Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
How's everyone's week going?
Good.
Yeah, Ken.
Too blessed to be stressed, right?
I'm stressed by the blessings. That's how blessed I am.
Um, speaking of a blessing, this is random, but, uh, so my kids have these electric cars,
um, which are just a money trap. You know, the power wheels cars. Oh my gosh. They are not cheap.
Um, we, they're like 300 bucks. Like, so for Beau's special like birthday or something,
we got him this electric car. That's like a Frankenstein car because we don't have a garage.
We have a shed and it's packed full. So it's, we forget to put this thing in there sometimes
and then it rains. And like these new cars, it's not just like an on off button.
They have a Bluetooth connection and a USB port for music. And it's just like all,
it's all out. It's so ridiculous for kids. I think you can connect to the radio too
and drive around listening to music anyway. So this thing is, uh, I've replaced so many
parts in it. And then next thing I know I look out the window and it's in the rain again.
I don't know what happens, but this past week, I, uh, you know, was the hero dad and we have
a few of them now and I replaced all the parts and they're all running again. So blessed to see
van and bow ripping it around the muddy yard right now. And they're electric cars. So it's
really fun. Um, anyway, that had nothing to do with what we're going to talk about.
There's no analogy. That would have been cool if it really tied in. No, sorry. Yeah. We'll find
some small groups. We'll talk about that. Yeah, exactly. Really deep connection. Um, but anyway,
before we start, I do want to just say like, I don't know if anyone else has been experiencing
just, um, you know, people out in the world who aren't saved, having more of like, uh,
spiritual curiosity, maybe, and, uh, you know, thinking about God and the afterlife. And
I do think when times get very unstable, you know, people start to have like existential thoughts,
like what is the meaning of life? Like what could happen? What if I did die tomorrow?
And so, you know, I've been praying about having opportunities at work and, um, and I've been
listening to a lot of YouTube videos too, that are kind of carrying the same sentiment that a lot of
people having these thoughts. And it was really cool because this one person that from work who
you would think, you know, I'll probably never have an opportunity to talk to them about God
because, you know, they're living in a lifestyle that is completely contrary to like reality and
to the Bible. It's, it's crazy. But anyway, I made a comment that I prayed about. People say,
what, what's your Wednesday win? What's something good? And this is back in the Super Bowl after the
Super Bowl party. I'm like, I mean, I could, you know, plant a little seed that I go to church by
saying, you know, we had a great Super Bowl party and, uh, yeah, it was fun. So I just said
something like that. Like I got to play the game, do the games for the Super Bowl party at the
church. And, uh, anyway, so this person now it's a month and a half later, whenever the Super
Bowl was, they said, Oh, I wanted to ask you this person living obviously far from God. I wanted to
ask you about this. Uh, you're a Christian and I got to like share the gospel and my faith and all.
And they're like, yeah, I'm also like a biblical nerd. I like to really read into the Bible and
figure out like what it means. I'm like, wow. So this is the beginning of like a conversation
that I think will last a while. And I pray that, you know, salvation comes out of it.
But one thing that as I've been watching these YouTube videos about apologetics and,
you know, this, this feeling that a lot of these pastors are having, um, this pastor who's like,
I look up to a lot, his name is Gavin Ortland. If you have questions about theology or historical
things in the church, look this guy up on YouTube, Gavin Ortland. It's Ortland. Yeah.
O R T L U N D. I think that's it. But his channel's called Truth Unites.
And the whole point is he presents the different perspectives of Christianity and denominations
and all that and the best possible light to show why people believe it. And then he does share
what he believes historically and biblically. But so I'd expect this amazing response that's
super deep and theological about how he shares his faith. And he's like, honestly,
I don't feel like he's like, he said, I don't feel like I'm the best at it at apologetics.
But one thing I'll say is when I talk to someone about the gospel,
the best way to do it is I just tell them about how amazing Jesus is and how much he loves them.
