Hey everyone. My name's Megan. And on behalf of our team, we are so glad you're joining
us for Refuge. Church on the Valley. CW. If you are a guest this morning, I want to give
a special welcome. Thank you for tuning in now, before service begins, we want to give
you a few helpful tips for our time together. Number one, grab your Bible so you can
follow along with the scriptures in the message. If you don't have a Bible, don't worry.
The verses will also be available on your screen. Number two, engage with us on our
website, social media, or at online at dot com. We love to connect with you to pray with
you and to care for you. If you're joining us for the first time, please let us know by
emailing us at online at dot com and most importantly, number three, turn up the volume
and let's get ready to worship together. We love you and we hope you enjoy today's
service. Peace. Bring it all to storm surge. Dang, still raging me every way. Jesus.
Jesus, Jesus. Jesus. Jesus, Jesus. Jesus Jesus. call these bones to call these lungs.
cheese, cheese jeez, jeez good morning family. It is great to be with you today. I am so
pumped about the word God has given me to share with you. My heart has been about to
explode, waiting for this moment. And my prayer is that our time together will be
a game changer for you. Psalm 77, 14 says you are the God of great wonders. You
demonstrate your awesome power among the nations. You see our God is still a God of
great wonders miracles and amazing power. And today we celebrate him and we lean in to
his incredible power and goodness, we're currently in a series called courageous. And
this month we are looking at the life of Joshua to see how we too can live a courageous
life. Last week, we discussed the call that God placed on Joshua's life to take the
people of Israel into the promised land. God promised Joshua his power and presence,
which thankfully is something God promises us even today. Before the Israelites even
began the journey to Jericho. God shows his great power by providing a miracle. So his
people could cross the Jordan river on dry land. But now Joshua and the people of Israel
face their first test. The city of Jericho ancient Jericho was heavily fortified city
surrounded by huge walls on every side for all practical purposes, attacking Jericho
would be an impossible task. And this story though, God doesn't allow Joshua and his
army to fight in a conventional way. Instead of attacking the city in a traditional
sense, God is going to make Jericho's walls fall. Sometimes in our lives, we can find
that we come up against walls and our spiritual lives as well. These walls keep us from
the abundant life
God has for us. And they hold us back from living the courageous life. These walls can
also keep us from spiritual growth, which is an important part of becoming more like
Jesus Christ. Our feelings can become walls that taint our thinking. Our hurts can
become walls that keep us distant from others. Our shame can become walls to hide who we
really are. Our sin can become walls that keep us trapped. The beautiful truth though,
is just like Jericho. God can make the walls fall. And that's our focus this morning. I
want to teach you how to make your walls fall in your life. My prayer is that God does
miracles in our midst. Today we'll begin in Joshua chapter five, beginning in verse
seven, it says so Joshua circumcise their sons, those who had grown up to take their
father's places where they had not been circumcised on the way to the promised land.
Now, this might seem like a strange verse to start with, but it is vitally important.
Joshua was within two miles of Jericho when God told him to stop and circumcise all of
the warriors. Who, what, why would he do that? Because there was a whole new generation
who had come up after the Israelites captivity in Egypt, without participating in this
covenant with God, you see if you're going to see your walls fall first, you've got to
start with you. If you are dealing with an impossible looking
problem, you have to start with you. What I mean is that you have to settle any internal
issues that you have with God. You need to make sure you are clean before him. And I
want to encourage you to ask yourself these important questions. Is there any
unconfessed sin in my life? Is there someone in my life I need to forgive? Is there
someone I need to ask to forgive me? Is there a situation where I've harmed someone and
I need to make restitution? Has God told me to do something, but I haven't done it yet.
Am I doing the basics? Prayer Bible study worship, giving, serving. You see these
questions aren't to make you feel guilty, asking them will help you assess where you're
at in your relationship with God and where to start. You see the Israelites. They needed
to be personally ready, clean, and prepared before God, if they were going to complete
what God had called them to do, ultimately courage starts with being willing and able to
lead yourself. First and foremost, if you're going to try to tear down the walls in your
life, you don't need any distractions. You need to start with you. Now. As we move into
Joshua chapter six, we see what happens next. The time comes for Joshua and the people
of Israel to confront the walls of Jericho before they do. Joshua goes to God in chapter
six, verses one through five. Now
the Gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites.
No one was allowed to go out or in, but the Lord said to Joshua, I have given you
Jericho its King and all its strong warriors. You, your fighting men should March around
the town. Once a day for six days, seven priests will walk ahead of the arc. Each
carrying a Ram's horn. On the seventh day, you were to March around the town, seven
times with the priests blowing the horns. When you hear the priest, give one long blast
on the Rams. Whore have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the
tail will collapse and the people can charge straight into the town. In this passage, we
see the next step in making our own walls fall. Number two, you have to adjust your
thinking before the battle even started. God told Joshua I have given you Jericho it's
Kings and all that strong warriors, old Testament scholars call this prophetic perfect
tense. God didn't say I will give you Jericho, but I have given you Jericho. Why?
Because God transcends all time. And he acts as if the impossible has already happened.
And we too need to adjust our thinking and begin to think like, God let's act as though
the impossible has already come to pass in our life. We also see that God gives Joshua
specific instructions about how Jericho would
be given to them. Now, remember, Joshua is a great military leader. I imagine that he
has tactical plans already in mind that he is ready to attack, but God says, instead of
fighting, you're going to March around the walls once a day for six days, then seven
times on the seventh day. And Oh yeah. Instead of weapons, you be using Rams horns and
shouting what God are you kidding me? Listen, God doesn't always make sense, but he does
always make a way. And when we do God's will, God's way he gets all the glory. You need
to pay attention to your self-talk, the words or language you use. What you're allowing
into your mind, be willing to get out of your comfort zone and trust God. There have
been many times in my life where God didn't make any sense in the moment, but looking
back, God knew exactly what he was doing. Let's keep going in verse six. It says so
Joshua called together the priests and said, take up the art of the Lord's covenant and
assign seven priests to walk in front of it. Each carrying a Ram's horn. Then he gave
orders to the people March around the town and the arm to men will lead the way in front
of the Ark of the Lord. After Joshua spoke to the people, the seven priests with Rams
horns started marching in the presence of the Lord, blowing the horns as they
marched and the Ark of the Lord's covenant followed behind them. Some of the armed men
marched in front of the priests with the horns and some behind the arch with the priest
continually blowing the horns. Do not shout, do not even talk Joshua commanded, not a
single word from any of you until I tell you to shout then shout. So the Ark of the Lord
was carried around the town once that day, and then everyone returned to spend the night
in the camp. So Joshua got up early the next morning and the priest again carried the
Ark of the Lord, the seven priests with the Rams horns marched in front of the Ark of
the Lord, blowing their horns. Again, the armed men marched in the front of the priests
with the horns. Then behind the Ark of the Lord. All this time, the priests were blowing
their horns. On the second day, they marched around the town once and returned to camp.
They followed this pattern for six days on the seventh day, the Israelites got up and
Dawn and marched around the town as they had done before. But this time they went around
the town seven times. Now the third thing that you have to do, if you're going to see
your walls fall is don't get impatient. Don't get impatient. I can't imagine being
Joshua and having to go tell the people that were going to take Garrett Jericho in such
an unconventional way. I can hear the murmuring. Now day one may have been exciting, but
I'm sure by day six, everyone was wondering what was really going on this Joshua know
what he is doing. Heck Joshua May have been thinking the same thing about God, God, do
you know what you're doing? But one of the keys to breakthrough is to stay focused, take
your time and don't get impatient walls. Don't move easily. And the more impossible the
wall, the longer it may take for it to fall. Keep your eyes on God and keep marching.
Even if days turned to weeks or months or years, don't give up, don't give in and don't
get impatient. Now this last verse is my favorite verse 20. When the people heard the
sound of the Ram's horns, they shouted as loud as they could suddenly the walls of
Jericho collapsed and the Israel lights charged straight into the town and captured it.
Number four, you need to practice your praise. It was praise that God used to finally
bring down the walls of Jericho and praise can take down your walls as well. Praise God,
I trust you. Praise says, God, you are bigger than any wall in my life. Praise has power
and it still has power. Now. Yeah. Praise brought down Jericho's walls. Praise opened
Paul's jail. Cell praise destroy Jehosaphat's enemies. Praise puts our focus on God.
Praise brings us to a place of humility. Praise leaves
no room for negativity. Praise invites. God's presence. It's praise paves the way for
miracles. If you're going to see those walls fall, you need to sing. You need to clap.
You need to blow that Ram's horn. You need to shout before the Lord and give him all
your praise. But in order to praise God, you need to know God and knowing God starts
with trusting Jesus Christ. Then maybe you're watching and you have no idea what I'm
talking about. Maybe you're watching or listening and you know, there's something
missing in your life. You don't have that relationship with God. You don't even know
what it would be like to talk to him. Listen, the Bible is clear that every person on
earth is born a sinner. We have a sin nature. We naturally want to rebel against God to
be our own boss, to be our own board, to do our own thing. It started with Adam and Eve
in the garden of Eden. When they disobeyed God and tried to become like God. From that
moment on our relationship with God was broken. When sin entered the world and we could
not stand before a Holy God. And we were destined for a very real place called hell a
place of torment and punishment. But listen, the Bible says that God loved you so much.
That from the very beginning in the garden of Eden, from the very moment that our
relationship was broken,
God put a plan into place to save the day to save our lives, to save our souls. And
what's amazing is that God didn't send a priest. He didn't send an angel. He sent his
son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh who came to earth and lived a perfect life. Jesus
never did anything wrong. He never said anything wrong. He never even thought anything
wrong. He never sinned this God, man, Jesus. So that he could be the perfect sacrifice
for our sin. So because of him, we can have forgiveness and we can be set free to do
that. We could have a home in heaven with God when we die. But right now, while we're on
this earth, we can have a relationship restored and we can experience God's peace.
Here's the beautiful thing. Jesus has already done the hard work. He was nailed to a
cross. He was tortured and tormented. And the wrath of God that should be poured down on
us, was pour down on him. And in that moment he experienced hell separation from God.
But three days later, Jesus Christ Rose from the grave. He Rose in victory over sin and
over death and over the devil. And he paved a way for us to have a relationship with God
again. Yeah. And the Bible is clear. You can have a second chance. You can have a fresh
start in this life through Jesus. And all you have to do
is decide to follow him. And this morning, I want to give you that opportunity no matter
where you're at, no matter where you're watching or listening from in this moment, you
too can give your life to Jesus Christ. And if that's you and you want to have peace
with God, you want to know that you two have a brand new life that you have at home and
heaven. I invite you to pray with me this morning. God, I've been going my own way with
my life. I've been doing my own thing. I've been trying to be my own, God, God, I've
rebelled against you. And today I realized that I need a savior. I need someone to save
me. And that person is Jesus Christ. God. I believe that Jesus died on a cross and I
believe he Rose again from the grave and he is still alive in heaven. And he is calling
to me God. Today. I ask you to forgive me, to change me in Jesus. I declare that you are
my Lord and I want to follow you for the rest of my life. I love you, Jesus. And it's in
your name. I pray. Amen. If that was you, congratulations. It's a greatest decision that
you could ever make with your life is to follow Jesus Christ. And I want to invite you.
Please do not change the channel. Do not turn this video off until you let somebody
know,
because we all have hurts and bad habits and hangups in our life. And here we want to
help you. We want to help you become everything that God has created you to be. But you
have to let us know if you're watching on the Valley CW, you can go to our website or if
you're online right now, our digital connect card link is available in the post above or
in the comments below. Please take a moment and connect with us. Cause your faith
doesn't stop today. It starts today. And we want to walk with you on your new journey
with God. Now, at the end of every service, we dedicate time to prayer because we value
prayer. We know that it is vital to our walk with God. And I know that people watching
and listening today that you may be going through tough times, hard situations in
difficult circumstances. And you even need people to pray for you and what you're going
through. That's what this time is about. Just like last week. What we want to do in just
a moment is just stop for a moment and take some time and just worship Jesus. And while
we're worshiping one last time together today, I invite you. If you have prayer
requests, you can post them in the comments below. You can email us. You can send it in
a prayer, go ahead, card on our website, whatever that looks like for you,
let us know because I want to be praying for you. Our pastors want to be praying for you
and our prayer teams want to be lifting up your name to Jesus. So let's just stop for a
moment and let's worship together. One last time today. sweet. Jesus. We love you. And
we thank you for this moment. God, that we can call out to you on behalf of our brothers
and sisters, watching locally and all around the world. God, I don't know what everybody
is going through, but I know that you do. And father, I ask you right now in Jesus'
name, would you meet people right where they're at? Even in this moment, even in their
homes, God, would they feel your very presence, the presence of your Holy spirit and
your power. God, if it's joy that they need, would you open up heaven and pour out your
joy? God, if it is peace, your word says that you are the Prince of peace and you can
move piece their way. If it's provisioned, God, I pray that you would be there strong
hold that you would be their provider and God, if it is healing father, we pray for
healing in Jesus' name. Would you be they're great physician, father. We don't know what
this week holds, but we know the one who knows and God in this moment we individually
and collectively say, Jesus, we trust you. And father. I specifically pray
today for those who are watching those who are listening, everyone that can hear the
sound of my voice, that has walls that need to fall in their life. Father in Jesus name,
I pray for a breakthrough just like Jericho. God. I pray that the walls will fall, that
they would experience the freedom that they so desperately seek and desire. You got our
promise. We will be careful to give you all the honor and all the glory and it's in
Jesus name. We pray. Amen. thank you again for joining us for this morning service. We
truly hope our time together made an impact in your walk with God. If you made the life
changing decision to trust in Jesus as your Lord and savior. Congratulations following
Jesus truly is the greatest decision you will ever make. Please let us know by emailing
us@onlineatrefuge.com, we want to reach out and help you grow in your faith. Remember,
our pastoral staff is always available for ministry. If you need pastoral care or have a
prayer request, please submit the care and support form@findrefugeshear.com slash care.
