SPEAKER_01: You're surely familiar with the historical woman, Helen Keller, a very insensitive journalist some years ago, asked her a question.
SPEAKER_01: You know that she was stricken with blindness shortly after she was born.
SPEAKER_01: And that journalist said to her, Miss Keller, can you think of anything worse than being blind?
SPEAKER_01: Without any hesitation, she said, Yes.
SPEAKER_01: To have the gift of sight, but to have no vision.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 29 says, Without vision do people perish.
SPEAKER_01: They're unrestrained.
SPEAKER_01: Without leadership, we all struggle.
SPEAKER_01: I think it was on staff for about a year when I was asked to preach on the Memorial Day weekend.
SPEAKER_01: Emmanuel, of course, honors those that have served in the military on that weekend.
SPEAKER_01: And so I had worked hard in preparing my message, but I wanted to leave just a short season in that message for some interaction with the World War II veterans that were coming in town that year.
SPEAKER_01: That was the year, if you may remember, that the World War II Memorial down on the National Mall was dedicated.
SPEAKER_01: And so the Wednesday prior to that Memorial Day weekend, when I was going to preach the sermon, having completed most of the sermon with a clipboard and pen, I drove down, parked at the tidal basin, and walked across the street, and you couldn't miss them.
SPEAKER_01: All these World War II veterans that had come back.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're in their late 80s at the time, and some of them in their early to mid-90s.
SPEAKER_01: They were not alone.
SPEAKER_01: Most of them were with a large group of people, their wives, if they were still alive, their children.
SPEAKER_01: Many had grandchildren with them.
SPEAKER_01: A lot were in walkers or wheelchairs, others were shuffling.
SPEAKER_01: It was not hard to miss them.
SPEAKER_01: And I simply walked up to them with my clipboard and pen, stuck out my hand, and said, Hi, I'm Tom Joyce.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a retired Navy captain and I'm a pastor at a church in Northern Virginia.
SPEAKER_01: I'm preaching a sermon this Sunday to my congregation, and I'd like to be able to report back to them a little bit about your time serving the country in World War II.
SPEAKER_01: What can you share?
SPEAKER_01: Now, most of them, I grew up in a household of a father.
SPEAKER_01: My dad was a CB and fought in Okinawa during World War II.
SPEAKER_01: Most of them had never opened up like my dad with their families.
SPEAKER_01: But somehow they resonated with a retired Navy captain, or maybe they felt like they were given an order, I don't know, but they began to speak.
SPEAKER_01: And they began to write.
SPEAKER_01: And their families were leaning in, their grandkids were leaning in, and people were listening to their stories, and they were powerful stories.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll be honest with you, as I was writing, I started to wipe away the tears.
SPEAKER_01: As I thought about what they were telling me, about what they had done for our nation during that global conflict.
SPEAKER_01: You and I would be speaking a whole different language were it not for those men and women.
SPEAKER_01: Tom Brokaw wrote a great book about them.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you perhaps have read his book called The Greatest Generation, thus the name of that generation, the greatest generation.
SPEAKER_01: And Tom Brokow's book is filled with stories of heroism and sadness and sacrifice and great victory as he recounts the global struggle we know as World War II.
SPEAKER_01: I remember my station at the Pentagon, I used to go out for a run every day, and one of the places I would run was up by the Iwo Jima, the Marine Corps Memorial, and just to honor my brothers and sisters in the naval service called the Marine Corps, we I would get down and do some push-ups and sit-ups right in front of that monument.
SPEAKER_01: It was just magnificent looking over the National Mall.
SPEAKER_01: And chiseled in the bottom of the granite is an expression that really describes that World War II generation.
SPEAKER_01: It says, when uncommon valor was a common virtue.
SPEAKER_01: When uncommon valor was a common virtue that describes the greatest generation, does it not?
SPEAKER_01: And when you think about that, the greatest generation and what they have done for this country or what they have done for us, the greatest generation literally is passing the mantle of leadership to us.
SPEAKER_01: And the question is, what will be said of us in the years to come?
SPEAKER_01: The greatest generation is passing the mantle of leadership to us.
SPEAKER_01: And what will they say of us in the years to come?
SPEAKER_01: If we don't lead now, who will?
SPEAKER_01: And if we don't lead well, we are in deep, deep trouble.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that there is a model given to us here in Scripture that if we are smart and we hope to lead well, that we will follow that leadership model here given to us in the book of Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: Go to Joshua chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: I asked Alex to read that account from Numbers chapter 13 and stretching into Numbers chapter 14 because it really gives us the background that we need to understand what's happening here right away in Joshua chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: We see in verse 2, in Joshua chapter 1, Moses, my servant, God says, is dead.
SPEAKER_01: Now therefore, he's speaking to Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: Arise, go over this Jordan, the Jordan River, you and all of this people, into the land that I'm giving to them, to the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua has been the one now that has been selected to lead the nation.