Like people fall in love with who Jesus is. Not like an argument for the existence of God,
though that is really important sometimes. But if we just go into our normal day to day life,
aware of Jesus and aware of his love for us, and we share that with people,
I believe that a lot of people are going to come to know Jesus. So that's what, you know,
it was cool seeing that channel, that video, and then having an opportunity to do that exact
thing and keeping it simple. So yeah, so I'll just be, you know, be in prayer there.
I believe there's going to be opportunities this week for us to simply share the gospel
in our faith. Amen. So we're in Joshua 5. The title of this message is The Power of Obedience.
I was torn between the power of obedience and the blessing of obedience because I believe
there's so much blessing and obedience, but, you know, I just felt like with the passage,
the power of obedience kind of made more sense. So before we jump into it,
I just want to talk a bit about obedience. And first and foremost, aren't you thankful
that we can even be obedient to God? Like, aren't you thankful that he even shares
what he wants us to do and what he doesn't want us to do? Like,
so many other religions have God as a very far away God that is impossible to please,
but the true religion of, you know, Christianity that we have,
the one true God, and he made himself so real that he literally did become man in Jesus Christ. Jesus
came as a man, and he was able to show himself to us and reveal himself to us so that we can actually
know that he cares about us, know that he loves us, have a relationship with him, and even know
what it looks like to walk with him. And that we can get, if we walk with Jesus, we can actually
hear at the end of our life, well done, my good and faithful servant. And that is such a blessing.
Like, we don't live our days walking around wondering if God, you know, hates us for something
we unknowingly did. We walk in the love and acceptance of the Father because of Jesus Christ.
And that is such a blessing. And, you know, there's so many people that don't believe this,
and they believe in a God, you know, Albert Einstein, super smart, obviously,
not a ton of wisdom in this area. I don't know, maybe he did end up getting saved, but
he has a few quotes on this, and he says, the idea of a personal God is quite alien to me and seems
even naive. Another thing, quote, he says is, we can all see that nature and humans dance to a
mysterious tune, and the piper who plays this melody is at an inscrutable distance, whatever
name we give him, creative force or God, and he escapes all book knowledge. So this idea that
he's just far, far away, and we can't know him is like, honestly, an idea that, you know,
permeates a lot of society. But we know the truth, like I just said, and I love Second
Corinthians 4-6 says, for God who said, let the light shine out of darkness is the one
who has shown into our hearts to give us the light and the knowledge of the glory and majesty
of God clearly revealed in the face of Christ. We can truly, fully know God and his love for us
because of Jesus, how he lived his life, the words he spoke, and this entire word. So I'm
just thankful that we have a close, kind, compassionate God, and we can know him. Amen.
So God is not far. Another, another cool thing that I love that paints a good picture is,
do you know how Michelangelo did the creation of Adam? You know, I forget what, you know,
Sistine Chapel, that's right. And so it's really cool because when he first painted it,
the hands of God and Adam were touching. And then all the bishops and all the people in the
church, whatever, the elders of the church came in, they looked at it, and they just, like,
marveled at it and thought, this is amazing. But then, after a few hours, they told Michelangelo
to come back in and said, redo it. We want you to change this part. And he's like, what?
He's like, we don't want their fingers touching. We want them barely separated.
And here's the reason why. It's amazing. Ready? So the Cardinals asked that they, that the
fingers do not touch, but that the fingers of both of them would be separated. That God's finger
would always be stretched out at the maximum. You see his hand is fully extended, and that
Adam's hand is slightly contracted back. And this interpretation is to show that God is fully
stretched out, reaching for mankind. And all mankind has to do is gently touch his finger
out and would encounter God. Isn't that beautiful? All we have to do is just the single small step
of faith. That God, you are real. That God, you died for me. And God, you rose again. And then we
can enter into a relationship. We can encounter him. So we have a close God and it's a blessing
to serve him. So before we get in, I just want to give you a little bit of a warning. I'm going to
be setting this up for like a good portion of it. So before we even read this, I don't want you to
think, oh my gosh, like we're like 15 minutes in and he hasn't even started reading the Bible.
Okay. So we're going to get there. I just want to set up a few things on obedience.
So what is obedience? You know, it's really simple, but it's to listen and to yield to, right?