And a member of our pastoral team will contact you if you are a member of our church
family and would like to financially support the mission and vision of Refuge Church.
There are three easy ways to give online by text, or you can mail a check to the Church
office. Refuge Church we love you. And we hope to see you
again soon.

Hey everyone. My name's Megan. And on behalf of our team, we are so glad you're joining
us for refuge church on the Valley. CW. If you were a guest this morning, I want to give
a special welcome. Thank you for tuning in now, before service begins, we want to give
you a few helpful tips for our time together. Number one, grab your Bible so you can
follow along with the scriptures in the message. If you don't have a Bible, don't worry.
The verses will also be available on your screen. Number two, engage with us on our
website, social media, or at online at dot com. We'd love to connect with you to pray
with you and to care for you. If you're joining us for the first time, please let us
know by emailing us at online at dot com and most importantly, number three, turn up the
volume and let's get ready to worship together. We love you and we hope you enjoyed
today. Service seems like wanted a ghost lift in my path in shackles of all my failure.
Dream. How long is this? You look at this prisoner. Say to me, son, stop fighting the
fight. It's all ready. I am read DBE. You set me free. Sue bow, shake up these heavy
chain. Why buoy every stain. I'm not who I used to be. I am read the, Oh my live by a
being gone, a worthy name by the boys
and my shame and regret. When I hear you whisper town, lift up your head. I remember
wrote God, yo, not down with me. I am Reedy. You set me free SU wow. Shake up these
heavy chains and why Bowie Hammerstein. No mom Nadu. I used to be because I don't have
to be the old man inside of me is his days long, dead and gone because I've got a new
name, a new life. I'm not the same. And that will carry me home. I am Reedy. You set me
free to all shake up these heavy chains. Why buoy every stain? No mom, not who I used to
be. I am reteach you set me free. Wow. Shake up these heavy chains and why buoy every
stain. No mom Nadu. I used to be God, I'm not who I used to be. Jesus. I'm not who I
used to be a Emery bee. Thank God. Moving in. Uh, Oh, wash, working in you a way. Make
miracle promise. who I make miracle promise. Kim light in the dark. you are here. You
are here. You are here. You are here. promise. Keep. never stop working. Never stop.
Never stop working. Even when I don't see it. You work. Even when I don't feel it, you
never stop. You never stop working. You never stop. Never stop working. Even when I
don't see it, you work. Even when I don't feel it, you never stop. Never stop
working and never stop. Never stop. Hey, church, family. Good morning. Thank you for
worshiping with us online today, whether you're watching from Huntsville, Haiti, hungry
or anywhere in between, we are grateful that you chose to spend your time with us. I've
been praying for you all week long, asking God to speak in a powerful way. I've also
been praying that we would have ears to hear and truly listen to what God wants to say
to us. In my devotional time, I came across this verse from Exodus 15, verse two, it
says the Lord is my strength and my song. He has given me victory. This is my God. And I
will praise him. My father's God. And I will exalt him. I love this. That's what we're
here to do today. Whether it's in our building or in our homes, exalt our God because he
is worthy. Now we're in the middle of a series called courageous you over the past two
weeks, we've been looking at the life of Joshua as he leads. God's people, Israel into
the promised land. Last week, we studied the battle of Jericho and we learned how to
make our walls fall today. I want us to see what happened after Israel's incredible
victory. If you have your Bible with you this morning, we'll be in Joshua chapter seven,
starting in verse one. But if you don't have a Bible, don't worry. The verses will be on
the screen
for you to follow along. Now, before we jump in, let's take a moment and ask God to
speak to us. Jesus, thank you for this opportunity. Thank you for your word. Holy
spirit. Would you speak to our hearts and change our lives today in Jesus name? Amen.
Joshua seven, starting in verse one, but Israel violated the instructions about the
things set apart for the Lord. A man named Aiken had stolen some of these dedicated
things. So the Lord was very angry with the Israelites Aiken was the son of cormy a
descendant of of the tribe of Judah, Joshua, and some of his men from Jericho sent some
of them to spot out the town of AI, East of Bethel, near Beth Haven. When they returned,
they told Joshua there's no need for all of us to go up there. It won't take more than
two or 3000 men to AI since there are so few of them don't make all of our people
struggle to go up there. So approximately 3000 warriors were sent, but they were soundly
defeated. The men of AI chased the Israelites from the town gate. As far as the quarries
and they killed about 36, who were retreating down the slope. The Israelites were
paralyzed with fear at this turn of events and listen, their courage melted away. Can
you imagine after just experiencing the thrill of victory at Jericho, now the Israelites
find themselves running for their lives. Uh,
people who were supposed to be strong and courageous were now paralyzed by fear with
their courage melting away. This month, we've been discussing how to live the courageous
life. And there is nothing that will make courage, melt away like facing failure. None
of us like to fail. I know that I don't failure brings out our insecurities. That brings
them to the surface. It causes us to doubt our abilities and our calling. We may even
allow failure to derail all God is doing in our life. As I read these verses, I found
myself asking the question. If God was with them, why did they fail? What God showed me
is that the things that caused Israel to fail and lose their courage or the same things
that can cause us to fail today. If you're taking notes first, they were disobedient.
Verse one tells us that a man named Aiken, disobeyed God. And as a result, all of Israel
faced the consequences. But what did he do? We see the answer in Joshua five 18, God
said, do not take any of the things set apart for destruction or you yourselves will be
completely destroyed and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel. Everything made
from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his
treasury. You see, after the Israelites conquered Jericho, God told them that some items
were to be destroyed and some were considered
sacred and belong to God. Aiken got greedy and soul. Some of the items considered
sacred. If you remember back to week one of this series, we learned that obedience was
required for success. Aiken, disobeyed God. And as a result, all of Israel suffered in
our lives. Obedience is vital as well. God has called us and instructed us to live with
integrity, to value holiness, reject sin, and care about his kingdom. God is still
looking for obedience today. His second, they got cocky. After the victory over Jericho,
the people of Israel were feeling pretty good. So Joshua sent spies to AI to scope out
their enemies. When the spas came back, they told Joshua, there's no need to send the
whole army. This is going to be a piece of cake. They should be able to do the job with
just two or 3000 men. And fortunately not only were they defeated, they were chased out
of town and 36 men were killed while they were retreating. It was an embarrassment and
it was a tragedy. Maybe they mistook God's power for their own. And maybe they didn't
want to bother God since the battle looks so easy. For whatever reason, between Jericho
and AI, Israel's confidence in God transformed into cockiness and they paid the price.
Proverbs 16 verse 18 reminds us that pride goes before destruction and haughtiness
before a fall, it happened to Joshua and it can happen to us. Sometimes we will
face failure in our life because we allow pride, arrogance, and ego to take us down the
wrong path in this passage. We also see that ultimately, they left God out. What I find
interesting is that in almost every chapter until chapter seven, it starts with the
phrase the Lord said to Joshua. And every situation Joshua is spending time with God,
listening to God. But with AI, it's different. Did Joshua decided not to spend time with
God that day was God speaking and Joshua not listening. I don't know. What I do know is
God is never mentioned in the decision to take a small army, to try to conquer AI. They
left God out of the decision. If you want to fail, this is definitely the key yet.
Leaving God out can be commonplace in our companies, our churches, and in our daily
decisions, we tend to lean on our own education, our experiences, our feelings, or the
opinions of others instead of going to God. And this is proof that it doesn't matter how
easy we think something is. We don't ever want to go into a situation without God's
blessing. Now you may be thinking, Jason, this is all good advice to keep me from
failing in the future. But what if I've already failed? I'm so glad you asked. Let's
keep reading in verse 13. It says get up command the people to purify themselves and
preparation for tomorrow for this is what
the Lord, the God of Israel says hidden among you. O Israel are things set apart for the
Lord. You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you
see in this verse, God gives Joshua and he gives us a plan to overcome failure and
regain their courage. Quite simply, God says, get up, get right and get ready. Get up.
God is saying that your failure doesn't define you. Don't allow your failure to
discourage you. You might be down, but you're not out. He says, get real God didn't
mince words. He told Joshua that there were some real problems that needed to be
corrected. Mainly they needed to find out who disobeyed and stole the sacred items from
Jericho and in our lives. We have to get real and we have to understand why we failed so
that we too can make corrections. And then God said, get ready, get ready because you're
not done yet. God's call is still on your life. You are not disqualified. God made it
clear that once they corrected course that they would again, defeat their enemies. Get
ready because failure doesn't have to be final. God can have the last word. If you let
him, maybe you're watching you're listening today. And what you're feeling goes even
deeper than failure. And maybe you question whether God even knows you or cares about
you. Listen, this is for you. The Bible says in John three 16,
that God so loved the world. He gave his one and only son that anyone who believes in
him shall not perish, but have ever lasting life, eternal life. God knows you and God
loves you. It doesn't matter how bad you failed in the past. It doesn't matter what
you've done. God loves you. And he loves you with such a passionate love w with such a
reckless love that he stepped out of heaven. As the God, man, Jesus Christ, to make a
way for you to be saved for you to be rescued from your sin. You see each and every one
of us is born a sinner. We all rebel against God. We do things. Think things, say things
that disobeyed him and dishonor him. And because of that, we receive punishment. But
here's the deal. God doesn't want you to receive that punishment. He doesn't want you to
experience hell no. Instead God came down from heaven and lived a perfect life. As the
God, man, Jesus Christ. He willingly himself up to die on a cross to take your
punishment, to take your sin so that you wouldn't have to experience cell Jesus died so
that you may have life, but he didn't stay dead. And the Bible says that three days
later, Jesus Rose again from the grave. And he proved to everyone that he was exactly
who he said, he was the son of God in the flesh. Now you may listen
to that and say, gosh, I want Jesus. I want to follow him. I want to be forgiven. I want
my relationship with God restored. It must be so hard. What do I have to do? Here's the
beautiful thing. Jesus has already done the hard work and he has made forgiveness and
salvation available for you. All you have to do is accepted. Trust him and make the
decision to follow him with your life. To say, Jesus, I'm not going to be the God. I'm
not going to be the boss of my own life anymore. Jesus, I'm going to follow you. I want
you to be in charge. I want you to be in control and it doesn't mean that it's going to
be easy. No, but no matter what you come up against in your life, you can have the full
confidence that Jesus is with you, that he has never going to leave you or abandon you.
But it's a decision that only you can make. And I want to give you that opportunity
today. Here's what I want to ask you to do. I'm just going to ask everyone to bow your
head and close your eyes. Let's make this a personal moment. If you can do that. And if
you're watching or listening and you know that you need to have peace with God that you
need to do over a second chance, a fresh start, a new life, whatever you want to
call it and invite you to pray this with me today. God, I realize today that I'm a
sinner. I've been doing things and saying things and thinking things that God they're
just wrong. They disobey you. They dishonor. You really got, I've been rebelling against
you because I've wanted to do my own thing. And I realized now that I need to be saved,
I need to be rescued because I'm destined for hell God. I realized that that savior is
your son. Jesus Christ. God. I believe that Jesus died on a cross and that he Rose again
from the grave so that I could have an abundant life. God, would you forgive me? Would
you save me? Would you make me brand new today? Jesus, you are my Lord. And I want to
follow you for the rest of my life in Jesus. It's in your name. I pray. Amen. If that
was you, that is the greatest that you can make with your life. But please don't change
the channel. Don't turn off this video without reaching out and letting somebody know
you can go to our website or you can check out our digital connect card and the post
above or in the comments below, give us a name and email address. Let us know if you
became a Christian today, or if you ready to dedicated your life to Christ today,
whatever decision you made, let us know because we want to pray for
you. And we want to celebrate with you. And not only that, I want to send you my ebook
next step for new believers, because there are some things that you can do to grow in
your new found faith, to become more like Jesus, to be everything that God has called
you to be. And we want to make that available for you. We love you and we are for you
and Jesus loves you. And he is for you. Now at the end of every service, we dedicate
time to prayer. It's a part of, of Jesus knowing you. It's a part of Jesus showing his
love for you and us showing our love for you to say that you're so important to us, that
we want to pray for you. We want to pray in agreement with you. We want to call your
name out to Jesus for whatever it is that you're going through. And so in just a moment,
we're going to worship together one last time today. And while we're worshiping at,
maybe you just need to stop and take a moment and worship it. Maybe if you're in your
home or if you're in a private place, you just want to throw your hands up and you want
to sing praises to God, but maybe you have something that's burdening your heart. Maybe
you have a prayer request that you want to let us know about. I encourage you. You can
fill out
our prayer and care card online. You can email us or you're welcome to post your prayer
requests in the comments below. And we would love to pray with you and for you. Let's
pray together in worship. God. We love you. And we thank you again for this opportunity
to worship you and praise you and be in your presence. God, because we know that a
moment with you can change everything. And father, I pray for people who are watching
and listening here and around the globe, father, I don't know everyone's name. I don't
know everyone's situation or circumstance, but our proclaim that you do, you know, every
hair on people's heads, you know, their hurts, you know, they're suffering, you know,
their successes, you know their dreams and you know their failures and father in this
moment, I pray for those who have failed. God, maybe they've failed in business. Maybe
they felt in relationships. Maybe they failed in parenting. Maybe they've experienced a
moral failure, God, whatever it is right now in the name of Jesus, would you give them
such a God confidence that life is not over for them, that you have more God that you
are not done with them yet, father, through the power of your Holy spirit, would you
encourage them? Would you strengthen them? Would you empower them? Would you equip them
God so that they would get up, that they would get real, that they would get ready
for what you have for them? God bother. I pray for those who have even over the past few
moments sent in their prayer requests. Father. We pray in agreement with our friends and
church family. God would you move in such a mighty way? And we're going to give you the
honor and glory. And we ask this in jesus' name, the name above every other name. Amen.
