracles, they believe in a future heaven, but wow, the stuff that I'm going through right now, there's no way that God can help me through that right now. I think of a wall outlet. In my office, I only have two outlets. So I have to use them very wisely. And uh I'm blown away that I have not blown any circuits at all in there. But I'm thinking of all the things I have plugged in to charge and different things like that. But I look at that wallet, just the outlet by itself, so simple. Not anything you would write home about, right? It's just a simple wall outlet. But when you plug things into the outlet, it's amazing what that outlet can bring. And in looking at a lamp can get light. You know, you could make food in the kitchen or whatever. You can even heat a whole house from one outlet. Blown away by the power. The power has always been there. You just had to connect. In the same way, God's power isn't always dramatic. Sometimes it looks like strength to endure. The wisdom for one decision, peace and chaos, provision at the right moment, or courage for the next step. It's not always spectacular, but it's always sufficient. It's always there and always available. The danger is not that God loses power, it's that we disconnect. And Joshua let God's faithfulness in the past fuel his faith in the present. Because remembering God's past faithfulness fuels the present faith. It's usually because we've unplugged from prayer where we fall away from this. We've unplugged from a dependence on God, and God's power flows where God's people rely on him. And this matters most in seasons of change. Joshua is stepping into new leadership, an overwhelming responsibility that he was going to have to take over and fill the shoes of Moses. And God's message to Joshua was in Joshua, why don't you just be impressive to the people? They'll fall in love with you. Just go impress them. Wear your Sunday best and just impress them. It was Joshua. I am powerful. Churches don't move forward because leaders are strong. Families don't endure because they are strong. Believers don't stand because emotions are strong. We stand because God Himself is strong. And the Red Sea proves something. Israel needed to remember forever. Pharaoh was strong, but God was stronger. The sea was deep, but God was greater. The future was unknown, but God was already there. And the same is true today. God's power didn't stay at the Red Sea. It didn't stop in the book of Exodus. It didn't end with the apostles. The power of God remained. We need to stop treating God's power like it only belonged in the Bible times. The same God who worked then works now. God's power didn't run out in the Bible times. The power of God remained. And whatever you're facing, whatever changes you're going through, The power of God is still there. We need to be praying to Him. We need to be dependent on His power, His strength in our greatest time of need. Number three, the supernatural leader remained. The supernatural leader remained. In Joshua 1 and verse 5, no man shall be able to stand before you 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. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause his people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. Just as I was with Moses, I will be with you. The real leader wasn't really Moses, it wasn't even Joshua. It was God from the beginning. And I love what Jesus says to him. He says, I will be with you always. In Joshua 1.9, have I not commanded you? Be strong, be courageous, do not be frightened, do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. God's presence is the real source of confidence. When everything around us is changing, God's presence is the real source of confidence. Joshua's biggest fear, can I lead without Moses here? And God's answer wasn't to Joshua, oh, Joshua, you'll be fine. You're talented. Oh, you're fine. You're well prepared. You've seen Moses do the right things and the wrong things. Or Joshua, hey, believe in yourself and you can do anything. It wasn't any of those responses. God simply said, I will be with you. I will be with you. Because the security of God's people has never been a human leader. It's never been a stable situation or a predictable future. It's always been the presence of God. I will be with you. And we often want clarity about the future more than the assurance of his presence. Hit me like a ton of bricks this week as I was studying this passage. We often want clarity about the future more than the assurance of his presence. We pray, God, show me what's going to happen. I want to know the future. My family and I went into Cosmic Candy because it's 70% off for cash payers. So we all should go there, you know, but they're closed on Sunday. But we were like, this is awesome. Like this stuff that is so, so, so high in price is so cheap right now. And I remember going in there and I told the kids you can get one thing, you know, and they're going through and just looking at all the colors in there, and they were just trying to find that one piece of candy that they wanted that was 70% off. And I saw this lady come in, and I was like, hey, you're taking advantage of the sale too, huh? 70% off. She's like, no, you know, I'm she went over to this little fortune teller thing. And she just comes in, grabbed a fortune slip, and went right out. We are obsessed with knowing the future. What is the future gonna look like? And we take assurance into the future, and it just hit me in my life at times. I'm like, okay, God, I will be faithful if you just kind of tell me what the future is gonna look like. It would make it a lot easier, God, if you could just let me know what the future's gonna look like. But that's not the assurance that he gives Joshua. The assurance that he gave Joshua was, I will be with you. Because if God is present, everything else becomes manageable. God's presence means you never step into the unknown alone. You never step into the future alone. Joshua is stepping into this new role, this new responsibility, a new land, but there had never been a single moment when he walked without God's presence. And Jesus repeats the same promise to the church. In his last words in Matthew 20 and verse 20. It says, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the ends of the age. The same promise he gave Joshua is the same promise to us, not sometimes, but always. He is with us always to the ends of the age. That means when things change all around us, we can take comfort in the fact he's there. He's with us. In quiet, ordinary days, in uncertain times, he is there. You never face a moment where God hasn't already entered. Your confidence isn't in the future. It's knowing who walks with you into it. And I'm telling you this morning, that changes everything. Can