SPEAKER_01: All of the ten spies that made the bad report to the nation of Israel and suggested that we go all the way back to Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: At least there we had three square meals and a place to lay our heads.
SPEAKER_01: They were worried about the Nephilim, about the giants in the land.
SPEAKER_01: They even said we look like grasshoppers compared to these giants.
SPEAKER_01: Caleb steps up to the microphone and gives his report to the nation.
SPEAKER_01: We carried some of that fruit with you, remember?
SPEAKER_01: We saw it.
SPEAKER_01: We saw those giants.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they are pretty big, and we do look like grasshoppers, but we're God's grasshoppers.
SPEAKER_01: And I think we should go.
SPEAKER_01: As a result of the lack of faithfulness of the ten, not a single man over the age of 20 of that entire generation.
SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
SPEAKER_01: Not a single man over the age of 20 of that entire generation is allowed to go into the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: It's allowed to cross the Jordan.
SPEAKER_01: Every single one of those men, of those men will die in the wilderness, including Aaron and eventually Moses.
SPEAKER_01: We know at the very end of the book of Deuteronomy, God takes Moses up to the top of Mount Nebo and he has him look into the promised land and says, Moses, do you see it?
SPEAKER_01: But because your unfaithfulness, you're not going.
SPEAKER_01: And so as they enter and begin this journey with the nation of Israel, as Joshua as their leader, it's just he and Caleb are the only two of that entire generation.
SPEAKER_01: They are totally alone, but they have the Lord, and they have his direction.
SPEAKER_01: And look right here in chapter 1, we have the preparation or the preparing to lead, and God gives the direction straight to Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: This is how I want you to lead for me.
SPEAKER_01: And I think we should apply this to ourselves today as well.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: This is God speaking to Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: Be strong, very courageous.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful to do according to all that the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you.
SPEAKER_01: Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 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.
SPEAKER_01: For then you'll make your way prosperous, and you'll have good success.
SPEAKER_01: He continues in verse 9 with a military command to Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Have I not commanded you?
SPEAKER_01: Be strong and courageous.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be frightened, do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua's thinking, it's just me and Caleb left in this entire generation.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody else, all the young people, are gone.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to be able to lead all these, and God says, I'll be with you wherever you go.
SPEAKER_01: Three quick leadership principles, I think we see as God prepares Joshua for leadership right here in the first chapter.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: He says, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he says, You shall meditate on it day and night.
SPEAKER_01: You'll be careful to do according to all that is written in it.
SPEAKER_01: He says to Joshua, I want you to know my word.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know what I expect of you.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know what I expect of the nation as well.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 8 says, God wants us to know his word.
SPEAKER_01: It still applies to us today.
SPEAKER_01: God wants us to know his scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, he says, not only do you want us to know it, but he said, be careful to do according to all that is written in it.
SPEAKER_01: So we need to not only know the word, that's our quiet time, our personal quiet time, our personal study of the word of God, our memorization.
SPEAKER_01: Alex just talked about this, the students down in the gym that are memorizing and reciting the scriptures that are hidden in their heads and their hearts.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I want you to know the word, but I want you to live it out as well.
SPEAKER_01: That we let our lights shine before men.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to lead for God and his economy, this is how we do it.
SPEAKER_01: We need to know the word of God and we need to live it out.
SPEAKER_01: But then in verse 9, he reminds Joshua: remember who you report to.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua had been the military leader for the nation of Israel, serving under Moses, but now he's been elevated to be the national leader for Israel.
SPEAKER_01: But God is reminding him by using this military term and reminding Joshua there's a chain of command, and you're responsible for me, he says, Have I, God, not commanded you?
SPEAKER_01: And remember at this time, the nation of Israel is the most powerful in the known world.
SPEAKER_01: All the other kings will eventually run and hide as a result of Joshua making the campaign that he will settle the nation of Israel and the tribes in their assigned land.
SPEAKER_01: He's the most powerful man in all of the known world at this time, but God is reminding him, you still report to me, Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: You need to know the word, you need to live it out, and remember that you report to me.
SPEAKER_01: And it seems like when Joshua gets this right, when he knows the word of God, he understands that, and he's living it out, and he remembers that he reports directly to the to God the Father, then he gets the command.
SPEAKER_01: That's what verse 10 says, and then Joshua commanded the officers of the people.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, Joshua demonstrates servant leadership right from the start.
SPEAKER_01: Because rather than getting all of his deputies together and say, hey, where's my servants?
SPEAKER_01: Where's my coach?
SPEAKER_01: Where's my golf clubs?
SPEAKER_01: He says, make sure all of our people have all the provisions that they need.
SPEAKER_01: He's already thinking about the people and not about himself.
SPEAKER_01: That's leadership.
SPEAKER_01: And so in preparing to lead, he says, you need to know the word, you need to live out the word in your life, be that example.