There's a deeper sense of the word is more of like a heartfelt yes. It's not just,
I'm going through the motions, but it's actually like, yes, I desire to. We see this in Matthew.
Jesus says, if you love me, then keep my commandments. There's more than just keeping
my commandments, but it's a form of love from a place of love I obey. And even Jesus said to
Peter, like, do you love me? Then feed my sheep. There's always love connected to obedience. And
it's not just outward. We see Jesus, you know, rips apart the Pharisees, totally trashes them,
says that they're whitewashed tombs because outwardly they look good and inwardly they're
evil. They don't love God at all. And they're making it hard for people to come to God.
Um, even in the old Testament in first Samuel says, has the Lord as great delight in burnt
offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold to obey is better than
sacrifices and to listen than the fat of Rams. Obedience is what he wants and not just outward
obedience. Like yes, he still wanted the sacrifices because that is obedience, but obedience in the
heart, a love for God and a true heartfelt obedience is what he wants. But why does obedience
matter? Well, we see in a lot of places in the Bible that obedience and faith are super interconnected.
Right? We know James two faith without works is dead. There is two things at play. We have
faith and from faith comes obedience. And so if we know that without faith, without works,
faith is dead. We also know that without faith works means nothing. They need to be together.
And trust me, if you have faith, there's going to be obedience. It's just a natural thing that
happens. And we're not saying complete perfect obedience in every single way. Only Jesus did
that, but it is obedience to from a place of faith. And we all know the analogy of the chair,
right? Like if you say, I believe the stool can hold me up, but I'm not going to sit on
it because I don't want it to fall and break. Like then you don't actually believe that the
chair can hold you up. Another thing that was pretty funny on Friday, I met up with some
friends from college at Stovin tap right in Lansdale. And my, I hadn't seen him in a decade.
It was crazy. So we all got together again, went out and they have a Nashville hot chicken
sandwich, which I love. And last time I had it was not that hot. And so my friend Matt,
he can't do spice and I kind of forgot that because it's been 10 years. And he's like,
is this hot? I'm like, no, it's like nothing. I'm like, really, it's not spicy. And he's like,
are you sure? And I was thinking like, okay, I mean, it's probably a little bit of a kick,
but no, you're good. You can handle it. And he had faith and he listened to me.
And this thing came out like seven times hotter than I've ever had it in my life there.
And his first bite, he's like sweating. He's like, man, Jesse, this is kicking. Like this
is insane. It's like melting his face. Like, so he had faith because he trusted me and did it.
Obviously, I didn't know. So, you know, it wasn't a good outcome. But with God, you know,
he always knows the outcome and we could trust what he says. So if he says something
and we believe it, then we do it. So the obedience is a result of our faith.
Disobedience comes from a lack of faith, really straightforward. So Hebrews talks about
the Israelites and it says, to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest,
if not to those who disobeyed. So we see that they were not able to enter because of their unbelief.
So they disobeyed because of their unbelief. They did not enter the promise land,
the generation right before the one we're talking about. So faith and obedience,
disbelief and disobedience, directly connected. So if disobedience comes from a lack of faith,
then we also know that disobedience can hurt your faith. 1 John 3, 19, it says, this is how we know
that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence. If our hearts
condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Dear friends,
if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him
anything we ask because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
So we see that our hearts condemning us, that is from disobedience. If we're not living according
to what God says and we're disobeying, it's easy to feel condemnation and a lack of confidence
towards God. Like anybody else relate to that. You mess up pretty big or you do it a bunch of
times in a row, suddenly you're like, is God hearing my prayers? You can get so deceived,
you start to wonder if you're a Christian. Weird stuff happens and you think that God
hates you, all the stuff. We lose confidence before God in our own eyes because of disobedience.
But we know the exact opposite is true with obedience because it says,
we can set our hearts at peace and at rest in this presence if we just obey them.
Another thing is Luke. In Luke it says, everyone who hears my words and puts them
into practice is like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid the foundation on the rock.
Don't you want a firm salvation or not a salvation, a firm faith and a firm life built on Jesus.