Thank you again for joining us for this morning service. We truly hope our time together
made an impact in your walk with God. If you made the life changing decision to trust in
Jesus as your Lord and savior. Congratulations following Jesus truly is the greatest
decision you will ever make. Please let us know by emailing us at online at dot com, we
want to reach out and help you grow in your faith. Remember, our pastoral staff is
always available for ministry. If you need pastoral care or have a prayer request,
please submit the care and support form@findrefugehere.com slash care. And a member of
our pastoral team will contact you. If you were a member of our church family and would
like to financially support the mission and the vision of refuge church. There are three
easy ways to get online by text, or you can mail a check to the church office refuge
church. We love you and we hope to see you soon, but until then have a great week.

Hey everyone. My name's Megan. And on behalf
of our team, we are so glad you're joining
us for Refuge. Church on the Valley CW. If
you were a guest this morning, I want to
give a special welcome. Thank you for tuning
in now, before service begins, we want to
give you a few helpful tips for our time
together. Number one, grab your Bible so you
can follow along with the scriptures in the
message. If you don't have a Bible, don't
worry. The verses will also be available on
your screen. Number two, engage with this on
our website, social media,
or@onlineatrefuge.com. We'd love to connect
with you to pray with you and to care for
you. If you're joining us for the first
time, please let us know by emailing
us@onlineatrefuge.com and most importantly,
number three, turn up the volume and let's
get ready to worship together. We love you,
and we hope you enjoyed today's service. Our
pastoral team is here for you. If you need
us, we love you. We're interceding for you.
And we are asking God to bless you. If this
is your first time with us welcome, there
are so many great Church services. You could
be joining online or on television. We are
grateful that you are worshiping Jesus with
us today. Psalm one 1930 says I have chosen
to be faithful. I have determined to live by
your regulations. I love this verse. The
Psalmus says I have chosen
to be faithful. I have made the decision to
be full of faith, determined to be obedient
to God. Can we say the same thing in a
season where many are confused and
uncertain? Can we say with confidence that
we've chosen to be faithful? That's been my
specific prayer for each of you this week,
that you would be faithful, faithful to God,
faithful to his word and faithful to his
purpose for your life. Today is our fourth
week in the book of Joshua. As we've been
discovering how to live the courageous life
originally the day was going to be the last
Sunday in this courageous series, but we're
going to keep going into August because I
truly believe God has so much more for us to
glean from Joshua's life. Now, last week we
talked about failure. We said that defeat
doesn't mean that we're done that failure.
Isn't final. God still can, and still wants
to work in your life. The problem though is
that sometimes failure sets us back a little
bit. Doesn't it. Sometimes we lose ground
and it has to be made up for the football
team. That's lagging behind for the business
that had to declare bankruptcy for the
schools that are closed during a pandemic
for the couple that has put themselves deep
into debt. Making up for lost ground is
always hard work. The reality is that we're
going to fail from time to time, but the
real test
of our faithfulness is how we respond to our
failures. If you want to live a courageous
life, you have to be ready to try again, to
pick yourself up, to keep going. We remember
that our God is a God of second chances and
fresh starts and he wants to help you regain
the ground that you've lost. And that's what
we're going to focus in on this morning. How
do I regain lost ground in my life? If you
have your Bibles turn with me to Joshua
chapter eight, we're going to start in verse
one. And if you don't have a Bible, the
verses will be on the screen. But before we
read God's word, let's invite God's
presence. Will you pray with me? Jesus. We
love you. We exalt you and we glorify your
name. We invite your presence into this
place, into our homes and into our hearts.
Speak to us today in Jesus name. Amen.
Joshua chapter eight, starting in verse one.
Then the Lord said to Joshua, do not be
afraid or discouraged. Take all your
fighting men and attack AI for, I have given
you the King of AI, his people, his town,
and his land. You will destroy them as you
destroy Jericho and it's King. But this time
you may keep the plunder and the livestock
for yourselves set an ambush behind the
town. So Joshua and all the fighting men set
out to attack AI. Joshua chose 30,000 of
his best warriors and sent them out at night
with these orders, hide in ambush, close
behind the town and be ready for action.
When our main army attacks, the men of AI
will come out to fight as they did before,
then we will run away from them. Then we
will let them chase us until we have drawn
them away from the town for, they will say
the Israelites are running away from us as
they did before then while we are running
from them, you will jump from your ambush
and take possession of the tail for the
Lord. Your God will give it to you. Set the
tail on fire as the Lord has commanded. You
have your orders. Now, if you'll remember
from last week, Joshua and the people of
Israel had just been defeated by AI 36
warriors were killed all because of
disobedience and arrogance. Now, here they
are again, getting ready to attack AI. But
this time the circumstances were different.
Why? Because this time they decided to go
with God and this principle applies to our
lives today. If you want to regain lost
ground, you need to number one, go with God.
We can only imagine how discouraged the
Israelites were by their to feed it. AI. The
Bible says that their failure made their
courage melt away, but in chapter eight, we
see Joshua listening to God. Again,
something that was lacking in chapter seven,
God reminded Joshua and
his people. If you will go with me, you will
see a victory. He instructed them to take
the entire army to AI. Everyone was involved
this time, they set an ambush and prepared
to fake a retreat so that the people of AI
would be convinced that Israel was running
scared like they did before. Now, listen,
this is a word for somebody today. Sometimes
God takes us back to the place where we
lasted business with him in order to restore
our confidence and to restore our calling.
And in this situation, God's plan worked and
everything happened just like God said, it
would. The army of AI fell for the fake
retreat. As they chase the fleeing army of
Israel. Once hidden Israeli soldiers entered
and burned down the empty city of AI, it was
destroyed completely. And the army of AI was
defeated. Israel was Victorian. What I think
is interesting is that God said this time,
you may keep the plunder and the livestock
for yourselves. You see the reason they
failed in the first place is that one person
got greedy. He was impatient with God and he
wanted treasures to keep as his own. If
Aiken had only waited until AI, God was
going to allow the people to do what he
didn't allow it Jericho. Remember it is in
God's very nature to bless his children. If
he withholds in one season, it's because he
has a plan to bless and another.
And we too need to learn how to go with God
every day. Every moment we briefly touched
on this last week, but it is vital. We call
it yielding to the Holy spirit and Galatians
chapter five puts it this way in verse 16,
as you yield freely and fully to the dynamic
life and power of the Holy spirit, you will
abandoning the cravings of yourself life
going with God means thinking like God
loving light, God serving light. God. Life
becomes less about me and more about he. I
truly believe going with God starts, but
doing what he has already instructed us to
do. Be devoted to prayer. Spend time reading
the Bible become a generous giver, serve
other selflessly, worship him passionately.
When we go with God, fear, fleas
discouragement is defeated and God's
blessing is abundant. Let's see what happens
after their victory starting in verse 30, it
says then Joshua built an altar to the Lord.
The God of Israel on that. Ebol he followed
the commands that Moses the Lord servant had
written in the book of instruction. Make me
an alter from stones that are uncut and have
not been sharpened with iron tools. Then on
the alter, they presented burnt offerings
and peace offerings to the Lord. Second, if
you're going to ReGrained your ground, you
need to give thanks. Give thanks. After
their victory over AI, the very next thing
that Joshua did was to lead the people of
Israel in worship. They built an altar
according to Moses's specifications and
offered sacrifices as a sign of their
thankfulness to God for his victory. You see
it's tempting to start celebrating after a
victory and forget who is ultimately
responsible. But regaining ground requires
us to recognize who was fighting with us.
And for us, every victory is God. In fact,
first Thessalonians five 18 says be thankful
in all circumstances for this is God's will
for you who belong to Christ. Jesus who
Whoa. The Bible says that it is God's will
for us to be thankful. Let me ask you a
question. When is the last time you told
God, thank you. And I don't mean in passing.
When is the last time you really genuinely
passionately communicated to God, how
grateful you are for all he has done in your
life. If it's been awhile, let me encourage
you make time to be thankful. The Israelites
did it by building an altar and making
sacrifices. But the Bible says that we can
show our thankfulness today. By spending
time with him, it's more than just an hour
on Sunday at church, forgiving others,
serving in his church and with your brothers
and sisters in Christ. We show him our
gratefulness. When we reach out to hurting
people in our lives, by giving God the best
of our time, our talents and our treasures
by praising him enthusiastically from the
heart, by reveling, in his joy, keeping
him in the center of our life. And Hey, if
you need just write down everything that
you're thankful for and read it to him, let
God know how grateful you are for what he's
done in your life. Let's keep going. Verse
32. And as the Israelites watched Joshua
copied onto the stones of the alter, the
instructions Moses had given them, then all
the Israelites, foreigners and native warn
alight, along with the elders, officers and
judges were divided into two groups. One
group stood in front of Mount griseum. The
other in front of Mount Ebol. Each group
faced the other. And between them stood the
Levitical priests carrying the art of the
Lord's covenant. This was all done.
According to the commands that Moses, the
servant of the Lord had previously given for
blessing, the people of Israel, Joshua, then
read to them, all of the blessings and
curses. Moses had written in the book of
instruction. Every word of every command
that Moses had ever given was read to the
entire assembly of Israel, including the
women and children and the foreigners who
lived among. Lastly, if you want to regain
lost ground in your life, you need to renew
your commitment to God. Not only did Joshua
lead the people of Israel in praise and
worship of God, he placed a special focus on
God's word and God's covenant promises he
had made with his people. Joshua was
recommitting himself and recommitting the
people
of Israel back to God. And there are times
in our lives. When I believe it is important
for us to recommit ourselves to God as well.
Maybe it's after failure after experiencing
deep hurt, or even our own decision to walk
away from our relationship with God,
whatever, the reason there is something
powerful about saying a fresh and a new God.
I am choosing to follow you. You are number
one, you are my priority. I renew my
commitment to you today. Maybe you're
watching or listening this morning and
that's you, you know that you failed or you
know that you've drifted. And today, you
know, it it's time to regain lost ground. I
encourage you be real with God and be
renewed and refreshed in him today, but
maybe you're watching and there's never been
a time in your life where you have made a
commitment to God. Now, once you to
understand that God loves you more than you
could ever imagine. He loves you so much
that the Bible that he sent his one and only
son, Jesus Christ to live a perfect life on
this earth. He never did anything wrong. He
never thought anything wrong. He never said
anything wrong. He modeled for us how to
live. He loved people. He healed people. He
built relationships with people. And when
the time came, Jesus Christ gave himself up
to die on a cross because blood had to be
shed so that you
and I could be forgiven and set free from
our sin. Jesus did just that. The punishment
that we deserve for our sin, Jesus took it
all upon himself. On that cross. The wrath
of God was poured out on him, a sinless man,
but Jesus, he didn't stay dead. And three
days later, the Bible says that he came back
to life to prove to everyone that he is
exactly who he said. He is the son of God in
the flesh. And the Bible says that if we
will choose to follow Jesus, then our life
will be changed. In fact, the Bible says
that we will be given a brand new life like
coming from death to life is what happens in
our spirit. You can have a fresh start. You
can have a second chance right now in this
moment. If you choose to follow Jesus, if
you will believe that he died on the cross
and Rose again from the grave for you. And
it doesn't mean that life will be easy, but
it does mean that life will be blessed
because you will get to do life with the God
of the universe living inside of you. And
one day when you die, you will get to
experience heaven with him. But it's a
decision that only you can make and no one
can make for you. And this morning, I want
to invite you to make that decision. Now, if
you need Jesus,
I invite you to pray a prayer with me. This
prayer doesn't save you, but choosing to
follow Jesus does. But if this prayer helps
you communicate to God, the decision you're
making, I invite you to pray with me. You
can pray out loud. If you want to, you can
pray silently to yourself, either way. I
believe God will hear your prayer today.