SPEAKER_01: But remember who you report to.
SPEAKER_01: There's accountability and leadership, and we will be held accountable by God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: God says, Have I not commanded you?
SPEAKER_01: I learned this quickly in my own time serving in the military.
SPEAKER_01: I used to meet with a group of believers from different fighter squadrons out in San Diego and Naval Air Station Miramar when I was stationed out there for many, many years.
SPEAKER_01: And we often say that a fighter squadron is not a haven of Bible thumpers.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, we often used to call ourselves fighter squadrons were really kind of government-sponsored motorcycle gangs.
SPEAKER_01: Guys that really were living life with the knives in their teeth and kind of running crazy.
SPEAKER_01: The guys you'd like to go into combat with, but not necessarily want to marry your sister.
SPEAKER_01: But there was a few of us who were believers, and we would meet for Bible study and prayer every Tuesday morning right there on the flight line.
SPEAKER_01: The chaplain had an office that he allowed us to use right there on the flight line.
SPEAKER_01: And every Tuesday morning at 6 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: we'd meet.
SPEAKER_01: There were five of us, and we'd do some scripture study and we just pray for one another, an hour witness in the different squadrons that we were reporting to.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember one Tuesday morning I showed up and there was a sign on the window.
SPEAKER_01: It said, We've gone to Fighter Squadron 111's commanding officer's office this morning for Bible study and prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Please meet us over there.
SPEAKER_01: And so I drove over to that hangar, and the petty officer let me in.
SPEAKER_01: That squadron was on deployment.
SPEAKER_01: They were gone for seven months.
SPEAKER_01: And so the building was opened by the petty officer, and I could see the light was on in the commanding officer's office upstairs.
SPEAKER_01: This was the squadron I was actually going to command.
SPEAKER_01: And I came into that room, and my four friends who I met with every single week, these were my brothers in Christ, my accountability brothers.
SPEAKER_01: They sat me down in the commanding officer's chair in that office, the place I was about to take over as command as soon as they got back from deployment, and they prayed Joshua chapter 1 into my life.
SPEAKER_01: God, may you hold this man accountable to the word.
SPEAKER_01: May he know the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: May he live it out.
SPEAKER_01: May he never forget that he reports to you.
SPEAKER_01: It was a powerful moment in my military career, a powerful moment in leading into my time and serving with those men as we were getting ready for go on yet a next combat deployment as well.
SPEAKER_01: So there is a preparation for leadership that God brings us through.
SPEAKER_01: And I believe if we follow that, we will indeed serve successfully.
SPEAKER_01: Second, move to your right in Joshua chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: Not only is there a preparing to lead, but a reminder that we're often serving on what's called holy ground.
SPEAKER_01: Holy ground.
SPEAKER_01: Now we know that Joshua actually did take charge of the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: He sent some spies himself into the city of Jericho.
SPEAKER_01: That was one of the places that God had sent them to take down the walls of Jericho.
SPEAKER_01: These were massive walls in Jericho.
SPEAKER_01: We know they were massive because the woman Rahab, who actually helps out the spies, she and her family lived in the walls, within the walls of that city.
SPEAKER_01: So it must have been massive walls that were there, and the city was massive.
SPEAKER_01: And now Joshua, a good leader, decides before he's going to send any of his men in to attack that city, as God had directed them, he's going to do some reconnaissance on his own.
SPEAKER_01: And the scripture tells us here in Joshua chapter 5, starting in verse 13, it gives us the scenario where we find Joshua right outside the city of Jericho.
SPEAKER_01: Scripture says, when Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his sword drawn in his hand.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries?
SPEAKER_01: And he, the man, said, No, but I come as the commander of the army of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Now I have come.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant?
SPEAKER_01: And the commander of Joshua's of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua did so.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Joshua is the most powerful man now in the known world.
SPEAKER_01: But somebody has come before him that causes Joshua to fall to his face and follow commands quickly to remove his sandals, for he's on holy ground.
SPEAKER_01: And we know this to be none other than what we call the theophany.
SPEAKER_01: This is an appearance of God before Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: And more specifically, it's called a Christophany.
SPEAKER_01: This is an Old Testament appearance of a pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And he's standing here before Joshua, giving him commands, telling him what to do.
SPEAKER_01: Take off your shoes, Joshua, for the place that you're standing here, right here, at sight of Jericho, is holy ground.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, wait till you see what I'm about to do through you.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua, this is holy ground.
SPEAKER_01: Take off your sandals, for this is the place.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: Where's holy ground for you?
SPEAKER_01: Where does God have you right now?
SPEAKER_01: Not where you think you're going, where you were, but where does God have you right now?
SPEAKER_01: And he says, I just want to work through you where you are right now.
SPEAKER_01: And you may say, hey Joyce, you don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the CEO, the commanding officer of a of a huge unit, or I'm the CEO of a major company, or it's just me, my wife, and we've got a bunch of little kids at home.