It comes from faith and then obeying. Faith and obedience play together in a very firm
foundation in your life on Jesus. And I don't want to belabor the point, but we know that
Jesus says, abide in me and I will bear much fruit. So this obedience is a sign to us that
we are abiding. And honestly, if we're not abiding in him, if we're not obeying him,
all we need to do is repent. There's not this period where we need to stay away from God and
hope he welcomes us back or all the stuff we have to do because works doesn't bring you into
a good standing with God. It is the righteousness of Jesus through faith,
but repentance is needed to restore that closeness in relationship. And I mean, I can relate like,
even with my kids, if they do something wrong and they're really defiant and you know, like I,
my kids love to dump stuff like toys, drinks, food. It is a dumping house. I don't know why,
like, you know, it's not like we, you know, they say your kids will do what you do.
I'm not going around and dumping stuff. So I don't know where they get it, but my kid,
van is like the, the best at this. Like he'll just go around and whatever he finds,
usually it's open drinks. I'll just go like this and just dump it everywhere. And I'm like,
what are you doing? He's like, sorry. You know, it's like, it's like, and it's always that sorry.
But, but, you know, when they're fighting and stuff, there's this, this disobedience,
not doing what they say. And you know, it can get you upset. But man, when, when you,
after like timeout or whatever sort of thing you do afterwards, when you can tell and they say,
like they apologize, they say, sorry. And I say like, are you going to listen? And they say yes.
And there's that form, that type of like repentance, essentially for a kid, suddenly
they have a closeness with me and I have like an affection for them. Right. And there's just
a closeness that happens. So if you're walking in disobedience, like it just takes repentance,
turning away from the sin and turning to Jesus. And I promise you, you're going to feel closeness
with him because any, like we see that in the word of God and anytime that I've come back from
disobedience and repented, I've felt such a closeness to Jesus. And you know, it was so
good for, for my faith. So now that we kind of set the stage for why obedience matters,
how it's connected to faith, what it does to our faith when we're obedient and when we're
disobedient, I want to start reading about the power of obedience that we see in this passage.
So let's jump into verse one, we're going to read one to six.
So it was when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan and all the
kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of
the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart
melted and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel. And at that
time the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives for yourselves and circumcise the sons of Israel
again the second time. So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the sons of
Israel at the Hill of the Foreskins. Don't you love how they just name things? So just,
this is what it is. And if that name sticks, all the property values just plummet it. No one
wants to live on the Hill of the Foreskins. I wonder if it's still there to this day,
wouldn't that be cool? Not the Foreskins but the name, yeah. And this is the reason why Joshua
circumcised them. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war had
died in the wilderness on the way and after they had come out of Egypt. For all the people who
came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness on the way
as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the children of Israel
walked 40 years in the wilderness till all the people who were men of war who came out
of Egypt were consumed because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. So I want to look at that
first verse again. It talks about the enemies, that their heart melted and there was no spirit
in them any longer because of the children of Israel. They are now walking in obedience.
This is contrasting two stories. The first story, the first generation, they were going to go into
the Promised Land and after the spies went in and brought back a report saying we can't take these
people on, they had unbelief, they disobeyed, they did not go into the Promised Land. Now,
and it says they were afraid, they felt like grasshoppers before the eyes of the enemy.
Flip this story now, it's the exact opposite. We see the people are in faith and obedience
under Joshua. They cross through the Jordan, come to the other side, they're not afraid,
the enemy's afraid. It says their heart melted within them. That's even more than the
grasshoppers comment, right? This is like they feel dead inside because of fear of the Lord
and the fear of these obedient children of God. And what I want to say is that,
I'll read the verse, it does it better justice than I could say, James 4,
therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. If you're obeying God,
you're not obeying Satan and if you're not obeying Satan, he's terrified of you.
He will run and flee because we are serving the one who's already had victory over him.