Let's pray together. God, I love you. And
today I realize I'm a sinner who is in need
of a savior. God, I've been doing life on my
own. I've been doing things my own way in a
lot of ways, God, I've been trying to be my
own Lord. And today I realize that I need a
savior. And that savior is Jesus Christ.
God, I believe that your son, Jesus lived a
perfect life. He died on a cross for my sin
and you Rose again from the grave and he is
still alive today calling me to himself.
God, would you forgive me? Would you change
me? Would you give me that brand new life
today? Jesus, you are my Lord and I love
you. And it's in Jesus name. I pray amen.
Now, if that was you, congratulations. I
truly believe that is the greatest decision
that you could ever make with your life. But
please do not change the channel. Do not
turn this video off until you let someone
know. We want to celebrate with you. We want
to
pray for you and we want to help you grow in
your faith. Every one of us has hurts and
hangups and bad habits in our lives. And we
want to walk with you and help you overcome
them all. We want you to become everything
that God has created you to be. So if you'll
do me the favor and fill out that digital
connect card, whether it's on our website or
whether it's in the post above or the
comments below, just let us know that you
gave your life to Jesus today, or maybe you
chose to recommit your life to Christ today.
We would love for you to let us know that
too, because we want to send you a free
ebook that will help you grow in your faith.
Jesus loves you. And so do we now at the end
of every service, we always dedicate a time
to prayer and today is no different. I know
for many of you watching and listening over
that past few weeks, you've had to make
difficult decisions. I know there are people
struggling with health issues. I know there
are people struggling with job issues and
financial issues. And I want you to
understand that even though I may not know
everything going on in your life, we serve a
God who knows, and his name is Jehovah Gyra.
He is a provider. And this morning, I want
you to know that I am praying for you.
And we have a team of people that would love
to pray for your specific requests. You can
fill out the prayer card and the posts
below, or if you just want to comment, if
it's a public prayer request and you just
want to comment and let us know how we can
pray for you, it would be our honor and
privilege to pray along with you. What we're
going to do is we're going to worship
together one last time, the day, and as we
worship, you can take that time to pour out
your heart to God. Maybe you want to take
that time and use it as an opportunity to
let us know about your prayer requests.
Whatever you're more comfortable with this
time is for you and God right now. Jesus, we
love you. And I thank you God for each and
every person that can hear the sound of my
voice. God, I thank you that in their lives,
nothing has taken you by surprise and God,
you have grace and you have provision and
you have healing and you have power set
aside for each and every one of them. God, I
know that many people watching and listening
today have tough decisions that have to be
made. God, maybe they've experienced
disappointments or hurts this week. Father,
I pray in the name of Jesus that you would
be their stronghold, that you would be there
Refuge that you would be their comforter,
that you would be there strong tower in
their life. God, that you would move, that
you would work so intimately in each and
every situation and father. I know that
feelings are always greater than faith, but
right now, would you allow them to feel your
presence? God, may. They feel it like they
never have before that they would know God
that you love them and that you are for
them. Jesus, we're going to give you the
honor and we're going to give you the glory
for what you do and who you are and Jesus
it's in your name. We pray. Amen.

Hey everyone. My name's Megan. And on behalf
of our team, we are so glad you're joining
us for Refuge. Church on the Valley CW. If
you were a guest this morning, I want to
give a special welcome. Thank you for tuning
in now, before service begins, we want to
give you a few helpful tips for our time
together. Number one, grab your Bible so you
can follow along with the scriptures in the
message. If you don't have a Bible, don't
worry. The verses will also be available on
your screen. Number two, engage with this on
our website, social media,
or@onlineatrefuge.com. We'd love to connect
with you to pray with you and to care for
you. If you're joining us for the first
time, please let us know by emailing
us@onlineatrefuge.com and most importantly,
number three, turn up the volume and let's
get ready to worship together. We love you
and we hope you enjoy today's service. Hey,
Church family. Good morning. Thank you so
much for joining us for Church online.
Please take a moment and pray for the
services at our physical campuses. Today. As
we celebrate baptism Sunday, it's always a
joy to get to celebrate new life in Jesus
Christ, and we'll make sure to post pictures
on our social media so you can celebrate as
well. If this is your first time worshiping
Jesus with us. Thank you so much for being a
part of our online services. Please take a
moment to fill out a digital connect card on
our website so we can reach out and thank
you for joining us. Now, as we open up God's
word today, let's focus on Jesus and start
with prayer. Jesus, we love you. We magnify
you and we ask you Lord to open our eyes and
our ears and our hearts to hear from you in
Jesus name. Amen. Now we're in the middle of
a series called courageous over the past
four weeks. We've watched the courageous
leadership of Joshua as he and Israel take
the promised land God has for them. Up until
this point, we have seen both victory and
defeat in the life of Israel. There have
been the high of Jericho and the low of AI
and the compromise with Gibson yet Israel
continues to move forward. Joshua continued
to lead military campaigns as God's
conquered anyone inhabiting the land, God
was giving them really these battles were to
purify the land that they were going to
inhabit regardless of what they came up
against. Joshua continued to relentlessly
pursue the vision God had for his life. And
as Christians in order to live the
courageous life, we must move forward as
well. And as a church, we cannot be content
to sit back and adopt the status quo. We
can't rely on past victories or be paralyzed
by past defeats. God has called us to move
forward in the faith, both individually and
corporately as
the people of God. But how do we do it? The
reality is that we're living in a tough
season. We still face uncertainty. Every
day. People are struggling with job loss.
Parents are uneasy about school, even as a
Church, it's difficult to know what to do
without everyone being back on Sundays.
Listen, I may not know a lot, but I do know
this God has given us a great vision as a
church to make a difference, not to worry
about being hip or cool, but instead to be
the church that cares the church that serves
the church, that believes that God can do
impossible things. The church that keeps on
moving forward and keeps making a
difference. And in your personal lives too,
you must keep moving, keep seeking and keep
placing God as the priority in your life.
And that's what I believe. God wants us to
learn this morning. If we're going to live
the courageous life, we must keep moving and
God gives us a strategy to do just that. We
find it in Joshua chapter 10. If you have
your Bibles with you, let's go to Joshua
chapter 10 and we'll start in verse six. If
you don't have your Bible, all of the verses
will be on the screen. Now Joshua was at
gilgel and the land of giddy gabion while
they're five neighboring Kings formed an
Alliance and attack Gideon because they had
signed a priest treaty with Israel.
And here's what happened next. In verse six,
the men of Gibeon quickly sent messengers to
Joshua at his camp in gilgel don't abandon
your service. Now they pleaded come at once,
save us, help us for all the Emirate Kings
who live in the Hill country have joined
forces to attack us. So Joshua and his
entire army, including the best warriors
lift gilgel and set out for Gibson, do not
be afraid of them. The Lord said to Joshua
for, I have given you victory over them, not
a single one of them will be able to stand
up to you. If we're going to move forward
first, we must be persistent in prayer. We
must be persistent in prayer. Joshua was
again at gilgel his place of prayer, the
place where God had given him direction and
plans, because the earlier deception of the
Gibeah nights, the Israelites had made a
covenant of peace with the people of Gibson.
The Israelites were now indebted to helping
the Gibeah Knights as allies, because they
had not sought the Lord's counsel. They were
then forced to protect the very people that
God had sent them to destroy. Now, Joshua
learned that he must proceed only with the
direction of God. And this time the people
of Israel sought God's wisdom. And God told
them not to fear because they would be
delivered. The enemy would be delivered into
their hands. You hear me say this often only
because it
is so important, we must learn to be
persistent in prayer. Prayer is necessary
for our relationship with God. The reality
is that you will never be everything God has
called you and designed you and called you
to be without prayer in any relationship.
Communication is key and it is no different
with God. Now, some of you that may sound
intimidating or even scary, or it may sound
like just one more thing you have to do to
please God, but please understand prayer is
for, for us than it is for him. When we
pray, God listens. When we pray, we find
God, we connect with God. We get close to
God and God doesn't simply listen to us off
in the distance. He is a personal God who
answers prayer. Now we know that God doesn't
always answer in the way that we want. And
frankly, sometimes his answer is no, but the
Bible teaches us that his reasoning and his
thought process is far beyond what we can
understand. And we will see that pretty
clearly as we keep reading today, my point
is is that we have to stop with one and done
prayers and we need to lean in to praying
persistently, truly crying out to God in
prayer, getting on our face before him
praying until our knees and elbows and
forehead hurt. Joshua understood that
victory could only come through talking to
and listening to God. And it is the same
for us today. Let's keep reading in verse
nine. It says Joshua traveled all night from
gilgel and took the Amorite army by
surprise. Second, if we're going to keep
moving forward, we have to work hard. We
have to work hard. Prayer was vitally
important, but this was not simply a matter
of prayer. Following his time with God.
Joshua was on the move all night long. He
worked hard. He's up all night. He extends
tremendous effort. He avoided the pitfall of
attempting this in his own strength by
spending time with God. However, he also
realized that he cannot sit back and wait
for things to happen. As we know that
victory comes when we depend on God in
prayer and we're willing to work hard, I
want to publicly acknowledge how thankful I
am for our Church staff in this season of
COVID-19 and the uncertainty that has
surrounded it. They have worked so hard and
with having in-person services and online
and ramping up all of our serving
opportunities in many way, their workload
has doubled and even tripled. They're
faithful to pray, but they are faithful to
work hard for the kingdom in ministry.
Sleepless nights are a given. So we're 2:00
AM phone calls and passing out food in the
pouring down rain, but working hard is worth
it. When you're working for God, Colossians
three 23 and 24 puts it this way, work
willingly at whatever you do as though you
were working
for the Lord, rather than for people
remember that the Lord will give you an
inheritance as your reward and that the
master you are serving is Christ. Let me ask
you a question. Are there areas of your life
where you find yourself slacking off, maybe
at work, maybe in your relationships with
your parenting, even at church, let's commit
today to be people who not only pray hard,
but also people who work hard, let's keep
going. These next verses are some of my all
time favorites. Verse 10, the Lord threw
them into a panic and the Israelites
slaughtered the great numbers of them at
Gibson. Then the Israelites chase the enemy
along the road to Beth her own, killing them
along the way to as Zika and Makita as the
Amorites retreated down the road from Beth,
her own, the Lord destroyed them with a
terrible hailstorm from heaven that
continued until they reached a Zika. The
hell killed more of the enemy than the
Israelites killed with the sword. On the
day, the Lord gave the Israelites victory
over the Amorites Joshua prayed to the Lord
in front of all the people of Israel. He
said, let the sun stand still over Gibson
and the moon over the Valley of AgilOne. So
the sun stood still on the moon, stayed in
place until the nation of Israel had
defeated. Its enemies is this the event not
recorded? And the book of Joshua, the son
stayed
in the middle of the sky and it did not set.
As on a normal day, there has never been a
day like this one, a four, or since when the
Lord answered such a prayer, surely the Lord
fought for Israel that day. Lastly, if we're
going to keep moving forward, we have to
rely on God's power. We see twice in these
verses how God miraculously fought with and
for the people of Israel. First God sent
hell stones and more of their enemies were
killed by Hillstone's than by the weapons of
the Israelite army. Then Joshua did
something audacious crazy. Even he knew of
the sun went down in Knightsville. The
enemies would scatter. So he asked God for
the impossible God would you make the sun
stand still? And God did. Joshua knew he
couldn't make the sun stand still in his own
strength. He was already moving in obedience
to God. His request was based in his desire
to serve God and be the instrument through
which God would move in God's will would be
accomplished. He prayed his audacious prayer
and faith. You see God doesn't require
perfect people to accomplish his will. He is
looking for people who are humble and
obedient. People who are willing to ask God
to reveal his strength and his power through
them. The more we trust God, the more we are
willing to believe God with an addiction
space, the more we're going to see God
move. Let's take impossible out of our
vocabulary. Let's lean into God's miraculous
power. Let's believe that a God who could
port this sea send down fire, make the son
stand still and resurrect the dead can still
move powerfully in us and through us today.