SPEAKER_01: Where's holy ground for you?
SPEAKER_01: Are you prepared to take off your moccasins and wait and see how God can possibly work through you?
SPEAKER_01: Where's holy ground for you?
SPEAKER_01: That you can demonstrate the leadership that God has called you to right now.
SPEAKER_01: Because you know his word.
SPEAKER_01: And because you're you're acting it out in your life, and you're constantly reminding yourself that I'm accountable to God for those little children he's given me, for that massive company he's given me, for all the troops that he's given me, or here at the church for all of the people who serve him so willingly.
SPEAKER_01: Where's holy ground for you?
SPEAKER_01: You know, I got orders to the Pentagon, which is the last thing that I wanted to do.
SPEAKER_01: Those people who serve in the military know that Pentagon for the military is kind of like Mecca.
SPEAKER_01: You have to go there once in your life.
SPEAKER_01: You don't necessarily want to go there once in your life, much less twice, but you have to go.
SPEAKER_01: And I wound up getting orders to the Pentagon.
SPEAKER_01: In my mind, I thought, well, at least when I get to the Pentagon, they will have heard of me.
SPEAKER_01: In my mind, I was thinking, when I get to the Pentagon, they will probably know my background.
SPEAKER_01: I flew fighters for the Navy.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the movie Top Gun, and all of that stuff, I'm thinking, in my mind, I'm thinking, surely somebody's heard of me there.
SPEAKER_01: I'm probably gonna get a top-notch job.
SPEAKER_01: And in my mind, also I thought I'd get a top-notch parking space.
SPEAKER_01: I figured right outside the river entrance, there would be the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Joyce.
SPEAKER_01: In that order, in my mind.
SPEAKER_01: Well, when I pulled into the parking lot of the Pentagon and looked at my assigned parking space, it was in row 72.
SPEAKER_01: You could barely see the Pentagon from where I was.
SPEAKER_01: You almost had to take a bus to get to the river entrance.
SPEAKER_01: Those of you who work in the Pentagon know exactly what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_01: But I said, okay, we'll skip the parking, but at least I probably got a really good job.
SPEAKER_01: I reported to the joint staff.
SPEAKER_01: I walked into the office, it was run by a one-star Air Force General.
SPEAKER_01: I walked in and he said, Joyce, we've heard of you.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome, good to have you here.
SPEAKER_01: Have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: I thought, yes, I have arrived.
SPEAKER_01: They have heard of me.
SPEAKER_01: The parking didn't work out, but I'm sure this will.
SPEAKER_01: And after a little briefing on, he told us what the office does there, he said, and I have a special job for you.
SPEAKER_01: Again, in my mind, I'm doing this, and he said, You make the coffee.
SPEAKER_01: But then he stopped his thought and he said, Actually, you don't make the coffee.
SPEAKER_01: I forgot, there's a Marine Corps colonel by the name of George Rector.
SPEAKER_01: He makes the coffee at 5 45 every morning, but you've got to come in at 5 45.
SPEAKER_01: And get the water.
SPEAKER_01: He said the coffee urn is kind of big, so it'll take you a little while to find the water closet.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta fill it up, and then it takes just even that much longer to carry it back.
SPEAKER_01: I'm coming from commander of fighter squadron to the Pentagon, and I'm not even qualified to make the coffee, but I'm good enough to get the water.
SPEAKER_01: I thought he was kidding.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm serious as a heart attack.
SPEAKER_01: I walked out of that office and Colonel Rector met me and he said, Hey, you must be Joyce.
SPEAKER_01: I'm Colonel Rector.
SPEAKER_01: I make the coffee.
SPEAKER_01: You get the water.
SPEAKER_01: See you tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: Next morning I got there, row 72, walked all the way to the Pentagon, got in my office.
SPEAKER_01: I got there at 525 early.
SPEAKER_01: I went and got that urn, went down two passageways over, filled it up as high as I could, and carried that thing back.
SPEAKER_01: It took me 12 minutes to go about 150 feet carrying that thing.
SPEAKER_01: It weighed, I can't tell you how much it weighed.
SPEAKER_01: I put it down on clockwork at 5.45.
SPEAKER_01: Colonel Rector comes in, puts the coffee in, and says, I got it from here.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Pentagon.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you what, that was incredibly humbling.
SPEAKER_01: I was not a happy camper.
SPEAKER_01: I'd go home at night, my wife would say, How was your day at the Pentagon?
SPEAKER_01: What did you learn today?
SPEAKER_01: I was not very sanctified back then.
SPEAKER_01: It was very difficult.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be honest with you.
SPEAKER_01: I had a really, really poor attitude.
SPEAKER_01: And after, and by the way, I didn't even mention this to this day.
SPEAKER_01: I've never tasted coffee in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I've never had any coffee.
