WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:05.919 So 20 years ago, myself and a buddy, we camped on the beaches of Normandy in northern France. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:09.199 And so we went up there to tour Omaha Beach. 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:24.960 We went and toured where, you know, it was where the US and the other Allied forces invaded the German positions, the German positions along mainland Europe, and this is where we came into Europe to fight that war for the sake of freedom and for the whole globe. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:29.280 And we still actually live in the appreciation of all of that work and sacrifice. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:42.159 And so me and my buddy, at the end of the day, when everybody else retreated back to their hotels, we stayed because we were college bums, and so we broke our tents out and we camped up on the hill looking down at the beach, and we walked along the beach. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:47.280 And when you're down on that beach, and maybe you've been there and you're walking along, it's incredibly overwhelming. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:56.719 And one of the reasons it's overwhelming is because you're walking along the beach, and when you turn away from the water and you look at the land, you realize what these guys did. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:12.959 That they are coming in in pre-dawn darkness into a land and a beach they know little about, and there is just bunker after bunker after bunker, concrete bunkers that the Germans had built into this hillside. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:22.159 And I mean barely enough room for their weapons to get out through the openings and their eyes to see and just firepower coming at them. 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:31.680 And there's one sort of resounding conclusion if you're on that beach looking up at this hill, is that certainly these guys, certainly they were filled with fear. 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:33.280 They had to have been. 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:35.200 And yet they did it anyways, right? 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:40.560 Like yet these soldiers did it anyway, and we actually have a word for this. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:47.439 We would say, man, those guys had so much courage. 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:49.439 Courage. 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:57.040 So in 2007, the Journal of Positive Psychology, I learned this this week, I was kind of nerding out on the internet. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:01:59.280 This uh study was done. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:02.239 250 Air Force Academy students. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:09.919 So this study was done for these 250 uh Air Force Academy graduates and undergraduates about acts of courage. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:11.439 And here's what the study revealed. 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:14.479 And it's not surprising, but it's nice to kind of break it down in this way. 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:17.919 It gets our minds and hearts around this idea of courage. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:25.199 And so key parts of a courageous act are always part one, nobility of the cause. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:29.759 There's a cause worthy, a worthy cause. 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:34.159 And number two, risk in accomplishing the cause. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:43.919 So when we consider these things, therefore, courage is moving forward even while you have fear. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:47.039 And this is our story in Joshua 1. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:51.120 We're gonna be going through the book of Joshua through this winter and spring. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:54.159 And this is the story in Joshua when we look into Joshua 1. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:03:00.159 Joshua's this ancient book and the Old Testament, and the people, the Israelites, are coming out of Egypt. 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:07.680 They were enslaved in Egypt, and they're coming out of that enslavement and they're crossing this desert to get back to their homeland, modern-day Israel. 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:09.360 And so they're crossing this desert. 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:11.199 It should take a few weeks. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:19.199 But because of their own fear and their forgetfulness and sort of their complacency, it takes them 40 years. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:27.759 And then we get in Joshua 1, we see where God begins to speak to Joshua, who is a leader in the group, and he begins to speak. 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:34.479 And he calls Joshua, calling him to lead these people out of that desert back to their promised land, to their land. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:38.800 Stop being refugees, stop being orphans, and be a child. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:41.360 Be the children you were called to be. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:46.879 And so this is where we pick up if we look in Joshua 1, pick up in verse 3. 00:03:47.360 --> 00:04:06.560 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, this is God speaking to Joshua, I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses, from the wilderness in this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites of the Great Sea, toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:10.319 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:14.639 Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:17.439 I will not leave you or forsake you. 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:20.959 So why all of this encouragement from God? 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:28.800 Well, because Joshua had a worthy cause, but he was afraid. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:30.560 So point number one is this. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:32.319 We break it down to a few points this morning. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:40.160 Point number one is this God calls us to move toward our fear with his compassionate presence. 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:44.160 God calls us to move toward our fear with his compassionate presence. 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:51.279 Over Christmas, our girls, so the three girls in Christie, they went to see Frozen 2 not once. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:53.439 Not twice. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:55.839 They went three times. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:57.120 They went three times. 00:04:57.439 --> 00:04:58.480 And I saw it twice. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:04:59.600 I mean, that's courage, right? 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:01.439 I mean, I went two of the three. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:04.079 Die Hard was on TV the third time. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:05.199 I had to draw a line. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:07.199 I had to have my priorities. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:12.720 And last night we're driving back from dinner, and yet we are we are blasting. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:15.920 Show yourself and into the unknown. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.759 And I mean, we are just, you know, we are letting it out, right? 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:22.000 And here's the thing, I actually like these movies. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:23.920 I actually really like Frozen and Frozen. 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:25.040 Don't know if you like them or not. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:25.519 I actually do. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:26.480 I mean, it's a journey. 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:31.040 Elsa goes on in the first movie to overcome fear to receive love. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:32.639 I mean, that's all of our journeys. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:36.720 That's all of our hearts needing to overcome fear and receive love. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:41.439 And then the second movie is about moving into the unknown and moving into pain. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:45.759 And I won't give away the movie in case you want to see it three times in the theater, you're welcome to do that. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:53.040 But at one point, Elsa says, fear can't be trusted. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:56.079 I mean, that's good, that's gospel, right? 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:56.879 I mean, that's Jesus. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:58.240 Don't be afraid, I'll be with you. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:00.399 Now, I mean, we've got to have some fear, right? 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:09.279 Like be afraid of a reckless driver, you know, or be afraid of a predator, be afraid of somebody asking for your social security number. 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:12.240 I mean, there's some reasonable fears we're gonna have, right? 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:22.560 But when it comes to doing something right or worthy or good or healthy, I mean, these categories, you shouldn't have fear, but you will. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:25.040 You will have fear, but you shouldn't. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:26.560 Don't be afraid. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:29.920 So Jesus was always saying, Don't be afraid, I'll be with you. 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:31.759 That's what's going on here in Joshua 1. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:32.319 I'll be with you. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:34.399 I know you're afraid, but I'll be with you. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:46.959 And most of us know these feelings of fear, or maybe they're kind of expressed in you as anxiety, and because we have fear, fear occurs when we realize we don't know the future. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:51.279 And or we aren't in control. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:55.360 We don't know the future and or we aren't in control. 00:06:55.839 --> 00:07:00.160 You can name what that's about, but that's what starts to create that fear and anxiety inside of us. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:09.600 And I mean, it can be about your children, it can be about your career, it can be about your health, it can be about your romance, your lack of romance, it can be about the money you have or the lack of the money you have, right? 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:11.360 I mean, it can be about so many different things. 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:19.439 It can be relational, it can be practical, it can be just that feeling of trying to keep life all together and the feeling like your life is always coming apart. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:24.480 I mean, there's so many things that fear can just all of a sudden show up. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:28.399 And here's a few questions just to process through. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:35.759 I was trying to think through this and trying to think through how we would process through this kind of big conceptual thing, but for our lives and our hearts. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:38.800 Because God's calling us toward fear with His presence. 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:41.519 Here's a few questions to ask to process this. 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:44.079 What is it I'm called to in my heart? 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:48.160 What is it I'm called to in my life practices, in my purpose, in my relationships? 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:49.839 What are those things? 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:54.160 Okay, then you get that. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:59.680 And then the second question would be what fear in my heart arises when I consider those callings? 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:03.439 Because certainly, as soon as you get some answers for number one, some fear starts to pop up. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:05.839 Oh, I need to restore that relationship. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:13.839 Oh, I need to get healthy in this way, oh, I need to become, you know, move toward godliness in this way, oh, I need to deepen my faith in this way, I need to rest in God's promises for me in this way. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:18.160 I mean, you get those, you start to get those things journaled out, all of a sudden you're gonna start to have a lot of fear. 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:27.680 Number three then would become well, what step of risk would I take if I wasn't avoiding fear, pain, or rejection? 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:31.439 That's an interesting answer, right? 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:40.399 Last question what step of risk would I take if I really believed God was with me no matter the outcome? 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:44.480 What would it be? 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:49.600 And I'm just praying this morning that you would have some callings come into your heart. 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:57.120 And certainly those callings are gonna have something to do with the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, uh, gentleness, self-control, right? 00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:59.440 I mean, it's gonna have something to do with that. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:06.720 It's gonna have something to do with our hearts and resting and remembering back and what the Lord's done for us and the health of our relationships. 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:10.159 I mean, it's gonna have something, maybe it has something to do with your purpose and life. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:13.120 It could have the range here is huge. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:22.000 But certainly as soon as you start to get into a calling that God has for your heart that would be good and godly, you're gonna have fear showing up. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:23.519 I mean, Joshua did. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:27.919 Apparently, Jesus was having to say this to his disciples all the time: don't be afraid, I'll be with you. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:48.000 When we started the church six years ago, six years ago, seven years ago, we started to meet to talk about uh starting a church, and I didn't expect it, but as soon as we started, like Davis was referring to, we were in a dentist's office and we were in like a preschool daycare center, and as soon as we did that, I mean, so much fear showed up in my heart and my life. 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.000 I mean, like, are people gonna actually show up? 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:52.960 I left my job for this, I left a secure job. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:55.279 Like, are people gonna show up? 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:57.600 Are they gonna come back? 00:09:57.919 --> 00:09:59.360 Are you coming back next week? 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:00.080 I don't know. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:01.519 I really don't, right? 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:03.759 There's still fear today. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:06.639 I'd be in embarrassment. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:08.240 Oh, did you hear? 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:08.879 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:11.919 He left that good job and then he started that church, and then it didn't work out. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:14.720 Oh yeah, you know, you know where he ended up, oh yeah, he ended up there, right? 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:21.120 Like, oh no, oh, that church, oh man, that church, it really did great for six years, and then that thing happened, he mismanaged that thing, and that happened. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:32.000 You know, I mean, fear can come just so easily, and and then the fear of letting people down, like oh, so all this fear, I mean, one day early on, there, and we were forming the core documents of our church. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:40.000 So if you go through our new member process, if you go through it, you you read these core documents, and they're the front page of this core document. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:52.720 Early on, we're forming this, and there's this one meeting, and Mandy walks into this meeting, and Mandy's a brilliant, brilliant lady who goes to our church, and she's still in our church, and she shows up into this meeting, she's written this paragraph. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:57.200 I still love and hate this paragraph, I'll just be honest with you. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:10:57.919 We're gonna read it. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:00.159 I'm gonna read it because I want you to see this. 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:02.720 And she shows up and she's written this paragraph. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:16.159 In Christ, there is freedom to fail and pursuing the dream of a church that preaches and practices the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:28.080 It is because of this freedom to fail that the church would be free to present the gospel of Jesus Christ in Marietta and allow its spirit to blow where it wills and bear its own fruit in the hearers. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:30.480 Now, this is so revealing to me. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:36.559 I mean, it just reveals so much of my imperfection, brokenness in my own sin and my doubt and all of that, my fear, right? 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:43.279 I mean, not because I don't have belief in this doctrine, I mean, I do, I love this doctrine, but the freedom to fail part, I'm like, really? 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:44.000 I mean, really? 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:45.759 You had to put that in there like twice? 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:47.600 I think it's in there two times. 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:48.320 Twice? 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:49.600 Many thanks, you know. 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:57.279 And every time I read it in our new member, every time I read it in our new member class, I read it, there's this part of me that's like, God, I'm still not there with that. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:59.360 I'm still not totally comfortable with that. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:01.120 But what if I was? 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:24.559 I mean, what if my heart was that secure and God's love for me and God's validation for me, justification, that I would be that justified, that I would be free to fail, moving toward perhaps a restored relationship, or starting a church, or just general life practices that might be healthy and good for us. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:29.039 I mean, all of those callings that are in our hearts, and we sort of refuse. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:35.919 I mean, there's always, when I read that paragraph, there's this part of me that just has to repent, and this part of me that's saying, God, help me believe this more. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:37.120 There's so many areas of my life. 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:38.639 What would that mean for my children? 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:47.120 My parenting, my marriage, relationship with money, friendship, so many things, so many categories. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:50.799 That's where those four questions perhaps are helpful to me and for you. 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:56.720 Now, if we jump back to verse 5, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:00.960 Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:03.200 I will not leave you or forsake you. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:05.840 Be strong and courageous. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:13.840 There's our word, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:20.399 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:26.960 Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:32.960 Point number two is this being strong and courageous is rooted in God is with us. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:34.799 Or God is with you. 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:36.159 That's what it's rooted in. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:41.039 I mean, in verses six and seven, this be strong and courageous, that God said, Hey, be strong and courageous. 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:42.399 Or you read it somewhere else in the scripture. 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:44.320 You know, be strong, be courageous, don't have fear. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:47.279 That's rooted in the promise of verse five. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:48.720 I will be with you. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:50.320 I'll be with you. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:54.960 Now, when I started studying this, I'd not really considered this. 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:58.240 I knew this information, but meaning when I read it, it was so comforting. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:03.440 And the information was that Joshua, speaking to Joshua, so just a little background on Joshua. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:08.879 This guy was already a courageous military stud. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:10.879 Already. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:14.879 We see it in Exodus 17, we see it in Numbers 14. 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:17.039 So here we have this hero. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:18.639 He's already a stud. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:23.360 He's already been courageous, he's already somebody we look at and go, oh, what a leader! Oh, such a hero. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:24.960 I mean, oh man, I could never be like that. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:31.200 I mean, that's who this guy is, and then we come here and we see, oh, Joshua feels like this. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:34.080 Man, that was so comforting to me. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:38.480 Like, you know, just there's something about just knowing other people are in the same boat. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:40.399 So comforting. 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:43.679 Because life is full of things to be afraid of. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:46.480 And of course, Joshua is afraid. 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:55.360 Of course, this is anybody you look at and you think, oh, they're not afraid, they're so bold, and they're saying no, they have their own set of fears just like you have your own set of fears. 00:14:55.919 --> 00:15:01.519 And that's actually incredibly comforting because it's sort of this acknowledgement that fear is human. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:06.240 God's acknowledging we have fear. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:22.240 We're not called to live by fear, we're called to live by love, but he promises to walk with us as we have this fear, move toward our fear, toward our weakness, as to rest in his presence and his strength. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:26.960 Verses 8 and 9. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:28.159 Last couple verses. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:38.879 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. 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:42.879 For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:44.399 Have I not commanded you? 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:46.000 Be strong and courageous. 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:48.639 Do not be frightened, do not be dismayed. 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:49.440 Why? 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:53.600 For the Lord your God is with you for wherever you go. 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:56.960 So again, everything's rooted back in God is with you. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:00.720 He's with you in the fear, He's with you, in your weakness, He's with you. 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:02.720 So you can face all that. 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:06.320 It's not an equation for a perfect life, right? 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:10.799 Rather, it's a description of what it means to walk with a relational God. 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:16.159 That's why the New Testament overwhelmingly is saying, think of God as your heavenly father. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:22.639 Growing in strength and courage is about resting your heart back in that promise. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:26.240 Verse 8 says to meditate on the law day and night. 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:35.759 So for Joshua, the law wouldn't just be like the Ten Commandments and what to do and not do, it'd also be the entirety of God's story of faithfulness to his people. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.799 And God's saying, put your heart on that. 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:40.240 Rest in that. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:45.360 And so for us, I think what this means, I kind of broke it down in different categories that at least make sense in my life. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:50.240 The first is this it's sort of like being called into ongoing heart contemplation. 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:53.759 That's what to meditate on a day and night, that's what it's saying. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.639 It's saying, just never stop meditating on this. 00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:05.920 Like if you want to walk into your fears and begin to understand some courage in it, and it won't be just by you going off and trying to pretend like you're strong apart from your fears. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:19.279 It's gonna be by walking toward your fear that you're already fully, love, righteous, and secure, and God is with you, and that takes an ongoing hard contemplation, that that's gonna be sort of that soundtrack in life you walk by. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:23.440 Now, to help that practice, because that's not easy, we'll fail at that a whole lot. 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:32.400 What does help is to have some planned moments, I just call them planned moments, and I'm not trying to get too prescriptive here because you're gonna figure all this out for yourself in your walk with the Lord. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:36.000 Christy wakes up early, she sits in a chair in our den. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:39.119 I wake up a lot later and I do my own thing. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:48.880 And you're gonna wake up whenever you wake up, and you're gonna figure out that planned moment for you, either every day or every other day, or some rhythm in your life that helps your own heart. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:54.160 And the point of it is not like, oh, I gotta do this to check it off in order to be right with God. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:18:03.119 The plan and the purpose of it is you are already right with God, so have a moment to remember and rest in that, and that will give you courage. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:04.799 That's so freeing. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:11.279 This is not to earn any love, but to reflect back on it, to meditate on it day and night. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:15.599 So you get to go and discover what that means for you and the Lord. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:20.640 The third category that I always think about is like little pockets of time, little pocket moments. 