In fact, the Bible says that the same power
that raised Jesus from the dead can live in
us. And it starts with making a decision to
follow Jesus. Maybe you're watching or
listening today, and you need to keep moving
forward, but you know that something is
missing in your life. Listen, you have a God
shaped hole in you. We all do. And let me
tell you, the thing that is missing is a
relationship with Jesus Christ. The Bible is
clear that each and every one of us are born
centers. We are born separated from God. It
started with Adam and Eve in the garden of
Eden. And it has been generational ever
since we're all born with sin, we rebel
against God. We want to be our own God, but
God loved you so much that even at the
beginning of time, he set into motion, a
plan to redeem you and save you and bring
you into his family. And that plan was
Jesus. God sent his son Jesus Christ to live
a perfect life, to Dow on a cross for our
sins to accept our punishment, to experience
God's wrath so that we wouldn't have to,
Jesus
died so that you and I could live. Here's
the beautiful thing. There is nothing we can
do to get to God. There isn't a ladder high
enough for us to climb. There isn't enough
good deeds that we can do our relationship
with God, hinges on what Jesus has already
done. And this morning you have a decision
to make. You can continue to be your own
boss and do your own thing, or you can
choose to follow Jesus and make him your
Lord so that each and every day you can walk
with him. You can lean into him. You can
experience his wisdom and his peace and his
grace and his goodness. And one day when you
die, you can experience a home in heaven
with him, but it's the decision that only
you can make your parents can't make it for
you. A pastor can't make it for you. A
priest can't make it for a, you must decide
to follow Jesus. And this morning, I want to
give you that opportunity. I'm going to pray
a prayer. And if this prayer reflects what
God is doing in your heart today, I invite
you to pray it with me. Just pray something
like this, God, today, I realize I'm a
sinner. I've been doing my own thing. I've
been making my own decisions and frankly got
I've left you out. And because I'm a sinner
father, I know that I also need a savior.
And
that savior is Jesus Christ. I believe you
sent Jesus to live a perfect life to die on
a cross. And three days later, bring himself
back to life, to race from the dead so that
I could have a fresh start and a brand new
life. God, would you apply what Jesus did on
that cross to my life? Would you forgive me?
Would you change me? Would you give me a
second chance today? Jesus, you're my Lord.
And I love you and Jesus. It's in your name.
I pray. Amen. If that's you,
congratulations. I love you. And I want to
celebrate with you today. It truly is the
greatest decision you could ever make with
your life. But I want to ask you, please do
not change the channel. Please do not turn
off this service until you let someone know.
In fact, I would love for you to fill out
our digital connect card. It's on our
website, or if you're online, it's on the
post above or in the comments below. Let us
know that you chose Jesus today because we
want to send you some resources that will
help you grow in your faith. That will help
you overcome your hurts and your hangups and
your bad habits and help you become
everything that God has created you to be.
We love you. And we want to walk with you on
your new journey with God, but you have to
let us know.
Now at the end of each service, we dedicate
a time to prayer because prayer is vital.
Like we said earlier, prayer is such an
important part of our relationship with God.
And I know you may be watching or you may be
listening and there's just things on in your
life that you need to take to God today. And
as a church staff and as a leadership team,
and as a prayer team, we want to pray
alongside with you. We want you to know that
we are interceding to God on your behalf.
What I want to ask you to do in just a
moment, we're going to worship together one
last time this morning. And if you feel
comfortable making your prayer request
public, you can post it in the comments
below, or you can fill out our online prayer
card and our prayer team. We'll be praying
for your prayer request. I promise you, it
is our great honor and privilege to get to
pray on your behalf. So let's take a moment
and worship together. If you need prayer,
please let us know father. We love you so
much. We worship you. We adore you and
father. We come to you right now. When we
say God, individually and collectively, we
are desperate for you. We need a touch from
you. We need to hear your voice. It God, for
so many of us, there are decisions that have
to be made. God, there
are deep hurts and there are needs that we
have in our lives. And father, we are asking
you to move in jesus' name. We're asking you
God to meet people, right where they're at
and do what only you can do God, for some
people that are watching or listening. Lord,
I know that they are up against something
that seems so impossible. They don't even
know what to do, but God, I pray right now
that we would take impossible out of our
vocabulary. God like Joshua asked the son to
stand still with the sun. Stand still over
impossible situations in people's lives. God
would you intervene? And in Jesus name do
miracles. Father do things in such a way in
such a timing that we would know that it
only happened because you were involved in
God. We're going to be quick to not take any
glory for ourselves, but instead to give you
all the honor and to give you all the glory,
because God, Jesus is the only one that
deserves it. And it's in jesus' name. We
pray. Amen. Thank you again for joining us
for this morning service. We truly hope our
time together made an impact in your walk
with God. If you made the life changing
decision to trust in Jesus as your Lord and
savior. Congratulations following Jesus
truly is the greatest decision you will ever
make. Please let us know by emailing
us@onlineatrefuge.com, we want to reach out
and help you grow in your faith. Remember,
our pastoral staff is always available for
ministry. If you need pastoral care or have
a prayer request, please submit the care and
support form at fine. Refuge
church.com/care. And a member of our
pastoral team will contact you if you are a
member of our church family and would like
to financially support the mission and the
vision of Refuge Church. There are three
easy ways to give online by text, or you can
mail a check to the Church office. Refuge
Church we love you. And we hope to see you
soon, but until then have a great week.

Hey, good morning. Church family.
I'm so thankful that you are
worshiping Jesus with us. Our
team has been praying for you all
week asking God to bless you, to
protect you and to move
powerfully in your life with
everything going on in the world.
It can be easy to get distracted.
But my hope for you is that
you're leaning into God's word,
leaning in to his promises and
that his priorities are also your
priorities. I want to share a
verse with you that I read in my
devotional time. This week it's
Romans 12, 12 from the passion
translation. It says, let this
hope burst forth within you
releasing a continual joy. Don't
give up in a time of trouble, but
commune with God at all times. I
know life is stressful. I know
that uncertainties and anxieties
have changed us, but I also know
that Jesus is greater. Jesus is
in control and Jesus is aware of
your situation. And I believe
with all of my heart, we can
trust Jesus over the past month
and a half. We've been learning
how to live a courageous life by
following Joshua's journey,
leading God's people. Israel last
Sunday, we made a commitment,
both corporately and individually
to keep moving forward. Keep
praying persistently to work hard
and ultimately to rely on God's
miraculous power in our lives.
Now between Joshua's chapters, 11
and 12, we see Joshua continue to
lead Israel in conquering the
land that
God had promised them. And in
chapter 13, he begins to divide
up the land and give it to the
tribes of Israel so they can
inhabit their new home. Today.
We're going to move to Joshua
chapter 14, and we're going to
see a slight shift in the text
from Joshua to a man named Kayla.
Let's start in Joshua chapter 14,
beginning in verse six. If you
have your Bibles with you, I
invite you to turn there with me.
If you don't have your Bibles
with all the verses will be on
the screen for you today. Joshua
14, starting in verse six, it
says a delegation from the tribe
of Judah led by Caleb son of Jeff
Yuna. The came to Joshua at
gilgel. Caleb said to Joshua,
remember what the Lord said to
Moses, the man of God, about you
and me when we were at Kadesh
Barnea I was 40 years old when
Moses, the servant of the Lord
sent me from Kadesh Barnea to
explore the land of Canaan are
returned and gave an honest
report. But my brothers who went
with me, frightened the people
from entering the promised land
for my part, I wholeheartedly
followed the Lord, my God. So
that day, Moses solemnly promised
me the land of Canaan on which
you were just walking will be
your grant of land and that of
your descendants forever, because
you wholeheartedly followed the
Lord. My God. Now, if you'll
remember, Caleb
was one of the original spies
that Moses had sent in to scout
out the promise land, Caleb King,
the Joshua, and told him that he
wanted the Hill country, where he
had seen the giants all of those
years before it was the land.
Caleb dreamed of a home that he
had waited for for years. And now
it was time for Caleb to claim
the mountain, to claim that Hill
that God had promised him. But it
wasn't going to be easy because
conquering mountains never. Yes.
You see spirit virtually
speaking. We all have mountains
to climb. Maybe it's an obstacle
like an unexpected health
diagnosis, or maybe it's a
financial emergency, or maybe
just, maybe it is a vision that
God has placed on your heart for
a career. That missionary
journey, the book that he has
called you to write, and it looks
like it is an impossible thing
that is looming over your life.
We will face mountains in our
life. It is guaranteed, but with
his power, we can overcome even
the roughest terrain. We may feel
intimidated, inadequate, and
insecure, but with God, we are
equipped. We are sufficient and
we are assured the strength that
we need for each and every task.
And that's our focus today. I
would love for us to look at
Caleb's life and learn how to
claim the mountains that are in
your life. Verse 10. It says now,
as you can see, the Lord has
kept me alive and well, as he
promised for all these 45 years,
since Moses made this promise,
even while Israel wandered in the
wilderness today, I am 85 years
old. Caleb said, if you're taking
notes, if you want to claim the
Meltons in your life first, you
must place your confidence in
God, place your confidence in
God. Back in numbers, 13 and 14,
the spas were reporting after
their return from the promised
land, the minority report and the
majority report were very
different. The majority of the
spas declared that the task was
impossible. There was no way that
Israel could take the promised
land. There were too many
obstacles, Joshua and Caleb.
However, they saw something
different. They knew that it
would be possible if they leaned
into God's strength. If they
leaned in to God's power, they
placed their confidence in God,
not their own abilities, not in
their weapons, not even in their
own leadership, Joshua and Caleb
trusted God. And I love this 45
years later, here's Caleb
declaring that even at 85 years
old, he is still bold enough to
capture the land because here he
is still placing his confidence
in God, just as he did 45 years
earlier. Caleb could remember God
at the red sea. He saw God's
provision in the wilderness over
and over again. He participated
as God conquered their enemies.
Listen, Caleb's faith was not
shaken by his circumstances. No
Caleb's faith was shaped by
his confidence in God. And if
we're going to move forward, if
we're going to claim the
mountains in our life, we too
must express our confidence in
God. One of the most difficult
mountains that I've climbed is
starting a church from the ground
up almost seven years ago,
frankly, it was terrifying. And
it still sometimes is not knowing
if there's going to be a steady
income. Am I going to be able to
provide for my family? Well,
anybody even show up when we
truly be able to help people, how
will we ever do everything God
has called us to do? There have
been many tears, many sleepless
nights and an unbelievable amount
of time in prayer. But here we
are walking in the promises that
God made to us. It has not been
easy. It is not always been
certain, but it is a reality
because we placed our confidence
in God. And for some of you here,
for some of you watching you two
need to place your confidence in
God, you were up against
something that seems impossible.
Stop trying to do it in your own
strength. Stop trying to do it
your own way and say, God, I
trust you. I'll place my
confidence in you today. Let's
keep reading in verse 11. It says
I am as strong now as I was when
Moses sent me on that journey and
I can still travel and fight as
well as I could've
been. Can you imagine Kayla 85
years old saying, Hey, Joshua,
not only do I trust and have
confidence in God, but man, I can
still fight. I can still take the
enemy. I can still travel. You
tell me what to do. I can still
do it. You see second. If you're
going to claim the mountains in
your life, you must remain
strong. You've got to remain
strong. Caleb says to Joshua, do
you remember how strong I was?
When we went on that journey for
Moses, I'm just as strong now. As
I was, then I can travel up the
mountain. I can fight whoever I
need to fight. Now, if you've
ever worked out or lifted weights
or done any type of strength
training, you know that the key
is consistency. If you stop, you
will lose whatever you've gained.
Here's the deal. Church it is the
same with our spiritual strength.
We must exercise our faith. If we
are going to be spiritually
strong and it takes strength to
climb, it takes strength to claim
and it takes strength to conquer.
Ephesians six 10 says it this
way. A final word, be strong in
the Lord and in his mighty power.
Now you may be thinking, Jason,
that's great, but how in the
world can I be strong in the
Lord? What does that even mean?
Well, I'm glad you asked. I want
to give you a few suggestions
today. First you need to be
a river and not a swamp. You need
to be a river and not a swamp
one. What does that mean? The
Bible says rivers of living water
will flow from the heart of those
who believe in me. Remember it is
a river that carries fresh life
giving water because it flows out
a swamp is stagnant. A swamp
collects and retains water. That
comes its way. Don't be a type of
person that seeks to just to
accumulate much and allow little
to flow through. We are to let
our life be a blessing as the
blessings of God flow through us
and on to other people. We also
need to pray and fast. If you're
going to be spiritually strong,
prayer and fasting is an
important component of your life.
Because prayer linked with
fasting was often done by people
in the Bible. Even Jesus Christ,
Israel reports. So we fasted and
earnestly prayed that our God
would take care of us. And he
heard our prayer. Now later this
month, we're going to be
observing 21 days of prayer and
fasting towards the end of
August. Usually we just do 21
days of prayer during this time
of the year, but I truly believe
that God is calling us in light
of everything going on in our
world, in our country and our
community that not only do we
need to pray, not only do we need
to be thankful, but we need to
disconnect from
everything going on in the world
and we need to connect to God.
Maybe now it is more important
than ever before. And so over the
next few weeks, you'll be hearing
more about that. And if you've
never fasted, we want to teach
you how to pray and fast and
connect with God in such a
powerful way. And then I would
encourage you to meditate on
scripture. The Bible is loaded
with verses of comfort and
encouragement and wisdom. Make it
a habit to read and study your
Bible in a disciplined way.
Highlight the verses that speak
to you. Write in the margins,
meditate on those words, memorize
some of the passages so you can
bring them up and recall them in
the future. Share the journey,
spend time with at least one
other person who is seeking to
grow spiritually, agree to meet
once a week in person or through
zoom or Google Hangouts, or
however you want to meet, to
study and reflect on spiritual
matters. It is amazing what
accountability can do in our
lives. Let's keep going in verse
12. It says this. So give me the
Hill country that God promised
me. You will remember that as
Scouts. We found that the senates
of a knack living there in great
walled towns, but if the Lord is
with me, I will drive them out of
the land just as the Lord said.