SPEAKER_01: I'm schlepping water to make coffee for people that drink coffee that I've never tasted.
SPEAKER_01: And I'd go in and take my Bible and lay it down and start my quiet time, just kind of growling the whole time.
SPEAKER_01: And God was really dealing with me.
SPEAKER_01: That worked for a number of months, and we were building up right until about this time frame leading up to Easter Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember I was going through the Gospels to just see the accounts of leading up until the coming of the uh Palm Sunday, and then eventually the triumphant entry and the resurrection, all those things I was reading in the scriptures, and one morning I was camped in the Gospel of John, chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: And you know they're familiar with that, that's the chapter about the Last Supper.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm reading about how Jesus was interacting with his band of brothers.
SPEAKER_01: And even though they were fighting among themselves, the sons of Zebedee, about, hey, who's he think is going to sit closest to him when we get to heaven?
SPEAKER_01: And I want to sit closest to him.
SPEAKER_01: No, I want to sit closer to him.
SPEAKER_01: Let's get mom involved.
SPEAKER_01: You know, all those things that were going on.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus just got up, the scripture said, that he went and fetched water.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I've been doing that now for months.
SPEAKER_01: And the scripture says that he got down and he began to wash his disciples' feet.
SPEAKER_01: And can you think about that?
SPEAKER_01: How the Savior of the world would get down and wash those dirty, smelly feet.
SPEAKER_01: Eventually he got to Peter, the one that would deny him.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas, the one that would doubt him, and he even then washed the feet of Judas, the one that would betray him.
SPEAKER_01: And that's when it hit me.
SPEAKER_01: God didn't bring me just 3,000 miles here to serve on the joint staff.
SPEAKER_01: He brought me here to make coffee and to wash the feet of the people that I was called to serve with.
SPEAKER_01: About a week later, I got promoted.
SPEAKER_01: Not to captain, that was a couple of weeks away, but Colonel Rector left.
SPEAKER_01: I was promoted to chief coffee maker.
SPEAKER_01: I remember the new guy, my replacement, came in.
SPEAKER_01: He parked in row 72, made his way in.
SPEAKER_01: A general welcomed him in his office.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, good to have you on board here.
SPEAKER_01: Sit down, you got special stuff for you to do.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, you make the coffee.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, you don't make the coffee.
SPEAKER_01: Commander Joyce makes the coffee, but you got to come in.
SPEAKER_01: And the whole spiel, that guy came out of the room like this, welcome to the Pentagon.
SPEAKER_01: I intercepted him and said, I got it.
SPEAKER_01: I'll get the water.
SPEAKER_01: I'll get the coffee.
SPEAKER_01: My wife was so sweet, she took me to the commissary.
SPEAKER_01: She showed me what coffee to buy.
SPEAKER_01: This is really, really good coffee.
SPEAKER_01: Because I realized that God had called me 3,000 miles from San Diego to come to the Pentagon.
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't making coffee for just anybody.
SPEAKER_01: I was making coffee representing the King of Kings.
SPEAKER_01: I made the best coffee in that building.
SPEAKER_01: That was holy ground for me.
SPEAKER_01: Every day I came in after that realized, take off your shoes, Joyce.
SPEAKER_01: You've been called to this position of leadership to wash the feet of people who drink coffee.
SPEAKER_01: My friends, where's holy ground for you?
SPEAKER_01: Where has God got you right now?
SPEAKER_01: You say, I don't necessarily love where I am, but I'm here to serve.
SPEAKER_01: I'm here to wash feet.
SPEAKER_01: This is what God has called me to, right?
SPEAKER_01: This is my position of leadership right here now, servant leadership.
SPEAKER_01: Where has God called you?
SPEAKER_01: Well, thirdly, not only are we we preparing to lead and serving on holy ground, but thirdly, I say we have to learn to lead with compassion for the people that God's called us to lead, but consistency to his word.
SPEAKER_01: Compassion for them, but be consistent to the word.
SPEAKER_01: Keep turning to the right for Joshua chapter 7.
SPEAKER_01: We know after this incident here that we read in the end of Joshua chapter 5, that they do take on the city of Jericho.
SPEAKER_01: Very unique approach.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's taught at the War College or at West Point, where they circle Jericho for six straight days, and then on the seventh day they circle and shout, and the walls go in.
SPEAKER_01: God had given the specific direction.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that's alive must be dead.
SPEAKER_01: Everything must be wiped out in the city of Jericho.
SPEAKER_01: And, and, all of the booty, all of the loot, take none of it.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing to put on eBay, nothing to put on marketplace, leave it all behind.
SPEAKER_01: Everything.
SPEAKER_01: Leave it all behind.
SPEAKER_01: Woe to the person that takes anything.
SPEAKER_01: And we know the story that they did go in and obliterate the city of Jericho, and they knocked out everything, killed everything, laid it out exactly what God had told them.