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:26.960 I think this has to do also with this ongoing kind of contemplation of what the Lord's done for us, the story of faithfulness. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:31.440 And these pocket moments are sort of like you will discover these because you're at a red light and you're annoyed. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:34.160 Usually annoyance will show you these, right? 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:42.000 Because you're in a waiting room, you're waiting on your kid, or you're like at basketball practice, sitting in a bleacher, and it's just like an hour, and you're like, I could be doing so many things. 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:43.680 And you're like, you could be. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:49.519 You have an hour, you're sitting still, or you're at a red light, you're sitting still, you're a waiter, you're sitting still. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:19:01.839 There's all these little pockets of time during our days, and rather than be annoyed or just check our phone again, perhaps we could also use even those little pockets of time to stop. 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:12.240 I mean, that we have that grace, we can give ourselves that grace to have a devotional on our phone or carry a journal with us, take a walk around the block. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:19.359 I mean, there's so many things that we can do to just meditate on his faithfulness day and night. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:24.240 And none of it's to earn love or to get a better position or feel more holy. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:29.599 It's to remember that we're already holy, we're already worthy, and already loved. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:31.359 That's what this whole story tells us. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:32.640 It's Joshua's story. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:34.079 That's why I love this story. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:41.599 Joshua helps us see, no matter how put together we think we are, because Joshua on the outside, you would say, Oh, what a military hero. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:42.799 Oh, what a guy. 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:43.920 Incredible. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:50.799 And he has all this fear and he requires all this encouragement by God for God to keep saying, I'm with you, I'm with you, I'm with you. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:56.559 And it's just a message for us to remember that God is pursuing our hearts. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:59.599 No matter where we're at or how much fear we have. 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:03.200 And God in his grace pursues us. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:05.359 He wants to walk with us. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:07.440 His love is strong. 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:11.599 Like we may not be strong and courageous, but his love is strong and courageous. 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:13.839 We are not always strong and courageous. 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:20.960 And that's actually okay because as we come into our weakness of our inability of that, we discover he is strong and courageous. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:23.599 That is what we're resting, remembering, right? 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:25.839 Do you remember the other quote in Frozen 2? 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:27.440 Christoph to Anna? 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:29.440 Some of you remember it. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:31.599 Anybody want to say it out loud? 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:32.799 You go for it. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:36.799 My love is not fragile. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:39.039 I heard a little whisper from over here. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:41.759 It's probably my daughter because she saw it three times. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:45.680 My love is not fragile, right? 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:47.839 What a gospel message. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:50.160 It's so secure. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:21:03.680 And Joshua starts to give us glimpses that Joshua's perhaps he's some things for us to understand about ourselves, but he's pointing us and taking us to the story of Jesus. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:10.640 That God's showing us in humanity on the cross that I will be fearless because you have fear. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:14.880 I will be obedient fully because you're not always obedient. 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:19.759 And that on the cross, all of our sin is taken. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:28.319 All of our fear and inability to be what we should be and follow our callings as we should, and all of that is taken upon the cross. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:33.839 And His righteousness is given to us so we are fully righteous and fully loved forever. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:41.440 And that is secure, and that is good news, and that is the beginning, the beginning of us growing in courage. 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:42.559 Let's pray together. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:48.480 God, thank you for your grace and mercy that meets us where we are every moment all the time. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:22:00.640 Because we're not as we should be, we're not as courageous as we should be, we're not as fearless, we don't move into every calling you've put on our hearts, you know, full steam ahead. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:05.200 We have so much hesitancy and fear, and yet you're with us. 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:12.000 And you walk with us and you're growing us, and we thank you for your great patience and your great mercy. 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:26.640 Help us to respond to a story like this, not to think we're gonna pull our bootstraps up more, but to rest and remember back in your faithfulness to us that we are already loved, already worthy, already righteous. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:29.519 Would we be so secure? 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:34.079 Would a little courage begin in us? 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:39.119 That in the face of fear that we could take a step of risk in faith. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:47.839 God, would you do great work in our hearts to help us process through these questions of what would we do if we knew you were always with us? 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:50.559 No matter the outcome. 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:58.240 And would we always rest back in the fact that we are fully absolved, fully righteous, always yours? 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:00.880 In Jesus' name we pray and we live. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:01.519 Amen.