So Joshua blessed Caleb son of
Jeff Ana and gave
hem. Ron, take him as a portion
of the land. Lastly, if you're
going to claim the mountains in
your life, you've got to trust
that God doesn't forget his
promises. You have to trust that
God doesn't forget his promises.
Let's face it. I forget things.
It is a running joke in our house
because I'll always have to come
back inside multiple times to
grab whatever I left. It was
sometimes I even forget
conversations that I've had,
especially when there's a lot
going on. But one of the things
that I love about God is that God
never forgets. He never forgets
his children. He never forgets
their pain and he never, no never
forgets his promises. And Caleb
trusted that God would give him
the Hill country that God would
give him the mountain because God
promised it to him. And because
of his wilt, willingness to
tackle tough territory, Kayla had
enough for himself and for all of
his descendants, the benefits of
his mountain climbing in his
mountain claiming poured over
into the lives of all of those
around him. Listen, when a
believer faces a Melton and
claims victory, his or her life
is a blessing to other people.
God can allow the challenges
hurts or heartaches in our lives
to touch the loves of other
people. And some of you are here.
Some of you are watching. Some of
you are listening and you have a
Melton in your life. And I
don't want you to understand this
is a mountain climbing moment for
you. This is a Melton claiming
moment for you. You cannot give
up. You cannot give in. You
cannot look at it and say, this
is impossible. You have to say,
no, God, I place my confidence in
you. I trust in you, God. I knew
that you were going to keep the
promises that you have made to me
get it's Tom, right now Church to
climb that mountain, to claim
that mountain and have victory
over the things that seem
impossible in your life. But I've
got to share with you that the
Bible tells us of a another man
who conquered a Hill, a Hill that
we now call Mount Calvary. His
name is Jesus Christ. And because
Jesus conquered that Hill that
day because of Jesus has victory.
We can have any terminal and
abundant life. You see the Bible
says that when God created the
world, he created man, Adam and
Eve to have a relationship with
them. God loves a man con, he
loves you. And he loves me. And
he wanted nothing more than to
have a relationship with man. But
Adam and Eve, they messed up.
They decided to do their own
thing. They decided to be
disobedient and they chose not to
listen to God. They chose to try
to make themselves God. And when
they did that, sin entered the
world. And when sin entered the
world, our
relationship with God was broken
and each and every one of us, we
are born sinners. Now I know
nobody likes the sor Dewey. We
don't like the word sin. We don't
like its connotation, but sin is
anything we say we think, or we
do that just Sobeys and dishonors
God. And the reality is is that
we've all been there. We've all
done it. And I'm going to tell
you the ground at the foot of the
cross is level playing field
because every one of us has
sinned. We've all fallen short of
the glory of God. And because of
that, we are destined for a very
real place called hell, a place
of torment and punishment because
we have chosen to reject God. But
here's the beautiful thing. God
loved you so much that even back
in the time of Adam and Eve, he
put a plan into motion to save
the world, to save mankind, to
redeem us, to reconcile our
relationship with him. And God
sent his son Jesus Christ to live
a perfect life, to die on a
cross, to die a death that he did
not deserve a death that we
deserve to experience the wrath
of God. The punishment of God,
that was meant for us, but Jesus
didn't stay dead. And the Bible
says that he Rose from the grave,
that there is now an empty tomb.
And Jesus proved to everyone that
he is exactly who he said. He
is God in the flesh. And because
of what Jesus did on that cross
forgiveness and freedom is
available to anyone that comes to
him, to anyone who believes and
chooses to follow. You. See
there's nothing that we can do to
get to God. We can't do enough.
Good deeds. We can't give enough
money. We can't go to Church
enough. God did all the hard
work. And on the cross, Jesus
said it is finished. And I want
to invite you today to choose
Jesus, to place your faith and
your trust in him to have a brand
new life, to be forgiven of all
of your sin and to be set free.
It is available today. You can
know that you have peace with
God. If you will decide to follow
Jesus with your life, I want to
invite you today from wherever
you're at, whatever you're doing.
Just to take a moment and reflect
on what God is doing in your
heart, in your life today. Maybe
you're watching, maybe you're
listening and you know, without a
shadow of a doubt that you do not
have peace with God. If you were
to die today, you would have no
idea what your eternity would be
like. I want you to understand
that you can have confidence
right now in your eternity. You
can have confidence in the rest
of your life by just choosing
Jesus today. And I want to give
you that opportunity. I want
to invite you right where you're
at to pray with me today. And
there's nothing magical about
this prayer. But if this prayer
reflects what God is doing in
your heart and your life, I
invite you to pray it with me.
You can pray something like this,
God. Today. I realize that I've
been going my own way with my
life. I've been doing my own
thing. I've been making my own
decisions in many ways. I've been
trying to be my own God. And in
this moment I realized that I
need a savior. I need a brand new
life. I need a second chance. And
I know that it starts with Jesus.
God. I believe that Jesus died on
the cross for me. And he Rose
again from the grave and he's
still alive today calling me to
himself. God, would you apply
what Jesus did to my life? God,
I'm asking you to forgive me, to
set me free and to give me a
brand new life today. Jesus, I
love you. And it's in your name.
I pray amen. Now, if that was
you, I want to congratulate with
you and celebrate with you
because that is the greatest
decision that you can make with
your life to follow Jesus. But
please do not turn this video
off. Do not change the channel
without letting us know, because
we want to reach out to you this
week. We want to send you a free
ebook
called next steps for new
believers to help you grow and
your new found faith. And we want
you to know that we want to be
praying for you because each and
every one of us have hurts and
hangups and bad habits in our
life. And God has a best life for
you. And we want to walk
alongside of you and help you be
everything God created you to be.
And so you can go to our website
or you can comment in the
comments below or click the link
for our digital connect card and
just give us some information,
your name and email address and
what decision you made today. And
a member of our team would love
to reach out to you this week.
Now at the end of every service,
we dedicate time to prayer.
Prayer is important to us. We
believe that prayer has power.
God, we love you. And we thank
you over and over again for this
opportunity to be together. God,
whether it's in person, whether
it's in our homes, whether it's
while we're on vacation, God,
thank you. We do not take for
granted that we have the
technology that we have the
ability to meet together in
Jesus's name, to worship him and
to learn about his word. God, I
thank you for each and every
person here for each and every
person watching or listening.
God, I know that each and every
one of us have mountains
in our lives and God today we
declare victory. Over those
mountains, we say a fresh and a
new God we trust in you. We place
our confidence in you. God, we
will remain strong so that we can
fight the battles that you would
have us to fight. And God, we
believe we are people that
believe that you keep your
promises because you always have
and you always will. Oh God, can
we claim victory over the
mountains in our life. I pray for
those who are watching and
listening. God who were up
against the impossible. They feel
like their backs are against the
wall father in jesus' name. Would
you do the impossible in their
lives? I claim over them with
God. Anything is possible.
Father, would you do the
miraculous for those that need
healing God in Jesus name, what'd
you heal for those who need
provision father in Jesus name,
would you beat your whole bunch,
our provider and God, for those
who are dealing with fear and
anxiety and worry and depression
or rebuke those things in Jesus
name and God I ask, Oh, Prince of
peace that you would move piece
our way father. We love you. We
love you. We love you. And we
worship you and adore you and
God. We're going to give you the
honor and glory for what you do
and it's in Jesus name. We pray.
Amen.

Good morning, church family. It
is so good to see you. Thank you
so much for choosing to worship
with us at refuge church this
morning. No matter where in the
world that you were joining us
from, we are so thankful that
you're worshiping with us today.
Listen, as I was studying this
way through my devotional time, I
came across a verse that I want
to share with you this morning,
before we dig into God's word,
it's Romans 12 two. It says,
don't copy the behavior and
customs of this world, but let
God transform you into a new
person by changing the way that
you think, then you will learn to
know God's will for you, which is
good and pleasing and perfect.
You see something special happens
when we open our hearts to God's
word, it may not change our
situation, but it does change us.
And maybe we can, our lives see
our situation through brand new
eyes. And that's been my prayer
for each and every one of you
this week that you would be
transformed through the studying
of God's word. Now, before we
jump in together today, let's
invite the power of the Holy
spirit into our hearts and into
our homes and into our lives and
into this place. As we worship
together, father, we love you and
we thank you. We thank you. We
thank you for this opportunity to
worship you. God, we thank you
for the opportunity
to dig into your word and God we
ask your Holy spirit to be
present in our lives. Present in
our homes, present in this place
and present in our hearts. God,
would you speak to us today? God,
I pray that you would move me out
of the way in the words that come
from my mouth come directly from
you. And it's in jesus' name. We
pray, amen. Listen. Over the
past, almost two months, we've
been in this sermon series called
courageous. And if this is your
first time with us over the past
six weeks, we've been walking
through the book of Joshua, as he
has led God's people into the
promised land by examining his
relationship with God. We've been
learning how we too can live a
courageous life. But up until
now, we've been going chapter by
chapter reliving the stories of
victories and defeats, and
ultimately God's people taking
and inhabiting the land that God
had promised them. And as I
studied this week, I came across
a passage in chapter 24 of the
book of Joshua that I have
overlooked in the past. But for
some reason, this time I was
struck by one of the verses. And
I want us to look at it today.
Turn with me to Joshua chapter
24, starting in verse 29. It says
after this Josh son of nun, the
servant of the Lord died at the
age of of 110. They buried him in
the
land that he had been allocated
at 10 necessarily. And the Hill
country of Ephraim, North of
Mount gash, the people of Israel
served the Lord through the
lifetime of Joshua and of the
elders who outlived him. Those
who had personally experienced
all that the Lord had done for
Israel. Did you see that? What
really hit me? Is it, the Bible
says that the people Israel
served the Lord throughout the
night, a lifetime of Joshua. Now,
if you've ever studied the old
Testament, specifically, the
history of the Hebrew people, you
know, that just is not the case.
In fact, God's people fell into a
pattern of turning from God,
especially when life was going
good. And as I read this
sentence, I couldn't get over the
question in my own heart. Why did
people serve God during Joshua's
lifetime? What was it about
Joshua's leadership that
compelled and encourage people to
stay committed to the Lord? I
mean, think about it. God used
Joshua over two generations, he
trusted Joshua to lead military
campaigns from the wilderness in
the Canaan. He was sent to spy in
the promised land and came back,
believing that God could do the
impossible. He accompanied Moses
up Mount Sinai, and he succeeded
Moses as the leader of God's
people. These were some
incredible accomplishments. And
what I want us to do today, I
want us to start by zooming out a
little bit in the scriptures.
Remember Joshua is not
just mentioned in the book of
Joshua. He's mentioned in the
books of Exodus and numbers as
well. And when we read these
verses, we get a clearer picture
of Joshua's life and why he was
the right person to lead God's
people. During this time, the
qualities that we see in his life
also explain why he was so
courageous. And my prayer is that
we would incorporate these same
qualities into our lives so that
we can become everything that God
has created us to be. Now, if
you're taking notes first, he was
a warrior. Joshua was a warrior
exited a 17 verses nine through
11, says Moses commanded, Joshua,
come choose some men to go out
and fight the army of lek for us
tomorrow. We'll stand at the top
of the Hill, holding the staff of
God in my hand. So Joshua did
what Moses had commanded and
fought the army of AMA lack.
Joshua was born to be a warrior
and an Exodus. We see that this
is his first opportunity at
military leadership. God was
preparing and equipping him for a
much larger role, but it all
began with fighting AMA lek. Is
he Joshua? He never lost that
warrior spirit, whether he was at
Jericho or AI or against the MRI
Kings or any other battle that he
faced. Joshua was always a
warrior at heart. And no matter
what we've experienced in our
laws, God has placed within each
of us,
a warrior spirit. He knows our
challenges, our setbacks, or
relapses, our pain and our loss,
but he also knows that we have a
mighty purpose that he has placed
in us. He has put us here with a
plan. Don't be deceived. You were
more than what you see in the
mirror. God has called you to be
a mighty warrior, to be a
conqueror who makes the devil
cower and flee. And if we're
going to live the courageous
life, we must walk in victory. We
must lean in to that warrior
spirit that God has placed inside
of us. Joshua. He was a warrior.
Let's keep going. And Exodus 17
verse 14. It says after the
victory, the Lord instructed
Moses, write this down on a
scroll as a permanent reminder
and read it aloud to Joshua. I
will erase the memory of Emma
lick from under heaven. Second,
if you're taking notes, Joshua,
we see that he was a spokesman.
He was a spokesman in the last
verse. We see that a prophetic
word was spoken over Joshua about
his life. God was going to use
Joshua to defeat the enemies of
Israel. Wow. I wonder how many
times Joshua Key came back to
that moment, to that word. And
remember the prophecy that was
spoken over his life. You see,
first we receive a personal word
from God. Then we become bearers
of God's word to other people.