But if we're in unbelief, if we don't obey, there's an open door for him to wreak havoc in our lives
because we're walking in sin. But it's simple, the formula, submit to God, obey him and the devil will
flee from you. And we see this all over in the Bible. I love some of the in the New Testament
Jesus, right? He comes, everywhere he goes, demons are like flying out of the place, you know? And so
he comes and the demons, you know, they run up and say, are you here to torment us? They're
terrified of Jesus. Even when Jesus gives authority to his disciples and they obey him,
they go out, they heal the sick, you know, they do all that stuff. They come back and say,
even the evil spirits, even the demons obey us. And of course he says, don't rejoice over this,
but rejoice that your name is in the book of life, which is awesome. So here we see the demons are
afraid of Jesus. The demons are afraid of believers walking in obedience to Jesus. And then we see
an Acts, which I'm just going to read because it's crazy. We have the sons of the Pharisees
who are not walking in obedience, don't have a claim to the authority of Jesus.
And we'll see what happens. Acts 19, then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves
to call on the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits saying,
we exercise you by the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches. And there were seven sons of a Jewish
chief priest who did this. And the evil spirit answered them and said, Jesus, I know, and Paul,
I know, but who are you? Then the man in whom the evil spirits, who had evil spirits, leaped
on them, overpowered them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of the house naked
and wounded. It's like these people had no connection to the God who was victory over them.
So the enemy's not afraid of them at all, but the enemy's afraid of Jesus and afraid of obedient
children of God. So if you're walking in faith and obedience, you're walking in victory.
I want to jump down to verse seven now. So we see obedience is important. It's good for your faith.
Obedience gives you strength over the devil to walk in victory. And now we're going to read about
this form of obedience, which is circumcision. Verse seven, then Joshua circumcised their sons whom
he raised up in their place, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been
circumcised on the way. So it was when they had finished circumcising all the people that they
stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. Then the Lord said to Joshua,
this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Therefore, the name of the place is
called Gilgal to this day. Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on
the 14th day of the month at twilight in the plains of Jericho. Now circumcision is an outward
sign of their covenant with God. It showed that they were in a relationship with God.
And it is just an outward sign. But even in the Old Testament, even in Deuteronomy,
it was supposed to be a picture of an inward sign. Deuteronomy 10, 12 says,
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God
and walk in all his ways, obedience, to love him, connected to the obedience, and to serve the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul. Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart
and be stiff-necked no longer. So we see obedience and a circumcised heart or a raw
and malleable heart before God is what he wants. So this picture of circumcision really is God is
tying it to a circumcision of the heart that shows that you aren't stiff-necked anymore. You're not
strong willed against him, but you're obedient to him. And by being obedient to him, you have faith
and you love him. And in Colossians 2.1 in the New Testament it says the same thing. It says,
In him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. And I want to pay
close attention to this part. So by the circumcision of Christ buried with him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God,
who raised him from the dead, and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven all your trespasses.
So this verse takes it even further. It talks about a circumcision of the heart. It talks about
baptism. It talks about being made alive with him and the removal of trespasses and sins.
And it's really interesting to see how that passage lines up exactly to the last like two
or three chapters we've read, right? It says we see the Israelites now in faith passing through
the waters of the Jordan come to the other side. They're circumcised. And it says their shame is
rolled away. And then they celebrate the Passover, the Passover lamb, which was making atonement,
which, you know, shows Jesus, like the atonement for sin. So what a picture of the gospel, though.
In faith, we go in, we're baptized in the water. We come to the other side into the promise land,
the promises and blessings of God. We have our heart circumcised and close to him.
And our shame and our sin is rolled away as we celebrate the true lamb of God.
And this roll away, which Gilgal, the place means to roll, roll away. The very first time this word
is ever used is in Genesis, where it talks about how Jacob met Rachel, but it says that a large
stone was rolled away from the well. And like the first five times it's mentioned this word
is all about rolling a large stone away. And if you look up the English words rolled away,
there's only three places it's used. This verse, and then twice in the gospels when the large stone
was rolled away from Jesus' tomb. So just like this, this is a picture of the shame of their
sin and of their slavery is rolled away. So Jesus, when he rose again, rolled away all the shame of
our sin and the past of slavery to sin and says all things are new. It's amazing.