SPEAKER_01: But somebody took something that was under the ban.
SPEAKER_01: They decided to go to the next city, I.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua says, it's a really small city.
SPEAKER_01: We did so well in Jericho.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just going to send a small contingent of 3,000 men there.
SPEAKER_01: And they go up to I and they really get overturned by the people of I.
SPEAKER_01: And they lose 36 people.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua comes and tears his clothes before the Lord and says, Lord, what happened?
SPEAKER_01: I thought we were serving you.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua's the leader of the nation.
SPEAKER_01: I thought we were serving you well.
SPEAKER_01: We were on track.
SPEAKER_01: God says, somebody from your tribes of people have taken what's under the ban.
SPEAKER_01: And you're responsible, Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: You're responsible.
SPEAKER_01: And God helps Joshua narrow down all of the tribes to find this man.
SPEAKER_01: We know his name is Achan.
SPEAKER_01: And Achan is brought before Joshua and before the entire nation of Israel to give an account for what he had done.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua has so loved these people.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, right from the start, when he was given leadership in chapter 1, the first thing he did was have his deputies go out and say, make sure everybody has everything they need.
SPEAKER_01: I want my people taken care of.
SPEAKER_01: That's servant leadership.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua has loved these people.
SPEAKER_01: He's loved them greatly.
SPEAKER_01: And now one of them stands before him that he knows he must be punished.
SPEAKER_01: How difficult is that?
SPEAKER_01: Look what he says in Joshua chapter 7, specifically right to the task here in verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: Then Joshua said to Achan, Baini.
SPEAKER_01: It's Hebrew for my son.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, Joshua would not say that to normally to a man unless it was his son.
SPEAKER_01: Unless it was really his firstborn son.
SPEAKER_01: In the Hebrew context, he would not say this.
SPEAKER_01: But he so loved these people as a leader.
SPEAKER_01: He was so connected to them.
SPEAKER_01: And they felt the same towards Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: That when Achan stands before him, it's killing Joshua what he has to do.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua said to Achan, my son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and give praise to him.
SPEAKER_01: And tell me now what you have done.
SPEAKER_01: Do not hide it from me.
SPEAKER_01: Achan loved Joshua so much that he instantly comes clean.
SPEAKER_01: He says, and Achan answered Joshua, Truly I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did.
SPEAKER_01: I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, and I coveted them, and I took them.
SPEAKER_01: See, they're hidden in the earth inside my tent with silver underneath.
SPEAKER_01: So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to that tent.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, it was hidden in the tent with silver underneath.
SPEAKER_01: They took them out of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel, and they laid them down before the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan, the son of Zirah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar and the gold and the sons and daughters, and his oxen and his donkeys, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had, and they brought up them up to the valley of Achor.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua said, Why did you bring this trouble on us?
SPEAKER_01: The Lord brings trouble on you today.
SPEAKER_01: And all of Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones, and they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day.
SPEAKER_01: Then the Lord turned from his burning anger.
SPEAKER_01: This was difficult for Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: He loved his people.
SPEAKER_01: He loved this man so much that he would violate his own culture and call him my son.
SPEAKER_01: He loved him with great compassion.
SPEAKER_01: But he knew he needed to be consistent to the word of God and to what God had told him to do.
SPEAKER_01: How difficult is that the squadron that I eventually went to command had gone through great difficulty.
SPEAKER_01: A non-Christian assignment officer called me from Washington.
SPEAKER_01: I was out in San Diego.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm sending you to this squadron because you're a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And they are so morally corrupt that they need somebody who has some balance in their life to write that ship.
SPEAKER_01: Will you go?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, We'll go.
SPEAKER_01: That's when I had prayed about it, and we said we would go to that squadron.
SPEAKER_01: I I won't even describe for you what had been going on, the culture that had been built up in that squadron.
SPEAKER_01: It was rock bottom.
SPEAKER_01: It was an embarrassment to the fighter community, it would have been an embarrassment to the United States.
SPEAKER_01: And we went out there and just loved on those people.
SPEAKER_01: I remember we were leaving for deployment.
SPEAKER_01: For about a year, we I had been there before we left for deployment.
SPEAKER_01: And every Friday Deshua and my children would come and bring cupcakes or cookies for the men in the squadron.
SPEAKER_01: We were 300 of them.
SPEAKER_01: And we would just love on them, and at Christmas time we would bring them gifts, and we really wanted to establish a relationship with them and demonstrate the love of God towards them.
SPEAKER_01: I got everybody from the squadron at the squadron movie theater, at the uh base movie theater, and I put all of my 300 troops on this side, and then I put all of their families, their wives, if they were dating someone, they were invited, their kids were there, there were hundreds of them there.
SPEAKER_01: This was two days before we left on a seven-month deployment.