And this became the pattern of
Joshua's life
over and over again. We see him
sitting with God, listening to
God, hearing from God, and then
being the spokesman, taking God's
word to the people of Israel. And
if we're going to live a
courageous life, we need to
receive God's word and speak it
to others. You see God's word
still has power today. God's word
can literally change a person's
life. And when I meet with
people, what I think does not
matter, my opinion doesn't mean a
thing. Always try to point people
to God's word, to point people,
to what God says even on Sunday
morning. My goal is not to give
you my best advice. My goal is to
give you the word of God, that
limit and make a difference in
you so that it will change you.
And you can take God's word to
other people. Joshua was a
spokesman and you were supposed
to be God's spokespeople, his
ambassadors to a world that is
dark a world world that is lost.
So world that is in need of
peace, a work that is in need of
hope. You see several years ago,
someone prophesied over this
church and they said that God was
going to give this church the
keys to nations. And I have never
forgotten those words. I've never
forgotten those that moment. And
I'd go back to it, Tom and Tom
again in my life. When the going
gets tough. When I don't want to
keep pushing
forward, I go back to the words
that someone spoke over me in
this church. And right now in
this moment, not only are there
people sitting in this room,
there are people sitting in homes
and hospitals and airports, and
over 120 countries around the
world, hearing the word of God,
spoken and taught God's word
still has power. And we are his
spokespeople to a world that
needs Jesus. Let's keep going.
The Bible also shows us if you're
taking notes, Joshua, he was a
servant. He was a servant. Exited
is 24 13 says so Moses and his
assistant Joshua set out and
Moses clumped. The Melton of God.
This is important before Joshua
was a leader, he was first known
as Moses's assistant. He was his
personal aide. He proved his
willingness to serve before he
asked anyone to serve him. If
y'all remember, Moses took
Joshua, went with him to Mount
Sinai, but halfway up Moses told
Joshua would have stopped and
said, you have to stay here.
Joshua experienced no glory, no
cloud, no voice and no presence
of God. But he remained faithful
to the bigger vision that God had
for his life and the people of
Israel church. If we want to live
a courageous life, we must be
willing to serve and not just do
the things that we want to do,
not just do the things that we
like to do, but we have to do the
things that need
to be done. I didn't just become
a pastor. My wife, Jessica, and I
started as two year old Sunday
school teachers. We sang silly
songs. We read Bible stories to
two year olds who weren't paying
a bit of attention. We prayed
over them. We love them. Like
they were our own kids. I've
cleaned up vomit out of the
church lobby. I've unstopped,
clogged toilets. I've cut the
grass and sprayed poison in the
parking lot. I've missed my kid's
birthday parties to be at the
hospital. I've been the first
person in a home. After someone
has taken their own life. I've
held someone's hand and someone
has taken their last breath. I've
had friends walk away from me
because I had to make the best
decision for the church. I've
been lied about, lied to and
received threats. Listen,
ministry is not about being on a
screen or on a stage. It's about
serving it's about doing whatever
it takes. It's about being
willing to do the things that no
one else wants to do. Remember
what Jesus said in Matthew four,
even the son of man came not to
be served, but to serve others
and to give his life as a ransom
for many, but not only was Joshua
a servant. He was also an
apprentice. He was a disciple of
Moses for 40 years. Joshua served
as Moses, his understudy and his
competence grew because he
learned from Moses and he
observed Moses
his life. And I love this next
verse, Exodus 33 11. It says
inside the tent of meeting, the
Lord was speak to Moses face to
face as one speaks to a friend.
First, can you just imagine that
being in that tent of meeting and
experiencing the face to face
presence of God afterwards, Moses
would return to the camp. But the
young man who assisted him,
Joshua son of nun, would remain
behind in the tent of meeting.
Joshua would not even leave
Moses's tent because he wanted to
get everything he could. He
wanted to learn everything he
could from his mentor. Lastly,
let's look at numbers. 13 verse
16. It says, these are the names
of the men. Moses sent out to
explore the land. Moses called
Hosea son of nun by the name
Joshua, you see the final reason
people follow Joshua's example is
because he was transformed. He
was transformed. Moses gave
Joshua a new name. And as we see
so often in the Bible with that
name came transformation. A
transformation of identity, a
transformation of character.
Joshua was ready to lead the
people of Israel. And this is it
right here. This is ultimately
what the people of Israel served
the Lord throughout the lifetime
of Joshua because transformed
leaders are transformational
leaders. Transformed leaders are
transformational leaders. When we
are transformed by God people
notice they see the change. They
feel the passion. People desire
to follow someone who is
listening
to and obeying God. And the truth
is that you too can be a
transformational leader. You can
be like Joshua. You can live the
courageous life. You can do
everything God has called you to
do. You can be everything God has
called you to be, but you have to
be transformed by God and maybe
you're watching or listening. And
you're a Christian. There's been
a time that you've given your
life to Jesus Christ. You had
your fresh start. You, you had
your do over, but for whatever
reason, you never grew. You never
became more and more like Jesus,
listen, it is not too late. It is
not too late to allow God to
transform your life. It is not
too late to follow Jesus whole
heartedly. It is not too late to
lay down your life and follow
Jesus with everything that you
are and everything that you have,
it is not too late for you to be
transformed. And when God
transforms you, I'm telling you
there is going to be a difference
in your life, but maybe you're
watching, maybe you're listening.
And there's never been a moment
in your life where you have given
your life to Jesus Christ. Please
understand this. God loves you
more than you could ever imagine.
Now that may be hard to believe,
especially if you're sitting here
thinking, well, Jason, you have
no clue what I've done. You have
no clue what I've said. You have
no clue who I am. Listen. None of
that matters. I'm telling you
right now, what you have done
does not matter what you have
thought does not matter what you
have said does not matter. There
is nothing, nothing that is too
big to be covered by the
forgiveness of Jesus Christ,
nothing. And maybe you're
watching, maybe you're listening
and you know, Jason, I need my
life to be transformed for the
very first time I need that fresh
start. I need that second chance.
I need that do over. I need a
brand new life today. I need to
follow Jesus. Listen. The Bible
says in John three 16 for God, so
loved the world that he gave his
one and only son that whosoever
believes in him shall not perish,
but have lasting life. Here's
some good news today. You are a
whosoever. You are an anyone, and
it doesn't matter the color of
your skin. It doesn't matter what
country you were born in. It
doesn't matter how much money you
have. It doesn't matter what kind
of education you have. All that
matters is that right now, in
this moment, you choose Jesus.
Jesus Christ. The son of God,
came to earth and lived a perfect
life. He was the sinless lamb of
God. And he gave himself up to
die on the cross to take a
punishment that was meant for you
and for me and his blood was
spilt so that we
could find forgiveness and
freedom. He endured the wrath of
God, the punishment that we
deserve, he experienced tails so
that we would never have to. And
three days later, Jesus Rose
again from the grave. He
resurrected himself and he is
alive. And he is sitting at the
right hand of God. And he is
interceding on your behalf. And
he is calling you to himself
today. And all you have to do is
choose to follow Jesus. Jesus. I
believe that you died on the
cross and Rose again for me,
please forgive me of my sins. I
want to follow you for the rest
of my life. Jesus, I choose you.
You are my Lord. And the Bible
says that if you will make that
decision, that when you die, you
will go to heaven to be with him.
But right now, while you're on
this earth, he will send his
spirit to live inside of you. To
lead you, to guide you, you will
never be alone. He will never
leave you. He will never forsake
you. You will have a relationship
with God, but it's a decision
that only you can make and no one
can make for you. And so today I
want to give you that
opportunity. And if that's you
and you say, Jason, yes, I want
to follow Jesus with my life. I
want to invite you to pray a
prayer with me. And if this
prayer reflects what God is
doing in your heart, you can pray
the words, exactly word from
word, or you could put them in
your own words, whatever you're
comfortable with, but pray
something like this today. God,
I've been going my own way with
my life. I'm a sinner. I've been
doing my own thing, doing it my
own way. I've been trying to be
my own boss, frankly. I've been
trying to be my own God. And
today I realized I need to be
saved. I need to be rescued from
myself and God. I believe that
rescuer is your son. Jesus,
Jesus. I believe you died on a
cross and Rose again from the
grave so that I could have a
brand new life. Please forgive
me. Please change me. Jesus. I
want to follow you for the rest
of my life. Jesus, you are my
Lord and I love you. And it's in
your name. I pray amen. Now, if
that was you, congratulations,
that truly is the greatest
decision that you could ever make
with your life. But please do not
turn this video off. Do not
change the channel without
letting us know. You can go to
our website and fill out a
digital connect card or the link
is in the post above or in the
comments below you can give us a
name and email, an email address,
a phone number, just some way to
reach out to you because we want
to send you a resource,
an ebook called next steps for
new believers. And we want to
teach you about prayer and
reading your Bible and being a
part of worship and becoming
everything God has created you to
be. And we want to celebrate with
you and pray for you because your
faith doesn't stop today. It
starts today. Now at the end of
every service, we dedicate a
portion of our time to prayer
because we believe that prayer is
powerful. We believe that prayer
works. We believe that God
answers our prayers. And today
we're going to pray very specific
because I know that for many
people right now, your kids are
starting to go back to school.
Maybe it's in person. Maybe it's
virtually, maybe it's this week.
Maybe it's in the weeks to come.
Many of you watching and
listening. You may work in a
school system. You might be a
teacher work in the cafeteria or
a bus driver or a nurse or a
custodian or an administrator.
There are so many people that
work with our children, and we
want you to know that we're
praying for you. And we're
praying for kids who are going
back to school right in hell. And
so in just a moment, we're going
to worship together one last
time. And while you worship, I
invite you. If you want to post
your child's name and the
comments, if you want to post
your name in the comments and ask
people to
pray for you, please let us know
because we would love, it would
be our honor to intercede for you
this morning. Jesus, we love you.
And again, we thank you for this
opportunity to gather together in
your name, Lord, and father.
Today, we pray for our children.
We pray for kids in our
community, in our country and
across the world that are
starting back to school. God I
know there are so many
uncertainties. God, I know that
there are fears and there is
anxiety and there is worry. But
God, I rebuke all that in jesus'
name. And I pray for peace and
protection over their lives. God,
I pray for peace and protection
over their schools. God, in the
name of Jesus, I pray for health,
not only for our kids, but for
every person that walks in the
doors of these schools, got our
pray for every name right now,
that is being posted in the
comments. God, we intercede. We
cry out on their behalf and
father, we say in jesus' name,
would you meet people where
they're at? Would you cover them
God with your protection and your
peace and your power and your
presence. Lord Jesus. We know
that this year is going to be
like no other, but God, we also
know that you are a God like no
other. And we know that with you,
anything is possible. And so
father, when people come against
things that they just
perceive to be impossible, God, I
pray that we would be transformed
by the renewing of our mind. Like
your word says, God, that our
whole perspective would change.
And then we wouldn't see things
in the here and now that God, we
would see things as you see
things, God give us fresh
perspective, a fresh wind, fresh
fire, God, even in these
situations that frankly we don't
like God, would you allow us to
be your spokespeople for every
child, for every person working
in a school, God, would they be
your mouthpiece? Would they speak
your word and your peace into
their schools in Jesus? We're
going to give you the honor and
the glory because you're the only
one that deserves that. And it's
in jesus' name. We pray. Amen.

Oh, Lord my God. When I heard I see the story. I hear the role power through the, you
know, that God, his son not spare reg santown to good morning. Church family. It is so
great to see you today. Wherever in the world you're watching from, we are so thankful
that you have chosen to worship with us. We've been praying for you all week and we
believe today is going to be an incredibly special day because today we're in
preparation for our 21 days of prayer and fasting that starts tomorrow morning. You see,
as you've probably heard by now, every year, we spend two seasons in prayer and fasting
at the beginning of the year in January, and also towards the end of August. And these
are powerful seasons of prayer. It's a time to disconnect from the world and disconnect
from distractions and connect with God, connect with his very heart. And frankly, this
season of prayer and fasting may be the most important one that we have yet. We need a
touch from God. We need to experience his power. We need to him, but that starts with
listening to him. And the next 21 days of prayer and fasting will be different from any
that we've observed up to this point, because instead of praying for our church and our
community, we're going to be praying for you. You see, as a church leadership, we feel
strongly that God is preparing us
to be a Refuge to a hurting world in ways that we have never dreamed of. And because of
that, we need to be individually ready and equipped to do what God has called us to do
quite simply each and every one of us must become more like Jesus Christ. So every day
over the next 21 days, we'll be learning about a godly character trait that the Bible
teaches us to incorporate into our lives. And you'll have two great resources in our
prayer God, and a daily video devotional that will go out at 6:00 AM every day. And what
I'm asking you to do church is I'm asking you to set aside Tom, to read, to watch the
devotional and to pray asking God to help you incorporate that character trait into your
life. But what I'm also asking you to do is I'm asking you to fast. You may be thinking
well, pastor Jason, what does that mean? What does it mean to fast? Fasting is
voluntarily going without food or media influence in order to focus on prayer and
fellowship with God, it is not about God taking something away from you. It is about
your willingness to give up anything that may be in your relationship with God. Anything
that is keeping you from being closer to him. You may never have experienced fasting
before, but it is prevalent throughout God's word. Moses, David, Elijah, Ezra, Esther,
Daniel, Paul, the new Testament church leaders,
and even Jesus fasted. And we have resources for you in that prayer guide to help you
understand what fasting is and to help you choose the fast that will best help you
connect to God. In this past week, we've also emailed out and posted on our social
media, a sermon I did earlier this year, walking you step by step through what it means
to pray and fast. And so what I want us to do this morning is I want us to pray
together. As we declare this fast is we make this commitment to God. As we say
individually and corporately God, we are desperate for you. We need to hear from you in
this season. Let's together. Invite the power of the Holy spirit into our church, into
our homes, into our lives, into our hearts so that we can be everything God has called
us to be father. We love you. And in this moment we worship you and we thank you for
your son. Jesus, God, we thank you for your Holy spirit. That still has power today. And
God, we declare a fast individually and corporately father. We say, we need you, God. We
are desperate for you, God, in our world and in our country and in our own lives and in
our homes and in our schools, God, we need you. And so father, we are willing to get rid
of the distractions. God, we are willing to sacrifice so
that we can get closer to you, father. I know for me personally, I pray that over these
next 21 days, God, you would change me, father. I pray that all of these traits that we
talk about from the scripture, Scott, I pray that you would incorporate them in me, God,
that you would cultivate them in me. God, if there are areas of my life that need to
change God, you would show me. And I would be obedient and father, I pray that for our
church, family, God, that we would be so hungry for you, God, that we would first after
you. So father, we can be who you've called us to be. So we can be more like your son,
Jesus, and God, so that we could bring your kingdom to earth. That we can be a light in
the darkness that we may be your hands and feet. You're very ambassadors in this world.