So if you feel like you still have sin that's clinging to you, or you still have shame from your past,
know that Jesus has rolled it away. He's completely removed it. It isn't attached to you anymore if
you're in him. If you believe in Jesus, you are set free from all of it. And it might feel like a
big heavy rock, but he rolled that away already. So I want to jump from verse 11, or down to verse
11 now. They ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and
parched grain on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten
the produce of the land and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the
food of the land of Canaan that year. So we see obedience. Obedience makes the enemy flee.
Obedience softens our heart. And obedience does something to hear that they leave the manna behind
and now they're on the produce of the land. And I mean, everyone knows what the manna is, you know,
well, we don't actually know what it is. It's like this kind of like bready thing, dusty thing. But
it has a kind of an element of like a newborn, right? Like it's the same thing they get every
day and it's the sustenance they need in the wilderness. But now they're out and they're
taking on more responsibilities and they're taking like the solid food of the land and they're
growing in deeper ways, right? And I can't help but think about how the New Testament compares
spiritual milk and the meat, right? The milk and the meat. And when you come to the promised land
and you're walking in obedience, you move away from the elementary things of God and move into
the deeper things of God. It strengthens your faith and you start to walk in a deeper
walk with God. So 1 Corinthians 3 talks about it. He said, I feed you with milk and not with
solid food for until now you were not able to receive it. And even now you're still not able to.
Also in Hebrews 6, it says, therefore we need to leave behind the discussion of the elementary
principles of Christ and let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation
of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God. So there's a deeper level of
walk when you start to obey. Like everyone knows, you know, if you were a baby Christian
and you heard that Jesus loves you and he died for you and he rose again so you can be forgiven,
that is the most powerful message of all time. But if you only stay there and you never actually
start obeying it, you don't read the word, you don't walk in all the other things that this
word talks about, you're still like here and God wants to bring you here, right? And that
comes from obedience. If you can't obey the simple principles of God, how is he going to
entrust you with more? But the beautiful thing is like as you start walking like a kid, once they
start to learn how to walk, they get stronger and stronger so quickly. As you start to obey,
you get stronger and stronger in your faith and you start taking on more responsibilities in the
Lord and you grow in your faith and he entrusts you with more and more. And I think about it,
you know, even in my life over the last few years, I, you know, there's been areas in my life where I
feel like I've just been on the milk, right? And it's, I'm not laying hold of the deeper things of
God. And as I continue to obey him, I'm starting to step into those meatier things. And so like
this visionary parenting class, if you've been to it, so powerful. And it talks all about having
a vision for your family that you're raising up like the next generation of Jesus followers. And
it's not just, okay, you know, give them a good life. It's like, Hey, this is like we're climbing
a mountain and we're bringing them to the top to encounter God. And so there's deeper things you
think about living every day in the spirit, walking with him rather than just saying like,
okay, I know go to heaven one day. Like now you're walking with God, keeping in step with
him, looking out for opportunities everywhere you go to be able to share the faith and to share the
freedom and Jesus, to glorify him and really confusing and complex times like we're in right
now. And to battle spiritual warfare and to walk in the gifts of the spirit. Like these are all
things that God wants to give us and to give us wisdom on, but it starts with just obeying the
simple things and he'll entrust us with so much more. So let's read the last few verses.
And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked and behold,
a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him,
are you for us or for our adversaries? So he said, no, but as commander of the army of the
come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, what does my Lord say
to his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandal off your
foot for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. Joshua just had his burning bush
moment. And I think this is an amazing encouragement to us. We see the bad contrast of
the first generation because of unbelief not going into the promised land. And then the good
story they do, and now the enemies fleeing. But we see here that both men had faith and obedience
and they both encountered God. And that's such a huge promise for us as believers
that if we just follow the example we see of so many men and women who love God, it's so
encouraging to see like they actually know him. They actually have things in the spirit that I
want. And it's not because of them. It's not because of their good works, right?
But we can have that too if we just walk with God. If from a place of love and faith we just
walk with him and obey him, like we can have that too. And Jesus, you'll see that it's capital man
and capital his. And we know it's believed that this is Jesus because when he fell down and
worshiped, an angel always says don't worship me. But the commander of the Lord's army here
doesn't say anything. He allows him to worship because he's Jesus before he came in the flesh.