SPEAKER_01: And I just reminded them how much I loved them, and they knew how much I loved them.
SPEAKER_01: And I told them as much as I could in the unclassified what we would be doing during that deployment.
SPEAKER_01: And then I said, My desire is to bring your families, your men back to you changed.
SPEAKER_01: And I meant that in all the ways that they understood.
SPEAKER_01: And then two days later we left on deployment, and we had a couple of days where we were not flying.
SPEAKER_01: And so I gathered my officers together, all of the aviators.
SPEAKER_01: There was about 35 of them, in what was called the ready room on the ship.
SPEAKER_01: And we discussed a little bit of the administrative part of our deployment for seven months and operationally what some of the combat issues that we would be dealing with as well.
SPEAKER_01: And then at the end of it, right before the end of the meeting, I said, I'd like to give you a little philosophy of leadership.
SPEAKER_01: And I spoke to them a little bit about my background, my walk with the Lord, the priority for my family, the priority for their family, and they knew how much I loved them as well.
SPEAKER_01: And so they really listened.
SPEAKER_01: But then I laid out a warning for them and I said, You know, I love your families too much to let you hurt them.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I know it's been common practice that when we come into a foreign port, many of you take your wedding rings off and tag them.
SPEAKER_01: And you think it's okay that, hey, whatever happens in port happens in port, and you go and have your fun.
SPEAKER_01: But I told them that those days are over, those days are behind you.
SPEAKER_01: I said, if it comes to my attention that any of you are messing around on your wives or your girlfriends, you're going home.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, you'll pay your way home.
SPEAKER_01: I'll get you off the ship and pay your, you'll pay your own way home.
SPEAKER_01: And you can ring the doorbell or make the call from the airport looking for a ride.
SPEAKER_01: You can explain to your wives, you can explain to your family why you're coming home from deployment.
SPEAKER_01: But I will not allow you to hurt your family.
SPEAKER_01: Everything is different now.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you could have heard a pin drop, as you can imagine in that.
SPEAKER_01: For many in their fund meter went, the meeting was over, and most of them got up pretty disgusted with me, and they left, except for one young lieutenant who was quite brave.
SPEAKER_01: And he came up and said, Hey Skipper, um, can I speak to you freely and openly?
SPEAKER_01: I said, sure.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You're an idiot.
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't quite expecting that.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You can't dictate your morals on us.
SPEAKER_01: And I told him, I said, you know, I'm not dictating your morals, I'm just abiding by the uniform code of military justice.
SPEAKER_01: Your adultery is against the law in the military.
SPEAKER_01: You can be thrown in jail, you can be reduced in rank, you can have a lot of your pay taken from you by committing adultery.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I'm really just here to protect you and your families.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the more important thing there was a time that you stood before a host of witnesses, an Almighty God, and a pastor, and you made a pledge, you took a vow to that wife.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, if I can't trust you to keep the most basic of the principles that you agreed to before God and a host of witnesses, how could I ever entrust you with issues of national security that could affect millions of people?
SPEAKER_01: Don't violate it, you'll be the first to go.
SPEAKER_01: Well, he walked out in a huff just like the others.
SPEAKER_01: And they avoided me like the plague for the next couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_01: Our entire transit over to where we were going.
SPEAKER_01: I was a persona non grata.
SPEAKER_01: But as soon as we got to the Korean Peninsula and we were doing some operations in support of some NATO missions that we're doing against North Korea, I was leading most of those flights, and so they had to come back and interact with me.
SPEAKER_01: And eventually things settled down on the deployment, and we kind of got back to normal.
SPEAKER_01: Word had traveled back to the wives, what I had said.
SPEAKER_01: And I got a number of supporting responses through my wife from those wives.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we came home that that year, two days before Christmas, and I remember leading this 10-plane F-14 formation into Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego.
SPEAKER_01: It was the coolest thing.
SPEAKER_01: I wish you'd been there.
SPEAKER_01: You talk about the sound of freedom.
SPEAKER_01: But we came in and we landed.
SPEAKER_01: And before I went in and saw my family, I went and greeted every one of my guys as they got out of that airplane.
SPEAKER_01: And I just went over and shook their hand and said, Hey, on behalf of a Grateful Nation, thanks for a job well done.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome home and Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: Not a one of them would say it publicly, but almost every one of the guys pulled me in and said, Hey Skipper, I just want to thank you for holding me accountable.
SPEAKER_01: One guy said this is the first deployment is coming home with that of venereal disease in seven deployments.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for holding me accountable.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, we're called to love the people that God has given us to lead with great compassion.
SPEAKER_01: But we need to be consistent to the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Consistent to the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Lastly, all the way to the end of the Joshua chapter 24.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua chapter 24, in the people that God's given us to lead, we need to cast a huge shadow.
SPEAKER_01: We need to use our use our leadership influence for the glory of God, for these people that God's given us to lead.