God father, would you bring increase? Would you bring breakthrough? Would you do the
miraculous in the supernatural and people's lives? And Jesus, we're going to give you
the honor and you the glory for what you do and Jesus it's in your name. We pray and
everybody said, amen. Now we're going to be finishing up our series this morning, called
courageous. And for the past two months, we have journeyed through the book of Joshua.
As God's people conquered and inhabited the promised land, we've experienced victories
together.
We've seen defeats. We watched Israel be deceived, but ultimately we saw the fulfillment
of God's promises. And if you'll remember last Sunday, one of my most favorite things
God told me was that transformed leaders are transformational leaders and Joshua. He was
definitely a transformational leader. And the exciting truth is, is that you too can
become a transformational leader in your home, in your workplace, in your church, in
your community and around this world. And today I want us to look at Joshua's life and
see how we can lead in a transformational way. And so if you're taking notes first, if
you want to be a transformational leader, you must lead with vision lead with vision.
Let's start in numbers. Chapter 14, starting in verses six through nine. If you have
your Bibles, you can turn there with me. If you don't have your Bibles, listen, all the
verses will be on the screen. It says two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua
son of nun and Caleb son of Jeff Hannah tour, their clothing. They said to all the
people of Israel, the land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land. And if
the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us.
It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey do not rebel against the Lord and don't be
afraid of the people in the land. They are
only helpless prey to us. They have no protection, but the Lord is with us. Don't be
afraid of them. You see when Moses sent the 12 spies into the promised land, 10 of them
told the people of Israel that they should not go into the land. God had promised them.
They knew that the land was everything God said it would be, but they were too afraid
because of the people who were already living there. But Joshua spot the exact same land
as the other 10 spas. But his in Caleb's report was much different. Joshua was the head
of his Tom. Joshua lived with vision. He could see the big picture and he knew that God
was on his side. One of my favorite verses in scripture is Proverbs 29 18. I'm going to
read it from the King James version. It says where there is no vision. The people
perish. If you're going to be a transformational leader, you have to have a vision, a
vision for your work team, a vision for your family, a vision for your ministry. You
have to learn how to see past the here and now, and to be able to see all God has for
you. And that's seven years ago as a Church. We wrote our vision and made it plain so
that everyone would know exactly where God is taking us. And if you read that vision,
some of the things that God has told us
seem impossible. But what I love about our God is the Bible says with God, everything is
possible. And we see now more than ever, that the vision that God had placed on our
hearts wasn't necessarily for year one. But now as we walk through a pandemic, as we see
people suffering, as never before, as we interact with families who are homeless, as we
see the suicide rate and the depression rate and the addiction rate grow up, we see that
the things God told us seven years ago were things that we would need. Now you have to
have vision. And if you feel like you were lacking vision in your life, just ask God for
it. Father, would you give me the vision to see things the way you see things? God,
would you show me what it is you have for my family, for my workplace, for my ministry.
I truly believe for many of us. We are not waiting on God. God is waiting on us. Second.
If you're taking notes, Joshua was a transformational leader because he was able to rise
above his circumstances. And if you want to be a transformational leader, you have to
learn how you two need to rise above your circumstances. Joshua faced several challenges
in his lifetime. He almost got killed for suggesting they go into the promised land.
After those verses, I just read to you, the Bible says that the people of Israel were
thinking
about stoning him in Caleb for saying they should follow God's plan. He almost got
killed. He had to be the leader that followed Moses. No one could fill Moses's shoes.
That had to be so intimidating. It had to bring out his insecurities, but he Rose to the
challenge. He came up against Jericho AI, the Amorites, the Canaanites. He had to cross
the Jordan river with more than a million people, but he did it because he Rose above
the circumstances and he embodied the charge that God gave his people in Joshua one
nine. He said, this is my command. Be strong and courageous do not be afraid or
discouraged for the Lord. Your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua embodied that
challenge. And that call. He Rose above his circumstances and friends. You too can rise
above your circumstances. You do not have to be a prisoner to your past. You don't have
to give up. You don't have to give in because circumstances are only temporary. God's
presence is permanent. And if God said he is going to do something, we can know with
confidence that he will do it next. If you're taking notes, you have to learn to move
past your failures. If you are going to be a transformational leader, listen, if you're
just going to be who God's called you to be, if you're going to be more like his son,
Jesus, you've got to learn how to move
past your failures. When Israel made progress in the promised land, some of the people
chose to disobeyed God. And as a result, Israel was defeated by AI the first time, in
fact, because of Aiken, sin, and disobedience, some of the people of Israel actually
lost their lives. I can't imagine how Joshua felt anger, frustration. Fear was this. It
are people going to stop following my leadership. Now we lost. We were defeated. What
are we going to do? And maybe you're watching, maybe you're listening. Maybe you're in
this room and you know what it feels like to fail. You know what it feels like to mess
up. You know what it feels like to be full of anger and fear and frustration and wonder
is this it am I done for this? And the people of Israel continued to follow Joshua. Why?
Because they trusted Joshua. The Bible says after their defeat defeated AI, Joshua tore
his clothes and fell face. First on the ground before God, he humbled himself. He saw
after God. And when God told Joshua what to do, he did it. Joshua didn't wait around. He
didn't get sucked into his insecurities. He moved past his failures and here was a BDM
to God's voice. They may have been defeated once by AI, but they sure were not going to
be defeated a second time. And I love the way the Bible puts it in Joe in job 17 nine,
it says
the righteous keep moving forward. And with those clean hands, they become stronger and
stronger. Your past is not your identity. Your past does not define you. You may still
have to deal with the consequences of your past actions, but your past is just that it
is your past. And one of the things that I love about God is that he is an expert at
second chances. He is an expert at do overs. He is an expert at brand new life. He is an
expert at restoration and redemption and resurrection. Joshua moved past his failures
and maybe you're listening. Maybe you're watching right now and you need to move past
those failures too. And it's time to stop being paralyzed by your past something, you
said something, you thought something you did listen. You can be forgiven by the blood
of Jesus Christ. And you can still be everything that God has called you to be. Jesus
defines you. His blood defines you. The empty tomb defines you not your past. And
lastly, if you're taking notes, if you want to be a transformational leader, you need to
live beyond your abilities. You need to live beyond your abilities. Joshua was vision,
his determination and his reliance on God's power allowed him to soar beyond his
personality, his talents, or his abilities, the Jordan river, it parted the walls of
Jericho and they fell to the ground. Hell fell from heaven, defeating their enemies, the
sun
and the moon stood still in the sky. Their enemies were defeated, Tom and Tom. Again,
Joshua's deep committed commitment to God yielded supernatural results. And here's the
truth. Not only can you live beyond your abilities, God has called you to live beyond
your own abilities. Paul wrote to the Philippian church, Philippians four 13 for I can
do everything through Christ who gives me strength. He did not say I can do some things
through Christ who gives me strength. I can do most things through Christ who gives me
strength. No, he says I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. You may
not think you're smart enough. You don't think you know enough about the Bible. You
don't think you're a good enough speaker. You don't think that you're talented enough,
but with Jesus, anything is possible with Jesus. You are enough. And with Jesus, when
the power of his Holy spirit, you can live beyond your abilities and you can walk in
everything he has for you. But the question is, do you believe it this morning? Do you
believe in? I do. I believe in, I believe in about each and every person in this room. I
believe in about each and every one of you who are watching on a screen, God created you
with a purpose and a plan. He has equipped you. He has given you everything that you
need. And if you will yield to him, if you
will get close to him, he will do more in your life than you can ever imagine. He will
do more with your life than you ever thought possible, but it starts with Jesus. And
maybe there's never been a time in your life where you have submitted to Jesus Christ.
Hear me each and every one of us is born a sinner. All of us, myself included. We were
separated from God at birth because of our sin nature, the propensity to say things and
do things and think things that disobeyed God, the natural desire to rebel and do our
own thing in a way we are naturally born, wanting to be our own God. We want to be like
God. And because of that, sin, our relationship with God is broken, but God loved you so
much. The Bible says that he sent his son Jesus Christ to live a perfect life. A man who
never sin died on a cross. He died for our sins. He sacrificed himself. He chose to be
our substitute. So instead of you and I having to face the punishment for our own
actions, he chose to take our punishment. So when we die, we don't have to experience
hell no, we can experience heaven with God, but we have to believe in what Jesus did on
that cross. Here's the beautiful thing. Jesus, didn't just die on the cross. The Bible
says that three days later, he Rose again from
the grave. He is still alive today. He is at the right hand of God and he is interceding
for you. He is praying for you because he loves you. And all you have to do is decide to
follow Jesus, the sod that you want to live behind your sinful life. And you want to
follow Jesus and walk in his abundant life, his eternal life. But it's a decision that
only you can make. If I can make it for you, I would right now in a heartbeat, but you
have to choose Jesus. And I want to give you that opportunity. I'm going to pray a
prayer. And if this prayer reflects what God is doing in your heart and life today, I
invite you to pray it with me. You can pray it to yourself. You can pray it out loud,
either way. I believe God will hear you and answer you, but you can pray something like
this. God, I've been going my own direction with my life. I realized today that I am a
sinner. I have rebelled against you. And I've tried to be my own God Lord. Today. I
realize that I need to be saved. And that savior is your son. Jesus. I believe that
Jesus died on a cross so that I could be forgiven and set free. And I believe he Rose
again from the grave to prove to everyone that he was your son in the flesh. God.
Today, I choose to follow Jesus with my life. I lay down my old life and I pick up a
brand new life in you. Jesus. I want to obey you. I want to serve you. And I want to
follow you for the rest of my life and Jesus it's in your name. I pray amen. Now, if
that was you, congratulations, that is the greatest decision that you could ever make
with your life. But please don't change the channel. Don't turn off this video without
letting me know, because your faith doesn't stop today. It starts today and we want to
help you grow. We want to help you become more like Jesus. We want to help you be
everything God's created you to be. And so if you will do us the honor of reaching out
and letting us know you gave your life to Jesus today, maybe it's through calling us on
the phone. Maybe it's through email, maybe it's through our website or maybe it's
through that digital connect card. That's in the post above or in the comments below.
However you feel most comfortable. Please reach out because we want to contact you this
week. We want to send you a free ebook that will help you grow in your faith. And we
want to walk alongside of you in this new journey with Jesus. Now, at the end of every
service we dedicate to prayer and this has always been important to
us. This has always been a priority, but over these next three weeks together, as we
lean in to prayer and fasting, my prayer for you is that you would truly get past the
distractions that you would once and for all get past your past. And maybe this 21 day
season will be the season of breakthrough. The season where your life changes forever.
The season will you become everything that Jesus has created you to be. Jesus, thank
you. Thank you God, for this opportunity to worship you in person and online. Thank you
God, that even when we are far apart from each other, our hearts are connected to each
other and ultimately our hearts are connected to you. And because of you and God, I pray
for our church, family. God, I pray for everyone who can hear the sound of my voice,
God, in this season, would you help them to move past the distraction God, in this
season, would you help them to overcome their past God this season? What they pray with?
Fervor God in this season, would you meet them where they're at, but God not leave them
there and take them where you want them to go. God, I pray in jesus' name for protection
over their lives because we know when we get close to you, there will be opposition, but
say now rebuke you in Jesus name, you cannot touch these people. Holy spirit. Would you
cover them? Would
you protect them? Would you anoint them? Would you strengthen them? Would you empower
them? Holy spirit in these days, God, please make us everything that you want us to be.
Here we are. God send us, use us. We love you. And it's in jesus' name. We pray. Amen.