And he says something that's so Jesus-like where he doesn't answer like oh no I'm for you because
like here he just says no. It's like you're asking if I'm for you or for your adversaries. I'm just
gonna say no to that question and I'm here on behalf of God. And it's not that he's saying
he's against them, right? He's not against the Israelites. He's not against us.
But it's basically he's saying to Joshua are you for me? Are you on my side?
And that's important for us to realize. Like God is not just the genie in the bottle we rub to
get what we want because he's always for us. The way that he's for us is in the truest sense
that he wants us to look like him. To look more like Jesus. He wants our will to die and we have
his will. He isn't just aligning himself to us. We're aligning ourselves to him. And when we do
that, that is obedience. That is true obedience. Aligning ourselves to him, yielding to him.
And when we do that we encounter God and we realize that his story is so much bigger than
our little story. I mean think about all the people we're gonna see in heaven, right? Like of course
we're gonna know the big names. I'm sure we'll recognize them spiritually somehow we will in
heaven. But we'll know all the big names but think about the billions of people probably that we
have no idea who they are. But they did great things for the kingdom of God. Because they
didn't try to push God into their life and align him with them. That's impossible. They died and
they gave their life to Jesus. They died like it says in the New Testament. And they aligned with him
and they became part of his plan, his story. And they lived the greatest life they ever could.
And I think that's something so powerful for us. If we realize what we're a part of,
that Jesus is reconciling the world to himself and he calls you an ambassador. He calls you
a bondservant of God to bring this good news. You're part of the greatest story of all time.
You might share the gospel with three people and let's say one of them gets saved. That's one
more that the entire realm of heaven starts rejoicing over because they repent it. Like this
is incredible that we get to be a part of what he's doing. And he is for you. Totally is. We know
that he gives his plans to prosper us, not to harm us, give us hope in the future. But that hope
future and prospering is completely in him. Amen. So I just want to encourage you guys
that he has great plans for your life and we realize it through obedience. We realize what
his plan for us is. And in closing, I know like when we talk about obedience, sometimes it can
feel a little heavy because it's so easy to look at our lives and see all the places that
we have not been obedient in the past. We can feel that like heavy weight of possible shame,
like it says he rolled away. We might still feel it. You know, maybe we feel like we have been
even sinning today that we feel really guilty about and we don't have confidence to him.
It's so simple. We see in the parable, you know, of the son who ran away, right? The lost son. And
then when he comes back, he's just walking up thinking he deserves nothing. But the father
runs to the prodigal son while he's a long way off, comes up to him, hugs and kisses and welcomes
him back into the family in a place of honor. It's not you. It's just you don't have to make
that happen. He comes rushing to you, but it's one small, small step of repentance,
which is not just changing your mind. It's changing your direction. It is turning to him and he runs
all the way out to you, just like the Michelangelo painting. Your hand is here. His is fully
stretched out. It's just a millimeter reach and he's there with you. So if you feel weighed down,
if you feel conviction in a bad condemnation, I should say, just remember he's stronger than
your heart. He can free your heart from that. And all it takes is that simple act of obedience to
repent and he will do wonders with your life. So let's pray. Lord God, we just thank you so much
for such a simple thing as obedience, but the power it has in our lives, God,
because when we align our will with you, God, and when we do what you want,
you do the rest. Lord, you make
such small decisions, have such eternal impact in the best possible way.
So I pray, God, as you highlight things in our lives, Lord, tonight in the small group, even
as we go home and we think about it and meditate on it, Lord, I just pray that
as you highlight areas that we can obey, Lord, you obey you better. I pray that we would just
have joy in it, God, that we can realize, Lord, that you have amazing things on the other side
of this obedience, God. And I just pray that we would have your joy and we would have your
peace and we would have, Lord, the gifts of the Spirit, Lord, of self-control. And I just thank
you so much for your holy name, Jesus. Amen. Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His word. Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube. Be blessed and have a great day!