SPEAKER_01: We need to cast a huge shadow, our our influence ought to be massive over them if we're walking with the Lord, serving Him well.
SPEAKER_01: At the very end of the book of Joshua, if anybody could take the credit for what they did, if anybody could stand up before all of the nation of Israel and say, here's the assignment we were given, here's what we did, we did it successfully, and I did it.
SPEAKER_01: If his arm was long enough, Joshua, nobody wouldn't have a problem with Joshua patting himself on the back.
SPEAKER_01: But we see none of that.
SPEAKER_01: We see only humility from Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, Joshua chapter 23, in the first part of 24, he basically says, this is what God did.
SPEAKER_01: Not what Joshua did.
SPEAKER_01: This is what God did.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, he did everything that God asked him to do.
SPEAKER_01: He had a very successful leadership.
SPEAKER_01: But at the end of his life, rather than taking credit, he gives all the glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: But he still understands the influence that he had.
SPEAKER_01: And with the last breaths, at least what the book gives is the impression, with Joshua's last breaths, knowing the influence he had, knowing how people respected him and the credibility he had, he still uses that to glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: Verses that we're very familiar with here in Joshua chapter 24.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses 14 and 15.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua says, Therefore, after he's recounted all of the things that God has done, he says, Therefore, fear the Lord, serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He says, if it's evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, then choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods that your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.
SPEAKER_01: He says, But as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't shy away from telling them where his allegiance is.
SPEAKER_01: And he uses his influence to say, if you want to follow me and my family, here's what we're doing.
SPEAKER_01: I have learned to know the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: I have learned that I'm going to live it out in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to forget that I report to God.
SPEAKER_01: I have accountability directly to God.
SPEAKER_01: I realize that someplace He's got me, that's holy ground.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to serve well on holy ground.
SPEAKER_01: And every one of you, you know I've loved you.
SPEAKER_01: But I've also been consistent to God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And here we are at the end of my life.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to follow the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Not following Joshua, but I would want you to follow my God.
SPEAKER_01: As for me and my house, this is who we're going to serve.
SPEAKER_01: You know what's interesting is when you get to verse 31 of Joshua, chapter 24, it gives you kind of the influence of Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we read.
SPEAKER_01: That opening scripture is in Numbers chapter 13 in the first part of 14.
SPEAKER_01: Because remember the story I related that the only people that are left of that generation, the men, are Joshua and Caleb.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody else has died in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't make the crossing of the Jordan River into the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: It's just Joshua and Caleb.
SPEAKER_01: And look what it says in verse 31.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Israel's, talking about the nation of Israel, Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Simple math would tell you, Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: That's his generation, the women that were remaining, and just Caleb.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's elders that they prepped and trained who are now leading after that.
SPEAKER_01: And those elders are leading somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: So really, in this one verse, we can almost picture that there's three generations of people: Joshua's generation, then the elders' generation, and the generation that the elders are leading.
SPEAKER_01: It's that they were all serving the Lord as a result of one man.
SPEAKER_01: The consistency of the leadership of one man who knew the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: He lived it out his life.
SPEAKER_01: He understood that he was accountable to God.
SPEAKER_01: He realized he was on holy ground.
SPEAKER_01: He loved these people with consistency.
SPEAKER_01: He was compassionate.
SPEAKER_01: And he cast a huge shadow.
SPEAKER_01: And as a result, they followed the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Because they followed the leadership and example of one man.
SPEAKER_01: I often ask this question by looking in the mirror, but I'll share the question with you.
SPEAKER_01: For some reason, God used Joshua to effect it looks like at least three generations here are following after God as a result of one man, Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: Then I look in the mirror and say to myself, Joyce, who's following the Lord as a result of you?
SPEAKER_01: Let me share that with you.
SPEAKER_01: As a result of Joshua's leadership, three entire generations are following the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Who's following the Lord as a result of you?
SPEAKER_01: The greatest generation is passing that mantle of leadership to us.
SPEAKER_01: What will they say of us in the days to come?
SPEAKER_01: If we don't lead now, who will?
SPEAKER_01: If we don't lead well, I shudder the thought.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, that's our desire.
SPEAKER_01: Our desire is to lead well.
SPEAKER_01: You have called us and our generation for this period of time.
SPEAKER_01: We have your word.
SPEAKER_01: You've given it to us freely.
SPEAKER_01: We don't suffer persecution in this country.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, would you use us?
SPEAKER_01: The few that you would select, who would know your word, we would live it out.
SPEAKER_01: We have a desire to make an impact, to love those people that you've given us to lead.
SPEAKER_01: That would be our desire.
SPEAKER_01: May you be pleased with our leadership, Lord, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, would you strengthen us?
SPEAKER_01: We ask this humbly in the powerful name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And now, for parting word for Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on our church or our current service times, go to IBC.church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: location, go to TMS.edu.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.