I lead this God? Can I do this? I will be with you. Oh, this family situation I'm gonna be going into, this family dinner, I will be with you. Oh, my kids, they're trying to go through this and that. I don't know what to say. Parenting, you didn't give me a manual, God, when you gave me these kids. What do I say to them? I will be with you. Oh, I'm moving into retirement. This is scary. I used to get used to a paycheck. Now I'm not having a paycheck. I will be with you. There's so many things in our lives that change. But we can take comfort in the fact he's with us. We don't have to see the future. We can know in the present, wherever we go, he's with us. The three things that remain without his word, we don't know him. Without his power, we can't follow him. Without his presence, we can't trust him. We need to be students of the word. We need to constantly keep going back to this book because it never changes. We need to remember that his power was active in this book and it's active today. He still answers prayers. Without his presence, we can't trust him. We got to know that wherever we go, he is going to be with you because he's promised that. And this man who's brand new to leadership and seeing this role, he was able to take on this huge task because he knew that God was going to be with him, and that was enough. If God is with you, I will argue this morning, you have everything you need. You're not going on your own. He is with you. Leadership changed, but God's presence didn't. Their wilderness changed, but God's promise didn't. Their land was new, but God's plan wasn't. And through it all, the word remained. The power remained, and the supernatural leader remained. God was leading all along. And I want to say, maybe in your life something is shifting. You feel like you're walking in sand. We're pretty good at that in Pentwater, right? The ground you're walking on is shifting. And you're wondering, how am I going to move forward? What direction am I going to go? A new role, a new responsibility, a future. And you're wondering, I'm sure you're wondering. What can I hold on to? What can I hold on to? And God's answers are hold on to my word. Your ground may be shifting, but you can hold on to my word. This these promises will never go away. You can hold on to my word. You can trust my power. And you can follow my presence because I promise I will be with you. Because when everything else changes, some things never change. And some of you today, I believe, need to respond to God. I believe there's some people here, maybe you realize that your life has never truly been anchored in Christ. You've trusted your strength, your plans, your goodness, but not the Savior. And the greatest thing that never changes is this Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. And the Bible says, if you turn from your sin and trust in him, he will forgive you, he will save you and walk with you forever. You'll never be alone. And if today you need to trust Christ for the first time, I would encourage you not to leave this place without talking to someone. We would love to show you how. Some of you are believers, but you've been living this anxious, restless life, and you're just overwhelmed all the time. You know that God hasn't moved, you know he's with you, but your heart maybe has drifted away. Today, I would encourage you, God is calling you back. Take comfort in the fact that he has never left you. When Moses left, Joshua could take comfort in the fact that God was going to be with him no matter what came. And you can as well. You don't have to be perfect, you just need to surrender. And some of you are standing at the Jordan River right now. A new season is right in front of you. You don't know exactly what's ahead, but today you want to say, Lord, I trust your word and I rely on your power. I follow your presence. If that's you, today is a moment to bring that step of faith to God. There are times in our lives where the ground shifts. And if we look at the shifting ground and the things that are changing all around us, we're going to panic. But when we look at the things that remain, it changes things. God's word remained, his power remained, the supernatural leader remained. And I'm telling you, today, as I've internalized God's word in this message, there are things in my life that have changed. And it's scary. I want to empathize with you this morning. It's scary. It's a new town. It's like you're going from Zealand to Petwater. It's like, did the rapture happen? What just happened? It's scary. Like, where'd all the people go? It's a scary change. But the thing that I take comfort in is the fact that no matter where I go, no matter what I do, God is going to be with me. And I want to tell you this morning: no matter where you go, no matter what you do, God is going to be with you. And if that doesn't give you comfort, I don't know what will. Comfort doesn't come in knowing the future, it comes in the fact that God will be with you. And that is how you move forward. When life is uncertain, when things are changing all around us, you move forward because you know that God is with you. You know there are things that remain true and will always remain true. And you cling to those in seasons of change. And that's my encouragement to you guys as you apply this to your life that you would remember that promise. And it would spur you on to move forward. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you that it remained. I thank you that your power is still alive and active today. I thank you, Father, that you were the supernatural leader in that time. It never was Moses, it never was Joshua, it was you working through that willing vessel. And Father, I know there's people here today, I am sure they are panicking. There's new health issues that they're going through. They never thought they would go through. I pray that today they would take comfort in the fact that you promise that you're there. They would stop trying to figure out and loop into the future and trying to figure out what the future is going to bring, but they would take comfort in the fact that you're with them even right now. Father, we thank you that example of Joshua, this new leader, stepping to a new role, a new responsibility in how you worked through this man and he was able to move forward because he knew that you were going to be with them. Father, I pray that we would take comfort in that. I pray that no matter what decisions we have ahead of us, no matter what shifting grounds we're walking on right now, we would take comfort in the fact that when things change, there are things that remain, and we would focus on those things that remain. We thank you for your son Jesus. We thank you for your word. And all God's people said Amen.